The Psychology of Singing: A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and ModernTaylor, David C. (David Clark)
Science
The Psychology of Singing: A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern
Taylor, David C. (David Clark)
Singing; Voice culture
One important phase of the registers has not received much attention
from the laryngoscopic investigators. This is, that most of the notes of
the voice's compass can be produced at will in more than one register.
Vocal teachers as a rule recognize this fact. Julius Stockhausen for
instance, in his _Gesangsmethode_ (Leipzig, 1884), says: "The registers
cross each other. The two principal registers of the voice have many
tones in common. The perfect blending of the registers on a single tone
leads to the _crescendo_, called in Italian the _messa di voce_."
Teachers generally do not set hard and fast limits to the extent of each
register; they direct that in singing up the scale the student pass
gradually from chest to middle, middle to head voice, etc.
In most practical methods the chest register occupies about the same
position; this is also true of the head register. Even those teachers
who profess to ignore registers recognize these two distinct qualities
of tone; they instruct their pupils to sing low notes in one quality,
and high notes in the other. This is in fact the general practice. In
this connection the topics of registers and resonance are often
combined. The terms "head voice," "head register," and "nasal
resonance," are used interchangeably by the great majority of teachers.
This is also true of the expressions "chest voice," "chest resonance,"
and "chest register."
In practical instruction, the extending of the compass of the voice is
usually treated, rather loosely perhaps in most cases, as a feature of
the registers. Methods vary greatly in points of detail, but in most of
them instruction on this topic is given along the same general lines.
Usually the three classes of voices receive different treatment, one
form of instruction being used for sopranos and tenors, another for
mezzo-sopranos and baritones, and a third for altos and bassos.
In teaching students with high voices, teachers usually "place"[5] the
medium notes first, roughly speaking, from G to d (for male voices one
octave lower). Then the lower notes are developed, mostly by descending
scale passages, the lowest note practised being usually C. The high
notes are sometimes "placed" by ascending scale passages and arpeggios,
but more often by the octave jump and descending scale. There is room
for considerable variation in this class of exercises, but they all
conform to the same general principle.
[Note 5: The expression "placing the voice" is more fully treated in
Chap. VI. It is assumed, however, that the reader is familiar with the
ordinary usage of this expression.]
For mezzos and baritones about the same system is followed, the
exercises being sung a major third or so lower. In the case of
contraltos and bassos, the voice is usually trained from the middle in
both directions. Most teachers favor the "chest voice" for singers of
these types throughout the entire compass.
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