The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop

1
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop

• Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
• Associate Professor of Voice
• College of Music
• University of North Texas
• June 14 16, 2007

2
Voice Building in the 21st Century

• Premise 1 Teachers have been successfully
  building voices for several centuries.
• Premise 2 Voice science helps us understand the
  effectiveness of traditional methods.
• Premise 3 Most historical methods (18th 19th
  C) focused on training the larynx as the
  instrument, many more contemporary methods stress
  support and placement. In historical methods
  these were considered to be results of the
  training process, not the means to an end.

3
Voice Building in the 21st Century

• Premise 4 Vowel counts.
• Stressed in the historical literature
• Formed by the position of the articulators
  tongue, jaw, larynx, soft palate, lips, etc.
• Excessive tension anywhere distorts the vowel.
• Premise 5 Voce chiusa
• Concept or chiaroscuro
• Should be established right away
• Will felicitate the other studies, particularly
  those concerning the equalization of registers.

4
Session IVoice Building Vocal Registers

• Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
• Associate Professor of Voice
• University of North Texas

5
Vocal Registers Tools for Growth

• A register is the result of a particular muscular
  adjustment in the larynx
• As such, training the intrinsic muscles of the
  larynx can result in significant changes in the
  quality of the registers
• This knowledge can be used to build a voice.
• There is historical precedence
• There is scientific support

6
Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906)

• 1832 appointed to Paris Conservatory, 1858 to The
  Royal Academy of Music in London
• Central figure in 19th C pedagogy
• Famous pupils
• Battaille
• Stockhausen
• Malibran
• Marchesi
• Lind

7
Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906)

• the human voice is, in the largest sense,
  composed of the different registers
• Chest Falsetto-head
• And two timbres
• Clear timbre
• Sombre timbre

8
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art
of Singing Part One. The editions of 1841 and
1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald
V. Paschke. New York Da Capo Press. Pg. xli,
1967.

• By the word register we understand a series of
  consecutive and homogenous tones going from low
  to high, produced by the development of the same
  mechanical principle, and whose nature differs
  essentially from another series of tones equally
  consecutive and homogenous produced by another
  mechanical principle.

9
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art
of Singing Part One. The editions of 1841 and
1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald
V. Paschke. New York Da Capo Press. Pg. xli,
1967.

• (cont.)
• All the tones belonging to the same register are
  consequently of the same nature, whatever may be
  the modification of timbre or of force to which
  one subjects them.

10
Table of the vocal registersManuel Garcia,
Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840
11
Table of the vocal registers for a tenorRichard
Miller, Training Tenor Voices, 1993
12

• According to Garcia, this was a two-register
  theory.
• This was traditional for the time
• The voice ordinarily divides itself into two
  registers, one called the chest register and the
  other the head register, or falsetto. Mancini.
  Practical Reflections on the Art of Singing, 1774

13

• Garcia
• to these two registers is added the third, or
  the head voice, which is nothing but the
  continuation of the falsetto voice. Mémoire sur
  la voix humaine, 1840

14

• Transition from falsetto to head is result of
  adductory forces from increased tension and
• The sombre timbre modifies them in a more
  striking manner, and people have thought they saw
  a new action where there was only an extension of
  the same action. Mémoire sur la voix humaine,
  1840

15

• Female Voice
• Low tones of the falsetto are weak
• it is absolutely necessary, therefore, to
  substitute for them the corresponding tones in
  the chest register, which although they do not
  have much power, do not lack bite. Mémoire sur
  la voix humaine, 1840

16

• Upper tones are also weak
• It is thus by the position which the pharynx
  adopts in the sombre timber and by the pinching
  of the glottis that these two registers are
  equalized. Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840

17

• Male Voice
• Falsetto is not so universally important in the
  male voice
• Bass voice can ignore it
• Baritones may utilize it if they chose
• Required for the tenor

18

• The falsetto united with the chest register is,
  for the tenors more than for the baritones, a
  successful and natural resource. The much too
  elevated tessitura of the music composed today
  for tenors does not permit them to do without the
  falsetto register. A Complete Treatise on the
  Art of Singing, 1847

19

• But the use of that resource, however, should be
  determined by the ability of the organ to blend
  together the metals of the two registers
• Garcia A Complete Treatise on the Art of
  Singing, 1847

20

• According to Garcia, men lose the head voice at
  puberty.
• What did Garcia call the male high voice?
• Whatever the character of these tones may be,
  they belong to the chest register, but with a
  modification of volume with which we are going to
  concern ourselves.

21

• The designations of voix mixte and mezzo petto
  are equally improper, for they would make us
  suppose that these clear and high pitched tones
  are produced by the two mechanisms of the chest
  and falsetto registers at the same time. Now
  physiologically, . . . is an unacceptable idea.
  Garcia A Complete Treatise on the Art of
  Singing, 1847

22

• Garcia is suggesting that the falsetto is useful
  for extending the range of the chest voice for
  the male (tenor).
• Not useful for performance
• Exercises include register shifting
• Messa di voce
• Use of the sombre timbre
• Primary unification device

23

• It is in fact this result that a capable singer
  knows how to obtain, when on one side he
  completely relaxes all the muscles of the
  pharynx, and on the other he narrows more and
  more the column of air. In these circumstances,
  the glottis, endowed with a complete liberty, can
  reach the final limits of its action. One is
  astonished to see a tenor give, without any
  apparent effort, the notes A4, B4 C5, C5 and
  D5.
• Garcia A Complete Treatise on the Art of
  Singing, Part 2. 1847

24

• Conclusion
• Garcias table of registers reflects the thinking
  of the day.
• Garcia predicted a similar mechanism in male
  falsetto and female medium register prior to
  his invention of the laryngoscope.
• Vibration limited to the margins
• Slight gap between vocal processes of arytenoid

25

• Conclusion
• His scheme of the registers is equivalent to some
  modern theories if the names are changed
  medium register for female and head voice for
  the extension of the chest when the sombre timbre
  is utilized.
• Garcia offers a specific course of study for the
  development and integration of the vocal
  registers.
• His model for singing is appropriate for the
  modern studio teacher.

26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
Minoru Hirano Regulation of Register, Pitch and
Intensity of Voice. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22,
Pp. 1-20, 1970.
29
Minoru Hirano Vocal Mechanisms in Singing
Laryngological and Phoniatric Aspects. Journal
of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.
30
Minoru Hirano Vocal Mechanisms in Singing
Laryngological and Phoniatric Aspects. Journal
of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.
31
Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg.
262, 1994.
32
Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg.
261, 1994.

• As the bottom of the vocal fold bulges out, the
  glottis becomes more rectangular than
  wedge-shaped (convergent). During vibration,
  then, glottal closure can be obtained over a
  greater portion of the vocal fold, and thereby
  over a greater portion of the cycleThe result is
  a voice of richer timbre, which we call chest or
  modal voice.

33
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 1776
compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 20,
1967.

• This chest voice is not equally forceful and
  strong in everyone but to the extent that one
  has a more robust or more feeble organ of the
  chest, he will have a more or less robust voice.

34
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 1776
compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 34,
1967.

• A sonorous body, or rather robustness of voice
  is ordinarily a gift from nature, but can also be
  acquired by study and art.

35
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 1776
compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35,
1967.

• It remains for me now to speak of those voices
  which are slender and weak throughout their
  register . . . One observes that these voices are
  very weak in the chest notes, and the greater
  majority deprived of any low notes, but rich in
  high notes, or head voice . . .

36
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 1776
compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35,
1967.

• There is not method more sure to obtain this
  end, I believe, than to have such a little voice
  sing only in the chest voice for a time. The
  exercise should be done with a tranquil
  solfeggio and as the voice enriches itself with
  greater body, and range, one may blend it as much
  as possible with the low notes.

37
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art
of Singing Part One. The editions of 1841 and
1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald
V. Paschke. New York Da Capo Press. Pg. 50,
1967.

• As we have said, the chest register is generally
  denied or rejected by teachers, not that one
  could not draw from its application an immense
  advantage, nor that the suppression of the range
  which it embraces would not deprive the singer of
  the most beautiful dramatic effects or the most
  favorable contrasts.

38
William Vennard Developing Voices. Carl Fischer,
New York, New York, 1973.

• During her studies she frequently asked for help
  with her high tones, which did improve during the
  work. More freedom and modification of the
  brighter vowels helped the top voice, but what
  she needed most was to develop the chest voice
  and blend it into her singing so that it would be
  usable.

39
Richard Miller Structure of Singing. Schirmer
Books, New York, New York. Pg. 136-137, 1986.

• Chest mixture will strengthen the sopranos
  lower - middle range. Almost every female can
  make some chest timbre sounds, no matter how
  insecure, in the lowest part of her range. These
  notes should be sung in short, intervallic
  patterns, transposing by half steps upward, as
  more sound emerges.

40
Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg.
262, 1994.
41
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art
of Singing Part One. The editions of 1841 and
1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald
V. Paschke. New York Da Capo Press. Pg. 50,
1967.

• because one can approach the study of this
  register only with the help of profound
  knowledge, under the threat of ruining the
  students voice, and because the blending of this
  register with that of the falsetto can be secured
  only by a long and ably directed labor. It has
  therefore been judged simpler and more natural to
  free oneself from the difficulty of studying it.

42
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 1776
compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 40,
1967.

• For example, take a scholar who has strengthened
  his chest tones, but has those of the head weak
  out of all proportion. . . Then suppose the head
  voice being in need of help, since it is
  separated from the chest, the most certain method
  to help unite them is for the scholar, without
  losing time, to undertake to establish in his
  daily studies the manner of holding back the
  chest voice and of strengthening little by little
  the unfriendly notes of the head, in order to
  render the latter equal to the former in the best
  possible way. . . He must subdue a portion of the
  voice which is strong, and render vigorous
  another portion, which is by nature weak.

43
Register Building Exercises

• Registers respond to Pitch, Intensity and Vowel
• Chest
• Low and firm tranquil solfeggio
• As high as F4 (both men and women) in the claire
  timbre
• Break outs, register shifting,
• Sombre timbre (low larynx) to integrate with
  lighter mechanism

44
Register Building Exercises

• Registers respond to Pitch, Intensity and Vowel
• Falsetto
• Male closed and open falsetto
• Vennards nyah
• Anthony Frizells Mezzo-falso
• Oren Browns top-down
• Register breaks
• Portamento with firm phonation

45
Register Breakouts
46
Long sustained tones in the chest
47
William Vennard Singing The Mechanism and the
Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214.
1967.
48
William Vennard Singing The Mechanism and the
Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155.
1967.
49
Welcoming in the chest
50
Imposing the chest
51
Deference to the head