Best Vocal Training
REGISTRATION
Everybody is aiming for the best vocal training they could possibly have. The following conversation might be helpful.
Q What good would it do a singer to know all that? Or a teacher either?
A The first thing that is significant about this information is this: the vocal mechanism is so complicated that any direct physical control of the vocal cords is impossible. The second thing that is significant is that the only possible control must be an indirect or a mental control. It is also significant that the sets or the shapes of the vowel sounds in the pharynx are reflected in the shape of the larynx - the voice box in which the vocal cords are located - and in the shape of the vocal cords themselves. Flexibility of the pharynx will also be reflected in laryngeal flexibility. In other words, phonation, the action of the vocal cords, can be considered as a part of enunciation, the production of the vowel sounds.
Q You have listed range as a part of phonation. Why?
A For the reason that a wide range is dependent on the adjustments the vocal cords should make for different parts of the singing range. This may be divided into at least three parts: a low voice of an octave above the average normal pitch of the speaking voice, a middle voice of a fourth or fifth above the first octave, and a high voice of a third or fourth above the octave and a fifth. These are all approximations. This makes a total range of two octaves.
Q What are these three groups of notes called?
A These are called registers, which can be defined as groups of tones produced by a particular adjustment of the vocal cords, and reflected in a particular quality .
Q What connection do registers have with such things as the heavy and light mechanisms, the thick and thin mechanisms, and the chest and head voices?
A Actually these terms indicate whether there are wide and deep, or narrow and shallow vibrations of the vocal cords.
Q What is meant by the chest and head terminology?
A It also describes vibrations: the chest tone or chest voice describes the result of a wide and deep vibration of the vocal cords; the head tone or head voice describes the result of shallow and narrow vibrations. In other words, these terms describe the results of the vibrations of the vocal cords. The chest voice or tone is a heavier, the head voice or tone a lighter quality of tone.
Q What do the terms chest and head have to do then with voice production?
A Actually nothing. The fact that the singer may feel vibrations in his chest does not mean that this is chest resonance; or the fact that he may feel stronger vibrations in his head does not mean that this is head resonance . When the heavy or thick mechanism is used in the lower part of the voice, strong vibrations can be felt in the chest. These vibrations are the result of bone conduction of sound, and are mistaken for chest resonance. This has been termed sympathetic resonance. When the narrow or thin mechanism is used in the middle and upper part of the voice, there would seem to be stronger vibrations in the bony structure of the skull. These are mistaken for head resonance, but this is another form of sympathetic resonance.
Q Why use the terms “head” and “chest”?
A Because of the limited number of descriptive terms available for use without becoming too involved.
Q According to the terminology then, - chest and head, thick and thin, and heavy and light - there would seem to be only two registers?
A For all practical purposes there are at least three: low, middle, and high voice mechanisms. Actually there are more than three, when the coloratura register and the low bass register are included.
Q What do you mean by the high-voice mechanism?
A It can be described as the register above the head or middle voice register which uses the entire length of the vocal cords. The high voice mechanism uses only the front or anterior part of the vocal cords for vibration, while the back or posterior part of the vocal cords is dampened or held.
Q What do you mean by dampened?
A Not allowed to vibrate.
Q How can you prevent the back or posterior part of the vocal cords from vibrating?
A An indirect method must be used. This is necessary because the vocal cords have a limited number of nerve centers, and are not subject to direct control. To make a long story short, the singer must approach his high voice as if he were going to sing it open, and then change the resonance placement without losing the basic vowel tension.
Q How does one change the resonance placement?
A One approach is through vowel modification, modifying ee and ay toward ih ; and ah, oh, and oo, toward uh.
Q What effect does vowel modification have?
A It tends to change the resonance placement of the vowel sounds. This change brings in a coupling of the mouth cavity with the pharyngeal cavity, which makes possible a change to the high voice mechanism. This allows for the vibration of the front part of the vocal cords and the dampening of the back part.
Q What is this called?
A One term for this process is covering; another, closing the voice.
Q Does the register theory follow any definite pattern?
A Generally speaking, yes. The average individual potentially has a low, middle, and a high voice. When vocalizing on a broad ah vowel sound in at least a mezzo-forte tone, and beginning on the average, normal pitch of the speaking voice, an individual can vocalize approximately two octaves. About an octave above the speaking pitch there will be a slight change in resonance placement, which has been called the first lift; again, about a fourth or a fifth higher, there will be another change in resonance placement, which has been called the second lift. The term “lift” is based on the sensation of the tone being higher in the head and should not be confused with resonance.
Q Does this pattern make any sense scientifically?
A It is my belief that the range of the singing voice follows the overtone or harmonic theory of an octave, a fourth or a fifth, and a third or a fourth -a total of two octaves. I believe that the average, normal person has potentially a range of at least two octaves above the average, normal pitch of the speaking voice.
Q If that is the case, why don’t more individuals have two octaves range?
A The first reason is that singing throughout this range, particularly in the high voice, calls for technique, a way of doing it. Since we are not born with technique, we must be taught one. Then there are comparatively few teachers who know how to teach singing in the high voice mechanism. Even those who can teach it are confronted with unbelievers, who, because the tone sounds different, because the vowels are modified and sound different, and because the tone feels different, think this technique is wrong.
Q Do artists follow this technique of singing in the high voice?
A To the best of my knowledge, most of them do. I can’t say that they are aware of how they do it, but I know it is impossible to sing the literature for a particular type of voice without it for any length of time.
Q It would seem to me that the register changes would be obvious to the average listener, and any student of singing could imitate them.
A The well-trained singer doesn’t show his register changes. The average student will say that there were no changes. In imitating what he thinks he hears, the student will try to sing open, that is without change, throughout his range.
Q Can you say that these changes in register come at exact places on the scale?
A The first lift tends to be quite definite. This is basically the middle of the singer’s singing range. The second lift is a variable, depending on the vowel sung, and upon the loudness with which it is sung. The vowel-sounds tend to modify or close in this order: ee, oo, ay, oh and ah. They tend to modify or close earlier in the scale when sung softly.
Q How do the chest and head qualities, and the thick and thin, or the heavy
and light mechanisms, fit into the pattern of the low, middle, and high registers?
A There seems to be considerable confusion about it. This is due to the fact that the registers can be made to overlap, that is, the low register quality can be carried into the middle register; or the middle register quality into the low or the high register; or the high register quality into the middle register. The term for this is “mixed registration.”
Q Is this good or bad?
A Overlapping may be said to be good if it is not carried too far. The idea of overlapping is to blend the qualities of the different registers into an even scale, so that the singer sounds like the same person through out his vocal range, without the register changes showing. It may be said to be bad if there are noticeable changes in quality, and obvious changes in registers, and if the singer’s range is limited, either in the high or low registers.
Q How do you go about establishing an even scale?
A Through the use of vocalization,- singing scales, arpeggios and portamento sin normal quality, using only one vowel sound for each exercise, open ay, oh, or ah, in a mezzo-forte voice. The same position of the lips and the mouth should be maintained without strain or rigidity, so that changes in voice quality due to changes in registers are hardly noticeable.
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