Extended Vocal

Techniques:
The New Bel Canto?

educated opinions may hold, unsafe, radical

usage of the voice, or in other words, inhuman.
They are non-conventional in terms of the
traditional bel canto method, but are, more
often than not, sounds we experience in
everyday life or at least know we are capable of
producing.
Daniel Albright notes in Modernism and
Music that the extended performer is a
relatively new concept, and it is logical that in
addition to experimenting with the
performance of a work visually, aurally, and
physically, a composer should want to extend
the use of the voice into speech to balance the
performance aesthetic. The result was that
singers such as Cathy Berberian, Roy Hart,
Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jan DeGaetani, and Joan
La Barbara, in collaboration with composers
like Luciano Berio, Morton Feldman, Peter
Maxwell Davies, John Cage, and Morton
Subotnick, experimented with all aspects of
vocal production and discovered exactly how
far the human voice could go. Through a
more detailed exploration of some of the more
common techniques they established, we will
observe that they are nothing more than the
result of a desire to explore the full range of
the human instrument and the creative
possibilities of contemporary expression.
For convenience, I have categorized
the techniques into classes of graduated
difficulty and remoteness. Some of the pieces
I have chosen to exemplify each class include
techniques from other classes, but I have tried
to discuss each piece in terms of how I think it
is most striking.
We begin with the most accessible of
classes the vocal hybrids and speech-sounds.
These include but are not limited to
Sprechstimme, recitation, speech, shouts,
laughter, crying, and whispering. Recitation is
simply the declamation of a text over music,
which may be pitched indeterminately or not.
The most obvious instance of this is
Sprechstimme.
Schoenberg's piece, Pierrot
Lunaire, is the first and best example of this
technique. Composed in 1912 near the end of
his atonal period, the piece explores the

By Danielle Buonaiuto
Students and scholars of voice and
vocal literature have a veritable wealth of music
at their fingertips, spanning 500 years and
developing what we now refer to as bel canto
technique. This music is part of the canon of
music literature for the voice from which we
draw for recitals, auditions, and performances.
However, at its introduction, this music was
revolutionary and previously uncharted
territory- at one time, audiences would not
have recognized the melodies so familiar to us
now, and indeed would have been shocked and
excited to hear the developments that were
unfolding before their eyes.
Our bel canto school is so well
established that we have long since accepted
these works and techniques as standards, tried
and true. It is very easy to forget that aside
from this familiar repertoire there is an evergrowing literature of new music, complete with
intriguing compositional techniques and vocal
productions. We refer to these productions as
extended vocal techniques.
Schoenbergs experimentation with
Sprechstimme in Pierrot Lunaire opened doors for
composers and vocalists alike. Suddenly, it
seemed, there were no holds barred, and we
now have music such as Ligetis Aventures,
Berios Sequenza III and Circles, and Joan La
Barbaras countless experimental sound
paintings. Extended techniques appearing in
these works and others, include, besides
Sprechstimme, laughter, crying, shouts,
whispers, glottal and tongue clicks and stops,
inverse phonation, speech, extremities of
range, timbral variations, deletion of vibrato,
vowel morphing and muting, whistling,
microtones, reinforced harmonics, and
multiphonics.1 They are not, as some less
1Sharon

Mabry, Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal Music

(New York: Oxford University, 2002), Part II.

1

possibilities of the German melodrama (a piece

with a declaimed text over music).2 Since the
voice is not restricted to certain pitches and
productions, it has expressive freedom and
more accurate depiction of emotions.
Unfortunately for us, Schoenberg does
not specify in his foreword to the piece how
exactly one is to produce the desired effect,
only what that effect is. He notes:

It can be argued that without the ability to

move freely between notes and use the voice to
inflect the text so creatively, the poetry would
not bear as much weight.
Occasionally, a composer will insert a
section of truly spoken text, as is the case in I
Hate Music by Leonard Bernstein, or Recital I for
Cathy by Luciano Berio, which is a monologue
with interspersed sung sections.5
This
technique allows the singer to extend his or her
performance into more intimate relations with
the audience -- being spoken to is an entirely
different feeling than being sung to. In
addition, it brings the performance into the
realm of acting, in the spirit of the move
toward theatricality so popular with postWorld War II composers.6
Other speech-sounds appear frequently
in
works
of
varying
degrees
of
experimentation. Cathy Berberians Stripsody
and Luciano Berios Sequenza III for voice are
two pieces whose meaning rests on the
understanding of the listener of the
humanness of the subject matter and
character.
Stripsody is intended to be
performed as though the singer is a radio
announcer who needs to communicate without
props the happenings of a series of well-known
comic strips. To do this, Berberian created a
graphic score in collaboration with Roberto
Zamarin, which leaves time and pitch
somewhat open to interpretation and notes,
Whenever possible, gestures and body
movements should be simultaneous with the
vocal gestures.7
The result is that the
performer creates a world of onomatopoeia
and pantomime that if done effectively, is
humourous and really quite fascinating. The
exclamations (BLAM!, growls, declaimed
text, animal sounds, for example) are all
produced at a relatively low, medium, or high
pitch, depending on the stave on which they
appear, and in the performers comfortable

To emphasize fully the contrast between the

sung note and the spoken note, whereas the sung note
preserves the pitch, the spoken note gives it at first, but
abandons it either by rising or falling immediately
after... The difference between ordinary speech and a
manner of speech that may be embodied in musical form
is to be clearly maintained. But again, it must not be
reminiscent of song.3
This implies that Schoenberg desired
each spoken pitch to be connected by a
glissando in the direction of its following pitch,
so that the note is iterated on the correct pitch
but immediately leaves it and leads into the
next. The only way to do this and to achieve a
spoken sound at the same time is to delete
vibrato. (We will discuss straight-tone singing
in more detail later.) In addition to a straight
tone, vowels with more speech-like
formations- that is, less space in the mouth and
more relaxed pronunciation of diphthongsand registral integration will contribute to the
declamatory quality essential to the production
of Sprechstimme.
As previously noted, the ability of the
singer to explore the territory between the
notes is what makes this particular technique
so exciting. Although some singers choose to
disregard the instructions completely and sing
it how they please, performances like that of
Christine Schafer, that are accurate musically
and technically, convey the unfolding drama in
such a manner that the listener understands the
dark, chilling undertones of Pierrot's words.4
2Sharon

78.

Grammophon, 1998).
Luciano Berio, Recital I For Cathy, Weill, Berio and
Niles, (RCA,1995).
6Daniel Albright, Modernism and Music (Chicago:
University of Chicago, 2004), 145.
7 Cathy Berberian, Stripsody (New York: C.F. Peters,
1966), Foreword.

Mabry, Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal Music,

3Arnold

Schoenberg, Vorwort, Pierrot Lunaire

(Universal, 1914).
4 Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, Christine Schafer,
soprano, Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche
2

speaking production. Events like a sneeze, a

single sob, several shouted tones, and some
laughter-like sounds also occur, making the
communication of the graphics realistic,
understandable, and expressively creative.8
It is a good time to discuss at this point
that much freedom is given in a graphic score
to the interpretation of the performer. It is
interesting to observe, although Cathy
Berberian created a performance practice for
pieces like this, how the reading of the new
generation of avant-garde singers will differ.
Linda Hirst, herself a noted performer of
avant-garde music, comments in her essay
Alternative Voices, the individual
sensibility and technical command which each
new performer brings to its interpretation and
the realisation of the vocal symbols means an
enlargement of the original tradition.9 Not
every singer will produce these generic speechsounds in the same fashion; the beauty of these
particular effects is that they are flexible,
adaptable to the abilities and expressive
concerns of each individual performer.
Sequenza III for Voice differs in this
regard in that it includes a 2-page glossary of
Berios notation, indicating his desire for the
piece to be performed in essentially the same
fashion every time. I include this piece in the
category of speech-sounds because although it
includes virtually every other effect I will
discuss, such as timbral variation, inverse and
pressed phonation, vowel morphing and
muting, and phonemes, the beauty of the piece
is its human element- its communication of the
emotional state and psychological nuances of
its female character. The manner in which
tones are whispered or spoken, shouted or
sobbed at various points in the score emulates
the way this woman might communicate the
same things in a monologue. Voiced breathing
(as in crying), laughter, actual sobs, and
muttered and whispered segments are also
utilised by Berio. In terms of the contrast
between sung and spoken tones, the glossary

states, Although the borderline between

speaking and singing voice will often be
blurred in performance, the vocal actions
written on one line are spoken while those
written on three or five lines are sung.10 This
implies Berio wishes there to be expressive
freedom for the performer to utter a given line
of sound at whatever point on the continuum
she sees fit; this is an interesting example of
creative license designed to expand the
possibilities of communication, even in a piece
where much of the notation dictates the
execution, as speech can be expanded by
singing as well as vice versa.
It goes without saying that these
techniques, given their flexibility and proximity
to everyday human sounds, are safe for any
singer to produce.11 They should be uttered
within comfortable ranges, without affect such
as vibrato or hard onset unless otherwise noted
(in which case, care should be taken under the
supervision of an experienced teacher), and
inflected as they would be in another setting.12
The category of vocal effects I called
thus because it includes sounds not normally
heard in Western vocal production, such as
glottal sounds and mouth clicks; sounds that
are unlunged or unvoiced such as
whistling; and sounds that do not correspond
to the normal idea of that particular
production, such as inverse and pressed
phonation and audible (heavy) breathing.13
Pieces that include these are Ligetis Aventures,
Viviers Love Songs, Cages Aria, and as
previously mentioned, Sequenza III.
In the case of Sequenza III and Love
Songs in particular, these effects are used as
communicative devices, whereas in the other
pieces they function more as musical devices.
It is not to say that Cage and Ligeti did not
want a character or story to emerge (that would
Luciano Berio, Sequenza III for Voice (London:
Universal, 1968), Foreword.
11 John Large and Thomas Murry, Studies of Extended
Vocal Techniques: Safety. (NATS Bulletin, May
1978), 32-34.s
10 Sharon Mabry, Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal
Music, 83, 122-124.
13 Trevor Wishart, Extended Vocal Techniques, The
Musical Times (Vol 121 May 1980), 313.
10

Ibid., Full Score, and Cathy Berberian, MagnifiCathy

(Wergo, 1995).
9 Linda Hirst and David Wright, Alternative Voices,
Cambridge Companion to Singing (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 193.
8

be inaccurate), but the effects in their pieces

serve the music before the character; vocal
extension in this case creates a new sonic world
for the listener to become immersed in, as
opposed to a character to get to know.
Glottal stops and mouth clicks are
things we are capable of doing, but may not
have thought to experiment with. In uttering a
word that begins with a vowel, most
Anglophones and Germans will make a slight
stop before iterating the initial sound. This is a
glottal stop, and it is used with varying force in
hard onsets leading to spoken or sung tones.
It can also be carried through the sound to
produce the gravelly tone as heard in singers
like Louis Armstrong.14 Referred to at times as
glottal overpressure, it is considered
relatively dangerous if not performed with care
and supervision, and awareness of its effect on
the singer.15
Mouth clicks can be performed in any
area of the mouth with the tongue or uvular
area. When performed with the tongue near
the alveolar ridge, it is the sound some people
use to call animals. Farther back on the hard
palette it begins to have a more hollow sound.
A click in the uvular area involves dropping the
tongue into the throat and has a darker
connotation due to its sounding more
dangerous (although in reality these sounds
are easy to produce). They can be modified
with the shape of the lips to lend brighter or
darker qualities.16
Whistling is used in many folk and
musical theatre songs, but is making more
appearances in avant-garde repertoire with or
without its usual jovial connotation; for
instance, a single whistled tone at the end of a
darker piece can impart an eerie quality. Most
people can whistle; its production is as one
would expect- pursed lips create the wind
channel, and the tongue articulates pitch. It
can be performed with or without vibrato but
this is usually specified.

Inverse phonation requires more

attention to production as it can be drying and
sometimes dangerous if not performed
correctly. The sound is chilling, and is used by
Berio in Sequenza III and also notably by Peter
Maxwell Davies in Eight Songs for a Mad King;
usually it imparts the idea that the performer is
communicating some sort of pain. It is created
by allowing the folds to phonate as one inhales,
with varying force.
A similar sound is
produced with the opposite mechanism, which
is overly pressed phonation.17 This is similar to
the sound one might make when attempting to
speak while lifting a heavy objectvery little
air is passed over the folds, which do not
vibrate but remain in almost constant
approximation. Again, the sound imparts a
feeling of duress or pain, and can be harmful if
done improperly. Mabry suggests it is best to
experiment with these techniques for short
periods of time under supervision of an
experienced teacher, and to keep the folds
lubricated at all times when executing these
effects.18
The last of these I intend to discuss is
audible, or heavy, breathing. It is most
effective when amplified, due to its lack of
natural resonance. Sequenza III, Love Songs,
Eight Songs for a Mad King, and Aventures all
explore the possibilities of this effect. It can
bring an emotionally charged, dark, eerie, or
erotic quality to music, depending on how it is
used. It is produced in the same manner as
one would sigh heavily or gasp audibly, and
can be extended or shortened. Again, this
effect tends to be drying to the vocal folds and
should be practiced sparingly and with water
on hand.19
Although with this category we start to
see sounds that require more consideration by
the performer in terms of accurate execution,
safety, and technique, they still remain in good
favour with performers of avant-garde music,
who have learned to find ways for their own
voices to safely deliver the music. Therefore,

John Large and Thomas Murry, Studies of Extended

Vocal Techniques: Safety. 31.
15 Ibid, 34.
16 Sharon Mabry, Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal Music,
136.

17

Joan Logue, Extended Vocal Techniques. NATS

Journal (Nov-Dec 1988), 10.
18 Sharon Mabry, Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal Music,
132.
19 Ibid, 132.

14

these effects remain in the vocabulary of avantgarde composers and performers, and serve to
expand the sonorities composers imagine
would most accurately depict characters,
moods, or scenarios.
Timbral variations include everything
from falsetto, white tone, and other vocal
coloration to vowel muting and use of
phonemes. Timbral variation is something
easily experimented with and utilized by
composers; we are constantly playing with the
timbre of our voices, be it through imitating
the sound of another person or an animal or
through attempts to accurately communicate
our mood or meaning. It is used in virtually
every piece of music from this repertoire. Joan
La Barbara, a noted avant-garde performer, is
renowned for her ability to imitate musical
instruments accurately, and this has been put
to use extensively in her sound paintings and
her work early on in her career for Philip
Glass.20 John Cage frequently asks singers to
delete vibrato for his works, notably Aria and
A Flower. Works such as Phonemes pour Cathy by
Henri Pousseur use only sounds built from
combinations of IPA characters, making the
possibilities of sound endless.
Vowel
morphing and muting create continuums
between pure vowels, so that there is infinite
freedom to experiment at the discretion of the
performer.
The effect of deleting vibrato is useful
in pieces where tuning is essential (such as
Stimmung by Stockhauesen, which asks singers
to produce the overtone series of the B flat
below the bass clef) or where the composer
requires a certain aesthetic to be unobstructed
by bel canto (the case with the
aforementioned Cage pieces, which are for
voice and closed piano).21 The main concern
with deletion of vibrato is a tendency to engage
in pressed phonation or physical tension while
attempting to execute straight tone; the idea is
not to try to sing without vibrato but to let
oneself. Isolating head tone is also somewhat of

a tension management problem for some

singers; attempting this without visual feedback
from a mirror or the help of a teacher is not
recommended, as is logical. However, when
done correctly, these techniques are not
difficult and can be executed for longer periods
of time with no more vocal strain than
production with normal vibrato.
The
possibilities a voice offers a composer by being
versatile in this manner are indispensable in
some cases.
Composers work with non-textual
vocal works has opened an entirely new world
of expression, compositionally, sonically, and
vocally. Without text, music is not required to
have programmatic meaning- but beyond that,
the voice is no longer restricted to dictated
phonetic shapes and can create any experience
possible from infinite combinations of possible
sounds.
The use of phonemes is selfexplanatory- the singer makes the shapes
required with normal production unless asked
to do otherwise. Vowel morphing and muting
is more interpretive. The singer is given a
certain length of time to travel from one pure
vowel shape to the other seamlessly, or to go
from a closed mouth position to a pure vowel
shape or vice versa. The effect is exciting; it is
amazing to the uninitiated that the human
voice is capable of such resonance and variety.
These productions are definitely safe
and serve to extend the sonic possibilities of
both the voice and the composition in which
they occur. The fascination that avant-garde
composers have with timbre makes it essential
for a singer wanting to perform this repertoire
to be able to manipulate his or her voice in
these fashions, due to the abundance of
timbral effects required for any given
composition.
The last category I will discuss is one I
consider an exception to the rules I have so far
exemplified in the realm of extended vocal
techniques. The virtuosity required to perform
Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell
Davies and Versch ber Schwiene by Hans
Werner Henze is definitely in the realm of the
extended voice, but not in the same league at
all. These pieces were written for Roy Hart,

Joan La Barbara, Voice is the Original Instrument.

Contemporary Music Review (Vol 21, No 1, 2002),
36-37.
21 Linda Hirst and David Wright, Alternative Voices,
Cambridge Companion to Singing, 195.
20

and extraordinary reciter with an alleged 8

octaves to his name and formidable versatility.
He indeed produced actual chords with his
voice, a technique we call multiphonics. Other
singers capable of this are Joan La Barbara and
Julius Eastman. The fact that we can name
just two or three people capable of this type of
production (La Barbara does not perform
works as Hart and Eastman do) should stand
to explain why these pieces, and these
vocalists, should not be considered within the
reasonable realm of compositional and vocal
possibility. Once in a while there will be a
singer capable of performing Eight Songs, but
the work is by no means in the canon of
baritone literature. Roy Hart, able to carry off
extremity of range and multiphonics in
addition to his zealous use of inverse and
pressed
phonation,
glissando,
audible
breathing, and many of the other effects we
have discussed, at extreme levels, could not
have created the mad world of King George
III without the full use of his vocal prowess.22
This, the most striking and provocative
example of extended expression, truly stands
alone.
Other techniques, perhaps less extreme
but just as interesting, include reinforced
harmonics (that is, manipulation of formants
by channeling air and sound through different
resonant cavities), the circular breathing La
Barbara uses in her pieces, and her work with
microtones.23 These techniques are more
accessible to other singers, and indeed are
utilized in some standard repertoire, but due to
their selective nature (not everyone can breathe
circularly) are worth mentioning but not
considered within the standard pedagogy.
With the avant-garde repertoire for
voice only growing, the possibilities for vocal
productions remain undefined. It is only
logical to include these new techniques in the
standard pedagogy, along with traditional bel
canto method, because of their pervasiveness
in the important literature of the twentieth and

twenty-first centuries. A well-rounded vocalist

cannot ignore the repertoire of new music, and
indeed should be aware of the possibilities of
his or her own voice, as cultural interest turns
more and more to new music. Aside from
safety considerations that are simply
pedagogical factors to take into consideration,
as any method of production has, extended
vocal techniques are not far off from accessible
and already-familiar sounds and productions,
and their usage has so expanded the potential
of composition for the voice that it is a travesty
to ignore them. It is my hope that as a new
generation of singers grows into its own, this
music will enter the canon of vocal literature
and the techniques of which it consists, the
standard pedagogy of the modern vocal studio.

The Essential Role

of Interpretation in
Singing
By Karla Dickieson
To
achieve
flawless
technical
proficiency and agility in singing is one
important quality of an artist. If one desires to
be a truly successful singer, however, she must
aspire to the highest level of artistry which
comes only from a true understanding of both
the score and text, and a personal
interpretation of the song expressed in a
sincere and honest manner. A song presented
in this way results in magnetism onstage; a
performer who has the attention of all
audience members focused on her at all times
during a performance. A true artist gives more
than just a technically flawless performance.
For this reason, it is possible that an audience
can be moved more by a less advanced singer
who sings with intent, sincerity and a true

Paul Griffiths, Peter Maxwell Davies, The

Contemporary Composers. (London: Robson
Books, 1981), 74.
23 Joan La Barbara, Voice is the Original Instrument,
42.
22

understanding of what they are singing, than by

a further advanced and technically flawless
performance by a singer who exhibits no
emotional attachment to their repertoire.
Singing with perfected technique alone is not
enough; personal interpretation and expression
of vocal music is not an option, but a necessity
if one hopes to enjoy a successful career as a
singer.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current
English (1964) defines the word interpret as
[to] expound the meaning of (abstruse words,
writings, dreams, etc.); make out the meaning
of; bring out the meaning of, render, by artistic
representation of performance.24 Harry
Plunket Greene opens his book, Interpretation in
Song, by stating that [i]nterpretation is the
highest branch of the singers art.25 Van A.
Christy (1974), defines interpretation as simply
the act of musical expression or
reproduction.26 Clifton Ware (1998), in his
book, Basics of Vocal Pedagogy goes further to
define interpretation as the act of explaining
or clarifying an art works meaning (what it is
about) according to the artistic intentions of
the composer, the textual source, and the
performer, in that order.27 In his book, Singing
& Imagination, Thomas Hemsley adds that
[s]ingers are not free to give an individual
interpretation of a poem, while ignoring what
the composer has done; nor free to sing the
composers music, while ignoring the words
which make clear the thoughts and feelings of
which that music is an expression.28 All of

the definitions come to the same conclusion,

though some look deeper than others:
interpretation involves studying the poetry and
music, and then relating to them in a way
which dictates how the song will be expressed.
The elevated and desired level of
artistry which comes with the interpretation
and expression of vocal music is accomplished
in many ways. A singer should already have a
good foundation with regards to technical
ability before attempting to add a level of
interpretation to the music. Plunket Greene
(1919), suggests that [t]echnique must be the
singers servant, not his master.29 In other
words, a singers technique should be sufficient
in terms of breathing, support, and
equalization of registers to allow for the
imagination to take over the song. Hemsley
(1998), suggests that one should not begin to
sing, until there is a clear picture in their mind
of what they intend to communicate through
singing.30
Before the first note of the
accompaniment has been played, the singer
should already possess intent towards what she
is about to communicate. Even the initial
breath should be guided by a visualization of
the phrase which is to be sung and what is to
be communicated to the audience through it.
Hemsley (1998) adds that it is the impulse to
sing which determines how we breathe which
stimulates us to take a breath appropriate to
what is to be sung.31 For example, when one
is singing a very tragic song, the breathing
might be gasp-like, reflecting the emotional
state which the character expressing the poetry
is feeling at that moment. Imagination can also
help singers with technical issues such as poor
breath management. If a singer is having
trouble getting through a phrase because she is
running out of breath, imagining the phrase
and delivering it with intent may eliminate the
problem. Peterson (1966) agrees that many
problems of breathing disappear when the
singers
attention
is
focused
upon
interpretation and musicianship.32 In these

Fowler, H.W., & F.G. Fowler. (ed.) The concise oxford

dictionary of current english
(1964). London, England: Oxford University
Press. p. 637
25 Plunket, Harry G. Interpretation in song. (1919).
Toronto: The McMillan Co. of
Canada, Ltd. p.1
26 Christy, Van A. Expressive singing: Volume 1. (1974).
Dubuque, Iowa: WM. C. Brown
Company
Publishers. p.189
27 Ware, Clifton. Basics of vocal pedagogy: the foundations and
process of singing.
(1998). U.S.A.: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
p.1
28 Hemsley, Thomas. Singing & imagination: A human
approach to a great musical
tradition. (1998). New York: Oxford University
Press Inc. p.114
24

Plunket, p.5
Hemsley, p.47
31 Hemsley, p.100
32 Peterson, Paul W. Natural singing and expressive
conducting. (1966). North Carolina: John F. Blair. p.19
29
30

ways, it is clear that the breath is being used for

expressive purposes, guided by the singers
interpretation of the song.
So how does one go about developing
effective interpretive skills for singing? The
easiest way to begin the interpretation process
is by studying the poetry to which the song is
set. The presence of text helps to make the
intent of both the poet and the composer more
obvious to the singer. The text becomes a
springboard from which the singer can launch
herself into the interpretation of the song.
Clifton Ware suggests a thorough
understanding
of
poetry,
including
denotation/connotation, imagery, figurative
language, allusion, meter, tone, and pattern,
can help singers to better understand and
express not only the sound but the meaning of
words in songs.33 Peterson (1966) seems to
agree when he states,

what the poet is saying, they cannot be in a

position to make their singing appropriate to
the sentiments being expressed. They cannot
interpret the music in anything but the most
generalized and superficial way.35 He goes on
to say that singers must, in effect, in the
moment of performing, be able to love the
audience, and must genuinely wish to share
with them the experience, through singing, of
the poets and composers inspiration.36
It is necessary that singers first attempt
to fully understand the intent of both the
composer and poet before adding a personal
interpretation of a song. Peterson (1966)
offers, to become a true artist, the singer must
study the text and music so thoroughly that he
thinks and interprets with the same sensitivity
as the poet and composer who inspired the
song.37 Only after both the text and the
music of the score have been studied in detail
can one respond sensitively and accordingly
communicate sensitively with an audience in
performance.
First, one must strive to find the story
in the song. By reading the poetry and
translations, much is revealed with regards to
the characters, setting, situation, and emotions.
Robert Caldwell and Joan Wall (2001) explore
this concept and suggest this:

Just as the composer is inspired to set the text to music,

the singer should be equally as inspired to convey the
message through song. Imagination provides the singer
with the ability to visualize the actions, characters,
setting, and similar details. The inflections of the voice,
tonal colors, changes of dynamics, and all the various
factors of vocal artistry evolve from poetic sensitivity.
The voice is the reflector of the imagination.34
When singing songs in languages other
than the singers native tongue, one should
always do a word-for-word translation as well
as a poetic translation.
Word-for-word
translations are of great importance, as they
provide the singer with a true understanding of
the words which she is singing. This allows for
appropriate word emphasis and phrase
structure, as well as proper flow of the phrase.
The composers interpretation of the poetry
generally
emphasizes
these
previously
mentioned elements, but it is not enough for a
singer to rely strictly on the composers intent.
Hemsley suggests that until singers know

We want our student to find the story in her song, even

if the story is merely suggested. When she works to
render a story from the songs text and music, the
student gives herself a conceptual and emotional
structure she can use to sequence and pace her inner
activity. When she begins to sense the story within or
surrounding the song, she starts to sharpen the complex
details of the human condition the very ideas we want
her to express through the song. She awakens her own
deep currents of emotions, ideas, relationships, and
struggles, which release from within her and play out in
her interior life, ultimately forming the visible and
audible distinctions of the score. And when the
audience members sense a story or even its raw outlines
in those distinctions, they ready themselves to experience
meaningful details of the human condition, and they

Ware, Clifton. Basics of vocal pedagogy: the foundations and

process of singing. (1998). U.S.A.: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. p.2
33

Hemsley, p.113
ibid, p.190
37 Peterson, p.50
35
36

34

Peterson, p.54-55
8

perceive deeper meaning in the song.38

be required to sing many songs, each

projecting very different mood. This requires
significant concentration, and a mental switch
must occur between songs which is obvious to
the audience. These changes in mood will
result in changes in the vocal colours and
qualities displayed by the singer. Christy notes
that all songs require an appropriate tone
color to best express their general mood and
goes on to suggest that,

Caldwell and Wall, go further to suggest a twostep method for interpreting the text of a song
in their book, Excellence in Singing:
1. Have your student read the text for its content and
develop her own interpretation of its meaning.
a.) Ask her to think about who is singing to
whom. Have her decide whether she is singing
to a specific person, to a group, or to herself.
b.) Ask her to explore the intent of the singer
what prompts the singer to say these words?
2. Then ask her to read the words aloud with a
meaningful dramatic interpretation.39

It is as important a resource for a singer to use various

shades of tone in interpreting songs as it is for a painter
to have at his command the full range of the color chart.
It is not enough for the singer or painter to have all
shades of color available, however: they must have the
even more important artistic sensitivity to select just the
right shade at the right place. When the singer is able
on a phrase, even on a single note, to express any
divergent sentiment such as joy-sorrow, passion-apathy,
love-hatred,
dignity-frivolity,
longing-indifference,
tragedy-humor, he truly can move the listener to the core
of his being. Then and only then is the singer a real
artist.42

A very important step in the

interpretation of song is an understanding of
the character who is singing. One must look at
who the character is, what their motivation for
singing is, who they are singing to, and what
their emotional state is at the time the song is
sung.40 These elements may not always be
overt within the score. This then allows for
singers to imagine their own character qualities
and motivations, adding a deeper level to the
song which they are singing. Some of the most
moving performances are given by singers who
look deeper into the poetry and identify
intimately with the character who is singing by
drawing upon their own life experiences and
emotions, thus adding depth to the
interpretation. Christy (1975), concurs that
since finest details of expression are beyond
the capacity of the composer to notate in the
score, they are the result of the singers
projecting his own personality, his own
individual
thoughts,
emotions,
and
understandings of the song.41
When singing a full recital program, or
within the framework of an opera, a singer may

Once a singer has explored the intent

of both the composer and poet of a song, she
is free to add her own interpretation and
emotions. When a singer gives a sincere,
honest performance of a song which has been
prepared in this way, the audience will be
transfixed on the performer and moved by the
performance. Plunket Greene (1919) calls this
phenomenon magnetism, and suggests that it is a
special gift. He goes on to suggest magnetism
is the indefinable something which passes from
singer to audience and audience to singer alike;
for the audience which the singer holds in the
hollow of his hand, holds him as surely in its
own.43 Hemsley (1998), believes that a
magnetic singer is mentally drawing the
audience, or their partners to the stage, to
themselves rather than trying to importune44.
Magnetism could also be seen as effective
storytelling on the part of the singer. Christy
concurs that the singer must be essentially a

Caldwell, Robert, & Joan Wall. Excellence in singing:

multilevel learning and
multilevel teaching. Volume 4: becoming an artist. (2001).
Redmond, WA: Caldwell Publishing Company. p.78

38

ibid, p.60
ibid, p.81
41 Christy, Van A. Expressive singing: Volume 2. (1975).
Dubuque, Iowa: WM. C. Brown
Company
Publishers. p.111
39
40

ibid, p.122
Plunket, p.9
44 Hemsley, p.33
42
43

good storyteller. Telling the story must be so

vivid and interesting that attention is held
continuously from beginning to end.45
Sincere, appropriate gestures, facial
expressions and other physical details
combined with details of vocal effect help to
make a performer magnetic. Peterson (1966)
discusses the importance of these physical
details when he writes, the face must always
portray the mood of the song. The eyes,
especially, are effective means for artistic
interpretation.46 These effects combined with
sufficient technique and sincere interpretation
lead to an enjoyable and memorable
performance. Fields (1977) summed up the
idea of total expression when he said,
expression in song, therefore, demands more
than technical competence. It requires growth
of character, reinforced by a mature
understanding that can interpret and
communicate
the
thrilling
dramatic,
philosophical, and esthetic content of a musical
composition to the audience.47
It is not sufficient to sing with
perfected technique alone; a personal
interpretation and expression of vocal music is
not an option, but is extremely necessary if one
hopes to enjoy a successful career as a singer.
Interpreting a song involves exploring the
intent of both the poet and composer, then
adding an interpretation which draws on
personal experiences and emotions and
combining these things to create a mood and
atmosphere for the piece. This results in
appropriate dynamic changes, structure of
phrases and differences in tonal colour which
lead to a performance which is certain to move
an audience more deeply than the most
technically impressive performer ever could.

Aggiustamento
in Male and
Female Voices
By Julie Grieve
The skilled singer, trained in the bel
canto technique, appears to have a single
register. There are, however, several events
which occur at various regions of this
apparently uniform voice. While there are
several different opinions regarding the
registers of both the male and female voices,
there is one generally accepted view of the
twentieth century. This approach states that
there are specific registral events that take place
in every voice. With the male voice, he sings in
the voce di petto (chest voice) until the primo
passaggio. The primo passaggio and secondo passaggio
are register transition points, with the zona di
passaggio (the passage zone) between them.48
During the zona di passaggio, he sings in the voce
mista (mixed voice), and he sings in the voce di
testa (head voice) above the second passaggio.49
Likewise, in the female voice, she sings in the
chest voice, which terminates with the lower
passaggio (similar to the males primo passaggio),
followed by the zona di passaggio ending with the
upper passaggio (similar to the males secondo
passaggio), followed by the females upper
range.50 It is important to note that within the
zona di passaggio in the female voice, there is the
lower middle voice and the upper middle
voice. The concept of vowel modification, or
aggiustamento, which is the focus of this paper, is
used to unify the registers of both the male and
female voices.
While there are several
similarities between aggiustamento in male and
female voices, there are distinct differences as
well. There are several schools of vocal
pedagogy which share, to some extent, the idea
of vowel modification, yet the degrees and

Christy 1974, p.194

Peterson, p.58
47 Fields, Victor A. Foundations of the singers art. (1977).
New York: Vantage Press
Inc. p. 265
45

48Richard

Miller, The Structure of Singing- System and Art in

Vocal Technique, (Belmont, CA: Schirmer, 1996), 115.
49Ibid., 118.
50Ibid., 134.

46

10

voice.55 This concept is not given much

priority in the French school since the singer
focuses less on matters of registration and
instead appreciates his or her natural sound.
Therefore, this singer finds little necessity to
modify . . . [their] sound, and tends to apply
the principles of vowel modification hardly at
all.56 It would appear that the French
pedagogical approach to vowel modification is
almost opposite to the Germanic approach.
Singers from the English school use a
technique that tends to fall somewhere
between the French and the German
approaches. Miller argues that the English
school adopts somewhat Italianate pedagogies
as their national aesthetic, and so in the case
of vowel modification, this means avoidance in
general of the heavy alteration of the German
school and the whiteness of the French
school.57
A singer using the English
technique does have a tendency toward vowel
distortion as pitch mounts58 because the
brilliance of the upper register, which is heard
in voices trained in the Italian school, is lost.
The Italian school, with its focus on bel
canto, uses the term aggiustamento for the
technique of vowel modification. It is a much
less drastic method of achieving register
uniformity in comparison to deckung. As well,
in most cases, vowel modification is induced
only near the secondo passaggio point.59 In
contrast to the German school, which
advocates extreme muscular tensions in order
to accomplish vowel modification, the
physiological alterations within the vocal tract
[i.e. pharyngeal distention and laryngeal
depression] which the German sees as
concomitant to vowel modification are avoided
in the Italian school.60 D. Ralph Appelman
offers an excellent description of the purpose
of aggiustamento:

approaches at which they accomplish it vary.

In the German school, the concept of
vowel modification is termed deckung. The aim
of deckung is relatively the same as that of
aggiustamento: to achieve unity between the
registers, while maintaining consistent
resonance. Deckung occurs from darkening
the vowel by altering its acoustical shape
through increased laryngeal depression and
pharyngeal enlargement; the vocalis muscles
are encouraged to greater activity as a result of
escalated muscular antagonisms in the torso
and neck.51 Heavy deckung, where there is an
extreme depression of the larynx, may be
harmful for the voice. Dr. Richard Miller
states that in this pedagogy, the tendency may
be marked so that an arpeggio (1-3-5-8-5-3-1)
executed on () . . . in the key of F will sound
to an uninitiated ear as though it were ( - o - u - o - - ) . . . although the same vowel
is indicated throughout.52
Using this
technique, if a soprano was to sing a C major
scale beginning on middle C on the vowel [],
upon reaching the zona di passaggio the vowel
will have already reached a high degree of
neutralization, regardless of its actual phonetic
shape.53 Evidently, deckung, although it aims
to achieve resonance and unity, vocal qualities
all singers wish to have, it accomplishes these
things by extreme and potentially hazardous
methods.
In the French school, there is less
emphasis on the appoggio technique, which is
one of the fundamentals of the Italian
approach to singing and as a result, the
general weight of [the voice is] lighter.54
There is, however, an historic parallel between
the voce mista of the Italian school and the voix
mixte of the French school: both look for a
gradual modification of the vowel . . . [to
achieve an] even scale throughout the singing

55Richard

Miller, National Schools of Singing- English, French,

German, and Italian Techniques of Singing Revised, (Lanham,
MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1997), 137.
56Ibid.
57Ibid.
58Ibid., 138.
59Richard Miller, National Schools of Singing- English, French,
German, and Italian Techniques of Singing Revised, (Lanham,
MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1997), 136.
60Ibid.

51Richard

Miller, National Schools of Singing- English, French,

German, and Italian Techniques of Singing Revised, (Lanham,
MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1997), 135.
52Ibid.
53Ibid.
54Ibid.,136.
11

embouchure.63
Although it may sound
complicated, the process of a gradual opening
of the mouth in order to adjust the vowel is
very natural.
As the mouth opens to
accommodate a rise in pitch, the vowel
naturally moves towards a neighbouring, more
neutral vowel: [i] to [I], [I] to [e], [e] to [], []
to [a], [a] to [ ], [ ] to [O], [O] to [U], [U] to
[u].64 Sundberg states: Some variability exists
between singers using different singing
techniques. In other words, some singers can
be expected to be considerably easier to
understand at high pitches than others.65 This
reflects the contrast between the several
schools of singing that exist, particularly the
differences between the Germanic and
Italianate teachings. As it was stated earlier,
severe vowel distortion may occur when using
deckung, whereas a slight alteration of the vowel
when employing aggiustamento achieves what
deckung aims for, without the muscular strain
and loss of vowel integrity.
The male voice and the female voice
share both similarities and differences when
modifying vowels. In the male voice, vowel
modification is used to maintain a consistent
timbre throughout the range of the voice and
thus avoid the feared break between
registers. Although it is chiefly the secondo
passaggio point that often frustrates a tenor, the
problem generally results from what has taken
place below it66 in the zona di passaggio. It is,
therefore, necessary to begin a very slight
degree of aggiustamento at the primo passaggio.
This allows him to have the chiaroscuro quality in
a relatively lower part of his range. As pitch
ascends, and there is a continued, but not
extreme, use of aggiustamento, the bright/dark
timbre is carried into the zona di passaggio, the
secondo passaggio, and the upper register. An
indication of the effectiveness of vowel

One of the objectives of the singers of bel canto was the

development of a vocal line that was pure, unbroken,
and uninterrupted. The transition of registers- either up
or down the scale- demanded a modification in the tonal
colour of the topmost notes to prevent them from
becoming disagreeable and harsh and to preserve the
quality of the vocal sound as well as an even tonal
line.61
As Appelman implies, a modification in
the tonal colour in the upper register is a
modification of the vowels.
The vowel
spectrum may be divided into two categories:
front or closed vowels and back or open
vowels. The closed vowels consist of [], [],
[], [] and []. The open vowels are [], [U],
[O], [ ], and []. In the centre of these two
groups are the neutral vowels: [] and [].
These types of vowels are significant because
of the timbres they produce when sung at high
pitches. When the singer is not making use of
aggiustamento, it may be noted that as pitch rises
the vocal timbre changes. In his or her upper
register the closed and open vowels produce
very different vocal sonorities. The close
vowels are rather shrill sounding since they
lack the chiaroscuro the Italian school advocates.
To avoid this undesirable vocal quality, one
must minimize the conjoining of high
harmonic partials [which are created naturally
by the shape of the vocal tract when singing
closed vowels,] and high pitch.62 The singer
achieves this by modifying the closed vowels in
the direction of their neighbour that is closer
to the neutral centre. Since the vocal tract
does not produce as many highly-resonant
partials for open vowels, the resulting timbre is
often too dark when sung at high pitches.
Aggiustamento corrects this problem by
modifying the vowel slightly towards a more
closed vowel, thus creating a balance of
chiaroscuro. It is most easily accomplished by
retaining the same tongue position and moving
the jaw. . . there is no need for [a] change of

63Arden

J. Hopkin, Vowel Equalization, Journal of

Singing- the Official Journal of the National Association of
Teachers of Singing 53, no. 3 (January-February 1997): 11.
64Richard Miller, Training Soprano Voices, (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 124.
65Johan Sundberg, The Science of the Singing Voice, (Dekalb,
IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1987), 117.
66Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices, (Belmont, CA:
Schirmer, 1993), 48-49.

61D.

Ralph Appelman, The Science of Vocal Pedagogy,

(Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press, 1974), 90.
62Richard Miller, Training Soprano Voices, (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 125.
12

modification is the quantity of performers who

employ it. Jussi Bjrling, for instance: when
listening to his recordings one is able to hear
how well-blended the upper registers are and
how critically important this is in order to
balance the male voice.67 Enrico Caruso also
understood the importance of vowel
modification in the Italian tradition68 in order
to maintain a healthy instrument. Che Gelida
Manina from Puccinis La Bohme is a prime
example of the process of aggiustamento in the
male, and in this case specifically, the tenor
voice. When singing the la speranza phrase
of this aria, the tenor continues to
differentiate the vowels [a] and [e], but the
modification process shows a spectral change
toward [ ] and [], or even [].69 When
comparing Roberto Alagna, Luciano Pavarotti,
and Jose Carreras performances of this aria,
one hears no vowel distortion. At the same
time as the audience can understand the lyrics,
the tenor maintains an even vocal timbre.
Each performance exemplifies the necessity
and beautiful results of vowel modification.
The female voice also reflects the importance
of aggiustamento.
Before going into depth regarding the
female voice and vowel modification, one must
acknowledge that each voice is unique.
Registral events do not occur in the exact same
location for every singer, whether male or
female. In the soprano voice, the lower
passaggio point typically occurs around Eb4 and
the upper passaggio point occurs around F#5.
Within this zona di passaggio, a mouth posture
that is too narrow in [the] upper middle range
will cause shrillness, [and] a mouth posture that
is too open in [the] lower middle range will
cause muddiness of timbre.70 Although the

mouth opens wider as pitch ascends and the

zygomatic area remains elevated, Miller
admonishes that grinning foolishly71 is not
the answer to migrating towards a more neutral
vowel. An excellent example of a singers use
of vowel modification is the phrase ti vo la
fronte incoronar from Susannas aria Deh, vieni,
non tardar from Mozarts Le Nozze di Figaro.
The first statement of incoronar begins at G4
and ascends to A5. At the beginning of this
phrase, the mouth remains only slightly more
open than it would by in speech until the
syllable -ro-, at which point a gradual
aggiustamento of the vowel begins: a subtle
increase in mouth aperture and jaw
lowering.72 Both Graziella Sciutti and Alison
Hagley who performed the role of Susanna,
have clear diction in their upper registers but
their vocal timbres do not change when
approaching or past the upper passaggio. It is
apparent that they make use of vowel
modification yet they do so subtly.
The primary difference between
aggiustamento in male and female voices is a
result of vocal acoustics. The fundamentals
exhibited in the female voice are different from
those of the male voice. As pitch rises, the
number of prominent harmonic partials
become . . . reduced [since] the fundamental is
raised.73
Because of this, the soprano
exhibits roughly only half the number of
overtones when singing her high C (C6) as
does the tenor when singing his high C (C5).74
The soprano, then, may be forgiven for having
slightly more distorted vowels in her upper
register than the tenor voice has, since her
voice has fewer upper partials which define
vowels. Miller argues: for that reason, vowel
definition at high pitch levels will undergo
more modification for her than for the male75
in order for her voice to get more harmonic
partials to define the vowel so the audience
may better understand what is being sung.

67David

L. Jones, Male Voice Protection:

Understanding the Cover, _ 2004,
http://www.voiceteacher.com/male_voice.html
(accessed February 1, 2004).
68Craig Timberlake, Practica Musicae: On Becoming
Caruso, Journal of Singing- the Official Journal of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing 52, no. 4 (March-April
1996): 35.
69Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices, (Belmont, CA:
Schirmer, 1993), 48.
70Richard Miller, Training Soprano Voices, (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 130.

71Ibid.,

134.
Miller, Training Soprano Voices (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 130.
73Ibid., 132.
74Ibid.
75Ibid.
72Richard

13

Performance Anxiety:
The Musicians
Struggle

In summation, aggiustamento is a
valuable technique within the Italian school.
In both the male and female voice, vowel
modification produces a consistency in vocal
colour: the chiaroscuro timbre. This consistent
timbre is created by slightly turning the vowel
that is being sung towards a more neutral
neighbour. It allows for uniformity of the
registers, creating the impression of an
apparently seamless voice. In the female voice,
however, the main difference is that there are
fewer vowel-defining upper partials the higher
the pitch. Understandably, the male voice,
since it is lower, has more overtones and so his
vowels (before applying vowel modification)
are better-defined than in the females upper
register. Therefore, he does not require the
same degree of aggiustamento that the female
singer does. Both male and female voices,
however, when employing aggiustamento,
epitomize the vocal quality the bel canto school
advocates.

By Beth Hrst
On some level, all performers,
including
musicians,
public
speakers,
magicians, dancers and actors, fear some aspect
of performing. Instrumentalists may fear
muscle spasms or shakes that would affect
positioning and fingering, woodwind players
and singers may fear trembling lips and jaws,
and all artists fear loss of concentration or
memory lapses.
Most performers have
anxieties over the factors they have little
control of.
An audiences reaction and
judgment are relevant sources of concern for
performers, and the fear of making public
mistakes is often overwhelming. A performer
may dread the outcome of the performance,
imagine failure, or go into the performance
with a dread of inaccuracies or other
shortcomings.76 The irony of the situation is
that this fear of the future (the impending
performance) affects the present performance
and results in a more negative outcome than if
the performer had had no, or less, initial fear.
Although a certain amount of performance
anxiety is normal, and perhaps even helpful, it
is when anxiety begins to limit or affect the
performance that it becomes a real point of
concern. The following will examine the
causes and effects of performance anxiety, as
well as a variety of solutions and treatments of
this common singers ailment.
An age old dilemma, anxiety has been
present in performance arguably since man
began to perform, though research into the
issues and effects of stage fright have only
recently become a social science.77
Early
Mark Ross Clark, Singing, Acting, and Movement in Opera:
A Guide to Singer-getic (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2002), 105.
77 Elizabeth Valentine, The Fear of Performance, in
Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding, ed. John
Rink. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
76

14

studies surrounding general performance

anxiety came out of the study of sports
psychology. However, musical performance
anxiety is unique, although related, to other
forms of public appearance anxieties.78
Deemed the musicians number one
enemy, stage fright is an often debilitating
effect on performance.79 Havas describes stage
fright as one of the most destructive elements
in the performing arts, be it acting, dancing,
singing, making a speech or playing an
instrument.80 Others define this condition as
the fear experienced before and during a
performance.
Valentines analysis of the
dilemma defines performance anxiety as the
experience
of
persisting,
distressful
apprehension about, and/or actual impairment
of, performance skills in a public context, to a
degree unwarranted, given the individuals
musical aptitude, training and level of
preparation.81 Performance anxiety, on its
most basic level, is simply a physical, mental
and emotional reaction to a stressful situation.
It is often associated with the broader category
of fear commonly referred to as social phobia,
such as fear of people or public situations.82
Performance anxiety meets the criteria for
being catigorised as a phobia since it is marked
by a persistent, unreasonable fear resulting in
intense distress.83
Performance anxiety is a conditioned,
habitual response; the fear associated with
performing is conditioned into the individual
after onset, and continues or even worsens
over time. Stage fright occurs through
thoughts
and
learned
responses
to
performance situations, and therefore is the
result of a pattern of behaviour developed by

the performer and repeated in every

performance situation.84 Like an addition, this
pattern of behaviour must be undone to treat
the habit. Fear must be disassociated with
performing in order to reduce stage fright.
The incidence of performance anxiety
is extremely common. Famous performers
who admittedly suffered from a significant
amount of performance distress include Maria
Callas, Caruso, Pablo Casals, Godowsky,
Vladimir Horowitz, Rachmaninoff and Barbara
Streisand.85 Professionals and amateurs are
equally affected; in this instance, experience
does not necessarily reduce stress. Although
there is evidence that anxiety can decrease with
time and additional experience, most
performers report generally consistent levels of
anxiety throughout their careers; even though
experience is gained, the expectations are
equally raised.86 A 1990s American study
found that 21% of American students of music
suffered from significant performance anxiety,
while another 40% suffered from moderate
anxiety and 30% reported moderate distress
and impairment in performance due to
anxiety. The remaining 9% reported that they
avoided performance opportunities all together
due to severe anxiety.
A more recent
American study of several thousand
professional musicians reported 24% of
musicians considered stage fright a hazard to
their health, and 16% reporting it as a serious
health problem.87 Another study of nearly all
the professional orchestra members in the
Netherlands
found
that
59%
of
instrumentalists were affected professionally
or personally by stage fright and that 10%
suffered anticipatory anxiety for weeks before
performances.88 Some experience stage fright

2002), 168.
Charlene Ryan, Gender Differences in Childrens
Experience of Musical Performance Anxiety,
Psychology of Music 32, no. 1 (2004): 90.
79 Kato Havas, Stage Fright: Its Causes and Cures (London:
Bosworth & Co. Ltd., 1973), 2.
80 Ibid., 2.
81 Valentine, 168.
82 Clark, 105.
83 Deborah Caputo Rosen, R.N., Ph.D. and Robert
Thayer Sataloff M.D., D.M.A., Psychology of Voice
Disorders (San Diego: Singular Publishing Group),
141.

Clark, 104.
Valentine, 158.
86 David Roland and Glenn D. Wilson, Performance
Anxiety, in The Science and Psychology of Music
Performance, ed. Richard Parncutt and Gary E.
McPherson. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002), 9.
87 Andr-Francois Arcier, Stage Fright, in Medical
Problems of the Instrumentalist Musician,
ed. Raoul Tubiana and Peter Camadio. (London: Martin
Dunitz Ltd., 2000), 507.
88 Roland., 48.

78

84
85

15

only on stage, while others experience anxiety

hours or even weeks before a performance.
Others experience anxiety even after the
performance is complete.89
Undeniably
common
in
most
performers, there is also evidence that
performance anxiety is far more prevalent and
severe in women.90 Critics of this theory
speculate that women simply report or admit
to having anxiety more often than men, not
that they actually suffer from higher levels. In
a Canadian study or child performers, findings
showed that boys heart rates rose much less
than girls pre-performance, but exceeded girls
heart rates during performance. By adulthood
however, men appear, in general, less physically
and emotionally affected by stage fright than
do women.91 Adult men and women also
display different methods of dealing with
anxiety in performance situations: women tend
to rely on emotionally-focused strategies,
whereas men tend to employ problem solving,
mentally-focused strategies.92
Solo performance unanimously trumps
group performance concerning a higher
amount of performance anxiety.93 Stage fright
has also been linked with particular personality
types and traits. For example, a perfectionist
or type-A personality (Myers-briggs Js) will
likely suffer from a greater amount of
performance anxiety seeing as their standards
may be higher; so is the case when comparing a
professional and student performer. It is
worthy to point out that self-prescribed
perfectionism
and
socially-prescribed
perfectionism (that which is imposed by
others) result in differing, though both high,
levels of performance anxiety. Those with
high socially-prescribed perfectionism exhibit
the highest levels of anxiety.94
Although obviously prevalent and
common, performance anxiety remains a taboo
subject, rarely addressed, by many musicians
and teachers alike. Although some performers

may admit to having some degree of

performance anxiety, this is particularly rare for
musicians, in comparison with theatrical and
dance performers.95 A genuine hush-hush
subject in the music world, most musicians fail
to admit they have any issue with nervousness,
as this may brand them as a less capable
performer, or make patrons or audiences
uncomfortable. Many try to hide their anxiety
from the public and other performers. There
is a certain amount of shame attached to this
most natural process. Singers may consider
stage fright to be embarrassing and a
weakness since visible signs of nervousness
could greatly affect a performance.
For
example, a very gifted performer can be stifled
by their anxiety and alternatively musicians
with perhaps less actual skill or musicianship
may advance faster or become more successful
due to their extremely comfortable and easeful
performance on stage.96 The management of
performance anxiety is most certainly a make
or break factor of success in the music
industry.97
For singers in particular, high levels of
anxiety can cause detrimental effects to
productive singing. Symptoms of performance
anxiety can be classified as physiological,
behavioural or mental. Seeing as performance
anxiety is a neuroendocrine response, physical
effects include palpitations, hyperventilation,
dry mouth, sweating, nausea, diarrhoea and
dizziness.98 In hearing tests carried out at the
University of Indiana by Dr. S. D. Curtis,
subjects were unable to make fine distinctions
in pitch when agitated, resulting in an out of
tune performance.99 Other physical processes
affected by anxiety are the subtle fine motor
skills and muscular co-ordinations required to
either sing or play. When suffering from
anxiety, increased levels of adrenaline in the
body elevate the heart rate and quicken
breathing, resulting in overly rapid, ineffective
breath management and hypoxia (low blood
oxygen). Fluids are redirected to the blood

Arcier, 512.
Roland, 48.
91 Ryan, 89.
92 Ibid., 91.
93 Arcier, 507.
94 Roland, 49.
89

Havas, 2.
Clark, 105.
97 Ibid., 104.
98 Valentine, 158.
99 Clark, 101.

90

95
96

16

stream, causing a dry mouth sensation and/or

perspiration.100 Panic attacks or fainting can
occur in extreme cases.101
Behavioural
symptoms include trembling, shaking, stiffness,
twitches, dead-pan expression, or other
impairments of the performance itself.102
Mentally, anxiety can distract the performer
from the task at hand, causing memory losses
or other mistakes. A severe sense of dread,
caused by negative thought processes and loss
of self-esteem can result in extreme mental
anxiety. One example of a mental process of
performance anxiety is catastrophising, or
irrationally exaggerating the likelihood of
disaster and convincing ones self that the
performance will be a negative experience.
Another common example is selfhandicapping whereby the performer
prematurely fabricates excuses (hangovers,
illness, lack of sleep) to justify any mistakes
that might occur.103
Conversely, some degree of tension
adds electricity to a performance; hence fear
can be a good thing.104 The bodys innate
physical response to anxiety transports oxygen
and adrenalin into the blood stream, causing
the heart to beat faster. This in turn causes a
heightened sense of awareness and alertness.
Unfortunately this alertness is often distorted
into tension when muscles ready themselves to
be used, thus breathing becomes shallow and
rapid, and extremities may tingle or become
numb.105 Still, a healthy level of performance
anxiety can be classified as "good stress; a state
of heightened physical and mental alertness
[and the] type of emotional high that intensifies
and can thus enhance the performance.106
A variety of solutions to performance
anxiety are currently available. Just as the
anxiety itself can be classified as physiological,
behavioural or mental (cognitive), therapeutic

solutions to performance anxiety are largely

grouped under four categories: behavioural,
cognitive,
psycho-therapeutical
or
107
pharmacological.
Behavioural-wise, some
schools advocate that musicians must simply
learn to perform with the nerves. Is this a
helpful scenario, a simple solution, or a
ridiculous suggestion? As it is true that all
public performers experience some degree of
performance anxiety at one point or another, it
is also possible to combat this anxiety by
simple means. Certain aspects of cognitive
processing, including self-assurance, selfcongratulating and positive self-talk are often
employed. Other solutions include relaxation
techniques, such as yoga, meditation,
hypnotherapy and the ever-popular Alexander
technique. Diet alterations and drug use are
more prevalent than ever. The use of drugs
such as Beta-blockers has risen significantly
over the past several decades.
Forms of mental processing, or
cognitive re-constructing, can be used as
effective tools for mild performance anxiety.108
Dr. S. D. Curtis offers that musicians suffer
from performance anxiety because they have
failed to develop the mental and emotional
strength that will allow for more positive
thoughts and feelings.109 Since performance
anxiety is rooted in self-esteem issues,
performers can benefit from recognising their
musical strengths and desires before
proceeding to the stage.110 A positive attitude
can go further than one might think. Preperformance self-assurance and self-motivating
comments can often boost a performer enough
to take the edge off. However, Lieberman and
others caution against the isolation of verbal
self-assurance.
According to sensory
awareness studies, imagistic instructions are far
more effective than verbal instructions.111
Therefore, it is suggested that visualizing a
positive, successful performance, mentally

Roland, 48.
Anne Petrovich, How Teachers Can Help
Performance Anxiety, American Music Teacher 53, no.
3 (2003), 24.
102 Arcier, 513.
103 Valentine, 169.
104 Roland, 47.
105 Lucinda Bassett, Life Without Limits (New York:
Harper Collins Publishers, 2001), 127.
106 Petrovich, 26.
100
101

Arcier, 515.
Rosen, 140.
109 Clark, 105.
110 Ibid., 107.
111 Julie Lyonn Lieberman, You Are Your Instrument: A
Definitive Musicians Guide to Practise and Performance
(New York: Huiksi Music, 1991), 79.
107
108

17

rehearsing the performance, or auralizing the

piece (using ones inner ear) are more effective
tools of mental processing than a simple self
pep-talk.112 Others rely on a regimented preperformance routine, which may include a
scheduled order of events throughout the
entire day, such as napping, meditating,
warming up, dressing, to the types of food they
will eat pre-performance. Some performers are
so set in these routines that any interruption to
this schedule could greatly increase their
anxiety.113
Other mental stabilizing techniques
include methods of combating that which most
vocalists are primary concerned with during
public performances memory loss. Some
performers create and rely on memory
stations, or designated measures throughout a
composition where one can check in or jump
to if a memory loss occurs. Using video- or
audiotapes in practise sessions serves to aid
performers in reviewing material and
identifying possible problematic areas. This
method may also create a mock audience (the
camera), when one is rehearsing in lesson.114
Relaxation techniques and autogenic
therapies implemented before performing have
a profound calming affect on many musicians.
Yoga, Zen, Tai Chi and Reiki are among some
of the Eastern originating models that have
been collaborated into Western music.
Alexander Technique can serve to release
tensions and focus the mind. As well as
cultivating relaxation, this low impact
technique fosters more effective co-ordinations
and posture, balance and body awareness. A
related school, Progressive Muscle Relaxation,
involves tensing and relaxing muscle groups in
sequence, in hopes of co-ordinating and
relaxing muscles before proceeding to the
stage. 115 Self-hypnotising or hypnotherapy can
induce a state of calm and serenity.116 In this

form
of
treatment,
positive
verbal
reinforcements can be delivered under
hypnosis, reinforcing to the subconscious a
sense of confidence and self worth.117 Proper
warm-ups are necessary. Being physically
prepared, as well as mentally prepared, is
critical for all musicians. Aside from the
aforementioned self-preparation and relaxation
techniques, general musical preparation is often
the key to an anxiety free (or low anxiety)
performance;
practice
makes
perfect.
Knowing the music as well as humanly
possible is a sure way to reduce at least some
anxiety, whereas being under prepared can be
detrimental to a successful performance, and
heighten anxiety. Running the piece(s) or
portion of the performance in front of some
form of an audience prior to the public event
can serve to reinforce a performers
confidence.
Regular
performance
opportunities, such as master-classes can serve
in this purpose.118 Attending to non-musical
matters, such as administrative or logistic
issues, well in advance, can help reduce the
stress of a performance, whereas a
disorganized performance can contribute to
stress and distract a performer.119
To reiterate, certain personality
types and lifestyle choices contribute to the
level of anxiety experienced by different
musicians.
Those with stressful lifestyle
elements in general, such as family disharmony,
other addictions or substantial financial stress,
may suffer from greater anxiety in general, as
well as higher performance anxiety. Having an
organized, low- to moderate-stress lifestyle can
obviously contribute to reducing performance
and other anxieties.
Valentine suggests
creating a performance-free or music-free
component to ones life, such as a non-music
related hobby, to balance the demands of a
performing career with a happy nonperforming home life.120
Diet can also affect ones performance,
as well as ones anxiety levels. High caffeine

Ibid., 80.
Roland, 57.
114 Joann Kirchner, Managing Musical Performance
Anxiety, American Music Teacher 54, no. 3 (2005), 31.
115 Ibid., 32.
116 Eloise Ristad, A Soprano on Her Head: Right-side-up
Reflections on Life and Other Performances (Moab: Real
People Press, 1982), 171.
112
113

Roland, 54.
Kirchner, 32.
119 Kristy Meretta, Clammy Hands and Inner Voice,
International Musician 102, no. 7 (2004), 11.
120 Valentine, 173.
117
118

18

diets dry the vocal folds, cause physical jitters

and hinder concentration.
Caffeine also
inhibits sleep, which may contribute to illness,
or affect ones performance by reducing
alertness. Eliminating or reducing caffeine can
be a subtle but simple change to combat
anxiety.121 Another popular dietary remedy is
the humble banana. High in natural betablockers, a banana can be an effective natural
sedative. Other herbal remedies, such as Bach
Flower Sedatives, are mild, natural alternatives
that can be taken prior to or during a
performance.122To the more serious, various
drugs promise to reduce or relieve anxiety all
together. While it is true that drugs can be
effective, it is equally true that their misuse can
be highly dangerous. Anxiety-reducing drugs
should never be taken unless medically
prescribed. Introduced in the 1960s, Betablockers, such as Propranolol (Inderal), block
the body's reaction to adrenaline.
Beta
receptors are found in the heart, lungs, arteries,
brain and uterus, thus beta-blockers chemically
block these receptors and prevent
norepinephrine for binding to these receptors.
Mild side effects of most beta-blockers include:
rash, fainting, dizziness, fatigues, headache,
nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, dry
mouth, heartburn, bloating, cold extremities,
sleep disturbances, impotence or decreased
libido, coughing, joint pain and muscle cramps.
Clearly most of these non-life threatening
ailments would still affect a musician and their
performance.
Not all individuals would
experience all or any of these side effects.
However more serious effects of beta-blockers
include an increase in frequency and severity of
asthma
attacks
(bornchoconstrictions),
dangerously low blood pressure and uterine
contractions. They may also complicate the
effects of Raynaud's syndrome, and diabetes.
Allergic reaction and anaphylactic shock
causing unconsciousness or death are rare but
present concerns associated with this family of
drugs.
Beta-blockers are not considered
addictive, however long term use can lead to a

physical, if not mental, dependence. This in

turn will require an increase in dosage to
remain effective. There is also some evidence
of withdrawal upon discontinuing betablockers.123
Propranolol is considered a fairly safe
and mild drug and is often prescribed for
treatment of high blood pressure, angina
pectoris, irregular heart rhythms, migraines and
hyperthyroidism. Side effects of Propranolol
are more specific, since it enters the brain
faster than other blockers, and therefore results
in more side effects of the nervous system,
such as hallucinations, nightmares, depression
and short term memory loss.124 All of the
afore mentioned effects could and would have
major effects on a musicians performance.
The irony of beta-blockers causing memory
loss lies in the fact that most users take the
drug primarily as a means by which to calm
down and focus, so that memory loss will not
occur.
There are presently several types of
beta-blockers available, including Beta-1
selective blockers, which target only the
receptor-1 area; the heart, but not the uterus or
lungs.
Beta-blockers are not technically
sedatives and can not cure anxiety of a purely
psychological nature. Since beta-blockers are
chemicals used to treat physical imbalances or
block normally functioning systems, these
drugs will have little to no effect on emotional
and mental symptoms of stage fright. They
will not help treat sleep deprivation or negative
feelings associated with performance, nor will
they reverse negative thought patterns. They
are simply inhibiters of norepinephrine, and
will have a physically calming effect. Since
most musicians admit that a certain level of
adrenaline aids in their performance, betablockers would erase all traces of the chemical.
Those considering drug use should consult a
physician beforehand. It is also recommended
that one try the drugs before a performance
situation to gage their effectiveness, monitor
the dosage and test the side effects.

Clark, 110.
122 Brian Finn, M.D. and Laura Musselmann, M.D.,
telephone interviews, January 19, 2005.

John Kunz, M.D., ed., The American Medical Association

Family Medical Guide (New York: Random House,
1982), 778-9.
124 Finn, 2005
123

121

19

Throughout recent decades, a growing

majority of professional and amateur
musicians, not the least of which included
Glenn Gould and others, were and are avid
users of medical sedatives. Interestingly, in
several studies, the vast majority of occasional
users took the drug only before auditions.
Others used these drugs much more regularly,
predominantly for solo performances rather
than group performances.125 A recent study
estimates that up to 40% of North American
musicians use beta-blockers on a semi-regular
to regular basis.126 It is also curious to point
out that the taking of any for the afore
mentioned substances would be banned by any
national or even minor sports association, but
that for musicians and other performers, some
self-medication
is
actually
regularly
encouraged.127
Other drugs associated with reducing
stage fright include valium, buspirone,
benzodiazepines and alcohol or cannabis.
Although these drugs may temporarily aid the
performer, they are ultimately destructive to
the voice and performer in general.128 They
may also impair function and judgment,
leading
performers
to
believe
their
performance was better than it actually was.129
Others may attribute a successful performance
only to the drug, reducing ones own sense of
self-efficacy for managing anxiety.130
Regardless
of
the
method(s) employed to combat this anxiety,
stage fright is an extremely common, natural
process of performing experienced by all
musicians at one point or another. Many
performers try desperately to suppress
performance anxiety, with varying levels of
success.
Others give up performing all
together due to the strains of stage fright.131
Hence performance anxiety can not only
negatively affect your performance, but can
damage you quality of life. A variety of coping

methods can be employed or even combined

to help combat this anxiety. Still, performance
anxiety remains a problem of some magnitude,
not easily explained or cured.
Modern
musicians will hopefully mature to the point
that we can recognise anxiety, admit to having
anxiety, and cope with this anxiety, with the aid
of strategies employed and offered by
colleagues. Hopefully this issue, so common in
all sectors of the performing world, can be
addressed sufficiently by musicians in the near
future.

Issues of the
Tenor Voice
By Jason Kehler
There are many issues that the tenor
voice needs to deal with when developing
proper singing technique. In order to achieve
this goal, a singer must balance vocal elements
such as breath management, register
integration, and tonal imagery.132 While this
may sound simple in theory, many other vocal
issues come into play in the achievements of

Valentine, 175.
Arcier, 515.
127 Ibid., 519.
128 Roland, 51.
129 Valentine, 175.
130 Petrovich, 26.
131 Lieberman, 79.
125
126

132.

20

Robert Carter Barefield, The Passaggio in the

Tenor Voice (Ph.D. diss., University of Cincinnati,
1991), p. 20.

these goals. Various vocal issues must be

overcome in order to find the balance of the
vocal elements mentioned above. This paper
will look specifically at vocal issues that are
characteristic of the tenor voice and different
approaches to these vocal obstacles, which are
tenor registration, agguistamento, high notes, and
appoggio. All these issues are connected to the
desired aesthetic of the tenor voice, specifically
the opening-up of the whole tenor register.

Tenore leggiero (light tenor) is quite

similar to the tenorino tenor, but has enough
size and quality to pursue a professional
singing career.136 The passaggi points of this
tenor are often found to be a semitone lower
than the tenorino tenor (primo at Eb and secondo
at Ab). The vocal quality of this category of
tenor is described by Miller as having an air of
sweetness about it, and is able to
demonstrate considerable control over
musical dynamics.137 Most likely, this tenor
would specialize in early Baroque music or
similarly suited repetoire.
The Spieltenor tenor is quite similar to
the tenore leggiero, but able to sing a wider range
of repertoire that includes pieces and works
that are a bit more weightier than what the
leggiero could manage. The passaggio point of
the spieltenor varies somewhat, depending on
whether or not he is closer to the leggiero or lyric
vocal qualities.138
The tenore buffo tends to have a very
distinct timbre to the voice.139 The voice tends
to sound quite throaty, due to the voice
being pushed to create a larger sound. Often
this type of tenor performs secondary roles
that are character in nature - minor villian, the
buffoon, or the lower-class friend of the
hero.140
The operetta tenor has a voice of
romantic character and specializes in singing
repertoire of the operetta genre.141 In Millers
opinion, the operetta tenor is not sturdy enough
for lyric operatic roles, but for operetta it is
well-suited (as long as it is of good size and
quality).142 Because of the close relation of this
tenor type to the tenore lirico, the primo and
secondo passaggi would be in a similar vocal
location (D4 and G4 respectfully).
The next category of tenor is the lyric
tenor (tenore lirico). This is the category into
which much of the standard tenor opera
repertoire falls and is the most useful category

Tenor Types
In order to be able to discuss the tenor
issues outlined in the introduction above, it is
important to describe the various types of
tenors that exist and how they differ in there
vocal quality, approach to registration and
repertoire. Richard Miller has provided a clear
and descriptive outlines of the various tenor
voices in his book, Training Tenor Voices,
describing both the quality of tone, timbre,
passaggi points, repertoire, and other vocal
characteristics133. These categories of the
various tenor types are based upon the
information found in the book mentioned
above.
There are four categories of light tenor
that are mentioned by Miller: tenorino, tenore
leggiero (tenore di grazia), spieltenor, and tenore buffo.
They all have similar vocal qualities and tone,
but vary in subtle ways which affect the
repertoire that they perform. Some of these
dividing lines seem so subjective that it would
be difficult to discern one of these four tenor
types from the next.
Tenorino is the lightest of all the tenor
voices, which can sing through the first
passaggio point without any registration
modification. The primo passaggi is often found
at E4 and the secondo passaggi at A4.134 The
speaking voice is very light and high and when
singing, this tenor may or may not find
adequate chest voice resonance (voce di testa).
Miller goes on to mention that professional
performance opportunities are quite limited.135

136.
137.
138.

133.

Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices (New York:

Schirmer Books, 1993), pp. 9-13.
134. Ibid, p.9.
135. Ibid., p.9.

139.
140.
141.
142.

21

Ibid., p.9.
Ibid., p.9.
Ibid., p.10.
Ibid., p.10.
Ibid., p.10.
Ibid., p.11.
Ibid., p.11.

for a tenor to be a part of, due to the wide

range of repertoire that is available to this voice
type.143 The passaggi points of the lyric tenor
are at D4 and G4.144 The vocal timbre of the
lyric tenor is warm and romantic, and must be
able to sustain a high tessitura while
negotiating the upper range with ease and
beauty.145
The tenore lirico spinto is very similar to
the tenore lirico, differing only in vocal weight
and adaptability of a specific tenor to specific
roles.146 Miller goes on to say that, The lirico
spinto has all the advantages of the tenore lirico,
but in addition he has the power and vocal
impact to deliver the dramatic aspects of the
Verdian and verismo repertoires.147
The tenore robusto (also known as tenore
drammatico), Miller describes as, the heaviest of
all non-Wagnerian tenors.148 As a heavier
voice type, in comparison to the lyric tenor, the
passaggi points are found to be lower and
situated at C4 and F4.149 Even though specific
opera roles are outlined for this type of tenor,
the tenore robusto may sing some of the spinto
roles.150
The final tenor voice type is the
heldentenor. He sings primarily the music of
Wagner, which requires a heavily weighted
timbre and often pushing up the chest voice
into the upper reaches of the vocal range.151
The heldentenor must be able to sing the tenore
robusto repetoire, but is not this is not the
primary focus of their voice type.
In summary of these various voice
types, the characteristics of the tenor voice can
be described in many ways. The type of
repertoire, passaggi, and timbre quality varies
from one category to the next, with repertoire
suited to each specific tenor type. But at the
same time, the differences between certain
categories of tenors can be quite subtle and
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.

hard to discern; especially when there is

overlap between specific categories with
regards to repertoire or some tenors being able
to sing repertoire from two different tenor
categories. This simply adds to the complexity
of figuring-out the tenor voice and properly
aligning the voice and knowing how to
approach issues of tension and registration.
Registration
There are many different theories, or
models of registration and approaches to
unifying the tenor voice with the goal of
creating an equal scale from the lowest to the
highest note. The ultimate goal being able to
sing any note in the vocal range with the same
ease and unified timbre.
In surveying many different books on
the subject of registration, the most popular
theory encountered is the 3-register theory
(chest, middle, and head registers). Although
there are two distinct registers (chest and
head), with the third register being a mixture of
the prior two (middle), the blending of these
various registers to create a balanced vocal
tone throughout the vocal range is the ultimate
goal. As stated by Viktor Fuchs, One register
is not a starting point, but a goal.152
A constant issue that plagues many
tenors is the balance, or mixture of chest and
head register. In my opinion, it is the mixed
voice that brings colour and uniqueness to the
character and resonance of the voice. Otto Iro
compares registration and resonance by calling
chest resonance earth and head resonance
water.153 By mixing the two together, clay is
formed. But by adding more water, the clay is
thinner; and by adding more earth, the clay is
thicker.154 The ability to control the various
registration of the tenor voice in a connected
and blended manner, allows the voice to freely
express and colour the music and text in an
artistic and interpretive manner.
Too often, the chest voice is carried
into the upper range of the tenor voice without

Ibid., p.11.
Ibid., p.11.
Ibid., p.11.
Ibid., p.12.
Ibid., p.12.
Ibid., p.12.
Ibid., p.12.
Ibid., p.12.
Ibid., p.12-13.

152.

Viktor Fuchs, The Art of Singing and Voice

Technique (London: Calder and Boyars Ltd, 1967),
p.64.
153. Ibid., p.67.
154. Ibid., p.67.
22

mixing in the head register, causing tension

that restricts an easy and lyrical-sounding upper
range. The head register is the oil that is able
to unite the sounds of the notes for the entire
vocal range.155 A tenor should experiment with
bringing the head register down into the
middle and chest register in order to find a
balance and blended tone throughout the
entire vocal range.
Douglas Stanley says that the upper
register of most men needs to be developed
out of the falsetto voice because most men
initially have lost their upper range.156 When
properly developed, the falsetto range doesnt
sound false but rather is heard as a mere vocal
adjustment.157 Stanley goes on to say that the
muscular system that activates this adjustment
needs to be strengthened by singing a pure
falsetto tone as loud as possible moving up and
down the vocal scale.158 It is through the use
of this mixed register that tenors are able
negotiate the zona di passaggio and the secondo
passaggio and bring the full voice and registers
into alignment.159
I believe that a tenor should first move
down the scale in falsetto across the primo
passaggi and secondo passaggi in an effort to blend
the chest and head registers at the vocal break
and
continue
to
carry
the
head
register/resonance down as far as possible into
the lower part of the voice. By practising this
exercise, a young tenor is able to feel the
sensations and placement of a free and light
blended sound (resonance) that can then grow
over time in a relaxed and balanced vocal
position. There is a lot less possibility of
unwanted tension being created by the
downward descent, opposed to the tenor trying
to force his way up into the high extremes of
the vocal range. As the falsetto develops and
grows the chest register will also, without
adding tension and muscle, develop in
flexibility, resonance, and freedom and

continue the overall development of the

voice.160
Cornelius Reid (1950), in his book
BelCanto: Principles and Practices, states five
categories of register balance:
1. A state of perfection co-ordination where each register
has been fully developed and smoothly joined.
2. A desirable, but not ideal, condition where both
registers are used with an audible gap separating them.
3. A less desirable condition where the falsetto is used
alone and the chest register is excluded.
4. An equally undesirable condition where the chest
register is used alone while the falsetto is excluded.
5. The last possible arrangement is the most
undesirable by far and finds both registers joined
together, seemingly as one, before each register has been
fully developed, purified, and properly joined together.161
These categories are useful in analysing
what state a tenors vocal development is at
and identifying what needs to be worked on in
correcting register issues that may exist. These
descriptions are a tool that can create a starting
point from which to work at register balance.
They also help in creating a vision and the ideal
goal for which to strive in order to develop the
one-register goal (Viktor Fuchs).
The main registration concept that I
have found in reading various books is not to
have a balance of head and chest voice, but
rather Ive been struck by the emphasis on
developing the falsetto voice.
Ive been
experimenting over the past few weeks with
descending down through the primo passaggio
and secondo passaggio and I have found that Im
able to negotiate the vocal breaks better and
keep a more freedom in the upper register.
And through the development of a more
flexible and free upper register Ive been able
to carry the head register down into the middle
and chest voice for a more unified and
balanced tone up and down the entire vocal
range.

155.

Ibid., p.66.
Douglas Stanley, The... Science of ... Voice (New
York: Carl Fischer Inc., 1958), p.16.
157. Ibid., p. 16.
158. Ibid., p.17.
159. Miller, p.3.
156.

160.

Fuchs, p. 84.
Reid, Cornelius L., Bel Canto: Principles and Practices,
New York: Coleman-Ross Company Inc., 1950: p.30.
23

Agguistamento (Cover)
Agguistamento tends to be one of the
most difficult and later aspects of vocal
technique for a tenor to develop. This may be
due to the various terms and approaches that
are and/or have been taught in developing the
technique of agguistamento. Various terms are
attached to the technique of agguistamento, such
as Richard Millers preference for the term
vowel modification162 and Marilee Davids use of
the term cover, which she says includes vowel
modification.163 It becomes difficult for a tenor
to know how to use the terminology with a
proper understanding of meaning and how his
teacher defines each term. But only after a
balanced registration has been established and
proper breath control is being used can a tenor
focus attention adequately on the meaning and
proper technique of agguistamento.
There are certain aspects of
agguistamento that are characteristically common
of most descriptions of this vocal adjustment.
Marilee David (1995) quotes Hertegard,
Gauffin and Sundberg as defining the vocal art
of covering as:

An important comment that David makes is

that the lowering and tilting of the larynx
causes the vocal folds to lengthen, preventing
the chest register from becoming involved in
descending passages and engaging the head
register on ascending passages.165 Overall,
there is a correlation among all the various
descriptions of agguistamento that a lowering of
the larynx and widening of the pharynx are
integral to this vocal technique and adjustment.
Various approaches describe and use
terminology to create modifications of the
same end goal. James Stark refers to Richard

Millers use and division of terminology in

discussing the approach of cover and
agguistamento.
Miller describes the covered
sound of the upper range as being created by a
stable laryngeal position (relatively low) and a
somewhat widened pharynx. Along with these
physical characteristics is the need for proper
vowel modification, which Miller refers to as
agguistamento, in creating the complete covered
sound.166 Miller creates a division between the
meaning of these two terms that refers to
agguistamento specifically as vowel modification,
with the understanding that it is part of
creating the covered sound. This separation of
meanings allows the teacher and student to be
more specific in reference to particular vocal
adjustments and which segment of the vocal
action of cover is being referred to. A tenor
needs to be clear in their understanding of how
to accomplish vocal cover when singing into the
extreme range of their voice in a healthy
manner.
In specific reference to agguistamento,
Miller expresses the need to modify the tonal
color of the upper range in order to preserve
the quality of vowel sound and maintain an
even tonal line.167 He also goes on to say that
cover creates fundamental changes in the
mechanical function of the larynx and alters
the shape of resonators, along with a lowered
larynx and tongue, a high velum, and additional
spaciousness in the pharynx, thereby increasing
depth in the tone.168 At times, it still seems
confusing as to how Miller uses the terms cover
and agguistamento, but it seems that it is through
the action of cover that agguistamento is
accomplished. Through the lowering of the
larynx and all the other mechanical functions
that have been previously discussed with
regards to cover, the action of agguistamento (vowel
modification) naturally occurs due to physical
state of the mouth and throat regions.
An interesting point that Miller makes
is his observation that a popular opinion

162.

166.

An elevation of the soft palate, a

lowering and forward tilting of the larynx. Also a
widening of the supraglottal tract as well as of the
hypopharynx and laryngeal ventricles...164

Miller, p.38.
Marilee David, The New Voice Pedagogy
(Maryland: Scarecrow Press Inc., 1995), p.75.
164 David, Marilee, The New Voice Pedagogy, London: The
Scarecrow Press Inc., 1995: p.75
165. Ibid., p.75.

James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal

Pedagogy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1999), p.45.
167. Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing (Belmont:
Wadsworth Group, 1996), p. 150.
168. Miller, The Structure of Singing, p.150.

163.

24

among many voice teachers today is that

pharyngeal expansion and a low larynx position
is accomplished through proper breath
inhalation and remains stable during a wellmanaged breath cycle.169
Many various
elements of cover seem to align themselves with
proper breath intake. Various muscles are
expanded or stretched open and only need to
be suspended in order to maintain a lowered
or widened position. Miller goes on to say that
all these various vocal technique issues need to
be accomplished in a more unconcious and
relaxed manner.170 It would seem quite natural
then that this could be accomplished through
proper use and focus on the control of the
breathing mechanism in order to align other
aspects of the art of singing.

1. The quantity has to be in creased by using

the abdominal cavities, which are generally
neglected in daily life.
2. The outgoing breath has to be controlled
by the abdominal muscles, so that it will be
adequate for any note or phrase.
3. All the available breath must be
transformed into tone.
4. An emergency reserve must be allowed for,
just as in diving it is unwise to use the last
drop of petrol! Otherwise the voice may
be overstrained.
5. The chest should never be moved, either in
inhalation or exhalation. By standing erect
before and during inhalation, the chest
cavities can receive no more air; it then
goes to the abdominal cavities, which
supply the breath used in singing. By
constant inward pressure on the abdominal
wall (or exhalation) all the air there can be
used without using the breath in the chest
cavities.
6. The abdominal cavities should not be filled
to capacity, otherwise a phrase cannot be
attacked well, with smooth, clear tone.
7. The breath must be prepared by a moment
of suspension.
8. Regular exercises must be practised, and
the teacher must check constantly that they
are being done correctly, so that they can
become quite automatic.171

Appoggio
There is so much imagery and various
descriptions of breathing that are used to
develop an understanding of even and
supported breath control. By developing the
breathing mechanism, a tenor can align or aid
other vocal challenges such as agguistamento,
balanced registration, tension, and high notes. Every
singer has different strengths and abilities, and
breathing in itself is an art-form that needs to
be strengthened and internalized in a manner
that connects with both the mind and the body
of the singer. Breathing is the foundation of
singing and needs to be treated with great
importance.
Some approaches speak primarily of
the mechanical action and explain what needs
to happen inside the body. The description of
such an internal and mechanical function
cannot and does not always translate into a
smooth working of the art of breathing, even
though the concept is logically understood.
Stating the facts of proper breath support does
not explain to a singer how to attain that
desired goal.
An example of such a logical approach
is found in Viktor Fuchs book, The Art of
Singing and Voice Technique. Fuchs lists eight
main principles in breathing for singing:

All the principles stated above by Fuchs

speak of certain truths in the art of breathing
for singing, but they give no how to insight.
As an example, in response to the third
principle, how does a singer transform breath
into tone? A more detailed description is
needed, through various images and
explanations, in relating a well-rounded
response that gives a singer a variety of ways of
approaching the concept of transforming
breath into tone.
It would be like a
professional figure skater verbally explaining to
someone how to perform a specific jump and
Fuchs, Viktor, The Art of Singing and Voice Technique,
London: Calder and Boyars Ltd,
1967: pp.75-76
171

169.

Miller, The Structure of Singing, p. 150.

170. Miller, The Structure of Singing, p.155.
25

expecting them to be able to execute the jump

perfectly. The logical approach must be
accompanied by various other approaches to
teaching in order to allow the singer to
experience all the eight principles that are listed
above by Fuchs.
One such alternative approach, by
Perley Dunn Aldrich, takes a more imaginative
and simplistic perspective. Imagery can be a
very powerful tool in aiding the mind to
accomplish involuntary or unconscious
physical actions. Sometimes logic can get in
the way of letting the body accomplish what it
naturally is designed to do and imagery is great
at tricking the body into accomplishing the
desired objective. The most important element
in appoggio is to inhale without disturbing the
posture of the body.172 In the action of
inhalation there are two distinct forces
opposing each other
1) atmospheric
pressure and 2) muscular pressure from inside
the body.173 Aldrich explains that by simply
flattening the diaphragm and letting the air
come in of its own accord, we can breathe with
more relaxation.174 Aldrich (1895) goes on to
say:

naturally designed to do and avoid tension in

breathing and other elements associated with
the act of singing. Analogies and images are
needed for every singer in accomplishing good
appoggio technique, and the more images and
facts that a singer has at their disposal to
achieve proper breath control the better.
High Notes
One tenor issue that I wanted to
research and address was the topic of high
notes for the tenor voice. The tenor voice is
referred to by various authors as the most
unnatural singing voice. Richard Miller says,
For no other Fach is the high note
surrounded with such expectation as it is in
tenor literature(p.139). The high note is as
much about the psychological state as it is
about the physical ability. A tenor needs to
develop strong and secure technique in order
to create a confidence in knowing that the high
notes are at their disposal. Too often, a young
tenor, who is in the process of learning proper
technique (cover, agguistamento, etc.), will focus
too much on the high notes in a piece and
create unwanted anxiety. Fuchs says that until
high notes are automatic, a young tenor should
not focus on the high notes, but rather only
how to prepare for them.175 Barefield (1991)
more clearly states that, ... the success of a
given note is dependent upon the note before
the note (p.37). In preparing for any high
note, a tenor needs to prepare for the high
note by making sure that there is a balanced
registration of head and chest, a full breath is
supporting the vocal sound, soft palate is
raised, and other elements of proper vocal
technique are being implemented leading up to
the vocal climax. If this preparation is not
done, there is little hope of a mixed and free
register (and tone) being successfully
accomplished.
The concepts of cover and agguistamento
(in singing in the upper range of the tenor
voice) has already been discussed at length, but
the reason for wanting to discuss high notes is
rather the psychological aspect for the tenor to
overcome. Fuchs says that high notes call

This thought that the breath comes in of

itself is a great help towards repose of the
chest, for many of the movements of the chest
which are made by the thoughtless singer are
quite useless and not only do not assist in the
process of singing but they retard it and
embarrass the muscles that ought to do the
work easily. So, whether it be entirely scientific
or not, we shall find it helpful to think that the
air pressure does most of the work (p.38).
This imagery of the breath coming in by itself
as a vacuum allows the body to stay more
relaxed and able to accomplish the desired goal
of an even and full breath; which is then able
to create a well-supported tone. By not overthinking the breath, the singer is able to get out
of the way and allow the body to do what it is
172.

Perley Dunn Aldrich, Vocal Economy and

Expressiveness (New York: The Vocalist, 1895),
p.37.
173. Aldrich, p.37.
174. Ibid, p.38.

175.

26

Fuchs, p.83.

forth two types of singers: 1) a singer that

looks forward to them with pleasure, 2) a
singer who is afraid of them.176 The tenor is
singing on the edge of the vocal range and has
to develop a confidence in his ability to sing on
that vocal edge of his range in a relaxed state
(physically and mentally). For a young tenor
this is a mental challenge to be stretched in
both the physical ability of the voice (with
proper technique) and in the mental maturity
to trust the voice, and at the same time, allow
the voice to fail in finding the high notes . To
focus and try too hard in attaining the upper
range of the voice (forgetting technique) causes
unwanted tension and quickly leads to a failed
attempt and questioning of ones ability to
attain the high notes.
In my studies this year, I have had to
learn to calm my mind in approaching high
notes and get out of my own way preparing
for the high note upon the note before the
note.177 By distracting myself with proper
technique and preparation on the notes in a
more relaxed placement of the voice Im able
to prepare by placing the lower notes in the
place that I want to sing the high note. This
is a rite of passage that every tenor must
navigate themselves through over many
countless
hours
of
practise
and
experimentation.

The variety of tenor types only

complicates this issue due to the various
registrations and characteristics that are found
within the tenor voice.
The different
possibilities of colour, texture, timbre, and
vocal quality that are found within the tenor
voice seem to have a wider spectrum than
other voice types due to the transition from a
more comfortable and natural low chest
register into the high extremes of the unnatural
head register. For this reason, weaknesses in
the young tenor voice are often quite obvious
and take time to resolve.
The approach that two tenors take in
developing their voices can differ dramatically
because the voice type is so different and could
be almost categorized as a completely different
voice type. The technique that a heldentenor
uses and needs to focus on will be completely
different than that of a tenorino tenor. The
range of tenor types seems more varied than
any other voice type and thus, is filled with
added challenges that are not as common in
other voice types.
The topics discussed in this paper are
common challenges to the tenor and through
the
discussion,
analysis
and
vocal
experimentation of these issues a tenor can
develop and refine their voice. There is no one
answer to these issues for the tenor, but rather
options by which to apply general principles of
vocal technique that are needed in discovering
a free and open tone.

Summary
Many of the comments and references
made in this paper apply not only to tenors,
but singers in general. Nevertheless, some of
these vocal issues may be termed as being
more characteristically found in the tenor
voice. The challenge for any tenor is to create
a natural and even tone throughout the vocal
range by studying the different aspects
mentioned and discussed in this paper. The
aim being to create a natural sound out of a
more unnatural instrument (especially in the
high register) that needs to be trained and
developed
through
dedication
and
determination.

176.
177.

Ibid, p.83.
Barefield, p.37.
27

Alexander Technique
and Traditional
Vocal Pedagogy:

career. In his book, The Use of the Self,

Alexander begins by stating two guiding
principles
of
his
technique:
(1) That the so-called mental and physical are not
separate entities.

Conceptual Connections
and Their Implications in
the Process of Voice
Teaching
By Christopher Mayell

(2) For this reason, human ills and shortcomings

cannot be classified as mental or physical and dealt
with specifically as such, but that all training, whether
it be educative or otherwise must be based upon the
indivisible unity of the human organism.178
These principles describe the use of
the self as a whole, in all that we do. The
basic force behind the use of the self in this
manner is called the Primary Control. It refers
to the orientation of the head in relation to the
neck, and the back in relation to the neck and
head. Alexander argues that every localized
action that takes place (the singers movement
of the tongue, for example) should be executed
in harmony with the co-ordination of the head,
neck and back179.
So, by attaining and
continuing ones Primary Control, one can
eliminate secondary shortcomings such as
postural problems when singing (what
Alexander would refer to as effects of bad use,
not a cause of bad singing). The voice
problems that Alexander encountered in his
stage career were the result of three tendencies
or bad habits that did not allow for optimal
use of his self. One tendency was for him to
pull his neck back and down as he recited a
passage in performance. He was shocked to
find that, upon telling his body to keep the
neck straight and erect and, while trying to
correct the habit, feeling that he was successful
he continued to pull his neck down and back.
This was an example of what is now called
faulty sensory awareness. It is the gap that exists
between what you do and what you think or

Imagine a voice student who is unable

to apply the idea of the singers posture, or
proper breath support. What is it that keeps
the student from acquiring these skills? On
one level, the student perfectly understands the
concepts being communicated. Yet, there is a
gap between concept and execution.
A
different method of learning and teaching
could greatly benefit the student and teacher.
The principles of Alexander Technique can be
applied to traditional approaches of vocal
pedagogy, thereby enhancing the students
understanding of singing technique, by learning
different, but related, concepts. Traditional
vocal pedagogy, in this case, refers to the
writings of historic and contemporary
pedagogues including Giovanni and Francesco
Lamperti, Pierfrancesco Tosi, and Richard
Miller. By making comparison to some major
concepts of vocal pedagogy such as breath
support, breath management and phonation, it
will become clear that the Alexander
Technique can be a useful tool in the
enhancement of the students learning, both in
terms of quality and quantity.
It will be of some use, before
discussing the similarities between the
Alexander technique and concepts of
traditional pedagogy, to outline the main terms
and concepts of the Technique as described by
its founder, F. Matthias Alexander. Alexander
created and refined his technique as a result of
extensive analysis of the factors leading to
vocal-health problems in his professional stage

Alexander, F. M. The Use of The Self. Integral Press,

Kent. 1946, p.2
178

Alcantara, P. Indirect Procedures: A Musicians Guide to the

Alexander
Technique. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1997:
p.26.
179

28

feel that you are doing. It is caused by

psychological factors of familiarity and habit.
Alexander was so willing to succeed at
remedying his tendencies that he saw past the
necessary process to achieve his goal, and
instead sought a feeling of correctness and
comfort. The problem in this process is that
what felt correct to Alexander was the familiar
tendencies (the bad habits) that hed been
doing for years, and had become used to.
Alexander called this desire to obtain results at
the cost of meaningful process end-gaining, and
considered it the ultimate cause of all
difficulties.180 Alexander concluded that the
key to overcoming end-gaining is what he
called inhibition. To inhibit is not to consent to
a habitual reaction which causes a misuse of
the self.
Now that a basic knowledge of the
principles of the Alexander technique have
been discussed, it is possible to point to links
between the technique, and those of traditional
vocal pedagogy. While it is possible to see
connections between the technique and almost
every facet of vocal use (since the technique is
whole self based), it will be useful for the
scope of this discussion to focus on some of
the more direct and easily illustrated
relationships that exist. The most direct
relationship is arguably with breathing and
breath support. Early in his study of the self,
he noticed that he had the debilitating
tendency to audibly gasp for air before reciting
a phrase on stage.
After considerable
speculation, observation and refinement, he
would later argue that breathing is a function
of use (this being, the use of the self, with the
Primary Control), and may be best dealt with
indirectly.181 It may be beneficial to outline
some ideals put forth in vocal pedagogy
literature, and then to illustrate possible
improvements or at very least, new and
alternative corroborating points of view on

the original. It has been said that, as a teacher

of singing, it is important to be able to explain
concepts in a variety of different ways since
each student learns and thinks differently. We
begin then, with breath support and the
writings of Giovanni and Franceso Lamperti.
They spoke of the lutte vocale, saying:
the respiratory muscles, by continuing their action,
strive to retain the air in the lungs, and oppose their
action to that of the expiratory muscles, which at the
same time, drive it out for the production of the
note.182
This opposition of respiratory
(inspiratory) and expiratory forces is referred
to literally as a vocal struggle. He went on to
describe the sensations of and, in part, the
results of, use of the lutte vocale.
Singing is accomplished by opposing motions and the
measured balance between them. This causes the
delusive appearance of rest and fixity even of
relaxation. The singing voice in reality is born of the
clash of opposing principles, the tension of conflicting
forces, brought to equilibrium.183
Both of these concepts merge well with that of
opposition in the Alexander Technique. In his
book, Indirect Procedures: A Musicians Guide
to Alexander Technique, Pedro de Alcantara
describes opposition as the ability of the
body to move in one direction while tending
towards another direction. He goes on to say
that opposition allows bodily positions to
be stable and dynamic, and movement to be
fluid and efficient.184
According to the
technique, opposition is an important element
of bodily integration and stabilization. It need
not be considered a negative force, just as the
lutte vocale need not be considered undue
tension in the abdominal region.
182 Lamperti, F. The Art of Singing. Translated by J.C.
Griffith. G. Schirmer, New York. 1916. p.25

Alcantara, P. The Alexander Technique: A Practical

Lesson. Online article. Viewed
January 31, 2005.
http://www.pedrodealcantara.com/practical_lesson.htm
l. p.1
180

181

Brown, W. E. Vocal Wisdom: Maxims Transcribed and

Edited by William Earl Brown.
Taplinger Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1931
p.29,63
184 Alcantara, 1997: p.66
183

Alcantara, 1997: p.91

29

Let us leave the concept of this struggle

for a moment and examine the messa di voce.
Tosi said that messa di voce, consists of
letting the voice come out softly from the least
piano, so that it goes little by little to the
greatest forte, and then returns185. The
important link, in this case, is the idea of letting
or allowing the voice to come out. The
Alexander Technique has been describe as a
non-doing technique since its method involves
the inhibition of habits in order to allow
natural use of the self (in this case, to easily
sing messa di voce). Giovanni Lamperti wrote
the following about messa di voce:

of messa di voce can instead be expressed as

directed inhibition of tendencies which would
otherwise not allow the voice to easily bloom
from a soft piano to a great forte. The notable
difference is that, according to Alexander,
given the perfect co-ordination of parts as
require by my system, breathing is a
subordinate operation which will perform
itself. So, while traditional vocal pedagogy
would have the pupil concentrate on breath
control, Alexander would have the pupil
concentration on proper use of the self, and
the inhibition of bad habits, which will allow
for free and proper use of the breath in order
to achieve messa di voce. Neither of these
methods is necessarily correct or incorrect, and
it is not necessary to make this distinction.
Each of idea expressed above is simply a
different means to the same end.
A discussion of breath support would
not be complete without a look at the
technique of appoggio. One of the most recent
authors and pedagogues to write about
appoggio is Richard Miller. In his 1986 book,
The Structure of Singing: System and Art in
Vocal Technique. Miller says:

The messa di voce is produced solely by breath-control.

The spinning-out technique (filare la voce) is very
difficult; it must be managed with the utmost
circumspection. Singing loudly is releasing; singing
softly is restraining the pent-up energy in compressed air
filling the lungs, co-ordinately gauged in doing so.186
It is interesting then, to note the similarities
and difference between these writings and
those of Alcantara (a student of Patrick
Macdonald who himself studied with
Alexander in the 1930s). Alcanatra writes:

Appoggio includes resonance factors as well as breath

management. The historical Italian school did not
separate the motor and resonance facets of phonation.
It is a system for combining and balancing muscles
and organs of the trunk and neck, controlling their
relationship to the supra-glottal resonators, so that no
exaggerated function of any one of them upsets the
whole.188 [emphasis added]

You do nothing to alter breathing directly in an

Alexander lesson. There are no exercises in which you
are asked to change the mechanics or the speed of your
breathing, to count while you breath in or out
Instead you must first clear your mind of all
preconceived ideas you may have about breathing. With
the help of a teacher, accept that your sensory awareness
may be faulty. Become aware of your habitual misuses,
stop misusing yourself and let your breathing right
itself.
(1) Stop constricting your breathing; (2) Stop forcing
your breathing. Stated otherwise, inhibit overbreathing
and inhibit other breathing.187

Here it is easy to see the connection between

the full system approach of appoggio and
the unity of self described in the Alexander
Technique. In both cases, there is emphasis on
combination and balance (integration, if you
will) of the elements of the self.
Miller himself hints at the Primary Control
when he speaks of the trunk and the neck.
It is arguable that, in the same way appoggio
builds on the concept of lutte vocale in concert

The technique, as describe here, works

nicely with the writings of Lamperti and Tosi.
In the Alexander Technique, then, the concept
Stark, J. Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy.
University of Toronto Press,
Toronto. 1999: p.95.
186 ibid. p. 104
187 Alcantara, 1997: pp. 97, 98

185

Miller, R. The Structure of Singing: System and Art in

Vocal Technique. G. Schirmer,
Belmont. 1986: p.23
188

30

with full-system use, The Alexander Technique

can improve upon appoggio by using it to not
only work on support and resonance system,
but indeed, all aspects of singing. Alexander
writes,

sound is most likely causes by either

misalignment of the neck, or tension in the
larynx or throat (misuse of the self).
By
successfully
employing
the
Alexander Technique, one not only succeeds in
using appoggio, but also prevents the misuse of
any part of the self that may not be considered
relevant to appoggio. This could include
misuse of seemingly unrelated or extreme parts
of the self. After a great deal of self discovery,
Alexander wrote:

There is a close connection between use and functioning.

The functioning of organs of speech are influenced by the
manner of using the whole torso, and that the pulling
back of the neck is not merely a misuse of the specific
parts concerned, but one that was inseparably bound up
with misuse of all other mechanisms.189

I found that a certain control of the use of my neck and

head in relation to my back brought about a more
satisfactory working of the musculature, and not only
relieved my specific difficulties, but improved conditions
generally.As soon as you can establish the primary
control, a satisfactory control of the rest of the workings
of the organism can be expected to follow in due time.192

Let us examine some specific aspects

of appoggio as describe my Richard Miller.
One of the first things he says is about the
sternum. He tells the pupil that, the
sternum must initially find a moderately high
position. This position is then retained
throughout the inspiration-expiration cycle.190
Alexanders writings say nothing that conflicts
with this statement. However, Alexander is
careful to avoid words such as position or
posture. He would instead make use of a
term like direction, which implies the same
intent on consistency of the raised sternum,
while emphasizing the dynamic, flexibility of
the sternum as the part of an integrated whole
self. Martha Munro and Maren Larson, in their
article The Influence of Body Integration on Voice
Production, write that, There needs to be
constantly adjusting relationship between the
head, the spine, and the limbs in response to
even the most subtle shift of weight. Such
atunement and mobility is an essential aspect
of effect voice production.191
Another important characteristic (and
what Miller calls the hallmark) of appoggio is
silent inspiration. Unfortunately, Miller gives
very little specific and direct advice on how to
achieve this. The Alexander Technique, which
tells the student to allow the breath to enter the
body of the properly used self, should aid in
producing silent inhalation, since a gasping

A final note on breathing and breath

support is necessary, relating to breath
exercises. Since the Alexander Technique is
centered around the idea of the unity of the
self (the mental and physical as one), it is
important that if a teacher or student insists on
the use of breath exercises that they be used
intelligently. Alcantara, admits that, some
people have benefited from working on their
breathing consciously and conscientiously. All
the same, they might have learned more, better,
and faster by working on their use instead, and
leaving breathing alone. In his paper An
Alexander Teacher Reads The Free Voice, His
Mouth Agape, Alcantara reiterates this point
nicely, saying:
How many thousands of students have faithfully
practiced Marchesi exercises, and how few have derived
benefit from them! They key to vocal development is not
to be found in the exercise but in the manner in which
it is performed!193
It is not enough, then, to simply go
through the breathing exercise mechanically,
just as it is no use for a pianist to practice
scales without full use of self. Ones entire self

Alexander, pp. 7, 8
Miller, p. 24
191 Munro, Martha and Larson, Maren. The Influence of
Body Integration on Voice Production. Journal of Singing.
53:2, 1996: p.21
189
190

192
193

31

Alexander, p. 48
Alcantara p.3

must be part of the process. Through whole

use of the self, the student becomes fully aware
of the exercise he is doing. By making use of
mental, physical and perhaps even emotional
faculties, he is able to be truly absorb the
experience, and derive something from it.
Another facet of vocal pedagogy that
has strong direct links with Alexander
Technique is phonation (or use of the larynx).
As has been stated, the technique is dependant
on the Primary Control, which considers the
relationship between the back, and the neck
and the head. Since the larynx is located in the
neck, the centre of these three elements, it is
not surprising that there is so much conceptual
overlap. In The Use of the Self, Alexander
speaks of the neck saying, Since [everything is
connected], neck tension can cause any
number of problems.194 In her thesis on the
Alexander Technique, Lori Lovell Laux writes,

Again it is shown that the same end

can be achieved either indirectly, by use of
inhibition and Primary Control, or by directly
telling the student to lower his or her larynx
slightly, or even worse, to resort to subjective
instructions such as picture a big ball in your
throat.
Finally, it is important to discuss ways
of integrating the Alexander method into a
voice lesson, and using it to help the student
learn.
Alexander gives advice on lesson
structure in The Use of the Self. There, he
spoke about Alexander lessons, but the
principles he outlines can be easily transferred
to music lessons without any need for revision.
In his attempts to inhibit the detrimental
movement of his neck during recital,
Alexander discovered a seemingly successful
new method of good use. In the beginning he
found there to be three steps involved:

When the neck muscles tighten, the pharynx is

shortened, narrowed, and distorted. Because the
pharynx rests in front of the cervical spine, when the
neck is tense, these cervical vertebrae are jammed. This
distortion also causes the tongue to bunch and invade
the front of the mouth. This very change in the
alignment of the spine and neck directly affects the
resonance space in the pharynx.195

(1) Conception The brain decides what

it is that it wants to do. (For example,
sing a high note).
(2) Inhibition Before the action is
carried out, there is conscious projection of
direction not to do any bad habits that
will impede the natural use of the self.
(For example, conscious direction not to
stick the head outward and up and tense
the neck while singing a high note).
When there are multiple bad habits that
must be inhibited, it is important that
when the student directs not to engage in
the second bad habit, that he not forget
about inhibiting the first. Alexander
noted that, to [continue the first
inhibition while adding a second and
third] and to continue all three going as
we proceed to gain the end, has proved to
be the pons asinorum of every pupil I have
so far known.

This sentiment is echoed in the views of

Giovanni Lamperti. He advised the singer to
seek a dark tone associated with an expanded
pharynx as a starting point to be brightened
sufficiently to create chiaroscuro.196 In the same
light, Richard Miller argues:
There can be little doubt that in desirable closed
voice there is a stabilized laryngeal position
relatively low and a somewhat widened pharynx.
These conditions together with proper vowel modification
(aggiustamento) produce the so-called covered sound of
the upper range.197

(3) Direction The actual singing of the

high note.

Alexander, p. 48
Laux, L. The Alexander Technique: Its Purpose and
Validity in Singing and in the Teaching of
Singing. Thesis excerpt. Viewed January 31,
2005. http://lauxweb.com/lori/thesis.html. p.4
196 Stark, p. 45
197 Miller, p. 151
194
195

Still, however, Alexander found himself

at the last moment falling into his bad
habits, despite conscious and logical direction
32

of inhibition.
He then realized that an
intermediate step was needed between the
second and third. He argued that, before the
third step, the pupil must choose a direction. At
the last moment before step 3, the pupil
chooses between singing, not singing, or doing
something different (like raising a hand). The
choice belongs entirely the student. Alexander
posited that, As long as reasoned direction
was maintained it would result in an activity
different from the old habitual activity.198 He
realized that he had been trying to employ a
new use of his self which was bound to feel
wrong to him (since it was unfamiliar), while at
the same time trusting to his feeling of what
felt right to tell him if he was successful. This
leads back to the idea of faulty sensory
awareness. By subjecting his processes to an
entirely new experience one dominated by
reasoning instead of feeling (choice to sing,
instead of feeling whether the singing was
correctly executed) he was able to
overcome his bad habits by skipping over
faulty sensory awareness completely.
This seemingly long tangent is
necessary to illustrate an important
psychological component of the learning
process which can often be skipped in vocal
pedagogy, as teachers become focused on
particular vocal technique issues in the pupil.
The whole self must always be considered
physical and mental (emotional). Alexander
further illustrates the importance of psychology
and emotion in learning by telling the story of
the end-gaining golfer who, after being told by
his teacher to keep his eye on the ball, finds
himself unable to do so:

out of the game, the worse this emotional condition

becomes. The immediate effect is
that he tries harder than ever to make a good stroke
and falls into the old wrong [familiar, habitual]
ways and again takes his eyes off the ball..199
There is, indeed, a strong link between
many of the concepts of traditional vocal
pedagogy, as written by figures such as Richard
Miller, Pierfrancesco Tosi, and Giovanni and
Francesco Lamperti. Alexander Technique can
easily be related to ideas of appoggio, messa di
voce, la lutte vocale, and laryngeal use. In all of
these cases, it is possible for the Alexander
Technique to achieve the same ends as the
exercises and methods put forth by these vocal
pedagogues in their writings, through use of
the Primary Control. It is also possible that, as
Alexander states, learning proper use of the
self will see to the proper functioning of all of
these parts of the self, indirectly and
simultaneously.
Perhaps by learning the
Alexander Technique, the student can indeed
learn more, faster. Furthermore, Alexander
believed that to effect a change in the use of
the self would bring about changes in aspects
of ones life other than singing.200 However, it
would be foolish to assume that to learn the
Alexander Technique is to learn to sing. It is
important to remember that the Alexander
Technique can never serve as a replacement to
traditional vocal pedagogy. It should act as a
new and fresh point of view which can allow
student and teacher to consider aspects of
singing in a different way. Clearly, there are
limitations to the Alexander Technique, since it
cannot be of much help to the understanding
and achievement of unification of registers in
the male voice, for example. It can, however,
ensure the proper use of the body, which will
inhibit bad habits, and allow the student to
learn and acquire principles of singing with
greater ease than otherwise.

The process is repeated every time he tries to make a

good stroke, with the result that his failures far
outnumber his successes, and he becomes more or less
disturbed emotionally, as always happens when people
find themselves
more often wrong than not, without knowing the reason
why. And the more he finds himself unable to carry out
his teachers instructions with anything like the
necessary degree of certainty for him to get any pleasure

198

Alexander, pp. 33, 34

Hudson, Barbara. The Effects of The Alexander
Technique on the Respiratory System of the Singer/Actor Part II:
Implications for Training Respiration in the Singers/Actors
Based on Concepts of the Alexander Technique. Journal of
Singing The Offical Journal of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing. 59:2, 2002. p.9
199
200

Alexander, p. 33
33

Keys to Divadom:

unexpected, but each is equally necessary, it

seems, for the evolution of a highly successful
and effective female operatic performer. For
almost all of the singers studied, from Kiri Te
Kanawa, to Maria Callas, Rene Fleming,
Maureen Forrester and many in between, the
following statements were found to be true:
the singer possessed vocal talent from a young
age; an adult noticed her talent and took a keen
interest in her musical development while she
was still young; she possessed an insatiable
desire to learn; she worked hard and sacrificed
much for her musical development and career;
she was able to reconcile the lifestyle demands
of an opera career in her own life; she was able
to accept criticism; she had a uniquely
identifiable voice; she knew the strengths and
weaknesses of her instrument and assessed the
roles she would be suited for accordingly; and
she communicated with her audience at all
times while performing. Certainly, there are
exceptions to each of these rules but, upon
close scrutiny of the lives and careers of the
worlds most recent highly successful prima
donne, it can be observed that most of them
ring true for the biggest female names in
singing throughout the past half-century.
Students of singing would do well to consider
whether or not these truths apply to their own
lives and singing, before attempting to pursue
performing careers. Likewise, teachers of
singing would be wise to attempt to identify
these traits and experiences in their students.
From the viewpoint of the student or teacher,
therefore, it cannot be denied that those who
wish to sing professionally now stand to learn
much from the experiences of those who have
gone before them.
That the female singers who have
become successful on the operatic stage had
vocal talent as children is perhaps expected;
still, the extent of their interest in singing as
children is worth confirming, using the singers
words. Maureen Forrester, for example, can
recount the story of her performance in a
veterans hospital at age three (Forrester &
McDonald) and confesses "I don't remeber a

Nine Truths About

Highly Effective
Female Opera
Singers
1950-2000
By Jackie Nelson

Each year, thousands of young women

find themselves being trained as classical
singers at post-secondary institutions all over
the world.201 A much greater number of
female highschool-age students take classical
singing lessons each year, and many more
individuals than have vocal talent have
dreamed of captivating an audience with a
wonderful singing voice. Regardless of the
number of young female students of singing or
of the number of individuals who may wish to
have divadom befall them, however, the fact
remains that world-class opera singers are not
born every day. In reality, many very talented
singers choose not to make their careers out of
classical singing and many others are simply
unable, despite their desire, to do so. Certainly,
making a living from opera singing, as with
making a career in any performing art, can
depend heavily on the specific timing of
auditions and vocal development of a singer,
personal connections an individual artist may
possess, and mere chance. There are, however,
several character traits and experiences that are
common to almost all highly effective female
opera singers. By considering the lives and
careers of female opera singers whose careers
flourished between 1950 and 2000, nine
important truths about highly effective female
opera singers can be gleaned. These truths
range from the seemingly mudane to the rather
Eatock, C. (2001). The great singers: What sets the
best apart from the rest? Opera Canada 42(2), 16-19.

201

34

time when I didn't sing".202 Kiri Te Kanawa

admits to always singing as a child203 and
Maria Callas, perhaps the supreme example of
a child prodigy in singing, was engaged by the
Greek National Theatre as a soloist by the time
she was thirteen.204 Barbara Frittolis voice was
excellent enough for her school choirmaster to
single her out of a group of six hundred by the
time she was twelve, and Angela Gheorghiu
remembers both having a good voice and
trying to imitate the opera singers that she
heard on the radio during her childhood.205
Galina Gorchakova apparently recalls, as a
small child, often locking herself in the
bathroom and not emerging until she had sung
every song and aria she knew.206 Catherine
Malfitano remembers performing as early as
the age of six207 and Cecilia Bartolis mother
maintains that when she was small, she liked
to sing as much as talk.208 Christina Ludwig
remarks, I always had a voice. I sang when I
was three or four years old. I sang always in
school209 and Barbara Bonney had perfect
pitch by age three.210 In short, the seeds of
interest in singing for most female opera
singers were sown at a young age.
Mere interest in singing, however,
could not be enough for these women to make
careers as professionals.
Each of the
successful singers studied also required the
energy and interest of an adult who noticed her
talent and became committed to her young
vocal development. For both Callas and Te
Kanawa, this adult came first in the form of an

over-bearing mother who strove to make her

daughter into an opera singer. Te Kanawas
mother went so far as to move the family to a
different city and then beg the best teacher in
New Zealand to teach her daughter, at the
time too young by that teachers standards.211
Maureen Forrester recalls her mother forcing
her into the local church choir as soon as I
could open my mouth212 and later pleading
with Maureens teacher Bernard Diamant to
continue working with the young contralto,
who had gone against Diamants wishes by
entering a popular voice competition.213
Christina Ludwig recounts her years of training
with her own mother, who continued to
critique her daughters singing for decades
afterward.214 After this initial push to study
singing, which often came from a family
member, the female singers who became highly
successful were also given attention by at least
one dedicated coach or teacher. For Callas,
her teacher de Hildalgo filled this role; for Te
Kanawa, a nun singing teaching by the name of
Sister Mary Leo. Each singer had her own
teacher who not only recognized her talent but
understood how to develop it. As Callas
suggested, "a singer's career is essentially built
on youth; wisdom comes later... the earlier we
receive our training, the better, so that we have
the basis to acquire wisdom sooner".215 The
attention and display of belief in their talents
by an adult, which these singers received as
youths, spurred many of them on to further
study and, thus, is an inextricable part of the
path to success for these female opera singers.
Next to raw talent and adults dedicated
to helping singers hone their skills, highly
effective female opera singers also share an
unquenchable thirst to learn their craft. Maria
Callas exemplifies this thirst for knowledge.
Even as a child, she would stay all day at the
Greek conservatory where her teacher de
Hidalgo worked because she felt was always

202 Forrester, M. & McDonald, M. (1986). Maureen

Forrester - Out of character: A memoir. Toronto: McClelland
& Stewart. p. 34

Fingleton, D. (1983). Kiri Te Kanawa: A biography.

New York: Atheneum. p.17
204 Ardoin, J. (1987). Introduction to Callas at Juilliard:
The master classes. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press.
205 Matheopoulos, H. (1998). Diva: The new generation.
Boston: Northeastern University Press.
206 ibid, p.93
207 ibid.
208 Hoelterhoff, M. (1998). Cinderella and company:
Backstage at the opera with Cecilia Bartoli. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf. p.14
209 Newman, E. (2000). High times, hard times. Opera
News 64(9). p.43
210 Matheopoulos
203

211 Fingleton, D. (1983). Kiri Te Kanawa: A biography.

New York: Atheneum. p.17

Forrester & McDonald, p. 11

ibid.
214 Newman
215 Ardoin, p. 3
212
213

35

learning something.216
Conductor Rescigno
bore witness to the way in which Callas was
"always the first to arrive at rehearsals and the
last to leave, because of her eagerness to
learn".217 Callas herself maintained that When
it comes to music, we are all students, all our
lives218 and her suggestion that the more you
learn, the more you realize how little you
know, confirms her fascination with the
learning of her art form. Both Te Kanawa and
Forrester demonstrated their devotion to the
vocal learning process by working many hours
at non-musical jobs in order to be able to pay
for their own singing lessons as youths. When
they began their professional careers, these two
women joined all singers with international
careers in having regular sessions with language
specialists, dramatic coaches, and specialists in
various specific singing techniques, which also
attests to the commitment of opera singers in
general to continued learning. Outside of
individual coachings, female opera singers
must take opportunities to learn from those
around them. Isola Jones, for example, found
that just singing at the Metropolitan Opera
House provided her with an incredible
occasion to soak up knowledge about good
singing merely by listening. Natalie Dessay
asserts a similar desire to continually learn with
the following statement: ''After ten years of
my career, I have done all the [standard] roles I
can do in this repertoire. I don't want to repeat.
I have to progress, to work on the voice, and
to move on to something else, something that's
more interesting, acting-wise''.219 Many have
echoed her sentiments and have continued to
expand their role repertory and their
understanding of particular opera characters in
order to expand their knowledge base.
Matheopoulos maintains that todays top
singers are smart and no wonder, when the
learning process never stops for them.

As in the cases of Te Kanawa and

Forrester, a commitment to learning means, in
its early stages, much hard work and sacrifice
on the part of all successful opera singers.
Forrester recalls having to give up many
friendships when she began to study with
Diamant, simply because she did not have time
after daily work and vocal practice to spend
time with friends. Forrester also remembers
that her life was not that of a normal girl once
she began serious voice study.220 For Te
Kanawa, sacrifice was especially great upon
leaving her homeland of New Zealand for
England to study at the London Opera Centre
in her early twenties. Leaving the country
where she was a celebrity to study in a new
place where her teachers were less tolerant and
she had few friends was definitely a sacrifice
for this singer, and one which caused her to,
eventually, work hard. For Dessay, singing has
meant working like a dog, really.221 Yet, as
Matheopoulos reminds, contemporary operatic
singers have an infinite capacity for hard
work.222
Rescigno extends this infinite
capacity back several decades when he
reinforces the ambitious work ethic of Maria
Callas by stating, "I do not doubt that the
natural talent of Callas was immense, but she
perfected this gift with a great deal of study,
discipline, and humility".223 All of the singers
studied invested in numerous lessons and
studied and performed overseas frequently.
Thus, it is obvious that many other interests
had to be laid aside in order for highly effective
female opera singers to pursue their musical
careers.
A logical step after making some of
these sacrifices is dealing with their
repercussions and the general lifestyle of an
opera singer. To some, this lifestyle was too
strenuous. In the words of Janet Baker, "If
someone asked me if my career has been
worth it, in other words worth the sacrifices
made by me and members of my family, worth
the separations, the agony of performing...the
strains and pitfalls of being a public figure, my

ibid.
Rescigno, N. (1987). Foreword to Callas at Juilliard:
The master classes. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. p.
xii
218 Ardoin, p. xvii
219 Kellow, B. (2001). Femme du monde. Opera News
65(10), p.33
216
217

Forrester & McDonald

Kellow, 2001, p. 33
222 Matheopoulos, p. xxiii
223 Rescigno, p.xxi
220
221

36

honest answer would have to be "No.224. She

continues by saying that she found "in the life
[of a singer] itself and the principles which
guide it . . . there is a terrible kind of
ruthlessness".225 These statements prove that
successful singers do not necessarily have to be
enamoured of every aspect of their career, but
they must, nevertheless, come to terms with
the way opera singers must live. For Rene
Fleming, this meant toting her pre-school-aged
children and their nanny along on many
international engagements.226 For Forrester,
adjusting to operatic life has meant separating
herself from The Voice inside her. Luckily
for Forrester, her constitution and high level of
energy have enabled her to avoid the constant
pampering and palpitations over every
breeze that she knows many of her colleagues
must endure in order to be able to do their
jobs.227 Matheopoulos aptly describes operasinger life in the following paragraph:
For, away from the electricity,
excitement and high tension of the operatic
stage, a divas life boils down to a peripatetic
existence in hotel rooms and rented flats; on
top of this a daily routine requiring discipline,
training, careful living and the stamina of an
athlete. Moreover, divas live in a state of
permanent preoccupation with their health, the
slightest variation in which can affect The
Voice, this volatile and unpredicatble
instrument, so bound up with their physical
and emotional state.228
Undoubtedly, this lifestyle is not for
everyone. Singers such as Marie Collier proved
to be unable to truly tolerate this kind of life,
always detesting traveling to new places and
being alone in hotel rooms. However, despite
the drawbacks, which also often include shortlived marriages, short tempers among opera
divas, and the demand for singers to perform
even when they are not feeling their best229,

many singers have found ways to balance the

stress of their jobs with an active family and
extra-curricular life.230
Finding the balance
between the need to perform and the need to
lead a well-rounded life is an achievment that
has been credited to such singers as Kiri Te
Kanawa and Felicity Lott, who have beautiful
voices, but . . . are still real women.231 After
all, not every singer can develop Callas motto
of "What is there in life if you do not
work?...You can only live on work, by work,
through work... I work, therefore I am".232
Certainly, the lights, fame, or the drug of
audience acclaim, which Baker says are part of
the job233 as well as the frequent traveling and
difficulty that in itself can present while raising
a family, should be aspects of opera singing
that students consider before they attempt to
launch their full-time careers. Priorities must
be evaluated and goals set before a student
commits to a life professional opera work.
In addition to accepting the lifestyle
requirements of opera, another skill which
effective female opera singers share is the
ability to accept criticism and disappointment.
This quality is essential to survival among
directors, colleagues, audiences and critics, and
requires the singer to have enough selfconfidence to not doubt her talent after a
failure or criticism is encountered, but not to
have so much confidence that she is no longer
flexible and open-minded in a rehearsal
situation. Certainly, among highly effective
female singers, examples of both attitudes
exist, but the former is certainly more
favourable to contemporary conductors and
colleagues. One example of a singer who has
her own artistic ideas but who has never
thought of them as singularly valid, is Te
Kanawa. Perhaps this is a result of numerous
competitions as a young singer, where she
encountered many failures before winning
large prizes in her early twenties. Similarly, if

Baker, J. (1982). Full circle: An autobiographical journal.

New York: F. Watts. p. 52
225 ibid. p.53
226 Matheopoulos
227 Forrester & McDonald, p.9
228 Matheopoulos, p. xxvi
229 Kellow, B. (2002). On the beat: Diva stories. Opera
News 67(5), 8, 10.
224

Fingleton
Bambarger, B. (1999). Global classical pulse. The
International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home
Entertainment 111(36), 54-55.
232 Lowe, D. (Ed). (1986). Callas as they saw her. New
York: Ungar, 1986. p.177
233 Baker, p.140
230
231

37

Rene Fleming had not learned how to cope

with criticism before her opening night of
Donizettis Lucrezia Borgia at La Scala in 1998,
she learned at that performance, where she was
loudly booed by the audience.234 Maria Callas
even admits to not being well-liked when she
first began to sing because she took the public
away from the tradition they knew.235 In a
world fraught with critics opinions in reviews
of each performance executed, female
professional opera singers must certainly be
able to accept criticism, learn from their
mistakes, and develop the ability to discern
honest, valid, constructive criticism from
uninformed, ignorant gossip.
Yet another quality shared among most
highly successful and effective female opera
singers is a uniquely identifiable instrument.
Matheopoulos maintains that an instantly
recognizeable voice is perhaps the most
important ingredient in the recipe for a worldclass opera singer, and Stanley-Porter agrees.236
It cannot be denied that many successful
singers have been hailed as having a timbre all
their own, including Maria Callas,237 Marilyn
Horne,238 Brigitte Fassbaender,239
Janet
Baker,240 Rgine Crespin,241 Kiri Te Kanawa,242
Kathleen Battle,243 and Jessye Norman244. In
addition, some singers have been faulted for
having instruments that were less distinctive
than their contemporaries.245
Even if the

sound is technically flawed or a bit harsh in

some repertoire, it seems that a distinctive
voice is more important than a beautiful
instrument that sounds like thousands before
it. Whether the tone is steely, harsh, round or
light, it seems to matter not, provided there is
something unique and recognizeable about the
voice. As Stanley-Porter says, when you hear a
sound that stands out, thats very exciting246
and this is a truth that young singers should
also be aware of as they prepare for
professional careers.
Having a unique and identifiable timbre
is but one of the strengths that one might
possess as a singer, and it is important that
female opera singers be aware of their own
vocal strengths and weaknesses, so that they
may accept roles accordingly. Highly effective
female opera singers today must constantly
refuse roles which are too large or dramatically
inappropriate for their voices or ages and, thus,
the knowledge of the resources that their
instruments possess is one key to keeping these
voices singing.
While Patricia Craig247,
248
Frederica von Stade , and Natalie Dessay249
have denied roles because they were too large
for their voices, it has been equally important
for the careers of singers such as Barbara
Bonney250 and Janet Baker251 to refuse roles
which they have grown out of vocally and
dramatically. Steane praises Renata Tebaldi for
having remained within an appropriate
repertoire for her voice, while Aberbach insists
that, lately, too many voices are singing roles at
too young an age.252 Whatever the quality of
the voice may be, it is apparent that highly
successful female opera singers must be aware
of the properties of their voices, so that they
can maximize their skills but not damage their
instrument or bore themselves dramatically.

Kellow, 2001
Ardoin, p. 6
236 Eatock, C. (2001). The great singers: What sets the
best apart from the rest? Opera Canada 42(2), 16-19.
234
235

237 Steane, J. (1998). Singers of the century, v. 2. Amadeus

Press: Portland, Oregon.

ibid.
ibid.
240 Eatock, C. (2001). The great singers: What sets the
best apart from the rest? Opera Canada 42(2), 1619.
241 ibid.
242 Fingleton
243 Malafronte, Judith (2002).Recordings: Recital:
Kathleen Battle. Opera News 67(2), 58-59.
244 Mark, M. (2003). Collections: "The Very Best of
Jose Carreras"; "The Very Best of Placido Domingo";
"The Very Best of Jessye Norman." American Record
Guide 66(5), 253.
245 Steane
238
239

Eatock, p. 19
Braun, W. (2003). Mainstays [Resident Members of
the Metropolitan Opera in the 1980s]. Opera News
68(3), 53-57.
248 Steane
249 Kellow, 2001
250 Matheopoulos
251 Baker
252 Eatock
246
247

38

An infallible cure for dramatic

boredom is a singers ability to communicate
and express emotion to an audience. This was
found to be a unanimous skill among highly
effective female opera singers. Marilyn Horne
had an instinctive flair for the dramatic253
while Janet Bakers eyes have been called as
expressive as her voice.254 Maria Callas was
dubbed a natural actor255 and Rgine
Crespin one of operas most compelling
actresses.256
Steane forgives some of
Frederica von Stades technical flaws because
of the naturalness and humanity in her acting,
and Aberbach echoes a similar sentiment about
Teresa Stratas.257 Kellow mentions Dessays
blazing theatrical instincts258 and Driscoll
maintains that, aside from astute management
and great reviews, it was Rene Flemings
ability to connect dramatically with an audience
that made her and has kept her a star.259
Richard Turp purports that the most important
trait that great opera singers share is their
ability to enlighten and communicate the
meaning of the text they sing, and Stanley
Porter declares that on stage, the most
important thing is to bring the character
alive.260 Singers such as Ferrier, Te Kanawa
and Mattila have been praised countless times
by critics for their abilities to draw an audience
into the music they are singing. This dramatic
skill is not to be underestimated in operatic
singers. It is obvious that audiences and critics
alike look not just for a beautiful voice, but for
the dramatic intention allowing that voice, and
the actress behind it, to communicate deep
emotion. Thus, opera singers who do not
possess natural dramatic instincts should be
coached incessantly to this end, knowing that it
alone can make a performance meaningful to
an audience.

Aside from the nine skills and

experiences, or truths, discussed here, highly
successful female opera stars do share other
qualities. Many of them are naturally beautiful
women, and almost all thoroughly enjoy their
work. In the case of Mattila, the fun she has
while singing has even been said to be audible
on her recordings.261 However, this enjoyment
depends largely on the success of the prior
nine points, and the perception of a singer as
being beautiful can be greatly enhanced by
these other traits. Without natural talent,
parents and teachers who helped develop that
talent, a strong desire to learn, hard work and
sacrifice, an understanding of the lifestyle that
opera singing often demands, the ability to
accept criticism, the possession of a unique and
recognizeable instrument, a knowledge of ones
own vocal strengths and limitations, as well as
a keen ability to convey emotion and
communicate with an audience, todays female
operatic artists would not be successful or
celebrated. Some may say that, with these
traits and experiences, there is a sense, then,
in which diva life narratives write
themselves.262
However, each singer
possesses many other individual traits that
enhance or detract from her ability to perform
and, certainly, there are many more factors
than these which determine a successful career.
Still, by examining the lives of successful
singers, it is plain to see that these nine truths
certainly cannot be ignored, as they are all
integral to the development of world class
opera singers. Students of singing would be
wise to measure their own past, present, and
future experiences and skills against those
common to successful female opera singers, to
ensure that they have considered some of the
inevitable situations they will face as
professionals. The career of opera singing is,
as Callas said, difficult work,263 but for those
who are blessed with the stamina and talent to
withstand its pressures and who are invigorated

Steane, p.173
Steane
255 Ardoin, p.6
256 Albright, W. (1999.) [Review of the book On stage,
off stage: A memoir]. The Opera Quarterly 15(1),
p.109
257 Eatock
258 Kellow, p.36
259 Driscoll, F. P. (2003). Upward bound. Opera News
68(3), p.6
260 Eatock
253
254

Myers, E. (2001). Recital - Karita Mattila. Opera News

65(8), 76.
262 Leonardi, S. & Pope, R. (1996). The diva's mouth: body,
voice, prima donna politics. New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. p. 142
263 Ardoin, p. 8
261

39

by its challenges, it can also be very rewarding.

to offer a truly well rounded, engaging

performance.
After the initial technical
foundations are firmly in place, students must
strive to incorporate dramatic shadings into
their music from the moment they begin to
study a new piece, and they must learn to do
this by any means necessary. It is crucial that
singers pay serious attention to the dramatic
aspect of their studies in performance, which
will ultimately pay off in many ways, and will
even serve as a vehicle for a better
understanding of their music and improved
technical abilities. In most cities students
would have the opportunity to enroll in a
professional acting course, which is one of the
easiest ways to gain knowledge of the dramatic
arts so that they may be incorporated into a
musical performance.
Students may also
choose to embark on a self study of basic stage
techniques to incorporate into their practicing
and performance. It is still very important for
singers to maintain their study of the technical
aspects of their instrument. A dramatic stage
performance void of technical prowess and
musical thought is just as unfulfilling as a
technically glowing performance given by a
deadpan performer. The singer must learn to
strike a balance. Above all, a student must try
to observe themselves critically at any given
opportunity, and enlist the aid of anyone
willing to help them become a more wellrounded performer.
Many
of
todays
professional
performers will agree that it is absolutely vital
that a singer be well versed in the art of stage
craft in order to build a career. Rene Fleming
is definitely considered one of the top
performers of our time.
Her voice is
absolutely beautiful, but it is not that aspect of
her performance that has held the attention of
a world that is always so eager to move along
to the next big hit. Critics have hailed here as

The Art of Emotion

By Rachel Schwarz
The career of a professional singer is
under constant scrutiny. In an age of digital
recording technology, vocal technique must be
flawless to meet the expectations of a classical
music aficionado.
Young, would-be
performers spend countless hours in diligent
study and practice in order to perfect their
technique, and devote all their energy to
pursuits that might further their career. They
study languages, diction, and doggedly enter
competitions and attend auditions in the hopes
of building a successful performance career.
Unfortunately, many devoted students of voice
fail to come close to achieving their goals
despite their hard work and fortitude.
Although many will quickly dismiss actual
success in a performing career to luck, a
beautiful voice and flawless technique are only
a part of the total package required to really
cement a career in performance. Many critics,
coaches and voice teachers agree that
performers needs to demonstrate a
commanding stage presence, aesthetic appeal,
audience rapport and a mastery of dramatic
nuances in conjunction with a healthy
technique if they hope to pursue a serious
performance career. While this may seem like
common sense, the actual art of performing is
often neglected by serious voice students if not
completely ignored.
In a typical performance degree
students have access to a variety of theoretical,
historical and pedagogical courses, but are
rarely offered the chance to improve their
acting skills or learn the deportment necessary
to capture the attention of an audience or a
panel of judges. While it may be easy to blame
institutions for a lack of focus on performing
techniques, the onus must ultimately rest on
the performer. Often, the cause for a lackluster
performance can be attributed to inattention to
the amount of work and study that is necessary

the most celebrated American soprano before the

public right now with her warm stage presence that
seems both queenly regal and girl next door, and her
magnificent way with a song. (Tim Page) 264
264

40

Rene Fleming, The Inner Voice (New York,

Penguin Group, 2004) Back Cover

piece actually free her to become a vehicle of

expression.266 Obviously, it would be difficult
for an aspiring performer to convince anyone
that he or she does not dream of the critical
acclaim and devoted following that Fleming
enjoys. If that is truly the case, singers owe it
to themselves to try and attain the dramatic
freedom that Fleming states cam be found
within the context of good musical
understanding and technical fortitude.
As each singer is different, the same
solution to the problem of lack of polish in a
performance will not work for everyone.
Singers must be diligent in attempting to gain
some dramatic freedom within the context of
their performing. They are responsible for
researching various methods of amending their
performance style to include some genuinely
moving emotional moments. In order to do
this, the must first understand how to most
effectively create these moments.
Arguably the best tool for a singer is
their mirror. Everyone should make a point of
singing in a full length mirror as often as
possible. The trick is to allow the time with
the mirror to not simply be about technique
and posture, rather, observing how an effort to
communicate can change a performance.
Singers must guard against overacting lest they
become a clich, and with a clear goal of
creating a believable performance they are able
to embark on a very rewarding journey of self
discovery. As everyone is different, some
singers will have an easier time of this than
others, as they are naturally gifted with an
effusive personality and tangible charisma.
This does not mean that they should be
excluded from the study of stage craft, because
the most engaging performers can still fail to
capture an audience if they do not learn to
hone their personality and physical attributes to
their advantage. Sometimes it is more difficult
to watch a singer desperately trying to convey
emotion without an understanding of how to
effectively do so, than it is to watch a boring
performer.

Reading any review of Flemings recent

performance triumphs or having the chance to
watch her create her art live or on film will
cement the view that she is truly a master at
her craft. In her new book, Fleming shares her
views on what make a performer successful,
and how to create an unforgettable
performance. She speaks candidly about the
demands on the classical singer, and it is clear
that she ascribes to the belief that performance
is an art that encompasses beautiful singing,
but an inspired performance cannot rest on the
voice alone.
In the course of my career I have appeared in
many different venues. Ive sung for a small roomful of
people, and Ive sung in giant outdoor arenas, but
whether Im performing for a group of twelve or a group
of twelve thousand, my goal is the same: communicating
with the audience I can reach out with my voice and
touch the audience in an almost physical way. For me,
the singers art is the art of expression expressing the
music, expressing the text, projecting my voice into a
large space, and then using it to make that space
between me and the audience grow smaller and
smaller.265
Clearly, Fleming believes in the
symbiotic relationship between the voice and
the performance. Her success dictates that she
has indeed discovered how to make the stage
work for her. Many singers follow her career
avidly, admiring her success and technical
ability without ever truly grasping that the
nature of her performance stems from a
genuine desire to evoke emotion and to draw
in the audience. In order to give themselves
the opportunity to build a career even remotely
close to that of Rene Fleming, it is clear that
singers must start to more actively take an
interest in the actual art of performance.
Fleming goes on to contend that it is
within the structure of a freely given
performance that she actually finds technical
nuances that she was not aware were within
her scope of ability. She states that the hours
she spent working on the technical aspects of a
265

Fleming, p. 175

266

41

Fleming, p. 175

Fleming actually claims to be

somewhat of an introvert267, which means that
she has had to make a concerted effort to craft
her inimitable performance style.
Upon
reading her book, one might draw the
conclusion that part of her performance
success can be attributed to the fact that she
has icons that she admires, and she strives to
achieve the kind of depth of performance that
has been achieved by legendary singers such as
Maria Callas. Fleming spends a good deal of
time musing over the qualities that have
allowed the legend of Callas to live on, and
seeing that kind of thought and insight into
performance ability give the reader the
impression that she will never be content with
the level of technical ability and performance
that she has achieved, and that her genuine
desire to become better with each subsequent
performance will allow her to continue to grow
as a vocal titan.
Maria Callas is a modern legend. She is
one of the last opera divas to ever reach iconic
status outside the classical music world.
Although her performances were not always
flawless, audiences seem to have been willing
to forgive her anything because of her stunning
performing ability. Her vocal style is in
keeping with the Bel Canto ideal of the
language of the soul. In conjunction with the
technical work of singers of that time, looking
back at manuscripts show that just as much
thought was placed on the subtlest dramatic
nuance as on the technical mastery of a piece.
Gestures and emotional motivation can be
found written into countless scores of the
period, and treatises proclaim the language of
the soul to be of vital importance to a
complete performance. This includes actual
sighs, tears, cries and changes to the timber of
the voice for dramatic purposes.268
Suggesting to modern singers that they
actually sacrifice some vocal beauty in order to
communicate emotion would leave many of
the balking at the thought. While it is easy to
see how vocal gesticulations are not necessarily
267
268

vital to a modern performance, a singer must

not discount the validity in the freedom that
they would afford. Perhaps taking some Bel
Canto principles into the practice room would
allow singers to see exactly how far they can
truly go in a performance without making a
mockery of the music. It would truly be an
exercise for many to interrupt their beautiful
legato line with a sigh of heartbreak, but
perhaps it is a valuable practicing tool that is
not given the credit that it truly deserves.
It is interesting to pick up a manual for
stage actors and read what it will have to say
about the importance of the voice in
performance. Many authors of acting manuals
will approach the instruction of the voice in
much the same way as a teacher of classical
singing. Patsy Rodenburg, a well respected
voice and acting coach in London, England,
views proper vocal technique as the
cornerstone for any successful stage
performance. She views the voice as the
cornerstone of success in acting, and in her
courses at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama she spends years training young actors
in much the same fashion as singing teachers
train their students. She applies many of the
same principles and studies used by acclaimed
vocal pedagogs such as Dr. Richard Miller to
the art of acting, and she has actually devoted
an entire book to the importance of healthy
voice
technique
as
a
vehicle
for
269
communication.
If a singer were to take the time to
think about the importance placed on the voice
in stage acting, they might eventually come to
the conclusion that speaking and singing are
simply different sides of the same craft. The
art of dramatic acting is far more technical and
pedagogical than many singers realize, and yet
the ultimate performance never suffers as a
result of technical concentration. Rodenburg
has some very interesting views on singing that
should at least draw the consideration of any
serious singer. I realize that singing is, on one
level, a very technically complex activity. Yet it
is more natural than speaking. It has a fluency

Fleming, 175
Robert Toft, Heart to Heart (New York, Oxford
University Press, 2000) p. 168

269

42

Patsy Rodenburg The Actor Speaks (New York,

Palgrave MacMillan, 2000) pp. 4-16

and a free flow that should be fun and more

liberating than speaking text the potentially
joyous side of singing has been corseted wit
judgmental fears.270 If Rodenburgs views on
the close similarities between the speaking and
singing voice are true, than it would have great
impact on the studies of a would-be performer.
The next logical step for singers on their way
to a performing career would be to realize that
it is necessary to build their stage craft with the
meticulous study and planning exerted by a
Shakespearian actor.
Richard Miller has written many
authoritative texts on the subtle workings of
the human voice. He is at the top of his field,
and is revered by the classical community as
one of the great vocal pedagogs of our time.
With all of his technical study, it is sometimes
easy to forget that Dr. Miller also had a
performing career that would be the envy of
many a classical singer. It is refreshing to
realize that he has very strong opinions on the
multiple demands of a successful performing
career, and refers to a well rounded singer as
having the Performance Package.271 This
refers to absolutely everything society could
want from a professional singer, including
technique, natural ability, musicality, a sense of
drama and a genuine feeling for
communication. If a teacher as technically
exacting as Dr. Miller feels that a grasp of the
dramatic is necessary to complete the
performance package, perhaps many studious
young singers would do well to take heed.
Dr. Miller also contends that a senior
performance major should most likely have a
decent technical basis for their singing, and
that a singers practicing must be devoted to
both technical and dramatic mastery. He
stresses the importance of attention to the
inner meaning of a text, and encourages young
professionals to strive towards creating a
believable
and
authentic
performance
experience. To that end, he offers the advice
that performance technique can be taught just
as easily as vocal technique. He asserts that
270
271

while acting workshops and the like are of

great value, a large amount of interpretive work
can be done in the studio. He calls on the
vocal coaches and teachers to be more diligent
with students with regards to creating a feeling
of ease within the students body, and this
comfort will ultimately lead to ease on stage.
Dr. Miller explains facial expression is of
primary importance in communication, and
suggests that singers videotape lessons,
rehearsals and performances so that they may
watch themselves with a critical eye and learn
from their shortcomings.272 Dr Miller is ready
to admit that although technical study is always
of the utmost importance, as a performance
approaches it must cede to the need to focus
on the musical and interpretative aspects of
singing. He states that Technical study
should not aim at a assembling a singing
machine, but at developing a communicative
artist.273
A good bit of wisdom for the classical
singer would be to Never sing without
someone, or the illusion of someone, to sing
to.274 Sometimes a great deal of headway can
simply be made by deciding your motivation
behind singing, and who you are singing to.
Sometimes the singer is lucky enough to have a
live person to sing to, but more often they
must train themselves to create an imaginary
partner. If they can master this technique, then
they are able to begin to create another world
for the audience. Matt Bean also contends that
creating someone to sing to affects singing in a
healthy way. He believes that if that illusion is
not there, singers have a tendency to push their
voices, and creating another individual creates
the sensation that the singing is being pulled
out of us by the person were singing to; this is
effortless.275
Obviously there is a great push for
modern classical singers to begin to pay more
Richard Miller, Learning to Portray Emotion,
(NATS Journal, vol. 45, no. 5)
273 Richard Miller, Balancing Technique and
Literature, (NATS Journal, vol. 58, no.4)
274 Matt Bean, To Whom do you Sing?, (NATS
Journal, vol. 45, no.3) Quoting: David Craig, On
Singing Onstage, p.82, 1978
275 Bean
272

Rodenburg, p.137
Richard Miller, Wrapping up the Performance
Package, (NATS Journal, vol. 49, no.3)
43

attention to their performance style in order to

create the package of a well rounded singer and
performer.
They must use any options
available to them, including acting courses,
dramatic theory resources, outside feedback
and constant personal monitoring in order to
ensure they are growing dramatically as well as
vocally. When this dramatic motivation is
handled properly, it can actually create an
environment to foster technical freedom,
which will allow singers to reach new levels of
vocal ability. It should be a vehicle to allow
performers to reach any goal they set for
themselves on stage, whether it is technical or
dramatic.
Ultimately, singers are solely
responsible for their own improvement in this
area. They must be diligent and have a genuine
desire to learn the invaluable stage tools
necessary to have the chance to build a
professional career. For any successful singer,
the dramatic arts are a vital part of their craft.
Young singers can do themselves a great
service by realizing this, and taking a proactive
approach to developing their performance
technique sooner rather than later.

physiological and psychological aspect that

affects the way we interpret sensationswe can
become anxious in situations merely because
we perceive a threat even where there is none.
277
Performance is not simply the product of
physiological and biomechanical factors, but
psychological factors also play a crucial role in
determining performance278
There are few activities that can
produce tension and anxiety as quickly and as
thoroughly as performing in public.279
Cognitive, behavioural, and physiological
factors are involved in the underlying processes
of performance anxiety.280 A performance
itself involves a sequence of skilled actions that
may easily be disrupted since the physical
systems sustaining a performance are precisely
those most likely to be disturbed by excessive
tension281. Music performance requires a high
level of skill in a diverse range of skill areas
including fine motor dexterity and coordination, attention and memory, aesthetic,
and interpretative skills.282 Sweating, muscle
control and breathing pattern are most
sensitive to bodily arousal, yet are crucial to
most performing arts.283
Anxiety does not always result in a
negative affect on the performer. According
the Inverted-U Hypothesis, performance can
actually improve with increasing arousal up to
an intermediate level, and it is not until the
arousal level rises beyond the optimum that

The Cognitive
and Physiological
Aspects of
Performance Anxiety

277A

Discussion on Performance Anxiety. (Accessed:

02 February 2005)
http://www.mostlywind.co.uk/performance_anxiety.ht
ml
278J. Graham Jones, Lew Hardy, Stress and Performance in
Sport (England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1990), 3.
279A Discussion on Performance Anxiety. (Acessed:
02 February 2005)
http://www.mostlywind.co.uk/performance_anxiety.ht
ml
280Ibid.
281Ibid.
282Dianna T. Kenny et. al: Music Performance Anxiety
and Occupational Stress amongst Opera Chorus Artists
and Their Relationship with State and Trait Anxiety
Perfectionism. Journal of Anxiety Disorders (Sept 2003)
757-777, online [database online, UWO], accessed 02
February 2005.
283Steptoe, Musical Times (Aug. 1982)

By: Katherine Serniwka

At one time or another, everyone has
experienced some form of anxiety. Whether it
be in music performance, sports, or other focal
anxieties such as a fear of spiders or heights,
the individual responds similarly, both
physically and mentally to the presence of the
feared situation.276
Anxiety has both a
276Andrew

Steptoe: Performance Anxiety. Recent

Developments in Its Analysis and Management. The
Musical Times (Aug., 1982) 537-541, online, available:
JSTOR, [database online, UWO], accessed 05 February
2005.
44

performance begins to deteriorate.284 Levels of

arousal above or below this optimum amount
are seen to produce inferior performance.285
Difficulties in performance may also arise on
the other end of the spectrumsome musicians
are unable to rise to the occasion and give a
dull performance through failing to generate
enough excitement and arousal.286
This
accounts for the claim frequently expressed by
performers that they need a certain level of
anxiety and nervousness to perform well.287
The tension needed for a good performance is
not anxiety, but a generalized state of moderate
physical excitement.288
The tension experienced with anxiety is
caused by an overload of Adrenaline and
noradrenaline which enters the bloodstream
whenever one is faced with a stressful
situation.289 It causes hyper-alertness and in
part, this reaction is a survival responsethe
fight or flight reaction290 The nervous system
is activated and physiological reactions
interfere with performing by making it difficult
to control otherwise simple functions such as
breathing.291
During the fight or flight reaction, the
body changes the way it operates physically in
order to maximize strength and energy;
normally the body uses only a small amount of
energy and strength.292 This reaction is a very
powerful response that serves as an important
survival function, however when one is faced
with non-physical threats such as the fear of
making mistakes or performing in public, this
reaction results in an inferior performance.293
Since the action of performing does not
require a physical action such as running from
a threat, energy is neither used nor absorbed
and thus the outcome is stress and anxiety.294
In a performing situation, this build up of
284Jones,
285Ibid.

295Ibid.

296Dorothy

V. Harris, Bette L. Harris, The Athletes Guide

tp Sports Psychology: Mental Skills for Physical People (USA:
Leisure Press, 1984) 34.
297Jones, Hardy, 6.

Hardy, 20.

286Steptoe,
287Ibid.

adrenaline causes symptoms like shaking,

excessive sweating and hyperventilation, and
interferes with the performance.295
Anxiety is generally considered to be a
combination of the cognitive and somatic
manifestations of perceived emotional or
physical threat.296
Cognitive anxiety is
characterized by negative expectations, lack of
concentration and images of failure, while
somatic anxiety refers to the perception of
physiological symptoms such as sweaty hands
or tension.297 Anxiety can be divided int298o
subcategories.
Trait anxiety is ones
predisposition to perceive certain stimuli as
threatening; individuals with high trait anxiety
levels tend to exhibit a chronically higher level
of arousal in all situations.299 They either
perceive more situations as threatening or
respond to threatening situations with more
intense levels of state anxiety, or both.300 State
anxiety is the situation-specific anxiety state; it
can be aroused by the perception of danger,
fear of failure and worry or threat to selfesteem in a particular situation.301 State anxiety
is arousal produced by the perception of
danger.302
There are several theories that strive to
explain performance anxiety in terms of its
causes and effects. Two such theories are the
Drive Theory and the Inverted-U Hypothesis.
Drive Theory is one of the most influential
theories of motivation in psychology and has
played an important role in sport psychology,
particularly as an explanation for the effects of
an audience on motor performance.303 It is
believed that state anxiety has motivational and
drive properties that are of benefit to
performanceto an extent, anxiety can be

Musical Times (Aug 1982)

298

288Ibid.

299Harris,

34.
Martens, Sport Competition Anxiety Test (Illinois:
University of Illinois, 1977) 5.
301Harris, 34-35.
302Martens, 5.
303Diane L. Gill, Psychological Dynamics of Sport (Illinois:
Human Kinetics Books, 1986) 117.

289A

Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 1.

290Ibid, 1.
291Ibid., 2
292Ibid., 1
293Ibid.
294Ibid.

300Rainer

45

motivational. 304 One of the main components

of drive theory refers to learned responses or
behaviours.305 Drive theory proposes that as
arousal or drive increases, as in intense
competition, learned behaviours are most likely
to occur.306 Anxiety occurs when an individual
believes that they do not have to ability to
handle the demands of a situation; studies
indicate that high levels of anxiety are related
to lower levels of confidence.307 If the task is
relatively simple or well-learned by an
individual so that correct responses are
dominant, the presence of an audience will
enhance the performance of the task.308 If the
task is complex and poorly learned, the
dominant response is an incorrect response,
and increased arousal brought on by an
audience will impair performance.309 The
argument is that the presence of others
increases drive and thereby enhances the
performance of well-learned tasks and inhibits
the performance of poorly learned tasks.310
The Inverted-U Hypothesis states that
for every type of behaviour there exists an
optimum level of arousal, usually of moderate
intensity, that produces maximum performance
and that this optimum level decreases as
performance decreases.311 The required level
of arousal is related to the degree of
complexity of the task and the length of time
necessary to execute the task.312 Performance
level progressively declines as arousal increases
or decreases from a moderate level.313 Simple
strength tasks, such as weight-lifting, may
profit from high levels of arousal or anxiety
while more cognitive tasks, such as a musical
performance may suffer from even moderate
levels of anxiety.314 It is difficult to accurately

measure what constitutes a moderate level of

anxiety as opposed to a high or low level of
anxiety since it differs depending on the
individual; this is one of the complications of
the Inverted-U Hypothesis. Predicting precise
optimal arousal levels for each performer and
each task is not possible.315
Past
performances
shape
the
expectations of future performancesone bad
experience of performing leads to another.316
The experience becomes internalized through a
process of conditioning and so the fear is
reproduced in later situations.317
Anxiety
becomes a response to something that may
happen and not a response to something that
does happen.
Performing in front of an audience
requires a great level of focus and
concentration. The performers inner dialogue
or inner speech plays an important part in
intensifying and exaggerating anxiety.318 The
cognitive aspects of performing may interfere
with this concentration and cause the
performer to experience worries about
memory lapses, fear of a difficulty in the piece,
and disapproval from friends and teachers.319
There might also be negative thoughts about
the self, and deeming oneself unworthy,
technically incapable, and not as talented as
ones colleagues.320
As general anxiety, it is believed that
performance anxiety tends to run in families.321
Also, several studies have shown that there
may be a connection between personality and
performance anxiety.322 It has been indicated
that there is a direct correlation between
performance anxiety and neuroticism.323 It has
also been proposed that personality is made up
of many traits and that these traits give rise to
tendencies to behave in particular ways,
including being anxious.324

304A

Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 3

116.
306 Ibid.
307A Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 2.
308Ibid.
309Gill, 119.
310A Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 3.
311Graham, Hardy, 20.
312Harris, 40.
313Gill, 118.
314Dieter Hackfort, Charles D. Spielberger, Anxiety in
Sports: An International Perspective (USA: Hemisphere,
1989) 79-80.
305Gill,

315Gill,

121.
40.
317A Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 3.
318Kenny et. al., 539.
319Ibid.
320Ibid.
321A Discussion on Performance Anxiety, 3.
322Ibid.
323Ibid.
324Ibid.
316Harris,

46

The relationship between stress and

performance is an extremely complex one,
involving an interaction between the nature of
the stressor, the cognitive and motor demands
of the task to be performed and the
psychological characteristics of the individual
performing it.325 Be it in a performance
situation, or an athletic competition, everyone
experiences certain levels of anxiety and stress,
which if not handled properly, can result in a
less than desirable performance.
Several
theories have been established in order to
explain the causes and effects of performance
anxiety and many researchers continue to
explore and understand the complexities of
performing under pressure. Anxiety is an
intrinsic part of human nature and, at a
moderate level, can be beneficial to achieving a
satisfactory performance.

understanding vocal pedagogy until this point

were hypothesized through paintings by artists
such as van Eyck who, known for his
impeccable attention to detail, captured singers
in performance327 and taught theorist a great
deal about performance practice and vocal
technique.
By the end of the Renaissance period,
and certainly by the beginning of the Baroque
era, musicians had a rising interest in notating
concepts of performance practice and
pedagogies. The voice, being as unique and
difficult to understand as it is, claims the topic
for a great majority of these treatises. At the
turn of the 19th century, science became an
important consideration in the development of
vocal pedagogy, in particular the invention of
the laryngoscope by Manuel Garcia in 1855328.
After this invention, great attention was given
by physicians and vocalists to the actions of
vocal cords, particularly their relationship with
registration329.
Pedagogues have since led many
scientific investigations into understanding the
human voice and the function of laryngeal
height is a variable that often comes into
question. This study will observe the structure
in question (the larynx), important surrounding
musculature, past experiments to codify the
relevance of laryngeal height, a detailed
spectrographic analysis of varying laryngeal
height and its significance to oral interpretation
and intelligibility.
In order to understand the relevance of
laryngeal height , one must have fundamental
knowledge of important physical and acoustical
considerations of the voice. The first item to
be discussed is the larynx, which is the
vibratory source of the vocal apparatus. The
larynx consists of three cartilaginous
formations, suspended over the trachea. The

Laryngeal Plight:
A critical analysis of
laryngeal height and
its significance to
oral interpretation
and intelligibility
By Geoffrey Sirett
Since the beginning of history, experts
have been intrigued and mystified by the
unique voiceprint of the singing voice, and
have thus tried to codify it. Music is a
profound expression of the soul common to all
cultures; the universal vehicle of such
expression is song. Singing as a cultural entity
is evident through all traces of history. Until
the end of the Renaissance, methodologies and
instruction on singing was learned through
word of mouth326. Some of the efforts in

during the a capella period and until the beginning of Opera

(1474-1640) (Minneapolis: Pro Musica Press, 1973),
98.
327 Sarah Carr-Gomm, The Secret Language of Art
(London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2001), 86-87
328 James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 5.
329 David C. Taylor, The Psychology of Singing, (New York:
The MacMillan Company, 1908), 34-35.

325Graham,
326

Hardy, 37.
Bernhard Ulrich, Concerning Principles of Voice Training
47

cricoid cartilage sits at the bottom of these.

The thyroid cartilage, the largest of the three,
attaches to the cricoid at the back, allowing it
to pivot along the shaft. The arytenoids sit
inside this structure and are attached to the
vocal ligaments intrinsic musculature of the
larynx. All three cartilages are connected by
ligaments and membranes330.
The arytenoids are able to adjust the
vocal folds to varying lengths. This, in
combination with the vocalis muscle, located
behind the vocal folds, make necessary
adjustments to change oscillation frequency of
the folds which corresponds to pitch. The
lower and middle pharyngeal constrictor
muscles are important to consider in terms of
laryngeal height.331
These muscles are
suprahyoid muscles and act to raise the
larynx.332
The relevance of laryngeal height is a
question that has been dealt with by vocal
teachers, but brought into the spotlight in the
middle of the 19th century by Italian vocal
scholar Manuel Garcia and has maintained its
interest to pedagogues since. Even with the
help of modern scientific means, the purpose
in studying laryngeal height is ultimately a
matter of aesthetics. This is to say, one needs
to decide what sounds good, and then relate
those sounds to an approachable technique for
singers. This is and elusive task at best, and
can in many ways be a matter of personal
preference. The main school of thought on
this matter was established by Garcia in the
middle of the 19th century, and has since been
reaffirmed by contemporary pedagogues such
as Richard Miller and Johan Sundberg.
In 1840 Garcia presented his Mmoire
sur la voix humaine to the Academy of
Sciences.333 His observations dealt almost
exclusively with the position of the larynx
during the singing of various tones. The
current main school of technique for laryngeal

position is that the larynx should remain in a

stabilized position, at approximately the same
height as the position assumed when the singer
takes a breath.
There are other schools of singing that
support a particular depression of the larynx.
The concept supported is that the larynx
should be as low as possible, as it would be
during a yawn, so that there is more vertical
space available in the pharyngeal cavity for
resonance. This technique, though popular
particularly in the 1940s-1960s334, has been
generally discredited by many pedagogues,
including contemporary American scholar
Richard Miller,
Is it possible to remain free during singing while
constantly depressing the tongue, spreading the
pharyngeal wall, maintaining and extreme velar
elevation, and lowering the larynx excessively all
concomitant with the yawn?335
This brings into light another
important muscle, particularly as a larynx
depressor: the tongue. Every movement of the
tongue effects the position of the larynx.336
Since the tongue is a vital muscle in the
intelligibility of text337, excessive depression of
the tongue can interfere with the
communicative elements of singing.
Leo
Kofler, German author of various books on
vocal production makes his own observations
against the use of this technique:
I have had opportunities, during the past four years, of
examining a number of tenors and basses who had
been trained by teachers who force them to keep the
larynx in a firm, and closely-confined position.
Without one exception their tones sound unmusical,
dry, and harsh338
Richard Miller, Solutions for Singers: Tools for Performers
and Teachers (New York: Oxford University Press,
2004), 55.
335 Miller, The Structure of Singing, 151.
336 Lennox Browne and Emil Behnhe, Voice, Song, and
Speech: A practical guide for Singers and Speakers
(London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd,
1896), 68.
337 Miller, The Structure of Singing, 151.
338 Browne and Behne, Voice, Song, and Speech, 157.
334

Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing: System and Art in

Vocal Technique (Belmont:Schirmer/Waldsworth
Group/Thomson Learning, 1996), 242-243.
331 Johan Sundberg, The Science of the Singing Voice (Illinois:
Northern Illinois University Press, 1987), 114.
332 Miller, The Structure of Singing, 249
333 Taylor, The Psychology of Singing, 34.

330

48

Laryngeal elevation is often considered

a flaw of untrained singers. The observation
made by Miller is that, in untrained voices, as
pitch rises the larynx elevates, particularly at
register pivot points.339 The sound produced
by a high larynx is one associated with presentday pop culture and is an undesirable trait for
bel canto singing. Bel Canto is a term meaning
beautiful singing. Its origins begin with the
traces of early opera experiments at the
beginning of the Baroque era. The term came
into use in the 19th century during debate
between vocal mechanisms used in Wagnerian
style opera. The term is currently used to
describe classical voice training/technique.
The connection to pitch and laryngeal
height is adapted from speech. There is
noticeable movement of the larynx in regular
speech patterns, and it is natural for the larynx
to rise with pitch. Singing is considered an
extension of speech, but there are significant
differences between both. Singing is a higher
development of the same power [speech]340
but the technique for both is quite different.
The precise phonation required in singing is
absent in speech, as well are factors of range,
and sustaining of pitch. The extension of
speech required in singing not to carry over
speech habits of phonation and breath
management, but rather to maintain the ability
to communicate . There must be speech in
song, or it would lose all the charm attached to
the distinct rendering of the words341.
Johan Sundberg, an active scholar
currently professor at the University of
London, undertook more exhaustive research
of harmonic and formant patterns in varying
laryngeal heights342. Sundberg describes the
relationship between laryngeal height and
timbre by analyzing the amplitude of harmonic
frequencies. The voice is unique among
instruments in its ability to change the shape of
the tract resonating column, and therefore the
sound. In singing, vowel differentiation is
made as it is in speech; changing the shape of
the mouth isolates certain frequencies,

amplifying some and diminishing others. Since

everything supraglottis (above the vocal folds)
determines the shape of the tract, it is clear that
laryngeal height can affect not only strength of
fundamental pitch and the singers formant,
but also vowel differentiation.
The following study results investigate
further some issues revealed in Sundbergs
observations. Three subjects were recorded
for this experiment; two tenors, and one
baritone. To diminish variable data to that
exclusively of laryngeal height each singer
recorded the same pattern, each on similar
notes relative to their passaggi: the two tenor
subjects at 330 Hz, and the baritone at 269Hz.
In subject one, the prevalent singers formant
(around 3000 Hz for this subject) as well as the
fundamental amplitude stayed relatively
consistent through all trials.
However,
important consideration must be made to the
action of harmonics between formants. In the
second trial [Subject 1 Depressed Larynx],
the dominant amplitude of the singers formant
was reduced in frequency by 3%. Observing
the second formant (vowel formant), it appears
quite similar to the first trial [Subject 1
Stabilized Larynx], but the modification of
vowel was revealed in the increased amplitude
in harmonics between the vowel formant and
the first and third formants. In the third trial
[Subject 1 Elevated Larynx] the results are
deceptive. It appeared that the third formant
diminishes in significance.
In fact, the
concentration of amplitude spread out, and
strong formants prevailed well above the 4000
Hz mark, although it is not visible on this
graph.
The remaining two subjects have
results consistent with the findings of the first
subjects trials.
In subject three the
modification of vowel is particularly evident.
In the depressed laryngeal trial [Subject 3
Depressed] the later two vowels [o] and [u] are
hardly differentiated, and in the third trial
[Subject 3 Elevated] the vowels [a] [o] [u] are
indistinguishable spectrographically, and orally
unintelligible. Spectrographically these results
speak for themselves.
Although three subjects is not
compelling scientific data, it does give a fair bit

Miller, Solutions for Singers, 56.

Browne and Behnhe, Voice, Song, and Speech, 27.
341 Ibid.
342 Sundberg, The Science of the Singing Voice, 113.
339
340

49

of insight into the importance of laryngeal

position. Pedagogues in support of this
stabilization of the larynx maintain that its
primary purpose is to maintain the oscuro
factor (the first formant)343. Although this data
supports the stable laryngeal position, it does
so for a different purpose, mainly the
intelligibility of the text. In none of the three
trials does the oscuro factor diminish; the
strength of the first formant has little
differentiation in amplitude. However, the
relationship of the first formant to the singers
formant is rather what makes distinction
between the three trials. Although the first
formant strength remains constant, an increase
in the strength of partials above 3500 Hz
would create the illusion of a diminished first
formant or oscuro.
In interpreting the above data one must
consider it as a scientific means of studying and
evaluating sound. The purpose of this is to
understand how sound is conceived and
interpreted orally and to provide insight into
the concept of ideal tone. Despite the
different approaches to laryngeal position as
expounded in different pedagogical techniques
there is one unifying element throughout; a
goal to create bel canto or beautiful singing.
The tonal/harmonic structure of the stabilized
larynx is perhaps enough to describe this bel
canto style, but how to implement it has been of
debate for many years. David Taylor, author
of The Psychology of Singing believes that
science has shed no light on this topic and that
knowing how the vocal cords should act does
not help the singer in the least to govern their
action.344 This idea is discredited by this
survey after observations made in the above
spectrographic study.
There is no
proprioseptic sensory for the singer in
observing their own laryngeal height; one
cannot feel the larynx move up and down, with
the exception of sense memory and perhaps
nerves in the skin of the neck. In the three
subjects discussed, none were able to identify
the height of their larynx without visual or
kinetic sensory feedback. Yet all of them were
343
344

able to govern the action of the larynx

responding to the sound a concept called
audiation. This ability is often overlooked,
particularly in male singers. Because of the
larger anterior prominence (Adams apple) in
the developed male larynx, there is particular
emphasis by teachers of singing on laryngeal
position because of this visual consideration.
It is important that this factor not become the
primary emphasis on vocal training, and that
the most important consideration is that of
sound. There is a strong tendency in male
voices for over-correction in the concept of
stabilizing the larynx345 and undue emphasis is
given to lowering the larynx too far.
It is important to note that scientific
data on this matter is used to reaffirm our oral
interpretation and transparency in what each of
us believes to be bel canto. By understanding
how the singing voice should act, and how the
sound should act (or resonate), the singer can
govern actions, and direct themselves toward a
unique, and yet common goal of beautiful
singing and personal expressivity.

The Sport of Singing

By Erin Stone
Your palms are clammy, your pulse is
racing and your legs wont stop shaking.
Butterflies are fluttering madly around your
stomach and your heart is beating so loudly, it
sounds like someone is drumming in your ear.

Miller, Solutions for Singers, 74.

Taylor, The Psychology of Singing, 37.

345

50

Miller, The Structure of Singing, 151.

Your head is screaming dont screw up and

at about this point, you feel as though there is
enough adrenaline pumping through your
veins to power an entire city for a year.
Whether it is your turn at bat and a baseball
game is riding on your shoulders, or you are
approaching the high C at the end of a very
challenging aria, the physical and psychological
effects of performance anxiety are universal.
In recent time, growing research has
been made in the field of performance anxiety
and psychology. The majority of this research
has stemmed from psychological and scientific
investigations made in sports psychology. As a
result of the overwhelming demand for
performance psychologists, many sports
psychologists have crossed over into music and
the arts.
Using similar psychological
techniques and strategies, sports psychologists
have helped artists and performers to cope
with the pressures and anxiety that come with
performing. Despite the correlations that have
been made between sports psychology and
musical performance, very few books on voice
pedagogy address the physiological and
psychological connections that performance
anxiety can have on a performer. Instead, the
majority of vocal pedagogy books, past and
present, concentrate only on the physiological
conditions and functions of the voice assuming
that the singer is performing at their optimal
level of arousal and psychological state.
The reality for singers, musicians and
athletes, is that they rarely perform in an
optimal state.
Depending on the
psychological state or level of arousal, a
persons efficacy to achieve physiological
coordination can be greatly impeded by
performance anxiety. As part of our daily
practice and teaching, it is essential that
teachers and singers emphasize the importance
of incorporating the strategies and exercises
outlined by sport and performance
psychologists. When a performer has the
ability to understand and identify their
physiological and psychological triggers, they
are better able to diagnose and make
adjustments in their performance to minimize
or maximize their performing potential at
different points of arousal. The purpose of

this essay is to bring into focus the

physiological and psychological symptoms of
heightened levels of arousals, as well as outline
some of the current strategies shared between
sport and performance psychologists on how
to deal with stress in performance.
On the day of a performance, a singer
can experience a wide range of different
emotional and physical states on stage and off.
Whether a singer is actually experiencing an
emotional state or dramatically portraying one,
when there is an elevation of emotion, there is
an increase in the level of physical and
psychological arousal. Scientific research has
concluded that when monitoring the
autonomic nervous system, there is no way to
observe whether arousal levels are attributed to
anxiety, joy, anger or lust.
Although
individually we are able to distinguish the
diverse nature of these different emotional
states, our bodies respond with the same level
of arousal.346 Whether we experience joy or
anger, if we are unable to be in command of
our different emotional states, we are,
therefore, unable to control the increases and
decreases in our levels of arousal.
One of the reasons a singer must learn
to be aware of their emotional and
psychological arousal, is because the body
responds to psychological stimulus with
physical arousal. Heightened psychological
arousal usually stimulates a physiological
response that represents itself in some form of
tension. Sports psychologists and physiologists
have discovered that uncontrolled physical
arousal can result in excessive muscular tension
that works against an athletes function rather
than for the athlete.347 Similarly, when a singer
is performing with excessive muscular tension
their performance can be inhibited by limited
function and lack of physical coordination of
the voice.
Some of the physical symptoms that
one can experience when they are in an
elevated state or level of physical arousal can
include an increase in pulse, faster shallow
346Michael

Scott, Dont Choke, (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 11.

347Michael Scott, Dont Choke, (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 53.
51

higher up breathing in the lungs, increased

stomach acid or butterflies in the stomach,
and cold, clammy extremities. In some cases
arousal can become so intense that in can
cause people to hyperventilate. The
combination of all these reactions is our
primitive instinct in reaction to fear.348 Stress
or elevated levels of arousal cue the brains
autonomic responses to elevate a persons
heart rate to send more blood to large muscle
groups and extremities. The reasons we begin
to sweat and feel cold is because the surge of
adrenaline in our bodies is pumping at a level
to give us the strength to do insurmountable
things. Unfortunately, unlike athletes, singers
have no major physical outlet to release this
kind of surge of adrenaline in our blood
stream.349 Our inability to be able release this
kind of adrenaline can cause tremors, feelings
of unsteadiness, and other minor symptoms. It
is for this reason that singers must be able to
monitor their levels of arousal and find ways to
control or avoid the sensory overload that is
associated with performance anxiety.
To
improve dexterity, breathing and blood
pressure when singing, a useful tactic is recreating the feelings of anxiousness by exerting
energy before trying to sing. One way of
recreating anxiousness in a performance is
running up a flight of stairs or jumping up and
down for a minute. After increasing the heart
rate and adrenaline, the singer must begin to
sing without stopping no matter how it sounds
or how it feels. After doing this, the singer
must try to figure out how it felt and what
parts of their piece you were most difficult to
perform. The singer should keep practicing
this until they are able to sing with more ease
even after exerting themselves.350
The success of professional athletes
and singers is most often attributed to the ease

at which they perform. It is these types of

professionals that have the greatest control of
tension in performance. As mentioned before,
our natural reaction when we are aroused or
under stress is to brace ourselves and tighten
up. Conversely, speed and coordination are
the direct result of the rapidity with which you
can loosen your muscles. The more relaxed or
loose the muscle is, the greater length it can be
stretched. The more stretched a muscle is, the
more strength and force the muscle is able to
possess.351 For athletes and singers, it is best to
avoid doing things that will unnecessarily tense
the muscles beyond their natural range of
motion. In singing, for example, tension must
be avoided to sustain a singers breath capacity.
In order to maintain the constant muscle
antagonism required for breathing, the singer is
required to have a relaxed abdomen and
freedom of movement without tension.
Singers can learn to refine their
technique by learning to allow their
coordination to become reflexive without
having overly conscious control their
movement.352
The natural tendency of
performers and athletes is to concentrate on
the small steps of their performance and the
execution of each action. This kind of focus
can result in a performance where the function
or movement of the voice is unnatural,
awkward, and without rhythm.
On the
contrary, doing the opposite, concentrating on
the greater whole of the performance
commonly results in smoother more natural
motion without jerkiness. In many cases when
you ask an athlete or performer how they
executed such a fine performance, often the
case is that they wont be able to tell you one
specific element because their focus was
broader. Instead of focusing on one particular
aspect of technique, they relied on their
reflex technique. It is through rehearsal and
repetition in practice that the incremental steps
of technique must be established to become
reflexive. In performance, however, it is often
best to have a holistic approach without

348Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best

under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 17.
349Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 17.
5Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best under
Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002),
18.
6 Michael Scott, Dont Choke, (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
1982), 66.

Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 68.

352

52

necessarily having one particular technical

focus.353
To explain this point even further, the
groups of muscles in the body are joined
together in opposition of each other. When
flexing or tensing a muscle, automatically a
corresponding muscle relaxes creating fluidity
of motion. It is for this reason being able to
identify tensions and where they occur is the
first step in being able to use muscles
effectively and efficiently so that the proper
muscle groups are targeted.354 Again, it is the
identification of tension in practice and
repetition that must occur before being able to
establish reflexive action.
When all the
muscles are able to work together without
tension or focus on one particular muscle,
coordination can occur without jerky motion.
When the mind of singer responds to
what they perceive is as stress, our body reacts
immediately to mental cues from the brain.
The way to reverse these anxious feelings on a
physical level is to change the perception of the
physical change in the level of physical
arousal.355
One of the ways in which
performers can change their physiological
reactions is through biofeedback. Biofeedback
is process by which people learn to train and
regulate their physiological functions by
connecting them psychologically. Functions
that once were thought to be involuntary are
able to be regulated. One of the first practices
of Biofeedback was Yoga. The ability to
redirect control and the changing of heart rates
through relaxation is an example of the power
of control over involuntary responses to the
autonomic nervous system.356
Edmund
Jacobson developed a method called
Progressive Relaxation.
His method
involved control over specific muscle groups

related to other areas in the nervous system.

The process is not so much the actual
relaxation of the body part but the awareness
of tension exists in the first place.357 If
performers became more aware of their
biofeedback or used techniques such as
Progressive Relaxation on a regular or daily
basis, performers would be able to identify
tensions more freely and, therefore, be able to
deal with their responses by modifying their
perception.
One of the ways sport and
performance psychologists suggest dealing with
tension and perceptions is through imagery
and visualization. Images are essentially visual
recreations of an experience this is
remembered by our senses and produced by
our memory and imagination. Although our
memories are most commonly associated with
visual images, they are produce auditory and
kinesthetic sensations. As a result, when we
are recalling a memory or experience, our body
and mind will react to it as if they are reexperiencing it. In the same way, if a person
vividly creates a vividly imagined experience,
the body will also react to with the associated
sensations.358 The key to using this skill for us
as opposed to against us is by visualizing and
re-enacting situations while sill relaxed as a
process of reconditioning responses. The two
types of conditioning include classical
conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning is when a natural
relationship reoccurs when a stimulus always
creates the same response.
Operant
conditioning is a conditioned response to
stimulus that invokes the anticipation of some
sort of reward or event.359
Being able to recognize the physical
responses to stress is only one part of
improving a persons performing capabilities.
Perhaps even more significant to performance

Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 73.

354Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 17.
355 Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 18.
356Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 18.

353

357Charlotte

Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the

Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 23.
358Jon Waite, Reducing Musical Performance Anxiety,
(Oregon: University of Oregon, 1997), 5.
14Jon Waite, Reducing Musical Performance Anxiety,
(Oregon: University of Oregon, 1997), 14.

53

success is being able to identify the

psychological responses that trigger physical
reactions. Some of the mental effects of stress
can cause unfocussed attention, lapses in
memory, and thinking that is not associated
with the task at hand. Often when singers are
confronted with stress we have a tendency to
mentally self-criticize, obsess about people
who might be judging, or create worst possible
scenarios in their performance.360 One of the
ways to overcome this is being able to balance
left brain and right brain co ordinations.
Although very useful in ordinary
situations, the left part of the brain can reap
havoc on the mindset of a performer. The left
brain is responsible for judgments, analyses,
and responds with a constant verbal feedback
to our actions and responses. The right brain,
however, is where the brain visualizes, and has
an overall better sensory awareness. Unlike the
left brain, the right part of the brain digests
information in holistic way allowing for more
free flowing movements and responses.
Utilizing the visual and sensory capabilities
allows for mental quiet, and avoids the
noise or judgments and commentary from
the left side of the brain.361 It is vital,
therefore, that as performers we begin to
understand how we can make the distinction
between left brain and right brain thinking and
how to switch between each when performing.
One of the reasons that we activate the
left brain so much when we perform or
participate in sports is because we have an
association to the activity. In most cases for
singers, because their chosen activity is
something for which they excel, their
participation in the activity has an association
to their ego. When people participate in
activities where they are required to perform,
in some form or another there is a reward that
is associated with the action. An athletes
reward may be winning first place and for a
singer their reward might be receiving applause
at the end of an opera. Unfortunately when
unmonitored realistically, rewards can root

themselves much more deeply in a performer.

Some performers use their art as a way to seek
attention or approval from others fulfilling an
emotional or social need. Particularly with
people who played sports or performed from a
young age, their need can go as deep as trying
to please a parent or obtaining love by being
successful. Instead of focusing only on the
challenges of the performance or game, they
link their outcome of each challenge as a
question
of
their
own
self-worth.
Psychologically
attaching
winning
or
performing successfully with self-worth are
what can mentally sabotage the mind of a
performer.362 In the case of some of the most
famous performers, their only sense of value
was through their success as a performer. In
these cases their victory or defeat determined
their personal value to others and themselves
in every day life. Contrary to this kind of
mentality, people who are self-actualized are
able to define themselves without the crutch of
their musical ability or athletic strength. In
other words, they are able to separate their
ego from their art.363
To separate or identify how a
performer assumes their ego associations, it is
important to analyze the environment and
people who impact the life of the performer.
Often the two most important role models of a
performer are parents, coaches or teachers. A
teacher or parents attitude and influence can
have a huge impact on an individuals
performance.364 Once a coach, teacher or
parent is able to establish the psychological
boundaries of a performer they can better
understand how much the performer can be
pushed in terms of their level of arousal. It is
important that levels of arousal and boundaries
are established to achieve successful results
with a healthy psychological outlook. The level
an individual can be pushed varies from person
to person as some people are more sensitive
than others. Some people are motivated by
Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 16.
363 Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 17.
364 Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 25.
362

Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best

Under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 19.
361 Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
Under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 20.
360

54

their own terms, while others need to be

pushed by fear or guilt tactics. It is when these
tactics are blown out of proportion or
sabotaged that some of the worst outcomes
can prevail. One of the most dangerous
mentalities is the Vince Lombardi philosophy,
Winning isnt everything, its the only
thing.365 This mentality is also referred to as
doomsday mentality because it promotes the
idea that if they lose or screw up their value
as a person is diminished. In these types of
situations, the pressure is so great that the
individual focuses so much on not screwing up
that they end up visualizing themselves doing
exactly that, screwing up. While having these
kinds of negative visualizations, the body
compensates by heightening arousal level to
uncontrollable levels.366
As opposed to
focusing on the task at hand, there performer
begins to have a preoccupation with the need
for approval or the need to win.
It is when an individual continues to
not win or be unsuccessful in their pursuits
that self-defeating or self-pressure statements
and behavior can start to reoccur. Selfdefeating statements are learned responses that
people reinforce by repeating them over and
over again in their head. These types of
statements can become triggers or cues that
psychologically and physiological cause
reactions in the nervous system. These cues
can include statements such as dont screw
up, Ill never get it right, or They will
always be so much better than me. When we
repeat these statements to ourselves we
perceive the situation as though it is our
beyond our control. The reason that we end
up perceiving these situations to be beyond our
control is not because the situation at hand is
beyond the individuals capabilities, but rather
these statements are usually said aloud only in
the persons mind and never actually out
loud.367 When people are unaware of their selftalk, they usually do not realize how unrealistic

or unreasonable their thoughts are. Being able

to comprehend these thoughts by either saying
them out loud or sharing them with another is
one way of breaking this learned response of
believing self-defeating statements.
One of the dangerous elements of selftalk is that it is an automatic reaction and does
not take time to reason or reflect on each
statement. It is for this reason that these
statements are not perceived in an objective
manner or rational sequence. The way for an
individual to actualize their potential when
creating self-talk is to re-direct their automatic
responses to self-defeating statements and
replace them with more positive ones.368 One
of the ways of changing this kind of self-talk is
again, through visualization. When we set
goals for ourselves, more often than not we
visualize with a clear mental statement of what
we want to happen. The repetition of seeing
what they desire is a way of creating a selffulfilling prophecy and expectancy to a more
positive outcome. It is in the same way, when
we visualize negative outcomes in addition the
self-defeating statements, as mentioned earlier,
we create a negative self fulfilling prophecy.369
The way to change the repetition of negative
visualization or self-defeating statements can
be accomplished by voluntary self-regulation
and learning to react positively when there is a
stressful event. It is through visualization,
identification, and sensory awareness though
biofeedback that an individual can re-condition
their behavior so that it is more realistic and
more positive.370
Part of this re-conditioning and realistic
thinking is visualizing only optimal levels of
performance success.
When a person
continues to only visualize themselves in their
peak performance, when they fail to meet their
expectations or visualizations it can often cause
Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 15.
369 Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 16.
370 Charlotte Whitaker, But I Played it Perfectly in the
Practice Room!, (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1987), 38.
368

Michael Scott, Dont Choke (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 32.

366 Michael Scott, Dont Choke, (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 34.
367 Michael Scott, Dont Choke, (New Jersey: PrenticeHall, 1982), 83.
365

55

access right brain alpha waves.374 The reason

why the left part of the brain can be a
hindrance to performers is because there is no
sort filtering systems when engaging in selftalk. For example, when you say negative
things under pressure when your mind
processes it, it automatically goes into your
belief system with your mind not being able to
seriously filter it.375 One of the ways to
encourage the breaking of this habit is through
visualization and mental rehearsal. Being able
to imagine yourself performing well in a multisensory way can help you to mentally correct
your mistake, mentally prepare you for the
whole performance experience, as well as help
you to increase your likeliness of actually
performing well.376
When performing, singers are better
able to deal and cope with heightened
psychological/physiological arousal when they
are able to re-enact high pressure performance
situations.
Identifying when heightened
physiological and psychological arousal occurs
is essential to managing performance tension
and anxiety. It is time that researchers in the
field of pedagogy give the performance anxiety
and performance psychology the attention it
deserves. Ignoring the issues of performance
anxiety and arousal levels is an omission of the
physiological and psychological connections in
singing. Now more than ever, information
should be available to performers who are
technically proficient in their ability to sing but
are unable to execute their ability in a
performance situation. Instead of sports and
performance psychologists being responsible
for this information, specialists in vocal
pedagogy should also collaborate with these
psychologists to have a greater understanding
of the physical effects on the voice in
performance anxiety. Should a union occur
between physiological and psychological
research in singing, there is a better

them to be more frustrated then when they

started. Constantly reminding oneself of their
performing potential in their optimal state and
peak state is vital to understanding how to
realistically visualize.
After experiencing
successful or optimal performance, a
performer may be able to increase their
performing potential or re-evaluate where their
optimal and peak states are.371
One of the ways of being able to clearly
understand what an ideal performance is for
each individual is to have a clear mindset and
agenda to define it. Some of the terms
commonly used in the literature of sports
psychology and performance psychology
include suboptimal, optimal, and peak
performance. A suboptimal performance is
one in which you do not achieve the
performance you desired with the ability to do
so. An optimal performance is one in which
you are performing as well as you practiced but
not necessarily at your best.
A peak
performance is basically flawless and
uncommon performance in most situations.372
Using self-talk and centering is another
important strategy when being able to switch
between left brain and right brain. Centering is
a strategy created by Robert Nideffer that was
developed in the seventies to help channel
energy in stressful situations. The centering
technique physically and mentally allows the
mind to switch activity between the left and
right parts of the brain.373 Centering down
involves directing focus by starting with the
tilted downwards and directing focus in to a
specific point or location. When focusing on
this point, the eye level of the performer
should be slight lower than normal. It has
been studied that the higher your eye level is
the more there is a tendency to switch into left
brain. When a persons gaze is slightly lower
however, they are able to more easily able to

Linda Hamilton, The person Behind the Mask,

(Greenwich: Ablex Publishing Coporation, 1997),
54.
372 Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 15.
373 Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 40.

371

Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best

under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 41.
375 Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 49.
376 Don Greene, Performance Success: Performing your Best
under Pressure, (New York: Routledge, 2002), 52-57.

374

56

opportunity for singers to conquer and succeed

in the sport of singing.

in many cases, functional misuse may develop

into an actual physical disorder, in the form of
nodules or swellings on the vocal folds.
Vocal abuse can be classified into
several different categories. Many problems
relate to overuse of the voice due to
occupational demands. Not only singers, but
also ministers, teachers, businesspeople, and
politicians use their voices professionally, and
vocal health may influence the success of their
careers. The absence of vocal training in
schools doubtless contributes to the formation
of vocal problems which persist into later life.
It is surprising how often people who expect
to make their living with their voices receive
little or no instruction about how their voice
works and how to keep it healthy.379 They
would do well to visit a professional speech
therapist long before vocal difficulties set in.
Experts claim that many singers would also
benefit greatly from formal speech training,
and that people with speech problems benefit
from taking singing lessons. The singing
teacher and the speech-pathologist should
always agree on matters of vocal production
and what constitutes healthy phonation.380
Because of the importance of healthy
vocal function, vocal hygiene has been taught
and practised by professional voice users for
thousands of years. The Greek physician
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) knew practically as
much about vocal hygiene as we know today.
He advocated simple living, physical exercise,
moderate eating, and the avoidance of vocal
strain as aids to good vocal production.381
Other personal health issues may contribute to
vocal fatigue. Smoking, for example, irritates
the mucous membranes in the vocal tract,
while the consumption of alcohol may impair
judgment and muscular coordination. Alcohol
also increases the production of mucous,

Cause and Effect:

A Glace at Vocal Fatigue

By Rebekah Sutherland
The American poet, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, once wrote, The human voice is
the organ of the soul. Combine human
limitations with a society characterized by
ambition and competition, and is it any wonder
that this so-called organ of the soul should at
times exhibit symptoms of weariness? The
human voice is a very complex organism that is
still only understood very incompletely by
leading scientists world-wide. Its range of
output varies from the softest whisper to the
resounding shout. Few man-made machines
can perform such a range of action with
efficiency.377 Fatigue is obviously antithetical
to optimal voice production. It is in the
interests of all professional voice users to
understand vocal fatigue: its causes and how to
avoid it. Many would also benefit from
knowing that treatment is available when vocal
fatigue has reached advanced physiological
stages.
Vocal fatigue can be caused by many
different things. Some fatigue has an actual
physiological cause, but most fatigue and most
physical abnormalities in the larynx are caused
by functional misuse of the vocal organs.
According to a study done in 1971, eighty
percent of vocal disorders are due to voice
abuse, while only twenty percent are due to
organic causes.378 It is also widely believed that

Health and Pedagogy (San Diego: Singular Publishing

Group, Inc., 1998): 107.
379Friedrich S. Brodnitz, Keep Your Voice Healthy (New
York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1953): 175.
380Robert Thayer Sataloff, Introduction to Treating
Voice Abuse, Vocal Health and Pedagogy (San Diego:
Singular Publishing Group, Inc., 1998): 258.
381Large, 23.

377Ingo

R. Titze, Vocal Fatigue, The NATS Bulletin:

39:3 (Chicago: The National Association of Teachers of
Singing, 1983): 22.
378Robert Thayer Sataloff, Common Medical Diagnoses
and Treatments in Professional Voice Users, Vocal
57

which may interfere with optimal vocalizing.382

Proper hydration of the cords is also an
essential element of vocal health.383 Simple
cautionary measures, such as the avoidance of
talking over loud noise and warming up the
voice before singing, can go a long way in
maintaining vocal health over a long period.384
The voice can also be affected by weight gain
or weight loss, allergies, air pollution, and
changes in type or amount of use.385
Some vocal fatigue is directly linked to
emotional stress. The voice mirrors not only
the physical, but also with the emotional state
of its owner. According to one writer, there
exists an intimate connection between the
voice and personality, emotional balance,
moods, passing and lasting emotions.386
According to another, the human voice
continually reflects our various states of
happiness,
sorry,
worry,
rage,
and
frustration.387
Fatigue seems to strike
performers at the moment when emotional
stress is high but total vocal well-being
essential: i.e. shortly before an important
performance.388 Emotions can also play a role
in the retraining of a damaged voice. Vocal
behaviours in speech are mostly automatic,
especially as relating to pitch and quality.389
However, a speech pathologists may help a
patient to identify the emotional situations in
which he uses his best voice (e.g. speaking to
a loved one), and encourage him to use that
voice more consistently.
Vocal dysfunction is often traced back
to a previous illness affecting the larynx, and
for this reason singers need to exercise extreme
caution when sick.390
Singers with solid
technique will often be able to sing over a

cold without the audience being able to detect

a problem. However, the long-term vocal
effects of such singing may be devastating.391
The collecting of body fluids on the cords
during illness results in swelling which hinders
free vibration of the cords. Forceful use of the
cords during such a time can cause damage to
the cords because of friction. Such damage is
only temporary, but results may linger long
after the illness has passed if appropriate care is
not taken.392 Allergies can cause the same sort
of damage.393 A laryngeal infection may also
cause a hypersensitivity to the sensation of a
tickle in the throat, resulting in unnecessary
and damaging coughing after the infection
itself is healed.394 This habit should be resisted.
A hard swallow will accomplish just as much as
a cough, and result in no damage to the vocal
folds.395
Improper use of the speaking voice is
an often-discounted cause of vocal fatigue.396 It
is important for vocal health to speak in the
appropriate tessitura. Speaking at a higher or
lower pitch than is natural is a common cause
of hoarseness, and must be avoided. Some
other easily identified forms of vocal activity
that are detrimental to vocal health include
crying, screaming, throat clearing and
coughing. Even a small amount of such activity
on a daily basis may be enough to cause
dysphonia or maintain a previously existing
laryngeal pathology.397 Excessive talking may
also lead to many problems and should be
cautioned against.
The voices of young singers are
particularly prone to succumbing to vocal
fatigue, and teachers of singing are responsible
to protect their students against voice abuse.
One way is to ensure that the young singer is
singing in an appropriate range for his or her

382Large,

34.
L. Lawrence, Laryngo-scope, The NATS
Bulletin: 37:3 (Chicago: The National Association of
Teachers of Singing, 1980): 24.
384Gates, 195-98.
385Linda Gates, Voice for Performance: Training the Actors
Voice (New York: Applause Books, 2000): 194.
386Brodnitz, 64.
387Joseph J. Klein, Singing Technique (Anaheim: National
Music Publishers Inc., 1972): 135.
388Titze, 22.
389Ibid., 103.
390Large, 33.

383Van

391Richard

Miller, The Structure of Singing: System and Art in

Vocal Technique (Toronto: Schirmer, 1996): 224.
392Brodnitz, 154.
393Ibid., 164.
394Klein, 393.
395Ibid..
396Morton Cooper, Vocal Suicide in Singers, The
NATS Bulletin, 26:3 (Chicago: The National Association
of Teachers of Singing, 1970): 7.
397Daniel R. Boone, The Voice and Voice Therapy
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1971): 124.
58

voice type. Too much singing in the head or

chest register can result in overall imbalances in
registration and loss of power in other parts of
the range.398 Correct voice classification is
intricately linked with this aspect of safe
singing. It is also important to warn the young
singer of the dangers of singing too much too
soon. Even experienced singers can suffer
from the demands of a heavy schedule and
should exercise caution. Some pedagogues
recommend that young singers should not sing
more than 15-20 minutes at a time.399 In
addition to the restrictions of age, nature to
some extent also dictates repertoire
boundaries. Some voices are evidently not
meant to sing Wagner. For a singer seriously to
attempt to sing repertoire beyond what he or
she is vocally and physically capable of, is the
equivalent of vocal suicide.400 Even with the
proper voice classification and repertoire
selection, damage may be done by inadequately
warming up the voice before singing. A good
warm up is essential for young singers, and
equally important for older, more experienced
singers. According to Richard Miller, bigger
voices may need more time to warm up than
smaller instruments, and he recommends thirty
minutes of warm-up exercises daily.401
Poor vocal technique is a common
cause of vocal fatigue. Sometimes there is a
physical cause for both technical problems and
the fatigue, but often it is technique alone
which hinders free and relaxed vocal
function. A good rule of thumb is to look for
signs of vocal abuse when the vocal fatigue
experienced is associated and/or proportional
to vocal use.402 Technical problems result in
three main types of vocal dysfunction:
hyperfunction, hypofunction, and glottal tone.
Hyperfunction is the use of too much
muscular force in vocalizing. Hyperfunction is
the disorder that afflicts singers the most, and
it is also the main cause of vocal nodules.
Simply telling the patient to relax is not

generally a useful or even an accurate piece of

instruction. Daniel Boone, the author of The
Voice and Voice Therapy, states: If the patient
could relax, he would; if his tension did not in
fact serve him in some way, he would get rid of
it. A certain amount of psychic tension and
muscle tonus is normal and healthy, of course,
but there are individuals who overreact to their
environmental stresses; instead of running at a
slow idle, they are like fast idle engines,
expending far more energy and effort than the
situation requires. By relaxation, therefore, we
mean a realistic responsiveness to the
environment with a minimum of needless
energy expended.403 So then hyperfunction is
not merely the application of too much
muscular force in the laryngeal muscles, but
the inefficient application of force.404 Over
time, hyperfunction of the vocal folds results
in actual physical changes. These changes may
include thickening cords, the development of
nodules, contact ulcers, polyps, and polypoid
thickening of the cords.405 Extreme
hyperfunction may result in aphonia, or the
complete loss of voice due to a central
lesion.406
The opposite of hyperfunction is
hypofunction, in which the muscles of the
larynx are not active enough to produce a
resonant tone. Hypofunction often follows
hyperfunction, as the overworked laryngeal
muscles grow tired and weak. According to
Friedrich Brodnitz, hyperfunction and
hypofunction of the vocal mechanism are
merely different stages of the same disorder.407
There exist four main types of hypofunction.
The first is merely functional, that is,
characterised by inefficient use of the vocal
mechanism. Voices with this disorder tire
when introducted to a new type of singing,
different from their previous conception of
what was optimal. The second type of
hypofunction is simply characterised by a lack
of muscular strength. The third type is the
most complex, and is characterised by fatigue

398Large,

34.
121.
400Brodnitz, 176.
401Richard Miller, Training Soprano Voices (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000): 158.
402Sataloff, Common Medical Diagnoses: 107.
399Bunch,

403Boone,

143.
171.
405Large, 35.
406Ibid., 37.
407Brodnitz, 171.
404Brodnitz,

59

in the non-muscular tissues of the larynx, such

as tendons, ligaments, skin, and joints. It is
thought that prolonged stress on laryngeal
tissue in phonation decreases the tension on
the vocal muscles themselves, making it harder
to sing high pitches. According to Titze, All
biological tissue gradually relaxes the stress that
it can support due to elongation...More
elongation is then required to restore the
original tension, which will again relax. Unless
full recovery is experienced during brief
moments of vocal silence, the process will
continue until no more elongation is possible
due to limitations in the posterior movement
of the arytenoid cartilages. The fourth type of
hypofunction is associated with a loss of
vibrancy over long phonation as a result of the
gradual drying of the cords.408
A glottal tone is characterized by too
much breath in the sound as well as pitch
problems.409 This tone is associated with a
form of onset in which the folds are squeezed
together, and blown apart violently by a gust of
air from the lungs, and is detrimental to vocal
health. The only covering on the glottal
margin of the arytenoid cartilages is a thin
mucous membrane, and contact ulcers may
form relatively easily through excessive use of
the glottal plosive. Such misuse of the voice
can eventually lead to generalized glottal
edema, which may seriously affect vocal
quality.410
Proper vocal technique, on the other
hand, allows for the a lifetime of optimum
vocal use. Regular exercising of the voice
through good singing seems necessary to
general vocal health, and complete vocal rest is
recommended only in extreme cases.411
According to Richard Miller, the voice is like
any other muscle: endurance only comes
through consistent practice.412 However, like
anything else, it is important to practise singing
correctly. If the voice is overworked and not
allowed a reasonable amount of time to rest,
injury is to be expected.

Many singers, after a short period of

heavy voice use, form bilateral, symmetrical,
soft swellings at the junction of the anterior
and middle thirds of the vocal folds.413 This is
not a serious problem, and the swelling usually
heals within one or two days as long as heavy
voice use is discontinued.414 If, however, the
voice is overworked to that extent on a regular
basis, without allowing time for healing and
recuperation, these swellings may develop into
nodes or nodules.415 Although some nodules
remain not only untreated but also unnoticed,
most have symptoms that professional voice
users find unacceptable.416 These symptoms
may include persistent hoarseness, a breathy or
husky sound quality in the middle range,
exaggerated difficulty in the high vocal range,
and extra breath pressure needed to produce
sound.417 If nodes do form on the cords due
to misuse of the voice, simple vocal rest alone
will not cure the problem. After the cords
return completely to normal, nodes will form
again if the voice is not retrained.418 Once
treatment is begun for vocal nodules, it usually
takes eight to ten weeks for small nodules to
heal, and up to twelve weeks for older, harder
nodules.419
For many people, vocal production is
not something they think about until problems
start to set in. Vocal fatigue may be an enemy
to professional voice users, but it would seem
to be also a necessary safety mechanism of the
body. According to Meribeth Bunch, fatigue
and hoarseness, even apart from any pain or
discomfort, are natures signal that the voice
needs rest. A tired or sick body equals a tired
and sick voice.420 However, the proper amount
of rest, a healthy diet, and an appropriate
fitness level, combined with a solid technical
413Gates,
414Ibid..

108.

415Boone,

102.
Common Medical Diagnoses: 108.
417Teresa Radomski, A Singers Notes: Preventing
Vocal Nodules, Wade Forest University Baptist
Medical Center. March 2, 2005
www.thevoicecenter.org/singers_notes.html.: 1.
418Radomski, 1.
419Joseph C. Stemple, Voice Therapy: Clinical Studies, 2nd
ed. (San Diego: Singular Publishing Group, 2000): 392.
420Bunch, 110.
416Sataloff,

408Titze,

22.
34.
410Boone, 126.
411Miller, Structure of Singing: 229.
412Ibid., 220.
409Large,

60

foundation and emotional well-being should

maintain a voice as healthy as the rest of the
person.

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the

Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university
professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea.421 He poured the visitors
cup full, and then kept on pouring. The
professor watched the overflow until he no
longer could restrain himself422.
It is overfull. No more will go in!
Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of
your own opinions and speculations. How can I show
you Zen unless you first empty your cup?423

Zen and The Art

of Singing:

This story ties in with a saying of Alexander

regarding books:
Be careful of the printed matter: you may not read it
as it is written down.424

An Alexander Technique
Response to Lamperti

Alexander had serious objections to

traditional teaching methods. He observed
that unsuccessful attempts to perform a simple
physical act usually have their roots in bad
habits, which are deeply ingrained in a persons
subconscious from early childhood, and that
attempting to fix the bad habits through
specific exercises of any sort tends to
compound problems, or at best shift the poor
coordination to another part of the body-mind.
We have, each of us, an assortment of such
habits and preconceptions, which often
interfere with our perception of the world
around us, and affect our reactions to stimuli,
such as printed instructions, for example.
Each person will have a different filter through
which they read The Art of Singing.

By Olga Tylman
A singers competence, as that of any
musician, rests upon her ability to use her
instrument to achieve the desired musical
sounds. A musicians body forms part of the
instrument in the case of a non-singer, and
comprises the exclusive instrument of the
singer. The Alexander Technique, concerning
itself as it does with the efficient use of ones
body, applies very well to singing, as it does to
every other physical endeavour. If one accepts
as true, good, and all encompassing the
principles Alexander discovered and taught,
one is inclined to use his Technique as a
criterion by which she evaluates all other
methods. It is from this perspective that I
would like to evaluate Lampertis famous vocal
treatise, The Art of Singing.
I would like to begin by talking about
the published treatise as a teaching medium.
The effectiveness of such a treatise, like the
effectiveness of any form of instruction, rests
upon the condition of the student at the time
of instruction. There is a Zen story which
illustrates this point:

Let me remind the reader of the quasi-sacred

importance of tea in Japanese culture.
422 I can just imagine the Japanese professor, extremely
reserved and on his best behaviour, in the presence
of this venerable spiritual authority, becoming
increasingly disturbed at the sight of tea pouring all
over the floor and staining whatever might be
covering it. Poor fellow!
421

423

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.ht
ml. I find many parallels between Zen philosophy
and Alexander Technique. The famous Zen
instruction, When hungry, eat, when tired, sleep,
embodies Alexanders ideal of natural, efficient
response to stimuli.
424 The Resurrection of the Body, p. 11.
61

Furthermore, Lamperti himself would have

written the work with his own bad habits
intact. This brings us to conclude that truly no
treatise should be taken at face value; you may
not read it as it is written down. Nonetheless,
just as Zen is said to be the finger which
points to the moon425, Lampertis treatise can
also point us in some direction, provided we
understand its function, and not confuse it for
the moon herself. So in other words, lets not
reject the thing altogether. It may have some
use.
Alexander technique is a method for
eliminating bad habits.
But eliminating
something from ones use is not what we
usually conceptualize when we talk about
learning how to do somethingit is precisely
this absence of doing, or of what we might call
overdoing which Alexander found to be the
prerequisite for efficient physical function.
Alexander referred to this detrimental sense of
doing as end-gaining. Basically, he found
that when a person is focused on attaining a
certain result, she tends to be unaware of the
complex physical process involved in achieving
said result. If a person has developed poor
habits of use, then no amount of instruction
will help this person, unless she first empties
her cup of these habits.
Because Alexander believed that mind
and body are indivisible and work together, his
teaching had a physical component which
accompanied the verbal. I have heard the
Technique described as kinesthetic reeducation. A teacher gives instructions whilst
using her hands to guide the pupils motions,
or simply to provide physical information
which relates to the verbal instructions.
Singing involves setting into motion body parts
which a teachers hands cannot stimulate, but
standing or sitting well go very far toward
making a good vocal sound, and hands can
influence a standing or sitting person.
Furthermore, it is possible to sing well whilst
moving well, which motion can also be guided

from the outside. Alexander recognized the

interconnectedness of all aspects of the body
and mind, and for this reason his method is
successful in treating a huge variety of
ailments, mental, emotional, and physical.
From The Use of the Self:
the so-called mental and physical are not separate
entities [and] for this reason human ills and
shortcomings cannot be classified as mental or
physical and dealt with specifically as such, butall
training, whether it be educative or otherwisei.e.,
whether its object be the prevention or elimination of
defect, error, or diseasemust be based upon the
indivisible unity of the human organism.426
Finally, Alexanders technique is
concerned not so much with what a person
does with her body, but with how she does it.
The method is applicable to all human
endeavours. Like Zen, it is a method for
achieving enlightenment.
In the preface to The Art of Singing,
Lamperti explains his purpose in writing. Like
Alexander regarding people in general, and
professional teachers and healers in particular,
Lamperti bemoans the lack of skill in the
singing profession. Like Alexander, he finds it
surprising that the force of [moral and
intellectual] progress so rapid in his day have
not had a beneficial effect upon the
intelligence of those who devote themselves to
singing.427
Alexander explains this
phenomenon thus:
Indeed, from its beginnings, the process of civilizing
tended to widen the scope for so-called mental and to
narrow the scope for so-called physical activities, and, on
a basis of subconscious guidance and control, this
process meant for the time being a further development
on the so-called mental side, but at the cost of an
equally distinct if more gradual deterioration on the socalled physical side, with an accompanying deterioration
in the standard of sensory appreciation.428

425

http://www.zenmeditation.org/chan_buecher_zen_
beyond_leseprobe.html or
http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/finge
rs_pointing.php

The Use of the Self, p. 2.

The Art of Singing, p. 5.
428 The Resurrection of the Body, p. 74.
426
427

62

Lamperti does not look so deeply into

cause and effect. He concludes that the
decline in singing is due to insufficient training
in what he calls breathing well, compounded
by modern vocal music, which, in order to
assume a more dramatic character, is almost
entirely despoiled of agility of every kind429
He blames impresarios for hiring poorly
trained singers. He blames composers for redefining which type of voice should sing which
parts, setting text syllabically as in declamation,
and making roles require strong low and high
notes, which, when produced forcibly, can lead
to a weakening of the middle voice. He blames
the raising of the musical pitch. Most of all,
however, he laments that the young generation
of singers embark on professional careers
without a solid enough grounding in technique,
however talented they may be.
Unlike
Alexander, he does not present a new method,
but hopes only to check, if not all at least a
part of the abuses as regards singing, and to
counterbalance the influence which modern
music exercises to the prejudice of good
singing, by some practical and fundamental
rules, the result of experience gained in many
years of teaching.430
Alexander might argue with Lamperti
about the causes he proposes for the decline in
singing. He calls for a more radical solution,
beyond choice of repertoire and perhaps even
duration of training. He said, We can throw
away the habit of a lifetime in a few minutes if
we use our brains.431 He would say that if a
singer had a proper sense of her body, she
would produce sound naturally and effortlessly,
avoiding abuses as regards singing; If I went
to a man to take singing lessons, it wouldnt
matter what he taught me, he couldnt injure
me.432 (The implication here is that the only
person who has the power to injure herself
through poor use is herself.) The music
chosen should not affect the singers use of her
body. Furthermore, it is the quality of the
training, and perhaps not even the quantity,
which leads to good use of the self. Lampertis

practical and fundamental rules are useless if a

person does not first eliminate her bad habits.
Alexanders technique is more focused on not
doing than it is on doing. He refers to this
absence of action as inhibition:
You come to learn to inhibit and to direct your activity.
You learn, first, to inhibit the habitual reaction to
certain classes of stimuli, and second, to direct yourself
consciously in such a way as to affect certain muscular
pulls, which processes bring about a new reaction to
these stimuli. Boiled down, it all comes to inhibiting a
particular reaction to a given stimulus. But no one will
see it that way. They will all see it as getting in and
out of a chair the right way. It is nothing of the kind.
It is that a pupil decides what he will or will not
consent to do. They may teach you anatomy and
physiology till they are black in the faceyou will still
have this to face, sticking to a decision against your
habit of life.433
Lampertis treatise is comprised of very
short articles, dealing with different aspects of
the art of singing. A large number of vocalizes
follow the text. I think Alexander might object
to some of the language Lamperti uses in
instructing on matters of vocal technique in
particular (I will leave aesthetic preferences and
musical excerpts aside, as Alexanders method
does not address such topics). I would like to
address Lampertis Articles III (The Position
of the Body, Mouth, and Vocal Organ), IV (Of
Respiration), VI (Of the Emission of the
Voice), VII (The Appoggio of the Voice), X
(General Rules for Study), XII (The
Application of the Rule for the Appoggio of
the Voice), and finally some of his parting
notes at the end of the text.
First, another Zen story:
Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of
Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the
stinginess of his wife. Mokusen visited the adherents
wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face.
What do you mean by that?, asked the surprised
woman.

The Art of Singing p. 6.

The Art of Singing, p. 8.
431 The Resurrection of the Body, p. 6.
432 Ibid., p.12.
429

430

433

63

The Resurrection of the Body, p. 9.

Suppose my fist were always like that. What would

you call it?, he asked. Deformed, replied the woman.
Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked,
Suppose it were always like that. What then?
Another kind of deformity, said the wife.
If you understand that much, finished Mokusen, you
are a good wife. Then he left. After his visit, this wife
helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.434

Alexanders solution to the problem of

instruction, and the resulting inflexibility, is a
radical one. Like the wise Mokusen, he knew
that the solution is not in telling someone what
to do, but rather in showing them what they
have been doing wrong, and allowing them to
decide what to do about it. He recognized that
a person must choose to act consciously of her
own accord, if she is to act freely. His
inhibition in the face of instruction is a
conscious refusal to follow orders436; a
rebellion. From a discussion of breathing:

This story illustrates what I believe is

wrong with Lampertis Article III (The
Position of the Body, Mouth, and Vocal
Organ). Lamperti says to hold oneself erect in
the position of a soldier, the mouth smiling,
the lips drawn sufficiently tight to merely
show the upper row of teeth, the tongue
remaining extended. He adds, in Article IV
(Of Respiration), that a perfect respiration may
be obtained by standing in the position, and
observing closely the directions pointed out in
Article III, and then inhaling the air, first
through the nose, so that the lungs may dilate
gradually and without strain; a breath thus
taken may be held for a considerable time
without fatigue.
I do not believe that
Lamperti intends any harm in giving these
instructions, but I do not agree with the
language he uses. The problem lies with words
such as hold erect, position, draw tight, and
with the implications of instructing someone to
inhale on demand.
The effect of such
instructions might easily result in a lack of
flexibility such as that of the stingy wife, who
doubtless believed that she was doing right by
saving her money, perhaps having been told to
do so by similarly well-intentioned instructors.
The singer who dutifully follows these
instructions to hold, position, draw tight,
then inhale slowly may end up appearing as
deformed as Mokusens hand, a caricature of a
singer. Lamperti is aware of this danger. In
his Article VI, he makes reference to Mancinis
idea that the master should exaggerate all
defects of emission on the part of the pupil, to
render them more apparent to him, and thus
more easy to avoid.435

For instance, suppose that a pupil has a special desire

to increase his chest capacity. This desire acts as a
stimulus to the psycho-physical processes involved and
sets in motion all the unreliable guiding and directing
sensations associated with his established idea of chest
expansion. The only way, then, by which he can
prevent the old subconscious habits from gaining the
upper hand is for him to refuse to act upon this idea.
This means that as soon as the idea or desire comes to
him he definitely stops and says to himself: No. I
wont do what I should like to do to increase my chest
capacity, because, if I do what I feel will increase it, I
shall only use my mechanisms as I have used them
before, and what is the good of that? I know I have
been using them incorrectly up to now, else why do I
need these lessons? In other words, he inhibits his
desire to act.437
It is only after the student becomes
familiar with this process that she can begin to
accept new directions. These new directions,
in Alexanders method, must concern
themselves with means whereby an action is
performed. In other words, they must remain
directions, and they must not turn into an
obsession with ends, such as Lampertis
It is very important to note that the orders, or what
Alexander calls stimuli, which come from other
people, such as teachers, come more commonly
from the inside. We are constantly directing ourselves
to act, and when these directions produce an
undesirable result, it is these flawed internal directions
which must be rejected before they can be replaced
with new, helpful ones. Alexander Technique is very
much about bringing harmful subconscious thought
patterns to light.
437 The Resurrection of the Body, p. 47.

436

434

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.ht
ml
435 The Art of Singing, p. 14.
64

position of a soldier, for example.438

Alexander blames most human lack of
coordination on what he calls end-gaining
essentially a greedy clinging to desired states of
being. In Eastern philosophies such as Zen,
this is often called attachment. More sayings
of Alexander, which resemble closely Zen
ideas:

This end-gaining principle is again dominant

when it is decided that a person who is spoken of as a
bad breather needs specific breathing exercises or
lessons in breathing. We shall see that in this, as in
so many other spheres, a vicious circle is developed. []
The pupil is asked to take a deep breath. He may also
be asked to perform some physical movement at the
same timethe idea behind this request being that the
performance of the movement may help to increase the
chest expansion. Yet it is a scientific fact that all
physical tension tends to cause thoracic (chest) rigidity
and breathlessness (lack of respiratory control), two
conditions which should be avoided as far as possible by
such pupils during their attempts to pass from
conditions which are symptomatic of bad breathing to
those which ensure satisfactory respiratory
functioning.443

I see at last that if I dont breathe, I breathe439

There is no such thing as a right position, but
there is such a thing as a right direction.440
The experience you want is in the process of
getting it. If you have something, give it up. Getting it,
not having it, is what you want.441
In Article VII (The Appoggio of the
Voice), Lamperti makes reference to the rules
established in Article III, and adds that
breathing must make use of the muscles of the
chest, especially the diaphragm, acting upon
the air contained in the lungs. He then
suggests opening the lower part of the throat
with the vowel A.442 Language and ignorance
re. physiology aside (the diaphragm is not a
muscle, nor can a person will it to move), let us
compare Lampertis ideas with Alexanders:
The truth is that when we refer to this
mal-coordinated condition as bad breathing,
we are mistaking a general malcondition for a
specific defect, and the conception of the
respiratory act which makes this error possible,
and which affects even our way of expressing
it, provides yet another instance of the
dominance of our general attitude by the endgaining principle.

Alexander continues by stressing the

importance of inhibiting bad habits of use
before good ones may be established, and of
understanding that specific problems, such as
bad breathing, are symptomatic of wrong use
of the whole person, and must be addressed as
such, and not with breathing-specific exercises.
The diagnosis will differ for each pupil;
Alexander lessons are always given one-onone; there is no book which can replace the
teachers pupil-specific diagnosis, or the
feedback of touch.
The marvelous efficiency of the respiratory machine,
when properly employed, becomes apparent when we
realize that we have only to continue to employ the same
means whereby we secure the increase (expansion) to
secure the decrease(contraction) of the intra-thoracic
capacity When a satisfactory, co-ordinated use of the
mechanisms concerned with the acts of inspiration and
expiration is established, the teacher may then proceed
to help the pupil to employ this co-ordinated use in
connexion with all vocal effort. This should begin with
whispered vocalization, preferably the vowel sound
Ah, as this form of vocal use, being so little employed
in every-day life, is rarely associated with ordinary bad
psycho-physical habits in vocalization.444

From The Resurrection of the Body, p. 109: For years past

I have drawn the attention of medical men to the evils wrought
by the physical training and the stand-at-attention attitude in
vogue in the army, and also the harmful effects of the drill in
our schools, where the unfortunate children are made to assume
a posture which is exactly that of the soldier, whose striking
characteristic is the undue and harmful hollow in the lumbar
spine and the numerous defects that are inseparable from this
unnatural posture.
439 The Resurrection of the Body, p. 3.
440 Ibid., p. 4.
441 Ibid., p. 5.
442 The Art of Singing, p. 14.
438

443
444

65

The Resurrection of the Body, p. 41-42.

The Resurrection of the Body, p. 42.

to accomplish his every-minute Zen.445

It is interesting to note that both

teachers advocate the use of the open vowel
Ah, and to note the differing motivations for
doing so. I suspect that Alexander would agree
that the openness of this vowel serves as a
good litmus test for a persons degree of
freedom, although ultimately a singer aims for
equal freedom in every vowel, open or closed.
In my two years of Alexander
Technique lessons, I was never able to produce
a free whispered Ah, the name given the
exercise described above. I dont believe I had
a clear enough understanding of the
philosophy behind the technique. Whereas I
responded well to the physical feedback given
my back, neck, arms, legs, feet, and the like, my
use of the vocal mechanism was still hampered.
After all, a teacher cannot guide ones breath
into or out of one using her hands! I speculate
that had I understood at the time what
Alexander himself discovered (I did not read
Alexander before preparing to write this paper,
six years later), my singing would have
improved sooner. It is also distinctly possible
that I was not ready to understand his
philosophy on a deep level, being too young,
and certainly too fixated on ends at the time.
My example demonstrates the importance of
mental involvement (a.k.a. attitude) in use of
ones body, and the fact that singers tend to
master their voices at a late age. Another Zen
story illustrates the idea that true understanding
is a lifelong journey, and reinforces Lampertis
advice that a singer ought to commit to a long
period of study before she embarks on a
career. In this case the period of study takes at
least 16 years:

Alexander addresses the difficulty of

mastering his technique in an excerpt from The
Use of the Self, entitled The End-Gainers
Difficulties with the Means-Whereby:
when a person has reached a given stage of
unsatisfactory use and functioning, his habit of endgaining will prove to be the impeding factor in all his
attempts to profit by any teaching method whatsoever.
Ordinary teaching methods, in whatever sphere, cannot
deal with this impeding factorindeed, they tend
actually to encourage end-gaining.446 []
He presents as a solution to this
problem the following advice:
I therefore claim that if any habit so confirmed as that
of end-gaining is to be changed and not merely
transferred, it is essential that the pupil should be given
the experience, at first in the simplest activities,
1. of receiving a stimulus to gain a certain
end and refusing to react to it, thereby
inhibiting the unsatisfactory habits of use
associated with his habitual reaction;
2. of projecting the directions for the new and
more satisfactory use in their proper
sequence, primary, secondary, etc., all
together, one after the other, as already
explained, whilst the teacher at the same
time with his hands makes him familiar

445

http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.ht
ml
446 Mastering the Alexander Technique is an end with
which I have struggled since I discovered the
technique. That is likely why I have not yet mastered
it! Its a battle. I like calling it the eternal battle of
good and evil, or The Force vs. The Dark Side, or
Heaven vs. Hell. Other names for end-gaining are
sin, greed, ego, ambition, and attachment. Christian
mysticism (i.e. the teachings of Jesus) addresses these
faults, as do Buddhism and Zen. The absence of sin
is known, in these philosophies, as the kingdom of
heaven, enlightenment, and satori, respectively. I
appreciate Alexanders teachings for their complete
avoidance of religious or spiritual terminology, which
is so much misunderstood by so many people, and
for his reliance on what are essentially scientific
principles to achieve a deep sense of wellbeing.

Zen students are with their masters at least ten years

before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited
by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had
become a teacher. The day happened to be rainy, so
Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella.
After greeting him Nan-in remarked: I suppose you
left your wooden clogs in the vestibule. I want to know
if your umbrella is on the right or left side of the clogs.
Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized
that he was unable to carry his Zen every minute. He
became Nan-ins pupil, and he studied six more years

66

with the new sensory experiences

associated with this new use.

against doing the wrong thing. I would argue

that the mirror, albeit a useful tool at times,
must be used sparingly so as not to become a
crutch (we are not given mirrors in
performance), but one can use the mirror, or in
our modern day, a recording device or a
spectrograph, to become aware of ones bad
habits. Alexander himself developed his selfawareness with the aid of mirrors, which he
carefully arranged to allow him to observe his
head and neck from all angles, and not just
from the front.
Article XII (The Application of the
Rule for the Appoggio of the Voice) features
some advice similar to that in Article X:

By this procedure a gradual improvement will be

brought about in the pupils sensory appreciation, so
that he will become more and more aware of faults in
his habitual manner of using himself; correspondingly,
as with this increasing awareness the manner of his use
of himself improves, his sensory appreciateion will
further improve, and in time constitute a standard
within the self by means of which he will become
increasingly aware both of faults and of improvement,
not only in the manner of his use, but also in the
standard of his functioning generally. [] This
improvement will necessarily include an improvement in
his manner of reacting to the stimulus to gain a certain
end, showing that it is possible, by working to the
principle involved in the means-whereby procedure, to
strike at the very roots of the habit of end-gaining which
is so deeply embedded in our make-up.447

By singing appoggiata, is meant that all notes, from the

lowest to the highest, are produced by a column of air
over which the singer has perfect command, by holding
back the breath, and not permitting more air than is
absolutely necessary for the formation of the note to
escape from the lungs. By practice he will be able to do
this without any effort, and so avoid those defects caused
by straining the breath, such as frowning, contraction of
the tongue, and a fixed expression of the eyes; for the
voice will never be neither well appoggiata nor capable of
expression until the pupil is able to render his features
calm and natural while singing.451

Lamperti offers some very sensible

advice in Article X (General Rules for Study).
He advocates Singing with the voice full and
clear, with as much grace and ease as possible,
and being very careful to avoid forcing. []
The general rule is to study moderately, and
with a variety of exercises, always finishing
before feeling tired.448 He continues that it is
necessary, for the purpose of study, to use a
looking glass, which the pupil should place
before him while singing, so that he may avoid
grimaces and other bad habits. About the
necessity of intellectual understanding: [The
pupil] should study [his exercises] mentally,
until he has thoroughly understood their true
nature and then he may sing them.449 In order
to preserve the voice fresh and unworn for the
professional career, the pupil should make
much use of the mental method of study; by
this means he may do much toward educating
his voice without drawing upon its valuable
resources.450 The common theme in all these
points of advice is the importance of what
Alexander calls inhibition. Here, Lamperti,
rather than telling us what to do, warns us

This excerpt shows yet again

Lampertis inconsistencies. On the one hand,
he uses a popular albeit anatomically incorrect
visualization device, the column of air, and
the ambiguous phrase holding back the
breath. The image of holding anything back,
other than ones bad habits perhaps, is
potentially misleading, as is the metaphor of air
as a motionless stony column. On the other
hand, he warns against some very common
defects among singers, those of straining the
breath, frowning, contraction of the tongue,
and a fixed expression of the eyes. The
warning encourages us to become aware of
these bad habits and inhibit them.
Some of Lampertis closing comments
parallel Alexander:

The Use of the Self, p. 43-44.

The Art of Singing, p. 18.
449 The Art of Singing, p. 18.
450 Ibid., p. 19.
447

448

451

67

Ibid., p. 22.

Every art may be divided into two partsthe

Natural and the Acquired. The mind conceives the
idea, and the instrument represents to others the minds
conception.
A painter conceives the subject of a picture,
but it is necessary that his hand and eye be educated by
art to enable him to paint it. This argument we will
apply to singing452

Bel Belting Canto

By Shannon Watson
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
The debate regarding the ultimate vocal
aesthetic is one that has been around for
centuries. But what exactly constitutes vocal
beauty? Today, we continue to struggle with
defining beautiful singing; the literal
translation of bel canto. Bel canto encompasses a
wide range of vocal production throughout
history, but today has come to represent the
classical or operatic aesthetic of singing. But
what about the vocal sounds that seem to lie
outside of the set parameters of todays bel
canto singing? According to most, belting is
loud, chest voice singing by untrained,
nonclassical singers using a technique that will
destroy the voice455. This is simply not true. It
is likely that most opinions are formed on the
basis of very little, or no knowledge of belting
technique and its physiology, or they are based
on a personal theory of vocal aesthetic. It is the
purpose of this essay to explore the aesthetic
of belting, the concept and physiology of the
belting technique and its most common
misconceptions.
Beauty can be defined as a quality that
gives pleasure to the mind or senses456 . If the
listener does not receive any pleasure from the
musical experience, then they classify the
performance as not being beautiful, but ugly.
This is a personal aesthetic judgement
dependant upon the kind of sound the listener
desires to hear. Robert Edwin provides the
best analogy: A fisherman catching a recordbreaking tuna may be moved to exclaim, Isnt
she a beauty? when gazing upon his catch.
Those who fail to see the tunas beauty may
not share the fishermans aesthetic457 .
Therefore, one may prefer musical theatres
main goal which is to communicate the

I will give Mr. Alexander the final

word. He wrote, in his preface to The Use of the
Self:
in the process of acquiring a conscious
direction of the use of the human organism, a scope for
the development of human possibilities is practically
unlimited, and anyone who chooses to take the time and
trouble to carry out the procedures necessary for
acquiring a conscious direction of use can put this to the
test.
I would venture to suggest that even the meager
amount of knowledge of the use of the self contained in
these pages may be sufficient to enable workers in all
fields of investigation, whether in biology, astronomy,
physics, philosophy, psychology, or any other453, to
realize that in their researches they have passed over a
field of experience which, if explored, would add new
material to the premises from which to make their
several deductions. After all, the self is the instrument
through which all these workers must express
themselves.454

Edwin, Robert. Belting 101. Journal of Singing Vol

55.1 (Sept/Oct 1998): 53.
456 www.dictionary.com
457 Edwin, Robert. Belting: bel canto or brutto canto?.
Journal of Singing Vol 59.1 (Sept/Oct 2002): 67.
455

The Art of Singing, p. 25.

Like SINGING!
454 The Use of the Self, p. xii-xiii.
452
453

68

emotions of the character through clear and

meaningful speech, sometimes sacrificing the
production of tone to do so. This vocal
aesthetic is a speech style of singing
concentrating on the chiaro part of the
chiaroscuro vocal aesthetic. On the other hand,
someone else may prefer operas main goal
which is to produce sounds with flawless
technique in order to create an artistic and
moving performance. This aesthetic includes
the chiaroscuro tonal colour, a continuous
vibrato and vowels and consonants which are
clear but more sung than spoken. Neither is
legitimate than the other, it is simply a matter
of personal preference.
The technique of belting lies in the
balance between the head and chest voice.
These are the terms that most people are
familiar with and can be very misleading, but
for all intents and purposes, will be used here.
Instead of an actual place of origin or separate
vocal register, these terms describe the
resonance, or tonal colour of the sound being
produced. In order to achieve a healthy belt
voice, one must learn to balance the two
mechanisms which create these voices. The
quality of thechest voice is in part created by
the cricothyroid muscles, which lengthens,
thins and stretches the vocal chords. The
head voice quality is partially created by the
thyroarytenoid muscles, which are the muscles
responsible for the closing of the vocal folds.
Whether one is singing in the classical style or
the belting style, there is the need for a
continuos balance between these two muscles
(and various others) for healthy vocal
production. Although the movement of the
thyroarytenoid and cricothyroid muscles are
coordinated, belting differs because of
increased cricothyroid involvement. Therefore,
the difference lies in the percentage of each
muscle being used in comparison to the other.
For example, a classical singer will have a large
percentage of involvement from the
thyroarytenoid muscles, but the singer who
belts will increase the use of their cricothyroid
muscles (especially as the pitch rises) in
comparison to the classical singer. At this point
it is imperative to reiterate that the belt voice is
not solely the use of the chest voice, but a

conscious mix between the two. Because of the

increased cricothyroid involvement, the folds
change in shape, thickness, elasticity and/or
stiffness, creating a different tonal colour. The
vocal folds and their relative muscles are not
the only differences in the belters physiology,
belters also have a longer closed quotient ,
meaning that the vocal folds spend a longer
time adducted.
There are many that believe that this
technique is not in fact a technique at all, but
that if you are belting, you are not singing
safely; if you are singing safely you are not
belting458. This kind of judgement is made
with no appreciation or understanding of the
mechanics behind the belt voice. How is it that
young children can yell for hours on end and
never lose their voice? It is because the sound
is free and unrestricted and our bodies
automatically manipulate the vocal tract and
folds in order to make these sounds. Is it then
not reasonable to assume that the same is true
of the belt voice? There is not only one way of
manipulating the human voice, and therefore
there is not just one way of singing (ie. classical
music). Some teachers believe that if you learn
the classical technique of singing than you can
sing in any style, but this is a very dangerous
statement. For if a singer tries to impose the
classical technique in order to produce a belt
sound, they will seriously harm their
instrument. This leads into the belief that one
will get nodules from singing belt when in fact,
one may get nodules from singing belt
incorrectly, just as one may damage their
instrument trying to sing incorrectly in the
classical style as well. Many dont realize that
belting is not driving up the chest voice into
the higher register as previously mentioned, for
that is detrimental to the voice. The student
simply needs to be aware of the different
muscle activities and be able to achieve a
reasonable balance between the muscle groups.
Now, what has been mentioned here is
only the tip of the iceburg. Hopefully this essay
has brought to light the issue of personal vocal
Elizabeth Howell, Chest Voice and Belting, 1991
from Edwin, Robert. Belting 101. Journal of Singing Vol
55.1 Sept/Oct 1998): 53.
458

69

aesthetic preference and that it has a large

impact on how many perceive the belting
technique. It is fine to make an aesthetic
judgement, but the validity of the technique
should not be criticized because it is deemed
ugly. The quality of belt is considered bright,
nasal and speech-like; created through the
manipulation of the vocal tract and folds. The
manipulation is entirely different from the
classical technique, but the relationship
between the various muscles is crucial.
Correctly done, as proven by Billie Holiday,
Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Ethel
Merman, belting can be a long and healthy
career.

expressively by varying dynamics and tempo

(among other elements) distinguishes advanced
musicians from lesser-skilled performers459.
The other elements to which Gabrielsson
refers could well be vibrancy of tone, effective
use of breath and consistancy of vibrato. Other
musicologists such as James Stark, and Richard
Miller deem these elements important to
effective expression. These vocal techniques
that form the art of expressing are made
known through ancient musical treatises,
journal writings, and markings on music scores
of performers and teachers.460 With the analysis
of this documentation, one can begin to
understand the specific vocal techniques that
heighten musical expression through the use of
vibrato, messa di voce and tempo rubato.
In the late eighteenth century, minimal
vibrato was employed to create what audiences
and vocal pedagogues thought of as bel canto
(beautiful singing). The bel canto technique
involves a strong preference for purity of tone;
therefore singers had to learn to sing with
virtually no vibration in their voice. Important
artists of the nineteenth century (Meyerbeer,
Auber and Gounod) openly expressed their
hatred of a tremulous tone.461 Critics gave bad
reviews to those that used vibrato, which
certainly hindered the careers of some
performers, such as Elizabeth Feron, who was
often ridiculed for her tremulous voice.462 The
tendency for the voice to vibrate on the
loudest and highest notes, however, was
thought as natural and unavoidable. Even so,
some teachers tried to coach their singers to
strain the tone to become light and straight
even on the loud notes.463 Joseph Corfe and

ExpressiveVocal
Techniques
By Alicia Woynarski
Musical expression is the key
component to an effective, vocal performance.
In order for a singers expression to touch ones
audience and clearly represent the sentiment
implied by the text, the singer must employ
many different vocal techniques. Musicologists
for centuries have held numerous studies to
discern the components of a truly musical
performance. Although there is still much
speculation about even the definition of
musicality, most musicologists agree that the
effective use of dynamics and tempo are two
of the most important components that
distinguish one performance from another.
Gabrielsson noted, The ability to perform

459 Robert Woody, Explaining Expressive Performance:

Component Cognitive Skills in an Aural Modeling Task,
Journal of Research in Music Education 51:1 [Spring
2003] 51-63.
460 Robert Toft, Heart to Heart:Expresive Singing in
England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
ix.
461 Herman Klein, The Bel Canto:with particular reference
to the singing of Mozart (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1923) 25.
462 Robert Toft, Heart to Heart:Expresive Singing in
England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
31.
463 Robert Toft, Heart to Heart:Expresive Singing in

70

Robert Smith, for example, counseled singers

not to sing high notes too strongly but to fix
them sweetly without any quivering or
tremulous motion.464 Other teachers often
made their singers practice exercises on long
held notes to correct a singers tendency to use
vibrato. Despite the negativity that was tied to
the use of vibrato it could be and was used by
singers as a tool to heighten their expression.465
Vibrato was used to emphasize strong
emotions such as deep sorrow, fear, distress
and wrath. Singers also liked to use vibrato on
the end of long held notes, and especially at the
end of phrases to accentuate the punctuation
of a phrase.466
The modern view of the vibrato is that
its warmth can make every note sound
beautiful and expressive. It is understood more
as a natural occurring, vocal ornamentation.
More recent studies of the vibrato include a
closer look at where exactly the vibrations
occur within the body, the frequency or rate at
which the vibrations occur, the specific pitch
oscillation and why it seems to occur naturally
in trained voices.467 Advanced technology and a
more scientific look at the physiology of the
vocal apparatus led to the discovery of the
health benefits of using vibrato. Studies have
shown that the vocal muscles that cause a
vibrato to contract and relax naturally to avoid
fatigue.468 This realization has led teachers to
encourage their singers to use vibrato more
often. In the past vibrato was only used in a
limited way, in specific instances of strong
emotions. Modern pedagogues advise singers
to sing with a consistent vibrant tone and in
instances of heightened expression, experiment
with different colours one can produce with
vibrato. Many singers experiment with
different vocal colours by varying the rate at
which their vocal folds oscillate (average rate

of vibration per cycle is 5 8 pulsations a

second)469. A singer may slow vibrations down
in order to imitate the tremulous sounds of
crying or speed vibrations up when expressing
moments of fear or excitement. It is most
common for heightened oscillation rates to
occur in high voices on notes in the upper
most parts of the register. With high subglottal
pressure, a lowered larynx and a slower
oscillation rate the vibrato becomes more
pronounced and can be heard over large
orchestras. Audiences of our time seem to
prefer a slower vibration rate perhaps because
to the ear it sounds more powerful. Take for
example the vibrato of Luciano Pavarotti
whose oscillation rate is around 5.5 compared
to that of another famous singer (of the
seventeenth century), Enrico Caruso, whose
vibrato rate was near 7.0.470 Modern
pedagogues agree with the pedagogues of the
early centuries in that vibrato can be controlled
in order to colour music, however, today
vibrato is expected to be used more frequently,
to further vocal colours.
Another device that aids in underlining
the emotional content of the text is the singing
technique Messa di Voce. This term has been
used since the early eighteenth century, relating
to the artistry of using loud and soft singing to
shape a phrase. It was a key element in vocal
instruction of the Old Italian schools. For it
was a great exercise in which to teach singers
how to control dynamics through supported
breath and tone management.471 The messa di
voce technique is considered rudimental by
some musicologists such as Stockhausen and
Tosi while others consider it to be a highly
complex maneuver. Many prominent vocal
pedagogues have studied and discussed it in
detail, including Manuel Garcia in his treatise,
Hints on Singing. He describes messa di voce as
swelled sounds beginning very softly and
slowly increasing the dynamic to its loudest
capacity and then backing down to the softest

England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)

31.
464 Ibid.
465 Ibid. , 32.
466 Ibid. , 34.
467 James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (
Ontario: University of Toronto Press Incorporated,
1999) 138
468 Ibid. , 139.

469Ibid.

, 140.
, 141.
471 Herman Klein, The Bel Canto:with particular
reference to the singing of Mozart (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1923) 32.

470Ibid

71

degree.472 When he advises the singer in detail

on how to execute this technique he instructs
to begin with loose glottal closure in falsetto
(mid-register) and move through the head
voice as one crescendos with firm adduction
(folds are firmly closed). Besides a change in
timbre and register Garcias messa di voce also
demands refined control of subglottal pressure
(airflow rate) and positioning of the vocal
tract.473 As one can see by his description, the
messa di voce exercise is complex therefore
Garcia reserved it for highly trained singers.
Another prominent musicologist named
Lamperti had a slightly different definition of
messa di voce. His did not involve a change in
register rather a consistent timbre and slightly
higher subglottal pressure through out the
exercise. Some of the Italian masters like
Pierfrancesco Tosi, thought of messa di voce as a
type of ornamentation that was to be used
tastefully on sustained notes. 474 While other
vocal pedagogues applied the technique,
sparingly to open vowels. The messa di voce
technique was most often applied to long held
notes as a mean of sustaining them, especially
at the ad libitum pause just before a cadenza.
This was very effective in shaping the ends of
phrases and aided singers to avoid
monotony.475 In later years, there was an
obvious decline in the use of Messa di Voce. As
noted by Tosi, there are very few singers who
esteem it worthy of their taste, whether
because they love instability in the voice, or
because they wish to remove themselves from
the past.476 Today, using messa di voce on every
note as singers did in the early centuries is
considered ineffective as a method of aiding
expressive singing. Singing with a swelled

sound on every individual note or word is not

a convincing method of expression. If the
technique is misused, it may take on what
teachers refer to as the wah-wah or
doppler effect in which legato line and
steady tone are disrupted. This vocal technique
is better suited to entire phrases, which allows
singers to shape towards the most important
words of the text; making the expressive words
the loudest. Many singers continue to use messa
di voce as a daily exercise to achieve brilliant
consistent tone throughout the entire range of
dynamics. If one can master a consistent
vibrant timbre throughout the range of
dynamics it is assumed that one can then apply
this acquired technique to the text providing
the audience a well-expressed performance.
As the contrasting dynamics of messa di
voce can help express a range of emotions, so
can the contrasting tempos of the tempo rubato.
The literal translation of tempo rubato is robbed
time, it is a technique in which the accompanist
continues to play in the established tempo
while the soloist pushes and pulls the tempo in
order to suit the emotional content of the
piece.477 Pierfrancesco Tosi introduced robbed
time in 1723. In his opinion this stealing of time
was best suited to the aria style called the aria
pathetic, popular around 1687-1700.478 Singers
altered rhythms in the rubato manner for many
reasons: to aid in avoiding false
accentuations479, to elongate appogiaturas as
well as other ornamentations and portamentos
or to simply add an expressive element of
rhythmic tension to the music.480 Singers
often employed tempo rubato to move quickly in
passages of excitement, increasing passion or
hatred, where as the pulling back of the tempo
is reserved for moments of hesitation,

Ibid, 31.
473 James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal
Pedagogy ( Ontario: University of Toronto Press
Incorporated, 1999) 98.
474 Owen Jander and J.B. Steane: 'Messa di Voce',
Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [Sun. 20,
Feburary, 05]), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
475 Robert Toft, Heart to Heart:Expresive Singing in
England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
71.
476 James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (
Ontario: University of Toronto Press Incorporated,
1999) 95.
472

Richard Hudson: Rubato, Grove Music Online ed.

L. Macy (Accessed [Fri. 18, February, 05]),
<http://www.grovemusic.com>
478 Richard Hudson Stolen Time: The History of
Tempo Rubato.. (New York: Oxford University Press,
1994) 41.
479 Robert Toft, Heart to Heart:Expresive Singing in
England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
80.
480 James Stark, Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (
Ontario: University of Toronto Press Incorporated,
1999) 173.

477

72

increasing despair or hopelessness.481 The skill

of using tempo rubato effectively was deemed
very important by great musicians such as Tosi:
He who does not know how to use rubato in
singing remains deprived of the best taste
and the greatest intelligence.482 In musical
works by composers of post eighteenth
century, such as Liszt, Mascagni and Puccini,
tempo rubato is extended over entire works,
allowing the tempo to be flexible through
out.483 As there are varying instructions on how
to execute messa di voce, musicologists also differ
in their opinions about rubato. Tosi and Robert
North describe rubato in terms of anticipation
and delay where as Alencons (who published a
Dutch translation of Tosis documents)
interprets rubato as an increase and decrease of
note values. The difference is that in Alencons
version the lengthening of one note is
equalized by the amount of time lost on the
last note of the same musical phrase. With Tosi
and Norths anticipation and delay such a
balance is not required. One may anticipate the
entry of one note and not have to compensate
by following with the delay of another note.484
To audiences of Tosis time it was in the
beauty of the dissonance created by delaying a
note that created such interest.485
Tempo rubato is still employed by singers
today, although tempo fluctuations occur more
often in the form of accelerandos and ritardandos
indicated by the composer. The difference
between these two forms of tempo
fluctuations is quite noticeable, as the
accompanist plays in strict time while the
soloist uses rubato where as the accompanist
moves in sync with the singer for accelerandos
and ritardandos. Both are effective methods of
heightening expression. The text seems to
come alive when the tempo is in rhythm with a
characters stirring emotions or with the flow

of nature. This is one vocal technique that

should never be discontinued for it speaks so
strongly to ones emotion. Music would be very
dull and monotonous without it.
Through the use of vibrato, messa di voce
and tempo rubato expressive singing has the
power to create aesthetic feelings that one
compares to human emotion.486 The eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries use of vibrato gives
colour to words of strong emotion. Messa di
voce draws the attention of the audience to
expressive words within a phrase and adds
musical interest to the line through the use of
dynamics. Tempo rubato effectively represents
the increasing and decreasing action of both
the music and the text. The changes in the use
of these techniques, from the eighteenth
century to now, demonstrate how ideas of
what are aesthetically pleasing and expressive
have evolved and are continually changing.
Singers will be steadily presented with new
expressive techniques in which to please
audiences.

Toft, Heart to Heart, 83.

Stark, Bel Canto,173.
483 Richard Hudson: Rubato, Grove Music Online ed.
L. Macy (Accessed [Fri. 18, February, 05]),
<http://www.grovemusic.com>
484 Richard Hudson Stolen Time: The History of
Tempo Rubato.. (New York: Oxford University Press,
1994) 50.
485 Ibid, 57.

481

482

Nancy Kovaleff Baker: Expression, Grove

Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [Wed. 23,
February, 05]), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
486

73

The Fach System:

them cast appropriate voices to suitable

roles.487 The names and titles of these subcategorizations vary depending on the source
and the translation, but the general idea
remains the same. For example, the soprano
category alone can be divided into seven types,
including the soubrette, lyric coloratura, lyric,
dramatic coloratura, spinto, dramatic, and
heavy dramatic. These titles do not include the
three divisions of the mezzo-soprano voice:
lyric, dramatic, and contralto (although the
contralto is often considered a voice type on its
own, with its own subcategories).488 Every role
in opera has become associated with a Fach,
and occasionally can be cross-listed into more
than one Fach. Some typical examples include
the role of Lucia, from Donizettis Lucia di
Lammermoor, known as a dramatic coloratura
soprano role; or the title role in Carmen, by
Bizet, known as a dramatic mezzo-soprano
role. Some very specific Fcher can also be
defined by a composer, or a nationality, like the
Wagnerian soprano or the tenore di grazia, which
includes mostly Italian roles. Despite all of
these variations, the basic structure of the Fach
system remains intact.489
There is also great variety in the way a
Fach is determined. Definition of Fach occurs
in two areas: the type of role, or the actual
voice type of the individual singer. Although
the range of an operatic role is obviously an
important factor, there are many other
pertinent elements. The tessitura of the part, as
well as the sostenuto demands help to define the
actual type of voice needed, whereas the
orchestral writing underneath the vocal line

Definitions and
Controversies

By Meagan Zantingh
Attempts at codifying anything in the
realm of vocal pedagogy usually end in
disastrous confusion and biased terms. The
Fach system, however, is one system of
codification that is generally recognized
throughout the world, with varying degrees of
specificity. The Fach system began as a
classification of voice types, in order to guide
opera companies in their casting, and to
protect singers from performing inappropriate
roles. However, today it has spread far beyond
the opera company, becoming a marketing
tool, and in some cases, a definition of
character. Each broad Fach can be subdivided
into more specific sub-categories, containing
specific roles suitable for each voice type.
Determining a singers voice type, or Fach, has
become a controversial issue of vocal
pedagogy, often being given too much
importance in the training of a young voice.
The idea of Fach, to todays degree of
specificity, is a relatively modern concept.
Historically, singers could perform roles of a
different voice type, without the baggage of
Fach definition. Today, the importance of Fach
for casting differs according to the country and
the politics of the opera company. In any case,
Fach is a factor in the casting process, either as
a marketing device, or as a determination of
persona.
The Fach system developed from the
traditional categorizations of soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass. These four main voice types
are divided into Fcher, or literally, divisions,
that relate more specifically to individual
voices.
Originating in Germany, these
subdivisions also stipulate what dramatic roles
are suitable for each voice type. The whole
system is intended as a guide for opera
companies in their audition process; to help

487J.B.

Steane, Fach, in Stanley Sadie, ed., The New

Grove Dictionary of Opera (London: Macmillan, 1992),
II: 234.
488 http://www.e-paranoids.com/f/fa/fach.html Article
licensed under the GMU Free Documentation
License.
http://www.lyricoperaofwaco.org/education/voices/,
designed by Melanie McCalmont, updated Jan 5/03.
http://www.geocities.com/concertopera/voicetype.html
489 Anthony Legge, The Art of Auditioning (London:
Peters Edition Limited, 2001), 55-167.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/cardiffsinger01/guide.sht
ml?voice, provided by the BBC, updated Mar. 4/05.
Andrea Suhm-Binder, http://www.cantabilesubito.de/Categories/hauptteil_categories.html,
updated Feb./05.
74

calls for a particular size and colour. Dramatic

requirements of the role also suit some timbres
better than others, and cannot be
discounted.490 Certain types of roles often
become associated with a certain Fach; for
example, the lyric soprano is the typical
girlfriend personality.491 The placing of a role
into a specific Fach is, to some extent, a
subjective process, and some leeway of
definition is necessary.
The issue of determining the voice type
of a singer is surrounded by even more
variables and controversy. Once again, the
range and tessitura of the voice are important
factors, assuring the comfort of the voice. The
natural timbre and size of the voice also play a
role in deciding the voice type. Because the
Fach is also used for dramatic purposes, even
such subjective factors as the physical
appearance of the singer, and his or her
personality help to define the Fach.492
However, some voices never really fit into a
specific category, and are able to sing roles
from different areas. Especially in young
singers can the Fach be difficult to identify, and
many argue, that Fach identification should not
even be a part of early vocal training. The Fach
system was developed for the opera house and
should be confined to the opera house. To
bring discussions of voice type into a lesson
program of a young singer takes emphasis
away from other pedagogy issues, and could
cause the student some anxiety, worrying about
fitting in to a specific category. In fact, some
pedagogues believe that young voices should
not even attempt to sing arias, let alone entire
roles. 493 However, young singers may find this
difficult. Even delaying the process of Fach
identification can be challenging, while
surrounded by an abundance of opinions.
Most auditions for schools and programs, even

for less experienced singers, require the student

to state their voice type and sing at least one
aria. While many pedagogues realize it is not
healthy to push a voice in one direction or
another, the singer himself or herself may find
it difficult not to lean in a particular direction,
being immersed in a Fach-obsessed society.
There are also pedagogues who believe in
defining the voice type of a student as soon as
possible, in order to healthily train the voice.494
Once the singer knows his or her voice type,
he or she can begin learning roles pertaining to
that Fach. However, the development of a
voice can change drastically in the early adult
years, so these learned roles may later become
obsolete for the singer. Regardless of Fach, the
teacher must have a perceptive ear to guide the
student in choosing repertoire appropriate for
his or her voice at that time. In many cases,
after basic, fundamental training, the singer will
correctly identify his or her voice type
according to where the voice is comfortable,
and the teacher should also respect this
judgment.495 Whether it is determining the
Fach of an individual voice, or of a specific
role, the decision is based on a great deal of
subjective insight, as well as musical and
technical aspects.
The whole historical development of
the Fach system is surrounded by personal
opinion and contradiction. Generally, the
system has evolved from a broad to a much
more specific classification. In order to look at
this topic from a broad historical perspective
for the purposes of this essay, the focus will be
on the female voice, specifically the
development of the mezzo-soprano as a Fach.
The original seventeenth- century pieces
written for soprano usually had an approximate
range of middle C to high G, which would
now be considered an appropriate mezzosoprano range. Beginning in the first half of
the eighteenth century, as composers started
writing voice parts with a more extended upper
range, there was a greater perception of the
slightly weightier and lower voice that could

Richard Miller, On the Art of Singing (New York:

Oxford University Press, Inc., 1996), 199-201.
491 J.B. Steane, Voices: Singers and Critics (Portland:
Amadeus Press, 1992), 3-111.
492Bard Suverkrop,
http://www.su.edu/SUOpera/classes/mupp425/D
ocuments/Performances/Fach/Home.htm,
provided by the Shenandoah Conservatory.
493 Miller, On the Art of Singing.

490

David L. Jones, Lower Voice or Higher Voice?,

http://www.voiceteacher.com/vocal_fach.html,
2000.
495 Miller, On the Art of Singing.
494

75

not manage these higher notes as extensively.

J. J. Quantz was the first composer to
distinguish the female role into three main
categories: soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto;
but it was not until after 1800 that the term
mezzo-soprano came into general use.496 G.
F. Handel, of course, wrote for lower voices,
but his roles were intended for contralto
castrati, rather than womens voices. In the
early nineteenth century, when the castrato
began to disappear, the mezzo-soprano
gradually took his place, and composers started
to write more often specifically for this lower
voice type. However, this evolution was not
sudden, and therefore many of the famous
mezzo roles of the 1800s are heroic trouser
roles, many of which are by Rossini.
Composers also tended to write roles with a
specific singer in mind, writing idiomatically
for her voice. For example, Rossini wrote the
role of Malcolm for Benedetta Pisaroni, who
called herself a soprano; but this role today is
generally considered more suitable for a mezzo
voice. Verdi is perhaps the first composer to
write specific mezzo-soprano roles, although
he often deemed them contralto parts. The
same contradictions appeared in Germany,
with roles written for mezzo, but premiered by
a soprano; Webers role of Eglantine in
Euryanthe was premiered by soprano Therese
Grnbaum. By the twentieth century, many
composers were writing for the mezzosoprano voice, most notably Jules Massenet
and Richard Strauss. The trend throughout the
history of the mezzo usually casts her, if not as
a man, at least as a less romantic role than the
soprano. Nurses, confidantes, mature married
women, dowager duchesses and elderly aunts
are all typical mezzo-soprano characters, also
becoming a defining factor of the Fach itself.497
The ambiguity of the mezzo-soprano Fach is
also apparent in the voices themselves.
The trend in the development of the
Fach system has evolved from a general idea of
voice area, to a much more specific and
496
497

restrictive classification. Historically, the range

of roles sung by one singer was typically much
wider and more varied than singers of today.
Tracing the roles of Maria Malibran and
Pauline Viardot, this wider breadth of roles is
apparent. In a short career, ending with her
death at 28 years old, Maria Malibran sang a
total of nine full roles. She debuted in 1825 as
Rosina in Rossinis Il barbiere di Siviglia. She
was generally considered to be a mezzosoprano, and sang typically mezzo roles, such
as the title roles in Rossinis La Cenerentola and
Tancredi, as well as Arsace in his Semiramide.
However, she also sang the title role in
Donizettis Maria Stuarda, and Armina in
Bellinis La Sonnambula, both of which are roles
that have since been made famous by many
sopranos.
Malibrans sister, Pauline Viardot, had
an even more varied career, singing a total of at
least twenty-two roles, covering a wide range
of Fcher. She was also considered a mezzosoprano, and sang all of the roles that her sister
sang, but she also overlapped a great deal into
soprano territory. After her debut in 1839 as
Desdemona in Rossinis Otello, she went on to
sing such soprano roles as the title role in
Bellinis Norma, and Donizettis Lucia di
Lammermoor, and both Zerlina and Donna
Anna in Mozarts Don Giovanni. Apart from
being soprano roles, these parts also cover
different Fcher within the soprano category.
She also sang works by Meyerbeer, Halevy and
Gounod, breaking away from the more
traditional Italian styles.498 This great variety of
roles demonstrates the lack of rigidity in the
system of voice types during the nineteenth
century.
Grace Bumbry, over a century later,
still defied the boundaries of the average
singer, and the trend towards specificity.
Beginning as a mezzo-soprano, she sang most
of the great mezzo roles in the French
repertoire, like Carmen and Dalilah, as well as
roles by Verdi: Azucena, Eboli, and Amneris.
Later in her career, she sang more soprano

J. J. Quantz lived from 1697-1773

Owen Jander, J.B. Steane, Elizabeth Forbes, Ellen T.
Harris, Mezzo-soprano, in Stanley Sadie, ed., The
New Grove Dictionary of Opera (London: Macmillan,
1992), III: 145-152.

April Fitzlyon, The Price of Genius: A Life of Pauline

Viardot (London: John Calder Ltd., 1964).
Andrea Suhm-Binder, http://www.cantabilesubito.de/Teachers/hauptteil_teachers.html
498

76

repertoire, including Mascagnis Santuzza,

Strausss Salome, and Janaceks Jenufa.499
A more typical career of a modern
singer is illustrated through the careers of
Denyce Graves and Elina Garanca. They have
a select few roles that they are known for,
mostly staying in a specific Fach. Denyce
Graves is especially known for the roles of
Carmen and Dalilah, performing them
repeatedly and almost exclusively for many
years.500 As a less experienced singer with a
less extensive career, Elina Garanca is also so
far limited to a few select roles: Dorabella in
Mozarts Cosi fan tutte, Rosina in Rossinis Il
barbiere di Siviglia, Charlotte in Massenets
Werther, and a few performances of Oktavian
in Strausss Der Rosenkavalier.501 The limited
roles of both these singers present a much
more restricted idea of Fach than earlier
singers.
Because of this evolution, many singers
have controversial opinions about the Fach
system. Grace Bumbry, for example, believes
singers today restrict themselves by singing in a
specific Fach: Too many singers stay within
one certain boundary. Instead of all their
instrument, they just use that portion that is
required at that particular time, instead of
trying to do whatever they can do with their
entire voice. She cautions singers against
choosing a Fach according to the market, rather
than the suitability of their voice. However, in
a way, she contradicts herself when asked
about a particular singer: My point of view is
that Dolora Zajick is not a mezzo soprano
anyway.
Shes a soprano. 502
In this
statement, Bumbry is stating a specific Fach for
a singer, categorizing her in a way that she had
earlier protested. The opinions of Thomas
Hampson are also contradictory; when he
promotes himself as a baritone, but is

described as resisting passionately the notion

of Fach, which, he believes, is built by agencies
[] Singing is not about timbres or category
labels.503 Other singers perhaps have the
same opinion, but it rare to see a professional
singer that does not advertise according to his
or her Fach.
The role of the Fach system in the
process of casting brings to the forefront many
more debates, in many cases depending on the
country. As a tool for opera companies, the
Fach system is especially helpful for
inexperienced directors to find an appropriate
singer for each role. The singers themselves
can also use it for contractual protection, to
keep them from being forced to sing unhealthy
roles for their voices. The system is used in
very different ways in Europe and North
America. The general opinion is that the
system is used more often, and more
specifically in Europe. In Europe, the ideal
situation for the typical regional repertoire
opera house would be to hire a set ensemble
for the season, which would include one singer
from each Fach. Unfortunately, this rarely
happens, as there are many different Fcher,
and it would require the hiring many singers,
usually an economic impossibility. As a result,
singers often cover roles that are outside of
their Fach.504 In some cases, this can mean
unhealthy singing, as in the less successful
productions of the English National Opera:
When casting is influenced by economic
considerations, the variable should be the
repertoire, not the singer.505 Often however,
the role is still comfortable for the singer. If
the singer is perfectly able to sing the role, even
if it is outside of his or her supposedly fixed
Fach, perhaps the idea of Fach is too restricting
and specific.

Grace Bumbry,
http://home.swbell.net/gyurci/bumbrybio.htm.
500 Denyce Graves,
http://www.denycegraves.com/biography.html.
501 Elina Garanca,
http://www.elinagaranca.com/en/news.html.
502 Joel Kasow, An interview with Grace Bumbry,
http://www.culturekiosque.com/opera/intervie/rhe
bumb.htm, Sept. 2/97.

Thomas Hampson, http://www.hampsong.com,

updated Mar. 4/05.
504 Bard Suverkrop,
http://www.su.edu/SUOpera/classes/mupp425/D
ocuments/Performances/Fach/Home.htm,
provided by the Shenandoah Conservatory.
505ENO and the Fine Art of Casting,
http://www.operatalent.com/Safe/articles/FineArto
fCasting.asp, (Inter Ads Ltd., 2003).

499

503

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In North America, many believe that

the Fach system is less rigid, but it is actually
just used in a different way. Here, with the
different hiring system, companies usually hire
a singer for a specific role, for one production.
In this way, he or she is not hired according to
their Fach, but rather according to the role.
However, it is often the case that once the
singer becomes known for a specific role, he or
she is only hired for this role, which is
restricting in a different way. To prevent this
from happening, it is the responsibility of the
performer, in the ten minute audition package,
to present every quality of the voice, especially
if the voice does not fall in the usual Fach
boundaries.506 However, this ideal package is
difficult to create, especially when auditioning
for a specific role, towards which the singer
will gear his or her audition. Linda Maguire
states her difficulties:

required to sing outside of this category once

hired. In both scenarios, the rigidity of the
Fach system becomes an opponent to the
singer.
Despite this criticism, the Fach system
can work. In theory, on paper as a guideline,
the system is helpful for teachers, singers, and
directors. However, it should be restricted to
the opera house, and even then just as a basic
guide, always receptive to different possibilities
and interpretations. Determination of Fach in
the young singer often causes anxiety, and
should not be a focus of the training. It is only
recently, that the idea of a rigid Fach has
become popular, but perhaps freedom can be
found once again in the historical, more
ambiguous views of voice type. Today, used as
a marketing device, Fach only results in
restricting the career of a singer, rather than
guiding the path of the career. The voice as an
instrument is unique to every singer, and
therefore it is impossible to classify voices into
groups, where they lose their sense of
individuality.
Great voices are not
remembered for their ability to fit into a
category, but rather for their singularity.

However, in an 8-minute time slot,

auditioners just dont have time or head space to gather
and process the fact that I am a mezzo who sings such
soprano operatic roles its an unusual thing, and
confusing for them.
[] If I cant be put into a neat and
convenient little category well, they just dont have the
time, the imagination, or the inclination in normal
audition circumstances to get it, especially when Im in
with scores of other singers, the majority of whom
obediently fit in their five perfect opera roles.507
Even in North America, where the
Fach system is based more on the roles, the
singer can have difficulty breaking away from
the preconceived notions that are tied to a
Fach. The singer can be hired for their voice,
regardless of Fach, but could then be restricted
to a select few roles for much of his or her
career. In Europe, the system works in almost
the opposite direction, although it can be
equally restrictive. Singers are generally hired
for according to their Fach, but then may be
Lloyd W. Hanson,
http://www.vocalist.org/group/vocalisttemporary/message/7111.html, Nov. 30/00.
507 Linda Maguire,
http://www.lindamaguire.com/info/faqs.html, from
an interview for Wholenote Magazine.
506

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