A Physiological and Pedagogical

Review of Vocal Registers

Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Voice
University of North Texas

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 1

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

“By the word register we understand a series

of consecutive and homogenous tones going
from low to high, produced by the
development of the same mechanical
principle, and whose nature differs
essentially from another series of tones
equally consecutive and homogenous
produced by another mechanical principle.”

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2

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

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 3

Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of
Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20, 1970.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 4

Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 5

Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 6

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 7

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 261, 1994.

“As the bottom of the vocal fold bulges out, the

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 8

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

“This chest voice is not equally forceful and

strong in everyone; but to the extent that
one has a more robust or more feeble organ
of the chest, he will have a more or less
robust voice.”

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 9

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

“A sonorous body, or rather robustness of

voice is ordinarily a gift from nature, but
can also be acquired by study and art.”

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 10

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

“It remains for me now to speak of those

voices which are slender and weak
throughout their register . . . One observes
that these voices are very weak in the chest
notes, and the greater majority deprived of
any low notes, but rich in high notes, or
head voice . . .”

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 11

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

“There is not method more sure to obtain this

end, I believe, than to have such a little
voice sing only in the chest voice for a time.
The exercise should be done with a tranquil
solfeggio; and as the voice enriches itself
with greater body, and range, one may blend
it as much as possible with the low notes.”

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 12

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

“As we have said, the chest register is

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 13

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

“During her studies she frequently asked for

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 14

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

“Chest mixture will strengthen the soprano’s

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 15

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 16

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

“…because one can approach the study of this

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

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 17

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.
Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214. 1967.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 18

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.
Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155. 1967.

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 19

‘Long sustained tones in the
chest’

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 20

‘Welcoming in the chest’

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 21

“Imposing the chest’

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 22

‘Imposing the chest – II’

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 23

‘Deference to the head’

12/3/2019 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 24