How to Sing Part 10

SECTION XXVI

THE LIPS

Of special importance for the tone and the word are the movements of the lips, which are so widely different in the bright and in the dark vowels. These movements cannot be too much exaggerated in practising.

The same strength and elasticity to which we have to train the muscles of the throat and tongue must be imparted to the lips, which must be as of iron. Upon their cooperation much of the life of the tone depends, and it can be used in many shadings, as soon as one is able to exert their power consciously and under the control of the will.

Every vowel, every word, every tone, can be colored as by magic in all sorts of ways by the well-controlled play of the lips; can, as it were, be imbued with life, as the lips open or close more or less in different positions. The lips are the final cup-shaped resonators through which the tone has to pa.s.s. They can r.e.t.a.r.d it or let it escape, can color it bright or dark, and exert a ceaseless and ever varying influence upon it long before it ceases and up to its very end.

No attempt should be made to use the play of the lips until complete mastery of the absolutely even, perfect tone, and of the muscular powers, has been acquired. The effect must be produced as a result of power and practice; and should not be practised as an effect _per se_.

SECTION XXVII

THE VOWEL-SOUND _AH_

There is much discussion as to whether _ah_, _oo_, or some other vowel is the one best adapted for general practice. In former times practice was entirely on the vowel-sound _ah_. The old Italians taught it; my mother was trained so, and never allowed her pupils to use any other vowel during the first months of their instruction. Later, to be sure, every letter, every word, was practised and improved continually, till it was correct, and had impressed itself upon the memory, as well as the ear, of the pupil for all time.

I explain the matter thus:--

The singer's mouth should always make an agreeable impression. Faces that are forever grinning or showing fish mouths are disgusting and wrong.

The pleasing expression of the mouth requires the muscular contractions that form the bright vowel _ah_.

Most people who are not accustomed to using their vocal resonance p.r.o.nounce the _ah_ quite flat, as if it were the vowel-sound lying lowest. If it is p.r.o.nounced with the position of the mouth belonging to the bright vowels, it has to seek its resonance, in speaking as well as in singing, in the same place as the dark vowels, on the high-arched palate. To permit this, it must be mingled with _oo_. The furrows in the tongue must also be formed, just as with _oo_ and _o_, only special attention must be given that the back of the tongue does not fall, but remains high, as in p.r.o.nouncing _[=a]_. In this way _ah_ comes to lie between _oo-o'ah'y[=a]_, and forms at the same time the connection between the bright and the dark vowels, and the reverse.

For this reason it was proper that _ah_ should be preferred as the practice vowel, as soon as it was placed properly between the two extremes, and had satisfied all demands. I prefer to teach it, because its use makes all mistakes most clearly recognizable. It is the most difficult vowel. If it is well p.r.o.nounced, or sung, it produces the necessary muscular contractions with a pleasing expression of the mouth, and makes certain a fine tone color by its connection with _oo_ and _o_. If the _ah_ is equally well formed in all ranges of the voice, a chief difficulty is mastered.

Those who have been badly taught, or have fallen into bad ways, should practise the vocal exercise I have given above, with _ya-ye-yah_, etc., slowly, listening to themselves carefully. Good results cannot fail; it is an infallible means of improvement.

Italians who sing well never speak or sing the vowel sound _ah_ otherwise than mixed, and only the neglect of this mixture could have brought about the decadence of the Italian teaching of song. In Germany no attention is paid to it. The _ah_, as sung generally by most Italians of the present day, quite flat, sounds commonplace, almost like an affront. It can range itself, that is connect itself, with no other vowel, makes all vocal connection impossible, evolves very ugly registers; and, lying low in the throat, summons forth no palatal resonance. The power of contraction of the muscles of speech is insufficient, and this insufficiency misleads the singer to constrict the throat muscles, which are not trained to the endurance of it; thereby further progress is made impossible. In the course of time the tone becomes flat at the transitions. The fatal tremolo is almost always the result of this manner of singing.

Try to sing a scale upward on _ah_, placing the tongue and muscles of speech at the same time on _[=a]_, and you will be surprised at the agreeable effect. Even the thought of it alone is often enough, because the tongue involuntarily takes the position of its own accord.

I remember very well how Mme. Desiree Artot-Padilla, who had a low mezzo-soprano voice, used to toss off great coloratura pieces, beginning on the vowel-sound _ah_, and then going up and down on _a_, _ee_, _auoah_. At the time I could not understand why she did it; now I know perfectly,--because it was easier for her. The breath is impelled against the cavities of the head, the head tones are set into action.

Behind the _a_ position there must be as much room provided as is needed for all the vowels, with such modifications as each one requires for itself. The matter of chief importance is the position of the tongue _in_ the throat, that it shall not be in the way of the larynx, which must be able to move up and down, even though very slightly, without hindrance.

All vowels must be able to flow into each other; the singer must be able to pa.s.s from one to another without perceptible alteration, and back again.

SECTION XXVIII

ITALIAN AND GERMAN

How easy it is for the Italians, who have by nature, through the characteristics of their native language, all these things which others must gain by long years of practice! A single syllable often unites three vowels; for instance, "tuoi" (tuoy[=e]), "miei"

(myeay[=e]), "muoja," etc.

The Italians mingle all their vowels. They rub them into and color them with each other. This includes a great portion of the art of song, which in every language, with due regard to its peculiar characteristics, must be learned by practice.

To give only a single example of the difficulty of the German words, with the everlasting consonant endings to the syllables, take the recitative at the entrance of Norma:--

"Wer la.s.st hier Aufruhrstimme_n_, Kriegsruf ertone_n_, wollt Ihr die Gotter zwinge_n_, Eurem Wahnwitz zu frohne_n_? Wer wagt vermesse_n_, gleich der Propheti_n_ der Zukunft Nacht zu lichte_n_, wollt Ihr der Gotter Pla_n_ vorschnell vernichte_n_? Nicht Menschenkraft Konne_n_ die Wirre_n_ dieses Landes schlichte_n_."

Twelve endings on _n_!

"Sediziosi voci, voci di guerra, avvi [Transcriber's Note: corrected "avoi" in original] chi alzar si attenta presso all'ara del Dio! V'ha chi presume dettar responsi alla vegente Norma, e di Roma affrettar il fato arcano. Ei non dipende, no, non dipende da potere umano!"

From the Italians we can learn the connection of the vowels, from the French the use of the nasal tone. The Germans surpa.s.s the others in their power of expressiveness. But he who would have the right to call himself an artist must unite all these things; the _bel canto_, that is, beautiful--I might say good--singing, and all the means of expression which we cultivated people need to interpret master works of great minds, should afford the public enn.o.bling pleasure.

A tone full of life is to be produced only by the skilful mixture of the vowels, that is, the unceasing leaning of one upon the others, without, however, affecting any of its characteristics. This means, in reality, only the complete use of the resonance of the breath, since the mixture of the vowels can be obtained only through the elastic conjunction of the organs and the varying division of the stream of breath toward the palatal resonance, or that of the cavities of the head, or the equalization of the two.

The larynx must rise and descend unimpeded by the tongue, soft palate and pillars of the fauces rise and sink, the soft palate always able more or less to press close to the hard. Strong and elastic contractions imply very pliable and circ.u.mspect relaxation of the same.

I think that the feeling I have of the extension of my throat comes from the very powerful yet very elastic contraction of my muscles, which, though feeling always in a state of relaxability, appear to me like flexible steel, of which I can demand everything,--because never too much,--and which I exercise daily. Even in the entr'actes of grand operas I go through with such exercises; for they refresh instead of exhausting me.

The unconstrained cooperation of all the organs, as well as their individual functions, must go on elastically without any pressure or cramped action. Their interplay must be powerful yet supple, that the breath which produces the tone may be diffused as it flows from one to another of the manifold and complicated organs (such as the ventricles of Morgagni), supporting itself on others, being caught in still others, and finding all in such a state of readiness as is required in each range for each tone. Everything must be combined in the right way as a matter of habit.

The voice is equalized by the proper ramification of the breath and the proper connection of the different resonances.

The tone is colored by the proper mixture of vowels; _oo_, _o_, and _ah_ demanding more palatal resonance and a lower position of the larynx, _a_ and _e_ more resonance of the head cavities and a higher position of the larynx. With _oo_, _o_, _u_, and _ah_ the palate is arched higher (the tongue forming a furrow) than with _[=a]_, _[=e]_, and _u_, where the tongue lies high and flat.

There are singers who place the larynx too low, and, arching the palate too high, sing too much toward _oo_. Such voices sound very dark, perhaps even hollow; they lack the interposition of the _[=a]_,--that is, the larynx is placed too low.

On the other hand, there are others who press it upward too high; their _a_ position is a permanent one. Such voices are marked by a very bright, sharp quality of tone, often like a goat's bleating.

Both are alike wrong and disagreeable. The proper medium between them must be gained by sensitive training of the ear, and a taste formed by the teacher through examples drawn from his own singing and that of others.

If we wish to give a n.o.ble expression to the tone and the word, we must mingle its vocal sound, if it is not so, with _o_ or _oo_. If we wish to give the word merely an agreeable expression, we mingle it with _ah_, _[=a]_, and _[=e]_. That is, we must use all the qualities of tonal resonance, and thus produce colors which shall benefit the tone and thereby the word and its expression.

Thus a single tone may be taken or sung in many different ways. In every varying connection, consequently, the singer must be able to change it according to the expression desired. But as soon as it is a question of a _musical phrase_, in which several tones or words, or tones alone, are connected, the law of progression must remain in force; expression must be sacrificed, partly at least, to the beauty of the musical pa.s.sage.

If he is skilful enough, the singer can impart a certain expression of feeling to even the most superficial phrases and coloratura pa.s.sages.

Thus, in the coloratura pa.s.sages of Mozart's arias, I have always sought to gain expressiveness by _crescendi_, choice of significant points for breathing, and breaking off of phrases. I have been especially successful with this in the _Entfuhrung_, introducing a tone of lament into the first aria, a heroic dignity into the second, through the coloratura pa.s.sages. Without exaggerating petty details, the artist must exploit all the means of expression that he is justified in using.

SECTION XXIX

AUXILIARY VOWELS