How to Sing Part 5

THE SENSATIONS OF THE PALATE

The sensations of the palate are best made clear to us by raising the softest part behind the nose. This part is situated very far back. Try touching it carefully with the finger. This little part is of immeasurable importance to the singer. By raising it the entire resonance of the head cavities is brought into play--consequently the head tones are produced. When it is raised, the pillars of the fauces are lowered. In its normal position it allows the pillars to be distended and to close the head cavities off from the throat, in order to produce the chest tones; that is, to permit the breath to make fullest use of the palatal resonance. As soon as the soft palate is lowered under the nose, it makes a point of resonance for the middle range of voice, by permitting the overtones to resound at the same time in the nose. (See plate, middle range.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote middle range of soprano, contralto, and tenor.

In the German names of the notes, _h_ represents _b_ in the English.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red line denotes peak, or softest point of the palate.]

Thus the palate performs the whole work so far as concerns the different resonances, which can be united and separated by it, but must _always work together in close relation, always bound together in all tones, in all kinds of voices_.

The lowest chest tones of the ba.s.s, the highest head tones of the soprano, are thus the two poles between which the entire gamut of all voices can be formed. From this it can be perceived that with a certain degree of skill and willingness to work, every voice will be capable of great extension.

SECTION XII

THE SENSATION OF THE RESONANCE OF THE HEAD CAVITIES

The sensation of the resonance of the head cavities is perceived chiefly by those who are unaccustomed to using the head tones. The resonance against the occipital walls of the head cavities when the head tones are employed, at first causes a very marked irritation of the nerves of the head and ear. But this disappears as soon as the singer gets accustomed to it. The head tones can be used and directed by the breath only with a clear head. The least depression such as comes with headaches, megrim, or moodiness may have the worst effect, or even make their use quite impossible. This feeling of oppression is lost after regular, conscious practice, by which all unnecessary and disturbing pressure is avoided. In singing very high head tones I have a feeling as if they lay high above the head, as if I were setting them off into the air. (See plate.)

Here, too, is the explanation of singing _in the neck_. The breath, in all high tones which are much mixed with head tones or use them entirely, pa.s.ses very far back, directly from the throat into the cavities of the head, and thereby, and through the oblique position of the larynx, gives rise to the sensations just described. A singer who inhales and exhales carefully, that is, with knowledge of the physiological processes, will always have a certain feeling of pleasure, an attenuation in the throat as if it were stretching itself upward. The bulging out of veins in the neck, that can so often be seen in singers, is as wrong as the swelling up of the neck, looks very ugly, and is not without danger from congestion.

With rapid scales and trills one has the feeling of great firmness of the throat muscles, as well as of a certain stiffness of the larynx.

(See "Trills.") An unsteady movement of the latter, this way and that, would be disadvantageous to the trill, to rapid scales, as well as to the cantilena. For this reason, because the changing movements of the organs must go on quite imperceptibly and inaudibly, it must be more like a s.h.i.+fting than a movement. In rapid scales the lowest tone must be "placed" with a view to the production of the highest, and in descending, the greatest care must be exercised that the tone shall not tumble over each other single, but shall produce the sensation of closely connected sounds, through being bound to the high tone position and pressed toward the nose.

In this all the partic.i.p.ating vocal organs must be able to keep up a muscular contraction, often very rigid: a thing that is to be achieved only gradually through long years of careful and regular study.

Excessive practice is of no use in this--only regular and intelligent practice; and success comes only in course of time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red line denotes vocal sensation of soprano and tenor.]

Never should the muscular contractions become convulsive and produce pressure which the muscles cannot endure for a long time. They must respond to all necessary demands upon their strength, yet remain elastic in order that, easily relaxing or again contracting, they may promptly adapt themselves to every nuance in tone and accent desired by the singer.

A singer can become and continue to be master of his voice and means of expression only as long as he practises daily correct vocal gymnastics. In this way alone can he obtain unconditional mastery over his muscles, and, through them, of the finest controlling apparatus, of the beauty of his voice, as well as of the art of song as a whole.

Training the muscles of the vocal organs so that their power to contract and relax to all desired degrees of strength, throughout the entire gamut of the voice, is always at command, makes the master singer.

As I have already said, the idea of "singing forward" leads very many singers to force the breath from the mouth without permitting it to make full use of the resonating surfaces that it needs, yet it streams forth from the larynx really very far back in the throat, and the straighter it rises in a column behind the tongue, the better it is for the tone. The tongue must furnish the surrounding form for this, for which reason it must not lie flat in the mouth. (See plate, the tongue.)

The whirling currents of tone circling around their focal point (the attack) find a cup-shaped resonating cavity when they reach the front of the mouth and the lips, which, through their extremely potent auxiliary movements, infuse life and color into the tone and the word.

Of equal importance are the unimpeded activity of the whirling currents of sound and their complete filling of the resonating s.p.a.ces in the back of the throat, the pillars of the fauces, and the head cavities in which the vocalized breath must be kept soaring above the larynx and _soaring undisturbed_.

In the lowest range of the voice the entire palate from the front teeth to the rear wall of the throat must be thus filled. (See plate.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote division of the breath in the palatal resonance: lower range of male and female voices.]

With higher tones the palate is lowered, the nostrils are inflated, and above the hard palate a pa.s.sage is formed for the overtones. (See plate.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote division of the breath in the middle range and higher middle range.]

This air which soars above must, however, not be in the least compressed; the higher the tone, the less pressure should there be; for here, too, whirling currents are formed, which must be neither interrupted nor destroyed. The breath must be carried along on the wall of the throat without compression, in order to accomplish its work. (See plate, high tones.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Resonance of the cavity of the forehead.

Red lines denote division of the breath in the resonance of the head cavities, high range.]

Singing forward, then, does not mean pressing the whole of the _breath_ or the tone forward, but only part of it; that is, in the middle register, finding a resonating focus in front, caused by the lowering of the front of the palate. This permits a free course only to that part of the breath which is used up by the whirling currents in the resonant throat form, and serves to propagate the outer waves, and carry them farther through s.p.a.ce.

SECTION XIII

SINGING COVERED

We sing covered as soon as the soft palate is lowered toward the nose (that is, in the middle register), and the resonance and attack are transferred thither so that the breath can flow over the soft palate through the nose.

This special function of the palate, too, should be carefully prepared for in the tones that precede it, and mingled with them, in order not to be heard so markedly as it often is. In men's voices this is much more plainly audible than in women's; but both turn it to account equally on different tones. This often produces a new register that should not be produced. This belongs to the chapter on registers.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

The tone is concentrated on the front of the palate instead of being spread over all of it--but this must not be done too suddenly. [See ill.u.s.trations on pages 127, 129, 131, 133.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote covered tones for contralto and soprano.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote covered tones for ba.s.s and baritone.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote change of attack. (Soprano, contralto, and tenor.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red lines denote change of attack. (Ba.s.s and baritone.)]

SECTION XIV

ON VOCAL REGISTERS

What is a vocal register?

A series of tones sung in a certain way, which are produced by a certain position of the vocal organs--larynx, tongue, and palate.

Every voice includes three registers--chest, middle, and head. But all are not employed in every cla.s.s of voice.

Two of them are often found connected to a certain extent in beginners; the third is usually much weaker, or does not exist at all.