Resonance in Singing and Speaking Part 2

When speaking, the demand is not so imperative, but when singing, the body of the tongue should lie as flat as possible, so as to enlarge the mouth, especially when giving the vowel sounds.

If the tongue is sometimes disposed to be unruly, it is the result of rigidity or misplaced effort in the surrounding parts. This tendency will only be aggravated by artificial restraint of any kind. The true way is to dismiss tongue consciousness, _let go_, and a normal flexibility will easily manifest itself.

THE LIPS

The lips, equally with the tongue, are organs of articulation. The upper lip is the princ.i.p.al factor of the two; the under lip seems to follow the lead of the upper. The lips need much training, and it can readily be given them. While practising to educate the lips, both lips should be projected forward and upward, at the same time p.r.o.nouncing the word "too." Bring the edge of the upper lip as high toward the nose as possible in practice. This will bring the corners of the mouth forward and lift the lips clear and free from the teeth, and thus add one more resonance cavity. This position of the lips also gives freedom for p.r.o.nunciation. "The upper lip plays the most active part in the shaping of the vowels. It should never be drawn against the teeth when producing vowel tones; indeed, there should be often a little s.p.a.ce between the upper lip and the teeth, so that the vibrations of the sound-waves can have free play."

THE NOSTRILS

The nostrils should be dilated as much as possible, as a free, wide, open nose gives a free, well-rounded tone, while a contracted nostril induces the nasal tone so much dreaded. A proper training of the facial muscles makes this dilation possible. Lifting the upper lip and projecting it forward aids the action to a great degree.

There is a strong tendency to unity of action between the nostrils and the lips and the soft palate. The soft palate moves downward and forward when the upper lip protrudes and the nostrils dilate, and moves backward and upward when the nostrils are contracted and the upper lip allowed to rest upon the teeth.

As a rule the best singers have full, round, wide, open nostrils, either given by nature or acquired by practice.

THE FACE

Not only must the lips and nose be trained, but the muscles of the face also. These muscles are capable, if educated, of doing important service.

The artist on the operatic stage or the speaker on the platform, without facial expression begotten of muscular activity, may lessen by half his power over an audience. To train the facial muscles is a complicated task. To do this, stand before a mirror and make all the faces ever thought of by a schoolboy to amuse his schoolmates. Raise each corner of the lip, wrinkle the nose, quilt the forehead, grin, laugh. The grimaces will not enter into a performance, but their effect upon it will be markedly beneficial.

CHAPTER II

THE SPEAKING VOICE AND p.r.o.nUNCIATION

A generation ago the speaking voice was even less understood than the singing voice. That the two were intimately connected was but half surmised. Only an occasional person recognized what is now generally conceded, that a good way to improve the speaking voice is to cultivate the singing voice.

In 1887 I published a paper in the _Independent Pract.i.tioner_ defining the singing voice and the speaking voice as identical, and contending that the training for each should be the same so far as tone formation is involved, a conclusion at which I had arrived several years before.

Subsequent experience has only served to confirm this opinion.

The past has produced many good speakers, among them Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Edwin Booth, Wm. Charles Macready, and Edward Everett.

Of the last Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: "It is with delight that one who remembers Edward Everett in his robes of rhetorical splendor, recalls his full blown, high colored, double flowered periods; the rich, resonant, grave, far-reaching music of his speech, with just enough of the nasal vibration to give the vocal sounding-board its proper value in the harmonies of utterance." These examples of correct vocalization, however, were exceptions to the general rule; they happened to speak well, but the physiologic action of the vocal organs which produced such results in those individual cases was not understood, and hence the pupil ambitious to imitate them and develop the best of which his voice was capable had no rule by which to proceed. Few could speak with ease, still fewer could be heard by a large a.s.sembly, and sore throats seemed to be the rule.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SINGING AND SPEAKING

In singing the flow of tone is unbroken between the words, but in speaking it is interrupted. In singing tone is sustained and changed from one pitch to another by definite intervals over a wide compa.s.s that includes notes not attempted in speech. In speaking tone is unsustained, not defined in pitch, is limited to a narrow compa.s.s, and the length of the tones is not governed by the measure of music.

Notwithstanding these differences, singing and speaking tones are produced by the vocal organs in the same way, are focused precisely alike, have the same resonance, and are delivered in the same manner.

It has been said that speech differs from song as walking from dancing. Speech may be called the prose, and song the poetry of vocalization.

During the past decade the knowledge of the speaking voice has been greatly broadened, and the art of cultivating tone has made progress.

The ident.i.ty of the singing and speaking voice is becoming more fully recognized, and methods are being used to develop the latter similar to those in use for the training of the former. As Dr. Morell Mackenzie says: "Singing is a help to good speaking, as the greater includes the less."

The recognition of this truth cannot fail to be a great aid to the progress of singing in the public schools, since every enlargement of exercises common to both speaking and singing helps to solidarity and _esprit de corps_ in teaching and in learning.

An accurate sense of pitch, melody, harmony, and rhythm is necessary to the singer, but the orator may, by cultivation, develop a speaking voice of musical quality without being able to distinguish _Old Hundred_ from _The Last Rose of Summer_.

p.r.o.nUNCIATION

It is a matter of common observation that American singers, although they may be painstaking in their French and German, are indifferent, even to carelessness, in the clear and finished enunciation of their native tongue. Mr. W.J. Henderson, in his recent work, _The Art of the Singer_, says: "The typical American singer cannot sing his own language so that an audience can understand him; nine-tenths of the songs we hear are songs without words." Happily this condition is gradually yielding to a better one, stimulated in part by the examples of visiting singers and actors. In story-telling songs and in oratorio, slovenly delivery is reprehensible, but when the words of a song are the lyric flight of a true poet, a careless utterance becomes intolerable.

Beauty of tone is not everything; the singing of mere sounds, however lovely, is but a tickling of the ear. The shortcoming of the Italian school of singing, as of composition, has been too exclusive devotion to sensuous beauty of tone as an end in itself. The singer must never forget that his mission is to =vitalize text with tone=. The songs of Schubert, Schumann, Franz, Brahms, Grieg, Strauss, and Wolf, as well as the Wagnerian drama, are significant in their inseparable union of text and music. The singer is therefore an interpreter, not of music alone, but of text made potent by music.

p.r.o.nunciation, moreover, concerns not only the listener, but the singer and speaker, for pure tone and pure p.r.o.nunciation cannot be divorced, one cannot exist without the other. In his interesting work, _The Singing of the Future_, Mr. Ffrangcon-Davies insists that, "the quickest way to fine tone is through fine p.r.o.nunciation."

We cannot think except in words, nor voice our thought without speech.

Vocal utterance is thought articulate. Therefore, instead of prolonged attention to tone itself, training should be concentrated upon the uttered word. The student should aim "to sing a word rather than a tone." Correct p.r.o.nunciation and beautiful tone are so interdependent as to be inseparable.

The singer and speaker require all sounds in their purity. To seek to develop the voice along the narrow limits of any single vowel or syllable, as for instance the syllable _ah_, is harmful. Not only is this vowel sound, as Lilli Lehmann says, "the most difficult," but the proper p.r.o.nunciation of all words within the whole range of the voice is thereby impeded. Diction and tone work should therefore go hand in hand. "The way in which vowel melts into vowel and consonants float into their places largely determines the character of the tone itself." Without finished p.r.o.nunciation speech and song of emotional power are impossible. Gounod, the composer, says, "p.r.o.nunciation creates eloquence." Mr. Forbes-Robertson, the English master of dramatic diction, speaking for his own profession says: "The trouble with contemporary stage elocution springs from the actor's very desire to act well. In his effort to be natural he mumbles his words as too many people do in everyday life. Much of this can be corrected by constantly bearing in mind the true value of vowels, the percussive value of consonants, and the importance of keeping up the voice until the last word is spoken. There must be, so to speak, plenty of wind in the bellows. The great thing is to have the sound come from the front of the mouth.... The actor must learn to breathe deeply from the diaphragm and to take his breath at the proper time. Too often the last word is not held up, and that is very often the important word.... Schools for acting are valuable, ... but, after all, the actors, like other folk, must be taught how to speak as children in the home, at school, and in society."

In p.r.o.nunciation the words should seem to be formed by the upper lip and to come out through it. By this method it will be found easy to p.r.o.nounce distinctly. The words will thus be formed outside the mouth and be readily heard, as is a person talking in front of, instead of behind, a screen. A single, intelligent trial will be sufficient to show the correctness of the statement. Thinking of the upper lip as the fas.h.i.+oner of the words makes speaking easy and singing a delight.

To smile while talking gives to the words a flat, silly sound, hence the corners of the mouth should be kept well forward.

THE SINGER'S SCALE OF VOWEL SOUNDS

[Ill.u.s.tration:

1 n_ee_ 2 n_i_t 3 n_e_t 4 n_a_y 5 n_ai_r 6 n_a_t 7 n_i_gh 8 N_a_h 7' n_o_t 6' n_a_w 5' n_e_r 4' n_u_t 3' n_o_ 2' n_oo_k 1' n_oo_.]

It may fasten this in mind to remember that at one end of the vowel scale is--_me_, at the other--_you_.

The teeth and lips are most closed at the extremes of this scale, and gradually open toward _ah_, with which vowel they are widest apart.

In the series 1-8 the tongue is highest in the centre for _ee_ and gradually descends until it lies flat in the mouth for _ah_.

The _upper_ pharynx is most closed in 1, most open in 8, and closes more and more in the descending series 7'-1'.

The _lower_ pharynx gradually opens in the descending series 7'-1'.

The researches of Helmholtz, Koenig, Willis, Wheatstone, Appunn, Bell, and others have shown that each vowel sound has its own characteristic pitch. The Scale of Vowel Sounds given above corresponds closely to the order of resonance pitch from the highest _ee_ to the lowest _oo_.

In the natural resonance of the vowels _ee_ is highest in the head, _ah_ is midway in the scale, and _oo_ is lowest in resonance.

LIP POSITION

Figure 2 shows the best position of the lips to give the sound of _ee_. Hold the under jaw without stiffness and as far from the upper teeth as is consistent with delivery of the pure sound of this vowel.