In a message dated 6/23/2002 2:55:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ezweig@e... writes:
> There is no doubt that amateur classical singers have plenty of vocal > obstacles, but perhaps have a greater potential of overcoming their vocal > problems by the very nature of the style and the technique which supports > that > style. > Do modern evolving styles and techniques which allegedly support those > styles > (which often, by their nature, put the human vocal effort in competition > against, > rather than in synch with technological achievement) offer singers the same > potential benefit?
erica,
certainly you have had the experience of arguing with fellow classical singers on the merits of various teacher's approaches. there is not one unified classical approach to the teaching of technique. in fact, there is wide disagreement and much charlatanry. in his book 'the four voices of man', in the second chapter on 'support', jerome hines discusses eleven diffrerent approaches to breathing for singing. these eleven different methods are ones that he has seen in actual practice or, at least, the attempts at actual practice (one would probably assume he observed fairly well known singers for this variety).
as i have said many times in the past, the operation of the voice exists independently of its usages. classical music is only one use of the voice and it is usually sung badly more often than it is sung well. part of the reason for that is that much of it is difficult. one of the more difficult aspects of it is that it requires sustained use of the voice above the speaking range. because the music for female classical singers is written so high above the speaking range, female classical singers, for the most part, have to abandon the speaking voice almost entirely. males have to extend the speaking range by making use of what is generally called 'head voice'. in short, solving this particular problem means learning to use the voice in a way that is foreign to most.
in looking at the vast variety of 'other' music, some of it goes well out of the speaking range while much of it stays well within the speaking range. for the latter, the challenge is musical unless a singer wants to significantly change his/her timbre. if singers in this latter category make singing a simple extension of their speaking, then they are in no more danger than they would be in talking a lot.
singers of other music that does extend well beyond the speaking range, are at greater risk because anyone who sings higher than the speaking range is at greater risk as, there is much less margin for error (no one ever marks the low notes in their high range). while those who don't study the use of the voice are less likely to find an efficient and safe approach to the higher range, study of the high range in the classical context is not necessarily a good idea. for example, it might be argued that a slighlty elevated larynx for singing high notes might actually make the singing of those notes easier (as titze does). the resultant timbre is not widely accepted in operatic circles though, it is widely accepted in pop circles (especially 'alternative' music). in this case, if all other elements are equal, the singing of pop music would be safer if the thought on the elevated larynx as it relates to the high range, is correct.
in closing, i think the operation of the voice should be considered outside any style of music. in doing so, it is possible to find a 'plain vanilla' for all singers. from this basic use, variation can be introduced to accomodate the requirements of each style. this approach, btw, allows each singer to have a complete change of mind with regard to choice of style he/she wishes to express themselves in.
mike
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