Part 2 (1/2)
It is not easy, it is even impossible, to accurately define soft singing, and no attempt will be made further than to describe as clearly as may be the degree of softness which it is necessary to insist upon if we would secure the use of the thin or head register.
The subject of register has already been discussed, but it may not be amiss to repeat just here that in the child larynx as in the adult the head-register is that series of tones which are produced by the vibration of the thin, inner edges of the vocal band. If breathing is natural, and if the throat is open and relaxed, no strain in singing this tone is possible. It is evident in a moment that children with their thin, delicate vocal ligaments can make this tone even more easily than adult sopranos, whose vocal ligaments are longer and thicker; and it is also perfectly evident that no danger of strain to the vocal bands is incurred when this voice is used, for all the muscles and ligaments of the larynx are under far less tension than is required for the production of tones in the thick register.
It must also be remembered in connection with this fact, that children often enter school at five years of age, and that according to physiologists the larynx does not reach the full growth in _size_, incidental to childhood until the age of six years. We must then be particularly careful with infant cla.s.ses-- for the vocal bands of children prior to six years of age are very, very weak. Speaking of infant voices, Mr. W. M. Miller, in Browne and Behnke's afore-mentioned work, ”The Child-Voice,” is quoted as saying; ”Voice-_training_ cannot be attempted, but voice-_destruction_ may be prevented. Soft singing is the cure for all the ills of the vocal organs.” It would be hard to find a more terse or truthful statement than the first sentence of the above as regards the voices of little children from five to seven or eight years of age. It is unmitigated foolishness to talk about vocal training as applied to children of that age. The voice-culture which is suited to little children is that sort of culture which promotes growth-- food and sleep and play. As well train a six months' old colt for the race track, as attempt to develop the voice of a child of six or seven years with exercises on _o_, and _ah_, _pianissimo_ and _fortissimo_, _crescendo_, _diminuendo_ and _swell_. Their voices must be used in singing as _lightly as possible_. This answers the question, how softly should they sing?
Children during the first two or three years of school-life may be permitted to sing from
[Music: e' e”]
or if the new pitch is used from
[Music: f' f”]
Two or three practical difficulties will at once occur to the teacher with reference to songs and exercises which range lower than E first line, and with reference to the customary teaching of the scale of C as the initial step in singing.
The subject of compa.s.s of children's voices will be discussed at some length in a following chapter, but for the present it may be said that the difficulty with songs and exercises ranging below the pitch indicated may be overcome easily by pitching the songs, etc., a tone or two higher. If they then range too high, don't sing them, sing something else. In teaching the scale, take E or F as the keynote, and sing either one or the other of those scales first. The children must sing as softly as possible in all their singing exercises, whether songs or note drill.
They should be taught to open their mouths well, to sit or stand erect as the case may be, and under no circ.u.mstances should the instructor sing with them. Too much importance can hardly be given to this last statement. If teachers persist in leading the songs with their own voices and in singing exercises with the children, they can and most probably will defeat all efforts to secure the right tone in either the first, or any grade up to that in which changed voices are found. This sounds rather cynical, and might seem to imply that instructors cannot sing well. The meaning, however, is quite different.
The quality or timbre of the adult woman's voice is wholly unlike that of the child's thin register. Her medium tones, even when sung softly, have a fuller and more resonant quality, and if she lead in songs, etc., the pupils, with the proverbial apt.i.tude for imitation, will inevitably endeavor to imitate her tone-quality. They can only do so by using the thick register, which it is so desirable to utterly avoid. It is worse yet for a man to lead the singing. Neither should one of the pupils be allowed to lead, for not only will the one leading force the voice in the effort, but a chance is offered to any ambitious youngster to pitch in and outsing the leader; from all of which follows naturally the idea that all prominence of individual voice must be discouraged, forbidden even. The songs and exercises must be led, it is true, but by the teacher and _silently_. Then, again, unless the teacher is silent she cannot be a good critic. Think of a voice-trainer singing each solfeggio and song with his pupil during the lesson.
Certainly it is often necessary for the teacher to sing, but only to ill.u.s.trate or correct, or to teach a song. In the last, if the teacher will remain silent while the cla.s.s repeat the line sung to them, and will proceed in the same way until the whole is memorized by the cla.s.s, not only will time be economized, but the tone can be kept as soft as is desired and individual shouters checked. Once more it must be insisted that soft, very soft singing only, can be allowed. And this applies to the entire compa.s.s used. Children of the ages mentioned can, as has already been shown, break from the thin to the thick voice at any pitch, it only requiring a little extra push for the upper tones.
Finally, as an excellent test to settle if the tone is soft enough to ensure the use of the thin register beyond doubt, require the cla.s.s to sing so that no particular voice can be distinguished from the others, which will make the tone as that of one voice, and perhaps lead you to doubt if all are singing, until convinced by the movement of their mouths. The tone will seem pretty light and thin, but will be sweet as the trill of a bird.
_To Distinguish Registers._
The difficulty which may be experienced in attempting to distinguish between the two registers must not be disregarded. If the voices of children were never entrusted to any save professional voice-teachers, a very few hints upon their management would perhaps suffice, for the ear of the teacher of voice and singing is presumably trained in the differentiation in tone-quality occasioned by changes in the action of the vocal mechanism. When, however, we reflect that of the thousands of teachers in our public schools very few, indeed, have ever heard of voice-registers, and much less been accustomed to note distinctions in tone-timbre between them, the need of a detailed plan of procedure is seen.
It is safe to a.s.sert that anyone with a musical ear can with a little patience learn to distinguish one register from another. There is no vocal transition so marked as the change from thick to thin register in the child-voice, unless it be the change from the chest to the head or falsetto in the man's voice. Suppose we take a cla.s.s of say twelve from the fourth year averaging nine years of age. Give them the pitch of C.
[Music: c']
Require them to sing up the scale loudly. As they reach the upper tone
[Music: c”]
stop them and ask them to sing that, and the two tones above _very softly_. The change in tone will be quite apparent. The tone used in ascending the scale of C, singing loudly, will be reedy, thick and harsh-- the thick register. The tone upon
[Music: c” d” e”]
singing very softly, will be flute-like, thin and clear-- the thin register. Again, let them sing E first line with full strength of voice and then the octave lightly, or have them sing G second line, first softly and then loudly, or, again, let them ascend the scale of E singing as light a tone as possible, and then descend singing as loud as they can. In each case the change from thick to thin voice, or vice versa, will be ill.u.s.trated; and in singing the scale of E as suggested, the break of voice a little higher or lower in individual cases will be noticed. It is quite possible that some members of the cla.s.s may use the thick voice on each tone of the descending scale beginning with the highest.
Care must always be taken that in singing softly the mouth be well opened. The tendency will be to close it when required to sing lightly, but the tone, then, will be nothing but a humming noise. It may as well be said here that a great deal of future trouble and labor may be avoided, if, from the first, pupils are taught to keep the mouth fairly well opened, and the lips sufficiently apart to permit the free emission of tone. Let the lower jaw have a loose hinge, so to speak. It is well enough to point out also that when the lower jaw drops, the tongue goes down with it, and should remain extended along the floor of the mouth with the tip against the teeth while vowel-sounds are sung.
There are many other ways than those already suggested, in which the distinction between the registers may be shown. Let the whole cla.s.s sing
[Music: d” c” b']
softly, and then the next lower tone or tones loudly. The thick quality will be heard easily enough. Or from the room select a pupil, one of the cla.s.s who has, in the phraseology of the schoolroom, a good voice, to sing the scale of D ascending and descending. If the pupil be not timid, and the kind referred to are not usually, and if loud singing has been customary, the tone will be coa.r.s.e and reedy throughout. Now let another pupil who has what is called a light voice, and who daily sits modestly in the shade of his boisterous brother, sing the same scale. The tone in all likelihood will be pure and flutey, at least upon the higher notes.