Part 5 (2/2)
1. By controlling and correctly dividing the air or breath as it is expired;
2. By a correct direction of the vibrating column of air; this is done by the right touch (_Tonansatz_);
And, 3. By a very distinct, quick and elastic _touch_.
THE CONTROL OF THE BREATH
By a too great pressure of the breath, the form of the waves of sound most favorable to a good tone is disturbed. One then hears the high over-tones sounding strongly up to the sixteenth, while the lower over-tones with the fundamental tone sound weak or not at all. Thus the tone takes a shrill, sharp and disagreeable sound when the form of the vibrating waves is more or less disturbed by too great a pressure of air. Too little breath deprives the tone only of its strength, but not of its agreeable sound.
_Thus every tone requires for its greatest possible perfection only a certain quant.i.ty of breath, which cannot be increased or diminished without injury to its strength in the one case, and its agreeable sound in the other._
In looking carefully through the histories of music, and studying the old Italian schools, we find that it was upon this point--the control and right division of the breathing--that the old masters in the summer of song laid the greatest stress, and this it was to which in teaching they gave the most time and labor. The rules which they followed in this respect, in order to obtain a fine tone, accord perfectly with the results of the latest scientific investigations. And it would be far better for the art of singing if in this respect we had followed the old Italians more faithfully, and not have forsaken so entirely the right way.
According to the old Italian method, which must not be confounded with the modern, the pupil was required at first to breathe just as he was wont to breathe in speaking, and care was taken, by frequent resting-points in the exercises, that the breath should always be renewed at the right time. Accordingly, if the crowding, or pressure, of his breathing was too great, he was required to learn to hold it back. Until the organs were sufficiently practised in the formation of a good tone, and the ear had become familiarized to its sound, pupils were allowed to sing _only_ _piano_. As soon as the pupil had a feeling for a pure tone awakened in him, and could of himself distinguish the finer variations of timbre, he was taught to fill his lungs more and more. But this was to be done, as much as possible, imperceptibly, noiselessly, slowly, and soon enough for him to be able properly to control the quiet breathing in the beginning of a song. Only the sides of the body were in so doing to expand, and breathing with raised chest was allowed only in exceptional cases, as where long pa.s.sages were to be sung with special pa.s.sion. For these places, where breath must be taken, there were certain rules which were strictly observed.
After we have learned the natural laws which are applicable in music, and which lie at the basis of a full, rich tone in singing, and that a tone is, strictly speaking, only vibrating air, upon the fine and skilful management of which its beauty and fulness depend, and have considered the careful way in which the old Italians taught the control of the breathing, we cannot but be struck with the rude and negligent manner of using the breath in our present mode of singing.
With some distinguished exceptions, it is now almost universally the practice to require the pupil, as the very first thing, to fill the lungs as full as possible, whereby the chest must be raised.
Then the tones must be sung in as strong and long-sustained a manner as possible, in order ”to bring out the voice,” as the phrase is. He is next told to begin the tones with a full chest _piano_, and slowly swell them to the highest _forte_, and then descend as slowly, in order to learn ”to govern the voice.” Thus the pupil is always required to sing as strongly as possible, without any special regard to the timbre of the tones, because the timbre is regarded as a peculiarity of different voices, admitting of no change. According to what has been shown in the preceding pages, the present way of using the breath, by which it is supposed that voices are rendered strong and full, only needlessly fatigues the organs, injures the beauty and weakens even the strength of the tones. In the same way we find, especially in the case of tenor voices, that the aim is by greater forcing of the breath to extend the registers beyond their limits. Another fault is often taught: the pupil is required to force with the breath to the due pitch those tones whose pitch is usually struck too low. No voices can ever endure such treatment, and, although the organs may be strong enough to remain sound while under instruction, yet the voice will not continue good, and cannot be of long duration.
We often hear, even in fresh and unsophisticated voices, a hoa.r.s.e breathing accompanying the tones, as in the case of worn-out voices. This breathing arises when the air, which is exhaled and which rushes into the cavity of the mouth, is not all in vibration, and it escapes along with the vibrating columns of air. It sometimes happens, also, that in the too great pressure of the exhaled air against the glottis, the arytenoid cartilages, near their bases, and sometimes the vocal chords leave a small opening through which the air escapes with a hoa.r.s.e noise. By keeping back the breath in singing these faults may be corrected. Long-continued singing piano in exercises is, moreover, beneficial in the forming of the voice.[12]
A simple expiration does not indeed suffice for the generation of a full sounding singing tone. There is required a certain force by which the air is sent through the narrow and stretched glottis. But so great an expense of force as people are usually at is not necessary.
The influence of the same stream of air increases in proportion as the breadth of the vibrating ligaments decreases. The tones of the falsetto and head registers, therefore, require far less breath than those of the chest register. The less the quant.i.ty of breath expended in these tones, and the easier and more quickly they are produced, the clearer and fuller do they sound.
The mechanism of the head tones especially is, as we have seen, so delicate that only a slight excess of breath calls forth the inharmonic over-tones which render the tone sharp and unmusical.
In wind instruments the tone can be forced upwards by a greater pressure of air; that is, by more powerful blowing, which appears to be practicable also in those instruments in whose peculiar timbre the highest inharmonic over-tones overpower the others.[13]
Together with the skill and unintermitted attention which this part of instruction in singing requires of the teacher, there are here yet other and peculiar difficulties which he has to meet. In opposition to the earlier and more correct view, it is no longer beauty of tone, but strength of tone, which is considered the chief excellence of a voice. Accustomed to seek the beauty of the voice in its strength, it is attempted, before the time of instruction begins, to sing as strongly as possible from a full chest with the greatest expulsion of breath. Thence it follows, in the superficial way in which the study of the art of singing is at present conducted, that nothing more is commonly required of a teacher than that he should be able to drill his pupil in some pieces of tolerably well conceived vocal music, which the latter must sing as soon as possible in company. A perfect culture of the voice is scarcely any longer expected of an artist. People with a very scanty musical education and voices very poorly trained are regarded as artists if they execute their parts with expression, and trick them out with those clap-traps which never fail to command the applause of the ordinary public.
A conscientious teacher has, therefore, universal opinion against him when he demands a longer time for the education of a voice, and requires of his pupils that they shall practice singing only piano as long as it is necessary.
THE CORRECT TOUCH OF THE VOICE (TONANSATZ)[14]
Having stated the first condition of a good timbre of the tones, we come now to the second--the right direction of the vibrating columns of air. A correct touch of the voice consists in causing the air, brought into vibration by the vocal ligaments, to rebound from immediately above the front upper teeth, where it must be concentrated as much as possible, rebounding thence to form in the mouth continuous vibrations, which are, at the same time, communicated to the external air. The quicker and the more easily these movements take place, and the farther forward in the mouth the vibrating column of air is reflected, the more beautiful, full and telling is the tone. If the air rebounds farther back in the mouth from any part of the roof of the mouth, then the high inharmonic over-tones are prominent, and there arises either one or the other of those hollow, disagreeable colorings of timbre which are known as throat and nasal tones.
That the voice must be brought forward in the mouth--that is, that the air expired in singing should have the above described direction--is now acknowledged as necessary and aimed at by the best teachers. But the reasons why the tones thus sound better are not known. The Germans and the English, in consequence of their accustomed modes of forming sounds in speaking, have, as we shall see hereafter, more rarely than the Italians, a correct disposition of the tones in singing. It is extremely difficult for many persons to accustom themselves to such a direction of the vibrating air-columns. But with the proper means the skilful teacher always gains his end. These means are to let the pupil practice those syllables which he is accustomed, _in his own language_, to form wholly in front of the mouth.
The old Italian masters considered the management or touch of the tone as one of the most important requirements in the perfect cultivation of the voice. Distinctly, lightly, swiftly and elastically must the column of tone, rightly directed, strike the forward part of the mouth, which at the same moment opens widely enough to communicate without delay the quick agitation to the air external to it.
_Only by a correct movement of this kind (Ansatz) are those forms of the vibrations obtained in which all the harmonic over-tones belonging to a perfect tone sound together._ The quicker, lighter and more distinct this movement of the tone is, the more telling it is, and it may be heard quite strongly, even when it is sung _piano_ with a full chorus and orchestra. Upon the occasion of the great Musical Festival in Boston (1869), it was a matter of universal wonder that with the powerful chorus of many thousands of voices, Mad. Parepa-Rosa's tones were heard so distinctly that even at a considerable distance the words were plainly understood. As great artists often find the true and only beautiful unconsciously, so Mad. Parepa-Rosa has a perfectly correct touch, whereby she sets the surrounding air vibrating more rapidly than it is possible for a chorus to do with so many unschooled voices. The sounding waves of the tones which this distinguished singer produced with the correct touch, naturally reached the ear sooner and were earlier felt and taken into the consciousness of the listener than those of the mighty chorus, and thus it was that the music of a single voice kept its significance even with the accompaniment of a mult.i.tude of voices.
The great influence of the touch upon the fulness, and especially upon the extent to which tones reach, is again best ill.u.s.trated by the movements of water. When we press on the surface of water slowly, though with the greatest force, and at the same time touch it in another place quickly and lightly, it is not only far more strongly moved by the quick, light touch, but the waves which are produced spread themselves out more rapidly, and run more swiftly over the surface, than those of the slower and more powerful pressure.
As the form of the vibrations necessary to a perfect tone in singing depends mainly upon a right management of tone, it is self-evident that here the greatest care should be taken in teaching vocal music. Here is one of the most difficult tasks for the teacher, and great perseverance and much practice are required of the pupil. But when once a right production of tone has become a habit, so that with every tone all the harmonic over-tones sound, and more breath is then allowed to stream forth immediately after the quick, light rebound of the vibrating column of tone, the vibrations enlarge without changing their form, and so only the strongest, fullest, most beautiful tone possible is obtained. But a touch can only be learned by imitation. We can no more describe the fine shades of tone than of color. And no art, least of all the art of singing, can be learned from books alone.
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