Thomas Fillebrown

“ The human vocal organs form an instrument, sui generis, which cannot be compared with any other one thing. Not only is it far more complex than any other instrument, being capable, as it is, of imitating nearly every instrument in the catalogue and almost every sound in nature, but it is incomparably more beautiful, an instrument so universally superior to any made by man that comparisons and definitions fail. ”

“ It cannot be too widely advertised that the surest remedy for that torture of singers and speakers, nervousness, is the great tranquillizer,—quiet, deep breathing, deeply controlled. The breath of nervousness is quick, irregular, and shallow, therefore, take a few, slow, deliberate, deep, and rhythmic inhalations of pure air through the nostrils, and the panting gasp of agitation will vanish. ”

“ Unnatural effort in breathing, over-effort in breath control, as well as singing without adequate breath, all induce tension that is reflected at once in the sensitive throat.
Impatience of results, American hurry, beget unnatural effort and tension. "Unclasp the fingers of a rigid civilization from off your throat." The student of the violin or the piano soon learns that only by a long and patient preparation can he fit himself to entertain even his admiring friends. The embryo singer, on the contrary, expects with far less expenditure of time and effort to appear in public. ”

“ Books upon books have been written on voice training, and will continue to be written. The preceding pages have been devoted to the fundamental subject of tone production, but it is time to suggest that back of the voice and the song is the singer himself with his complex personality. Back of the personality is the soul itself, forever seeking utterance through its mask of personality. All genuine impulse to sing is from the soul in its need for expression. Through expression comes growth in soul consciousness and desire for greater and greater self-expression. ”

“ Human life is divided into three periods: first, that of effort to get an education; second, of effort to maintain it; and third, of effort to resist the natural decline which comes with advancing years. The singer and speaker must drill to develop the voice, must drill to keep it in condition, and must drill to resist the encroachments of senility. Eternal vigilance is the price of vocal success. ”

“ Singing is far more than "wind and muscle," for, as Ffrangcon-Davies puts it, "The whole spiritual system, spirit, mind, sense, soul, together with the whole muscular system from feet to head, will be in the wise man's singing, and the whole man will be in the tone." ”

“ A great deal of the irrational and injurious "teaching" of singing that prevails everywhere, and of the controversy that befogs the subject, is due to the widely prevalent notion that the little vocal cords are the principal cause of tone, whereas they are in themselves insignificant as sound producers.
It is the vibrations of the air in the resonance chambers of the human instrument, together with the induced vibrations of the instrument itself, which give tone its sonority, its reach, its color, and emotional power. ”

“ Pronunciation, moreover, concerns not only the listener, but the singer and speaker, for pure tone and pure pronunciation 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 pronunciation."
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 "scientific" teachers, at one extreme, have paid too exclusive attention to the mechanics of the voice. The "empiricists" have gone to the other extreme in leaving out of account fundamental facts in acoustics, physiology, and psychology.
The truth is that no purely human function, especially one so subtle as singing, can be developed mechanically; nor, on the other hand, can the mere ipse dixit of any teacher satisfy the demands of the modern spirit. ”

“ 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.... ”

“ It goes without saying that no one in singing or speaking should appear to be governed by a "method." During the early stages of education, pupils should be amenable to rules and methods, but they must not expect to be acceptable performers until able to forget their lessons and simply and unconsciously make use of all the advantages of their training. Even when the education is finished, and the prima donna has made her successful debut, continued daily repetition of primary exercises is necessary to maintain excellence and insure the progress that every performer desires. ”

“ Man is endowed by nature, except in rare instances, with a perfect vocal apparatus. When abnormal conditions are found they are usually in the adult voice, and are due solely to misuse. In other words defects are not inherent but acquired and can be removed.
By nature the human voice is beautiful, for the tendency of nature is always in the direction of beauty. Whatever is unlovely in singing, as in all else, is unnatural. True method is therefore never artificial in its action, but simple, because the natural is always simple. ”

“ We are now prepared to realize the error of the common notion that loudness of tone is due entirely to increase of breath pressure on the vocal cords. Simple experiments with the tuning-fork have shown that while the volume of sound it gives forth is due in part to the amplitude of its vibrations, its loudness is chiefly due to the character of the resonance provided for it.
The larger the resonance chamber the greater is its reinforcing capacity. The largest air chamber in the body is the chest, which serves not only as a wind-chest, but as a resonance chamber. ”

“ The human voice is a direct expression of the man himself; it registers spontaneously his mental and emotional states, even when he would wish them hidden. Mental conditions tinged with impatience, with fear, or with anything that begets tension of any sort are reflected instantly in the voice, robbing it of its better qualities and inducing stiffness in the throat. ”

“ As a help toward deepening the breath and overcoming the spasmodic, clavicular habit, inhale quietly and slowly through the nose, or slowly sip the air through the nearly closed lips as if you were sipping the inmost breath of life itself. ”

“ Every other art requires some material medium for its transmission, and in music, subtlest of all the arts, instruments are needed, except in singing only. [Pg 84]
FREEDOM
In song the singer himself is the instrument of free and direct expression. Freedom of expression, complete utterance, is prevented only by the singer himself. No one hinders him, no one stands in the way but himself. The business of the teacher is to set free that which is latent. His high calling is by wise guidance to help the singer to get out of his own way, to cease standing in front of himself. ”

“ Pupils are constantly urged to sing and speak naturally, because the "natural" tone is correct. This is exceedingly indefinite. It is natural for a child to imitate the first sound it hears, whether it be correct or incorrect. In either case the child imitates it, and for that child it becomes the natural tone. The child reared in the wilderness, beyond the hearing of a human voice, will imitate the notes of the whip-poor-will, the chatter of the monkey, and the hoot of the owl, and for him they are natural tones. ”

“ The picture must exist in the artist's mind before it can be drawn on the canvas. The architect must mentally see the majestic cathedral in all its details before he can draw the plans from which it can be built. ”

“ Their tension and proximity are self-adjusted to produce the proper pitch without any conscious volition of the singer. They can have no special training, needing only to be left alone. The work of the vocal cords, though essentially important, is, when naturally performed, light and consequently not exhausting. If the larynx and all of its supporting muscles are relaxed as they are in free and easy breathing, then when the air passes out through the larynx, the vocal cords will automatically assume a tension sufficient to vocalize the breath and give the note the proper pitch. ”

“ To be natural is the hardest lesson to learn and it is only the result of imitation or prolonged discipline. Untrained naturalness is the perfection of awkwardness. The involuntary functions of organic life are the only ones naturally performed correctly. Nature's method of breathing, circulation, and digestion can be depended upon until disarranged by subsequent conditions, but unless proper vocalization is established by imitation and discipline this function is sure to be corrupted by false examples. ”

“ In instruments changes in the length and form of the resonance chambers affect the pitch as well as the quality of the tone. This is demonstrated in the trombone, French horn, and other wind instruments. The lengthening of the tube of the trombone lowers the pitch of the tone, and the projection of the hand of the performer into the bell of the French horn has the effect of raising the pitch of the sound. If the variation in length or form is only slight, the result is sharp or flat, and the instrument is out of tune. In the human instrument all the organs act together as a unit ”

“ Every vocal tone is a mental concept made audible. The beginner and the confirmed bungler alike fail in this prime essential—they do not make this mental picture of tone before singing it. Kindred to this is deficiency in hearing, in discriminating between good tone color and poor. The student must constantly compare his tone as it is sung with the picture in his mind. Training the voice is therefore largely a training of mind and ear, a developing of nicety in discrimination. Singing is mental rather than physical, psychologic rather than physiologic. ”

“ If the scale is sung down, using the same vowel sound for the whole scale, the comparison will be appreciated; the pupil will not be conscious of any change in the vocal organ or experience any difficulty in descending the scale. Faithful advocates of the theory of many registers say: "Whenever in doubt about the production of a tone, sing down to it from some tone above it, never upward from a tone below," for they find that singing down "blends the registers." ”

“ When muscular action is fully mastered, and the proper method of breathing understood and established, the muscles of inspiration and expiration will act one against the other, so that the act of breathing may be suspended at any moment, whether the lungs are full, or partly full, or empty. This is muscular control of the breath. Correct breathing is health giving and strength giving; it promotes nutrition, lessens the amount of adipose tissue, and reinforces every physical requisite essential to speaking and singing. ”

“ There are two sound criterions for judging the correctness of vocal action,—first, the ease of the action, its naturalness, its flexibility. As Mills concisely states it: "He sings or speaks best who attains the end with the least expenditure of energy." Second, the beauty of the result. Harsh, unlovely tones are a sure indication of misplaced effort, of tension somewhere, [Pg 57] of wrong action. On the other hand the nearer the tones approach to perfection the closer does the organism come to correct action. Beauty of tone, then, is the truest indication of proper vocal action. ”

“ Now vocalization is largely vowelization, and vocal tones are a complex of sound and resonance. The character of a vowel is given it by the shape of the vowel chamber; and the shaping of the vowel chamber depends upon delicate adjustment of the movable parts,—jaw, lips, cheeks, tongue, veil of the palate, and pharynx. While this adjustment is made through more or less conscious muscular action, the parts must never be forced into position; local effort to this end will invariably defeat itself. ”

“ The singer should always feel able to sing another note or to speak another word. To sing or speak thirty or forty counts with one breath is useful practice but poor performance. Occasionally, long runs in singing may compel an exception. Half-empty lungs lower the pitch of the tone, lessen the resonance, and weaken the voice, rendering the last note of the song and the last word of the sentence inaudible. ”

“ It ought always to be employed." "How often," she says, "have I heard young singers say, 'I no longer have the power to respond to the demands made upon me,' whereas the trouble lies only in the insufficient use of the resonance of the head cavities."
From the foregoing, the conclusion follows that the head vibrations are not only an essential element, but that nasal resonance is a most important element in imparting to tone its brilliance and carrying power. Without thought of the mechanism of how nasal resonance is produced, the singer has control over it by direct influence of the will. ”