Transcript Registers 09 - UNT College of Music

The Vocal Pedagogy
Workshop
Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Voice
College of Music
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Treasure ‘Chest’
A Review of the Physiology and Historical
Pedagogical concerning Vocal Registers
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Long history of confusion:
No agreement on a definition
No agreement on how many there are
No agreement on what to call them
We do not understand the focus that was
applied on the registers in our historical
documents
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Plan:
Understand the physiology of the registers
To understand the pedagogy of utilizing the
registers as ‘building blocks’ for vocal
growth
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Manuel Garcia II
A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing:
Part On. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V.
Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967.
“By the word register we understand a series
of consecutive and homogenous tones going
from low to high, produced by the
development of the same mechanical
principle, and whose nature differs
essentially from another series of tones
equally consecutive and homogenous
produced by another mechanical principle.”
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Manuel Garcia II
A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing:
Part One. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V.
Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967.
(cont.)
“All the tones belonging to the same
register are consequently of the same
nature, whatever may be the
modification of timbre or of force to
which one subjects them.”
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Minoru Hirano
“Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.
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Minoru Hirano
“Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of
Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20, 1970.
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Ingo Titze
Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop
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Minoru Hirano
“Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.
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Ingo Titze
Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 261, 1994.
“As the bottom of the vocal fold bulges out, the
glottis becomes more rectangular than wedgeshaped (convergent). During vibration, then,
glottal closure can be obtained over a greater
portion of the vocal fold, and thereby over a
greater portion of the cycle…The result is a voice
of richer timbre, which we call chest or modal
voice.
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Giambattista Mancini
Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 20, 1967.
“This chest voice is not equally forceful and
strong in everyone; but to the extent that
one has a more robust or more feeble organ
of the chest, he will have a more or less
robust voice.”
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Giambattista Mancini
Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 34, 1967.
“A sonorous body, or rather robustness of
voice is ordinarily a gift from nature, but
can also be acquired by study and art.”
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Giambattista Mancini
Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967.
“It remains for me now to speak of those
voices which are slender and weak
throughout their register . . . One observes
that these voices are very weak in the chest
notes, and the greater majority deprived of
any low notes, but rich in high notes, or
head voice . . .”
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Giambattista Mancini
Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967.
“There is not method more sure to obtain this
end, I believe, than to have such a little
voice sing only in the chest voice for a time.
The exercise should be done with a tranquil
solfeggio; and as the voice enriches itself
with greater body, and range, one may
blend it as much as possible with the low
notes.”
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Manuel Garcia II
A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing:
Part One. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V.
Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. 50, 1967.
“As we have said, the chest register is
generally denied or rejected by teachers, not
that one could not draw from its application
an immense advantage, nor that the
suppression of the range which it embraces
would not deprive the singer of the most
beautiful dramatic effects or the most
favorable contrasts.”
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William Vennard
Developing Voices. Carl Fischer, New
York, New York, 1973.
“During her studies she frequently asked for
help with her high tones, which did improve
during the work. More freedom and
modification of the brighter vowels helped
the top voice, but what she needed most was
to develop the chest voice and blend it into
her singing so that it would be usable.”
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Richard Miller
Structure of Singing. Schirmer Books, New York,
New York. Pg. 136-137, 1986.
“Chest mixture will strengthen the soprano’s
lower - middle range. Almost every female
can make some chest timbre sounds, no
matter how insecure, in the lowest part of
her range. These notes should be sung in
short, intervallic patterns, transposing by
half steps upward, as more sound emerges.”
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Ingo Titze
Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.
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Manuel Garcia II
A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing:
Part One. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V.
Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. 50, 1967.
“…because one can approach the study of this
register only with the help of profound
knowledge, under the threat of ruining the
student’s voice, and because the blending of
this register with that of the falsetto can be
secured only by a long and ably directed
labor. It has therefore been judged simpler
and more natural to free oneself from the
difficulty of studying it.”
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Register rules:
Low and loud = chest voice
High and soft = head voice
Breathy and hooty = falsetto
We use these natural responses to train the
registers to respond appropriately
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‘Sostenuto tones in the chest’ –
with or without crescendo
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William Vennard
Singing: The Mechanism and the
Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214. 1967.
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William Vennard
Singing: The Mechanism and the
Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155. 1967.
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‘Welcoming in the chest’
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“Imposing the chest’
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‘Imposing the chest – II’
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‘Deference to the head’
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Additional register exercises:
Flute or whistle voice stretches for females
Falsetto stretches for males
Falsetto ‘break outs’ for men – like Garcia’s
middle voice exercises for women
‘Dimmer switch’ exercises from falsetto to
chest in men
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