April 6, 2014: Australian Bass / Discoveries and Breakthroughs I find it quite amazing that singers come from as far as Australia to have lessons in my New York Studio. But it is a testament to how much singers want to find the technical releases that will help them realize their full voice. The Lindquest work, a direct reflection of the Old Swedish-Italian School of singing, has been a huge influence on my teaching career and I have seen its therapeutic properties literally help singers regain lost function. Dr. Barbara Mathis achieved her scientific vocal research in the laryngology office of Dr. Van Lawrence, laryngologist for the Houston Grand Opera. She worked with 5 damaged voices over a period of several years and documented the physical changes in these singers. The result was nothing short of miraculous. Dr. Mathis is a wonderful colleague, one of the finest teachers I have ever met. Many singers have been taught with techniques that are extreme (1) either the depressed tongue and larynx heavy technique or (2) the high light bright forward high-larynx technique. I usually have singers come into my studio that are suffering from vocal imbalances. Often they have too much of what Lindquest called ‘chest development’ (using the thicker vocal fold mass), air pressure, and depressed tongue/larynx), or too much head voice (the high light bright forward technique), which causes a high laryngeal position and a lack of vocal fold closure. Recently I had a bass singer come from Australia for lessons who was lacking in head voice development. His previous teacher had taught him to ‘narrow’ his upper passaggio. While I am not against the narrow ring that is a result of an open throat, this young singer was blocked in his upper passaggio. His teacher had not realized that when he ‘narrowed’ that he was also narrowing the tongue-root, which places pressure directly at the vocal folds. This pressure denies access to true head voice, because the cords thicken considerably from the tongue pressure. Also his throat was narrowing in the back wall of the pharynx and his ‘pillars of Fauces’ or the back arches in the back upper part of the mouth space were narrowing as well. I do not like a spread throaty sound, but I also do not like a hooty throaty heavy sound. This singer absolutely could not find resonance in his upper range due to his previous training. While his teacher had good intentions, he did not hear that the voice was not open-throated in the upper passaggio. Therefore the singer was left with the need to push tremendous breath pressure through the upper passaggio to try and force resonance. Of course this did not work. I recently taught a university teacher in New York who had also been taught the concept of narrowing to the point that the palate and pillars narrowed, cutting off high range. I like the idea of narrow ring, but it is a result of a lengthened and widened vocal tract, involving all three pharyngeal passagges. This is where a good concept was not managed or supervised well. It is also why I do not like ‘packaged certified techniques’. They do not work. Only the development of a good diagnostic ear works at developing excellent teaching and this takes years of apprenticeship and dedicated hard work. The audacity or ego factor of certification is quite on the surface in all that I have personally experienced. Breakthrough! This bass singer was singing higher with vocal freedom once he was able to spread the tongue-root and spread the pillars of Fauces. He realized more release in his higher pitches and the full resonance (WITH the narrow ring) came trumpeting through his upper range. What many do not realize is the difference between the ‘narrow ring’, which is a result of a spread and elongated pharynx or vocal tract, and a narrow throat space, which shuts down the voice in the upper range. I am NOT a proponent of the spread ‘smile technique’ with is the other extreme, but finding balance is the key here. I remember years ago I worked with Virginia Botkin in Texas. She had studied with Lindquest for 17 years. I asked her when I arrived what she had been working on most recently with her students. Her answer was, ‘spreading a little wider in the upper passaggio without going too far’. Finding balance is always a challenge, achieving the medium position rather than too shut down or too wide. Evelyn Reynolds had a great idea in finding the rounded embouchure without going too far. She said, “Cover your mouth as though you are yawning in public!” I have found this to be a wonderful concept, once that helps to find the happy medium position for healthy singing. In the end, this bass singer found the ability to release his tongue wider and the pillars of Fauces wider in his upper range WITHOUT spreading his tonal production. In fact he had a narrow trumpeting ring in the upper register by the end of his series of lessons. Now he will go back to Melbourne and work with a teacher who studied the Lindquest concepts in the past. Finding balance is difficult in this field of teaching. Congratulations to those teachers out there who strive to find a fuller release for their students through researching and questioning. The vocal field needs you, serious teachers who care and have a good insight on healthy vocalism. There is a reason we had a golden age of singers in the 50’s and 60’s. Many of these singers were taught Old World concepts. I heard Jerome Hines in recital in 1970, when I was in college. I shall never forget the trumpeting resonance of his voice. He was a generous man who later became a fine teacher. Have a wonderful day! David
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 12:36:33 +0000
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