The Vocal Pedagogy

Workshop
Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Voice
College of Music
University of North Texas

June 14 – 16, 2007

 Voice Building in the 21st Century

 Premise 1: Teachers have been successfully building

voices for several centuries.

 Premise 2: Voice science helps us understand the

effectiveness of traditional methods.

 Premise 3: Most historical methods (18th & 19th C)

focused on training the larynx as the instrument, many more
contemporary methods stress ‘support’ and ‘placement’. In
historical methods these were considered to be results of the
training process, not the means to an end.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 2

 Voice Building in the 21st Century
 Premise 4: Vowel counts.

 Stressed in the historical literature

 Formed by the position of the articulators: tongue, jaw,
larynx, soft palate, lips, etc.
 Excessive tension anywhere distorts the vowel.

 Premise 5: Voce chiusa

 Concept or chiaroscuro
 Should be established right away
 Will felicitate the other studies, particularly those concerning
the equalization of registers.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 3

 Session I
Voice Building: Vocal
Registers
Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Voice
University of North Texas
 Vocal Registers: Tools for Growth
 A register is the result of a particular muscular
adjustment in the larynx
 As such, training the intrinsic muscles of the
larynx can result in significant changes in the
quality of the registers
 This knowledge can be used to ‘build a voice’.
 There is historical precedence
 There is scientific support

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 5

Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906)
 1832 appointed to Paris
Conservatory, 1858 to
The Royal Academy of
Music in London
 Central figure in 19th C
pedagogy
 Famous pupils:
 Battaille
 Stockhausen
 Malibran
 Marchesi
 Lind

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 6

 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906)
…the human voice is, in the largest sense,
composed of the different registers:
Chest
Falsetto-head
And two timbres:
Clear timbre
Sombre timbre

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 7

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.

“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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 8

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 9

 Table of the vocal registers
Manuel Garcia, Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 10

Table of the vocal registers for a
tenor
Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices, 1993

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 11

 According to Garcia, this was a two-register theory.

 This was traditional for the time:

 “The voice ordinarily divides itself into two registers, one
called the chest register and the other the head register, or
falsetto.” Mancini. Practical Reflections on the Art of Singing, 1774

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 12

 Garcia:
 “to these two registers is added the third, or the head
voice, which is nothing but the continuation of the
falsetto voice.” Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 13

 Transition from falsetto to head is result of adductory
forces from increased tension and:
“The sombre timbre modifies them in a more
striking manner, and people have thought they saw a
new action where there was only an extension of the
same action.” Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 14

 Female Voice
 Low tones of the falsetto are weak:
“it is absolutely necessary, therefore, to substitute
for them the corresponding tones in the chest register,
which although they do not have much power, do not
lack bite.” Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 15

 Upper tones are also weak:
“It is thus by the position which the pharynx
adopts in the sombre timber and by the pinching of the
glottis that these two registers are equalized.” Mémoire sur la
voix humaine, 1840

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 16

Male Voice
 Falsetto is not so universally important in the male
voice
 Bass voice can ignore it
 Baritones may utilize it if they chose
 Required for the tenor

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 17

 “The falsetto united with the chest register is,
for the tenors more than for the baritones, a
successful and natural resource. The much too
elevated tessitura of the music composed today
for tenors does not permit them to do without
the falsetto register.” A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing,
1847

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 18

 “But the use of that resource, however, should
be determined by the ability of the organ to
blend together the metals of the two registers;”
Garcia: A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing, 1847

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 19

 According to Garcia, men lose the ‘head voice’
at puberty.
 What did Garcia call the male high voice?
“Whatever the character of these tones may be,
they belong to the chest register, but with a
modification of volume with which we are
going to concern ourselves.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 20

“The designations of voix mixte and mezzo petto
are equally improper, for they would make us
suppose that these clear and high pitched tones
are produced by the two mechanisms of the
chest and falsetto registers at the same time.
Now physiologically, . . . is an unacceptable
idea.” Garcia: A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing, 1847

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 21

 Garcia is suggesting that the falsetto is useful for
extending the range of the chest voice for the
male (tenor).
 Not useful for performance
 Exercises include register shifting

 Messa di voce

 Use of the sombre timbre

 Primary unification device

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 22

 “It is in fact this result that a capable singer knows how
to obtain, when on one side he completely relaxes all
the muscles of the pharynx, and on the other he
narrows more and more the column of air. In these
circumstances, the glottis, endowed with a complete
liberty, can reach the final limits of its action. One is
astonished to see a tenor give, without any apparent
effort, the notes A4, B4 C5, C#5 and D5”.
Garcia: A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing, Part 2. 1847

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 23

 Conclusion:
 Garcia’s table of registers reflects the thinking of the
day.
 Garcia predicted a similar mechanism in male
‘falsetto’ and female ‘medium’ register prior to his
invention of the laryngoscope.
 Vibration limited to the margins
 Slight gap between vocal processes of arytenoid

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 24

 Conclusion:

 His scheme of the registers is equivalent to some modern

theories if the names are changed: ‘medium’ register for
female and ‘head voice’ for the extension of the chest when
the sombre timbre is utilized.
 Garcia offers a specific course of study for the development
and integration of the vocal registers.
 His model for singing is appropriate for the modern studio
teacher.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 25

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 26
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 27
Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of
Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20, 1970.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 28

Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 29

Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological
and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 30

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 31

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 wedge-shaped
(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.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 32

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 33

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 34

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 . . .”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 35

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 36

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 37

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 38

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 39

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 40

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.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 41

Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on
Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V.
Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 40, 1967.

“For example, take a scholar who has strengthened his

chest tones, but has those of the head weak out of all
proportion. . . Then suppose: the head voice being in
need of help, since it is separated from the chest, the
most certain method to help unite them is for the
scholar, without losing time, to undertake to establish in
his daily studies the manner of holding back the chest
voice and of strengthening little by little the unfriendly
notes of the head, in order to render the latter equal to
the former in the best possible way. . . He must subdue
a portion of the voice which is strong, and render
vigorous another portion, which is by nature weak.”

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 42

 Register Building Exercises
 Registers respond to: Pitch, Intensity and Vowel
 Chest:
 Low and firm “tranquil solfeggio”
 As high as F4 (both men and women) in the claire
timbre
 ‘Break outs’, register shifting,

 Sombre timbre (low larynx) to integrate with lighter

mechanism

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 43

 Register Building Exercises
 Registers respond to: Pitch, Intensity and Vowel
 Falsetto:
 Male – closed and open falsetto
 Vennard’s ‘nyah’

 Anthony Frizell’s Mezzo-falso

 Oren Brown’s ‘top-down’

 Register breaks

 Portamento with ‘firm phonation’

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 44

Register Breakouts

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 45

‘Long sustained tones in the
chest’

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 46

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.
Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214. 1967.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 47

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.
Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155. 1967.

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 48

‘Welcoming in the chest’

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 49

‘Imposing the chest ’

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 50

‘Deference to the head’

The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop - 2007 51