Vocal Control

How does vocal control take place?

The answer to this question is through the ear—though I doubt you will find much about that in the current literature—even if you will find a great deal of information about the anatomy of the ear itself.

I love what Margaret Harshaw said about the matter:

You can't control the voice: you can only control what it wants.

I can think of several things that the voice wants, beginning with a good breath, the kind of breath that makes the ribcage expand and the spine elongate, resulting in the muscles of the face feeling quite busy.

This was taught by old Italian school teachers (the practice resulting in these feelings), beginning with inhaling through the nose and closing the mouth for up to 18 seconds. With practice, it slowly dawns on the student that the amount of air stuffed into the lungs isn't the main issue but rather what happens to the body when even the smallest amount is inhaled. It also helps the singer understand that breathing for singing is not merely a mechanical maneuver.

The voice also wants a stable singing position, a concept taught by the García School and recorded by Manuel García's student Herman Klein, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method. A central aspect of my own studio teaching, singing position is the fulcrum around which the voice revolves—regardless of style and genre. Without it, the singer has no presence, cannot communicate with any real meaning, has little range, and sings out of tune.

Once breath and singing position have been firmly established, the remaining requirements can be reduced to two old school principles: open throat and placement.

While modern vocal pedagogues may argue the meaning of these terms, they carried real weight for old Italian school teachers, who used them to describe sensations that were both felt and heard. For them, singing took place through the sense of touch (feeling) and audition (listening).

We now have come full circle, if only because both these avenues, feeling and listening, involve the inner processes of the ear.

Photo Credit: Margaret Harshaw, author’s collection.