Hints for Singers: Alberto B. Bach
Deep breathing is to be persistently cultivated. Let the student diligently practice the art of firmly retaining, by the deeply-compressed diaphragm, the breath thus obtained.
The best and simplest way to to accustom one's self to deep breathing is to stand upright, and, folding one's hands on top of the head, to draw in the air as gently and as deeply as possible, retaining it well down by the diaphragm for from ten to twenty seconds. I may also recommend the following as being to the purpose: Pass a stick across the back through the bend of both the elbows, taking the arms well forward, and in this position breathe gently and deeply. By this procedure diaphragmatic breathing is induced to a remarkable degree, whilst it is also conducive to good carriage.
The following two exercises are also advisable: Join the hands behind the back, carefully maintaining an erect posture, so that the shoulders are drawn well down, and breathe deeply. The second is, breathe deeply and slowly through the nostrils, 20 to 40 times; during inspiration bring the arms up to the level of the shoulders, and during expiration let them fall slowly down.
The student should, as often as possible, breathe quietly through the nose, and retain the air in the lungs by contracting the diaphragm. The shoulders should never be drawn up, only the chest is to expand and to arch out forward, and then the air should be allowed steadily to steam forth for the formation of the tone. The expiratory muscles must never force the air against the vocal cords, but should allow it of flow out gradually, otherwise the voice will tremble. If we force the air against the vocal cords, they are disturbed, and their regular wave-like vibrations are interrupted; one part of the air thus needlessly escapes, and the tone is consequently weak.
The middle tones of our voice require the least air; the lowest and the highest notes require more. the ability to produce a beautiful, rich tone with the most moderate expenditure of breath betokens the artists, and every singer must aspire to the accomplishment.
Position of the Mouth
A correct position of the mouth is one of the first conditions of the production of tone in singing. If the position is faulty the timbre is muffled and obscured, the development of a refined tone is rendered impossible, and the voice is made unfit for artistic purposes. The height of the cavity depends partly on the structure of the mouth and partly on the different vowels we sing. Under no circumstances, however, should the mouth be opened either too much or too little; and if we consult the laws of beauty respecting the appearance of the mouth, we should have an elliptical opening. This position is best achieved if the lips are distended toward each side as if for a smile, and this condition can be most completely realized in singing the vowel a (ah).
The upper teeth should become visible to about half their size, while the lower teeth should be almost completely covered. The upper lip should, accordingly, be somewhat raised. We should guard against allowing the lips to cover and rest on the teeth, because they would then absorb the tone like sponges, and make it sound dull. It is through the medium of the teeth that the metallic ring is imparted to the tone, and through the smiling position of the mouth that brightness and grace are lent to it, and this smiling position of the mouth at the same time gives an agreeable expression to the features. The position of the mouth here described is correct according to the rules of art; the old Italian school made it one of its axioms, and the best singers-schools of all countries have adopted it.
Tone-Formation
A beautiful tone—one fit for artistic purposes—must be free from all faulty sounds, and must not therefore have a guttural, palatal, nasal, noisy or uncertain quality. Every note must ring out by itself, independent and clear, and should never be used or forced. Just as the spinner draws the thread of the spindle, so must the singers take or draw off the tone softly and carefully, and never force the air against the vocal cords. We have three different modes of attack, but it is advisable to begin with one of these—the soft attack—and only later should the pupil exercise the other modes. All vocal studies should begin with the improvement of the middle tones—those notes which everybody has received from nature and which everyone uses in conversation. All voices should begin on the vowel a (ah) which remains forever the best foundation, the primary basis of all tone-culture. A fine and pure tone can thus be best produced, as all parts of the vocal apparatus are, while that vowel is being produced, in a natural, easy and unconstrained condition. The voice sounds on a (ah) fullest and most sonorous, because the tone-waves can move freely and easily. One should try to keep the tongue flat and quiet and the soft-palate raised. We must also practice the other vowels, but we should always being our studies on a (ah), because all faults and defects of sound are observed best on this vowel. The air must strike the hard roof of the mouth—the hard palate—above the teeth as all notes should be formed in the front of the mouth.
Equalization of Voice
Piano Singing.—In all voices the middle register is the best, and admits the easiest of cultivation. The first object in the formation of tone, therefore, consists in equalizing the middle register of the voice in all degrees of force. To attain this object the tones of the middle register must, as a first study, be sung quite piano. Thus let the pupil first sing three, then four, then six notes of the middle register, and then extend them gradually to nine notes. From the beginning, let the pupil sing on a fairly clear a (ah), all the notes in slow time, and let him distribute his breath equally on these notes so that each note is equally piano. The expiration must be effected without any strain or forcing, in a quiet flow, and the jet of tone should always strike the hard-palate close above the teeth. After having sufficiently equalized the middle register by studies in piano, one or two higher notes and one or tow lower notes may be added, and be sung softly with limited breath. Then one may progress cautiously to higher notes, and if the singer allows his breath to flow out equally with all moderation, the falsetto register will appear, so to speak, of itself. This falsetto will, in all voices, uniformly appear on that higher note, which, taken piano, no longer is given by the chest register, and in which, accordingly, a moderate measure of breath is no longer able to set the stretched vocal cords into vibrations throughout their entire extent. This note in piano singing at which falsetto sets in, is generally B in a bass voice, D in a baritone, E and F in a tenor, B or C in an alto, E flat or E in a soprano. After having effected the connection between chest and falsetto register on a (ah), the other vowels may be practiced in succession. The tension of the vocal cords must be relaxed in some degree when the note is sung crescendo, an must be increased again on singing it decrescendo.
Mezzo-Forte Studies.—If we desire to produce mezzo-forte any note which we have been singing piano, the tension of the vocal cords must be somewhat relaxed, and the breath proportionally increased. If the next note in the scale is to be equal in force to the preceding, we have to apply to only the same force of breath, but also the same ratio, in the relaxation of the vocal cords. The production of each higher note depends on a farther tension of the vocal cords, and yet the quantity of great may remain the same throughout the entire scale. In singing mezzo-forte, the transition to the falsetto is somewhat more difficult than in the piano scale, for here the larger supply of breath that produces more powerful notes makes it possible to sing one or two notes in the chest-register which appeared as falsetto in piano singing. A bass voice whilst passing in piano singing to the falsetto on B, will, in singing mezzo-forte, only make the transition on C or C sharp. The transition, will, however, be effected without much difficulty, if the singer maintains a steady position of the larynx, and strictly preserves the same limited supply of breath he has been using in the chest-voice, while at the same time he colors somewhat darker his vowels previous to entering the falsetto. The falsetto will then appear more powerful and resemble in sound the chest-notes. The equalization of the chest and falsetto voice consists essentially in the greatest possible obliteration of the difference in timbre between chest and falsetto notes, or, in other words, in the avoidance of too massive and full a tone in the chest-notes and too sharp and shrill a tone in the falsetto. This is effected by a suitable adjustment of the resonance of the cavity of the mouth, by change of timbre. The rule to be adopted therefore is to sing the ascending scale in dark timbre and the descending in clear timbre. In the treatment of voice that have been spoiled by a bad method, and whose falsetto does not come forth with ease, it is advisable to employ the vowels oo and ee, and not to allow the pupil to follow up his highest chest-notes with this first note in the falsetto, but to make him take after his highest chest-note a falsetto note lying tow or three tones above it, because such higher notes in the falsetto are much more easy to start, especially on the vowels oo and ee, than the lower ones. It is advisable that the singer should endeavor to start even his chest-notes with a gentle breath, in order to deprive them of their natural firmness and hardness, and to make them and his falsetto more equal. Later on, the falsetto notes, too, make be taken also with a more decided, energetic start, in order to develop every kind of starting in all the registers. The object in the formation of voice is simply to equalization of the difference voice, chest and falsetto.
Forte,—The same operation which produces a mezzo-forte tone must like-wise take place, and in a higher degree, in the production of a forte note. Here the oscillations produced in the still more relaxed vocal cords by the more powerful current of breath are much wider, and they are still wider in the fortissimo, because here the breath attacks the more relaxed vocal cords in the greatest possible volume. If a note is not to became higher in the forte, the tension of the vocal cords must be somewhere more reduced than was necessary in the production of mezzo-forte notes, because the breath has to furnish compensation for more relaxation than in the mezzo-forte. The transition from forte chest-notes to the falsetto is more difficult in the mezzo-forte, and it would be very unwise in a student to commence his equalization studies in the forte. Unfortunately, however, the number of those who see their success only in forte singing is to induce them to sing their high chest-notes mezzo-forte, and therefore after piano, until they become convinced that it is through piano singing that the voice is to be equalized in the quickest and most natural manner. If once the singer has mastered a fine artistic falsetto, the next exercise should be to start a notes in the falsetto and make it pass into a chest-note, and again to effect its return to falsetto.
—The Boston Herald, Wednesday, December 13, 1922: 2.
Whether appearing in print as Albert or Alberto (click on his label below for biographical information), the little-known writer, singer, and voice teacher with the famous surname of Bach gives the reader a very clear expression of the method of Francesco Lamperti. That there is no mention of the "spot"—a key aspect of Lamperti's teaching—doesn't mean Bach didn't teach it. Instead, it accords with what I have learned about the expression of Lamperti's method in America; the "spot" was only revealed in the decade after Lamperti died in 1892. Considered proprietary information, it is a teaching now considered wacko, weird, and wrong by literal-minded voice teachers raised on the altar of voice science—the vocal tract considered the only resonator.