The Garcia School: Voice Placement in the Art of Bel Canto
Voice placement in the art of bel canto has been controversial since it was scientifically established that the vocal tract is the only resonator. Before this knowledge was established, it was typical to refer to the cavities of the head as resonators.
A chronological unveiling of voice placement within the García School of Singing follows.
The first citation is from Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) himself. We find García observing that there are two “tubes” for vocal resonance and that the tube of the nose “contributes” to the "sonority of the voice when the mouth is open.” Does the legendary voice teacher tell the reader how this tube contributes to the sonority of the voice? No. Whatever thoughts he had on the matter do not appear in print. His studio teaching was another matter, however. It surfaced after García’s death in a manual written by his student Herman Klein (he used two N’s in his first name before the First World War), which I found and published in 2013—the introduction focusing on voice placement.
The other citations are that of Ada Soder-Hueck—a student of Marianne Brandt, herself a student of Manuel García’s sister Pauline Viardot-García; Anna Schoen-René—a student of Pauline Viardot-García and Manuel García; Margaret Harshaw—a student of Anna Schoen-René; and Margaret Harshaw’s student Matthew Polenzani. They establish a clear line of teaching and instruction, which undoubtedly originates in Manuel García's teaching (1775-1832).
“We have seen the emission of the voice is operated by two tubes. The second of these tubes is the nose. Its function is to contribute to the sonority of the voice when the mouth is open, and to completely modify the sounds in their transmission with a nasal resonance when the mouth is closed, whether by the tongue for [n], or by the lips for [m].”
—Manuel Garcia, Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing, Part Two, Complete and Unabridged, The Editions of 1841 and 1872, collated, edited and translated by Donald V. Paschke, page 9.
42. Clearing the Path for the Tone
The primary step, in training the voice to obtain access to the resonating cavities, is to provide requite space in the direction of the nasal passage, or, in other words, clearing the only path whereby the tone can reach them. This will be accomplished, to begin with, by flattening the tongue and raising or arching the soft palate in the manner described under the heading of “Adjustment and Attack,” par. 14.
43. Placing Tone in the “Masque.”
The second step is to being the note with the thought (if not the actual sensation) that the tone-vibrations are being simultaneously projected or reflected—not pushed by sheer lung-power—into these “forward cavities” situated in the “masque.” This thought and its application, after some practice, should quickly enable you to realize with certainty what resonant or ringing tone actually is.
—Daniel Shigo/Hermann Klein, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method Based upon the Famous School of Manuel Garcia, 1915, page 18.
"As a teacher my results have been achieved with the 'García Method' every tone placed in the mask of the face. I believe in producing a tone which flows with all the ease of a ball that is tossed in the air.
—Madam Ada Soder-Hueck, student of Marianne Brandt, herself a student of Pauline Viardot-García. Musical Courier, Vol 75, 1917, 30.
(b) Resonance
The old Italian teachers had no trouble in obtaining a bright ringing tone. 'Resonance,' therefore, may not have entered very largely into their theory, but was far from being ignored in their practice. Thanks chiefly to their 'open' vowels an easy 'forward' tone came naturally to the majority of their students, especially the native ones. If it did not, the masters opened their pupils' throats (temporarily at least) until the sounds-waves had learnt to find their way to every facial cavity or space (besides the mouth) that was capable of 'reflecting' a vocal tone. The idea seems simple enough. The voice, in order to acquire its full vibrant power, must have the aid of a 'reflector', just as surely as the light burning in a lighthouse. The singer can no more dispense with its aid than a performer on the piano or the violin could dispense with that of a sounding-board.
As the act of singing is a natural organic function, common to the majority of civilized people, there is no need to discuss here the physiology of tone production. The point is, rather, whereabouts is that tone situated or sounding when it has left the larynx? The answer is that a clear note is, at the moment of its utterance, instantly ringing clear and true in its ultimate position, projected and maintained there by steady diaphramatic breath-pressure, and enhanced in strength and colour by shape and other influences. To the singer the resulting sensation is that the tone is coming not from the throat at all, but existing ready-made in the area to which is is reflected.
Free, unobstructed access to these 'forward' cavities can alone enable the voice to obtain all the advantages of complete resonance. Properly directed and well supported by the breath, it can entirely escape the danger of a nasal quality and attain increased beauty of timbre, diversity of colour, and penetrative power.
—Herman Klein, The Bel Canto, 1923.
“The García principles of singing—better, the only correct principles of singing as laid down by García—begin with breath and breath control. The breath must be full, deep, low-taken, It must be supported by the strong abdominal muscles. Practice in correct breathing should precede all exercises in singing. When the breath has been properly taken, the singer must learn to send it in a steady flow against the diaphragm, through the entire respiratory tract, towards the vocal cords, the vibrations of which produces tone. Tone is supported by the long column of breath; it 'sits upon it.' If the flow of breath is unsteady, the resulting tone becomes unsteady. Next in importance to the control and support of breath is its resonance. Tone must be resonated entirely from the face—never in the throat, never in the nasal passages. Defective tone and loss of range result from incorrect resonance. The tone should be sent into the cavities bounded by the cheek bones, and allowed to vibrate freely there. Manuel García stressed this freedom of tonal vibration, warning emphatically against constriction in the nose or in the throat.”
——Stephen West. "The Traditions of Fine Singing: An Interview with Mme. Anna E. Schoen-René," The Etude, November 1941.
“In singing, technique becomes part of the art. I’ll use an old-fashioned term, ‘placement’—or ‘position.’ Hard to define, but in essence the voice is ‘placed’ in the mask and supported from the lower body. ‘Place high, support low,’ we learned. This corresponds to natural anatomy, and it is the only way real singing can be done. These are old terms. But they are timeless and need to be used by today’s singers.”
—James A Van Sant, “Miss Margaret’s Way,” Opera News, March 2, 1996.
Leslie Holmes: “Where you do feel the words and the vowels?”
Matthew Polenzani: ‘For me, I feel everything out in front of my eyes. Everything I do happens in this focal point [indicates just out of the eyes]. For me, the voice starts inside of the body and it ends up in front of my eyes. And in front of my eyes, this focal point, that’s where the projection happens.”
—Leslie Holmes, “A Vocal Point: A Conversation with Matthew Polenzani,” Journal of Singing, May 2007, page 482.