Hermann & Oscar: Singing in the Mask

Black-and-white is inconvenient when you have two complimentary early 20th-century singing manuals affirming what many modern vocal pedagogues reject as impossible: singing in the mask.

The first is Hermann Klein’s Phono-Vocal Method Based upon the Famous School of Manuel Garcia, published in 1909, and the second is Oscar Saenger’s Course in Vocal Training, published nine years later in 1916. Both books use the new gramophone technology.

Klein’s is the better book, but it is only found in a few libraries. Saenger’s, on the other hand, is rather ubiquitous. The reason for the difference? While Klein’s book is superior in terms of its depth and breadth of vocal technique, the production of recordings was a problem, as was bad press resulting from his ill-advised move to give an address in London titled “Unmusical America.” There was also the matter of timing. Saenger’s book appeared nine years after Klein’s—a long time in the nascent, ever-advancing recording industry. In the end, Saenger succeeded in having a better product.

How curious is it that their vocal pedagogy is nearly identical: Klein and Saenger both focus on breathing, the opening of the mouth, the use of the tongue, Italianate vowels, the action of the arch/soft palate, and singing in the mask.

Klein

43. Placing Tone in the “Masque.”

The second step is to begin 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.

—Hermann Klein, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method Based upon the Famous School of Manuel Garcia (1909), page 18

Saenger

It is a matter of sensation and mental concentration. The way to place the tone forward is the think it forward. That is actually the way in which the student must focus his tone. He must think it into place and put it there through the exercise of a purely mental process. Further information on the focus of tone will be found in my lecture No. 2. When, as in lecture record No. 2, we speak of “placing the tone forward in the face: (masque), we mean to focus the tone in such a manner that the vibrations will resound in the cavities of the face.

—Oscar Saenger, The Oscar Saenger Course in Vocal Training: A Complete Course of Vocal Study for the Bass Voice on Victor Records, 1916, page 21.

Isn’t it interesting that both men use thought as the means to sing in the mask? This only works when the aforementioned vocal parts are fulfilling their function. That said, experience tells me that there is more to it than that, the moving of parts only part of the equation.

There is the matter of the ear to consider. This thought occurred after having been steeped in Tomatis’ methodology, inculcating his observations on the relationship between the ear, voice, and face—the facial nerve inserting into the middle ear via the stapedius muscle and when innervated initiating the audition of higher frequencies—and reflecting on the teaching of Margaret Harshaw, a Daughter of the Garcias, who was wont to say:

Start where you are going! —Margaret Harshaw

Not only were her students taught to focus on the mask of the face, which, in her teaching, began at the upper lip and extended to the crown of the head, but they were also instructed to feel the mask itself as quite sensitive: bathed in warm water, alive, busy, and extending outward.

Where did this thought lead?

To the awareness that focusing on the mask of the face influences the ear: thought affecting tissue.

What do you think happens then?