Open Throat
What is it exactly? The feeling one has in the pharynx? The exterior of the neck itself? The elevation of the soft palate, or the space above the tongue in the front of the mouth? Hello? What exactly is it?
The problem with these questions is that they all refer to anatomy and physiology, and that's not what the old Italian school meant by an open throat. So, what did the old Italian school mean?
While not hard to describe on the page, an open throat can't be heard on the page. And that's my point: An open throat is heard both by the singer as well as the listener. Yes, it involves movements within the pharynx, neck, tongue, soft palate, etc., but if you reduce it to the movement of muscles you have missed the whole point entirely.
This goes back to an earlier post, which offered the perspective that singing is not a mechanical proposition.
Does the runner strive to move various muscles of his or her leg to run? I think not. But the mechanical view holds sway with many voice professionals now—and I say professionals if only because conductors, coaches, and acting teachers, etc., are in the act. Everyone is teaching voice; and, I wager, a great majority of them from the modern view—which concerns itself with the movement of muscles. But what does this have to do the the training of the student's ear? Very little actually.
There was a time when students were taught to hear different qualities of tone and understood that an open throat was evidenced by the tonal qualities of fullness, freedom, and depth of tone; no hint of the throat or nose; and a vibrant buoyancy that spun in the air of a theatre—reaching to its farthest corners with great ease and immediacy.
Openness is open: not closed, muffled or squeezed, tight or emitted through the teeth. Yet these tonal qualities can be a difficult to obtain if only because American vowels are guttural or nasal in nature. American vowels are not pure vowels.
Does this mean the American has to sing in Italian? Not exactly. But it does mean that the student has to study with a teacher who can demonstrate the effect of Italianate vowels and their practical application on the voice. These vowels must be heard—apprehended by that ear—before the movement of the muscles associated with them is understood.
The fact remains that muscles can only obey the ear; and the ear of most singers needs a great deal of training. Train the ear and you have a real thing. Train muscles without the ear, and you have achieved nothing more than a great waste of time.
I should note: Francesco Lamperti and Manuel Garcia were very direct about this matter, both insisting that the student be able to sing Ah from the bottom of the throat—a teaching which requires an education of the ear.
To understand what it means to sing with an open throat. contact me for voice lessons in New York City and online singing lessons.
