Wheeler Takes the Wheel
J. Harry Wheeler was a student of Manuel Garcia in London, then of Francesco Lamperti in Milan.
(If you know anything about how voice students pursued their studies a hundred years ago, you know there was no going back to your original teacher. Once you left—that was it.)
Wheeler has appeared on these pages before along with this brother Lyman; both studying with the great Garcia (see Wheeler’s tag above), Harry being the brother who wrote a book that can be found on VOICETALK’s download page.
In the passage below from Werner’s Voice Magazine (the name was revised from the The Voice after a few years), Wheeler comments on an address given at the Music Teachers’ National Association meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 4th, 1884—his comment being a good deal more interesting that the address itself—Wheeler taking the wheel as it were.
We find Wheeler being analytical in his approach to students; giving each what was needed rather than applying a method; commenting on the difference between national schools, falsetto, and the effect of the epiglottis on the voice; and calling attention to the need for voice teachers to have a knowledge of vocal physiology—Wheeler even going so far as to conduct experiments on the larynx’s of dead men.
Regarding falsetto: long-time readers of VOICETALK will know that this writer doesn’t accept the widespread notion that old Italian school teachers taught their students to separate the registers—passages like this only providing confirmation (which also appears here). As Wheeler was a student of the two greatest singing teachers of the 19th century, it would seem to be a misreading of the historical record as well as a projection of aesthetic values to assert otherwise.
MR. J. HARRY WHEELER of Boston: I have known nothing of the contents of Mr. Adams's able paper, therefore I must speak as the thoughts come to me.
Mr. Adams states that no one can be a good voice-teacher without being a singer, and able to give vocal examples. In respect to this I must take issue. Several of the most prominent singing-teachers of the world are not singers, and cannot give vocal examples, among whom may be mentioned Garcia, Trivulsi, and Lamperti. If vocal examples were necessary, no man could teach a woman, or woman teach a man, for no male voice can give a perfect example for a female voice to imitate, or a female voice a perfect example for the male voice to imitate; yet we have excellent teachers among both sexes. It requires brains, not voice, to constitute a good singing-teacher. Mr. Adams also puts forth the idea that the knowledge of vocal physiology is no aid to the singing. teacher, or student of singing. Again I take issue. To one who understands vocal physiology in its practical bearings upon the voice, nothing is obscure in voice-culture, the causes and remedies are known at once. A teacher possessing this knowledge, can accomplish more in one lesson, than one lacking this knowledge, could in a dozen, or perhaps could ever accomplish. Everything else being equal, those possessing a knowledge of vocal physiology make far more valuable teachers than those who lack this knowledge.
There is no one mode of educating all voices. Peculiar exercises, or certain vowels must be given to remedy certain defects, and when these defects have been remedied, these peculiar exercises—or medicine, so to speak —which are given for a special purpose, should be discontinued. For example, if a, as a in arm, be given for the production of a clearer tone, continuously practiced, it would eventually cause the tone to become thin, metallic, and unmusical, or the syllable au, as au in aught, given for the purpose of producing a more sombre tone, would eventually cause the tone to become excessively veiled, lifeless and powerless. No two voices are precisely alike, any more than are the leaves on the trees, hence no two voices can be treated precisely the same. The intelligent teacher will give each pupil just the exercise that particular voice requires. The teacher should have a definite aim in view, a settled opinion in regard to the future of the voice, and use the quickest, and best instrumentalities, to attain this result.
The difference in voice is attributable to the length and bulk of the vocal cords, the size of the larynx, the formation and capacity of the resounding passages—both chest and head, —and the length and width of the epiglottis. The epiglottis is more of an important factor in respect to the modifying of the quality of the tone than many suppose. It is generally understood that its only other: is to prevent solids and liquids from passing into the trachea or windpipe. From recent experiments, for several months, I have learned that the epiglottis is not essential for this purpose. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, after the epiglottis has been entirely cut away from animals, they experience no difficulty in the act of deglutition. The epiglottis acts as a resonator to the voice, upon the same principle as a valve upon a flue organ-pipe. By invitation of Prof. Bowdich, of Harvard College, I made some very interesting experiments in his laboratory with a dissected larynx from a man who had just died. The larynx was placed in clamps, and by the means of hydraulic pressure of air the vocal cords were made to produce tones loud enough to be heard in the adjoining rooms.
By manipulating the thyroid cartilage. thus changing the tenseness of the vocal cords, it was made to sing the diatonic scale, and sing several times. By raising or lowering the epiglottis the quality of the tone was changed, the more it was pulled over the vocal cords the more sombre was the tone : the less it covered the vocal cords, the clearer was the tone. Although not by any means the only factor in the production of sombre tones, still it is an important one. In a state of repose, or when one is not using the voice, the epiglottis is erect, but the moment singing is commenced, it constantly changes, In some persons the epiglottis very short, hence one reason why some voices are naturally much clearer and thinner than others. It has been said by one who has made a specialty of the study of the epiglottis among the Chinese, that they, as a nation, have a short epiglottis, hence one reason for their peculiarity of tone.
It has been stated by some that the tones of the human voice are not produced by means of the vocal cords, but a knowledge of vocal physiology enables us to gain positive information on this subject, and teaches us that the lips of the glottis, or vocal cords, so-called, do produce these tones. If there be any fulness of the vocal cords, the quality of the voice is at once changed; protuberances upon the vocal cords make one entirely voiceless. Dr. Frederick I. Knight, of Boston, informed me that a singer from one of the leading theatres of that city came to him, who had lost his singing voice. Dr. Knight examined the throat, and found warts upon the vocal cords. Illuminating the throat by means of the laryngoscope, he cut the warts off the vocal cords, and the gentleman regained his voice. Two similar cases came to the notice of Dr. Ephraim Cutter, of New York city; one was that of a school-teacher, who had lost her speaking voice, and the other that of a child. In both cases he made a vertical incision in the middle of the thyroid cartilage and removed the warts from the vocal cords, after which both regained their voices.
There is much more I might say, but as the discussions are limited to five minutes. I must discontinue.
[Cries of “ go on, go on." A member of the convention moved that the rule limiting the time be suspended. Carried. Mr. Wheeler again took the floor and continued.]
I would say a few words in regard to vocal methods. All voices should be educated in some distinct school of vocal culture. The one who claims to teach his own method must surely be a brave man. Individual methods should be ignored. There is no method better than that which has made the Pattis, the Albanis, the Carringtons, the Gersters, the Ravellis, the Gallassis, the Del Puentes.
There are three recognized schools of vocal culture, viz.: The Italian, the French, and the German. The Italian is the safest, and the only proper school for the culture of the voice. The French school is similar, still it varies to quite an extent in the culture of the male voice, inasmuch as it gives singular prominence to the falsetto tone. The German school treats the male voice in the same manner. In the French and German theatres, these tones are used, but in the Italian theatre this sort of voice is never permitted to be made use of. The special study of the falsetto tone is unnecessary. If the voice be placed properly, the most sotto voce tone can be easily produced. There is no harm done to the voice in the study of the falsetto tone, but it is a loss of time. Continuous words sung in the falsetto register, always sound weak and lacking in character. The abrupt transition from the chest to the falsetto tone, as is often heard in the singing of Capoul and Campanini, is extremely disagreeable to hear. All German vocal teachers do not teach the German method. This school of vocal culture produces loud, screamy voices, and is injurious to the health, hence I am sure there are Germans in this convention who do not endorse it. This school aims at fulness: in all the registers of the voice. The chest-tones are carried very high, the medium also, and the head-tones are made with the larynx forced down, thus producing an artificial fulness. This excessive volume robs the voice of height of compass, and agility. The physiological result is often a burning sensation in the throat, accompanied by great fatigue after singing, often resulting in bronchial hemorrhages, and sometimes in consumption and death. Several cases of this kind have come under my own observation.
A knowledge of vocal physiology. which means a knowledge of the muscles, and nerves which control them, and which come into play in the production of tone, and the practical application of them, I believe to be essential for all those who would become first in the profession of voice-culture; and I would earnestly urge all young teachers of the voice to give special attention to this subject. It is true, that lectures alone upon the subject of vocal physiology would never make one sing, but one who teaches should understand the subject, that he may teach safely, and without experimenting. For example, by this knowledge one learns that certain muscles cause throaty tones, and that there are antagonistic muscles which remedy this defect, hence he is able to apply this knowledge in the most expeditious, practical and beneficial manner. Many examples might be given showing how this knowledge may be applied. In proportion as one understands this subject, in the same proportion must he be a better teacher. One should take a broad view of this voice-subject and avoid being bigoted, or too conservative, and also be chary of new methods.
In conclusion, 1 would say, that although I take issue with Mr. Adams on a few points, still I consider his paper of great value, and when it is published, 1 hope it will be read by every singer in the land, for it is full of important and practical truths, which will prove of great benefit to all who are interested in the cultivation of the voice.
“The Qualifications of a Vocal Teacher,”, The Voice, November, 1884, page 187-188.
