Scientific Explanations and Singing Lessons

These words, which have stuck in my mind since I first encountered them in America’s Musical Inheritance: memories and reminiscences (1941), have appeared on these pages repeatedly.

Why the emphasis? Schoen-René’s declarative statement is important for a generation drowning in information.

Scientific explanations can only be grasped by those already educated in the principles of their art.—Anna E. Schoen-René

Learning to sing classical music at a high level isn’t a piece of cake, even if the PR put out by numerous voice studios and YouTube videos suggest otherwise. It is a tuition that takes years of study, the fully formed professional only finding their feet after a decade of continuous study. For this to happen, the singer must have an excellent ear—the student’s teacher has to have sung well at some point in her life, have an educated ear, long exposure to vocal tradition, and a sharp, observant, and inquisitive mind. Couple this with an innate understanding of psychology, human kindness, and pedagogic skills, and a lot can be accomplished if, again, the student has an excellent ear.

Learning to sing does not begin with books, which you may be surprised to hear since I have read just about every useful book on the subject. That is not to say that the singer cannot learn something about singing from a book. For that to happen, the singer must already have some experience under their belt. As Margaret Harshaw once said, “You have to know something to know something!”

But what happens today? Most singers complete their undergraduate studies with their teachers throwing them into repertoire—the deep end of the pool—without giving them the training that enables them to swim much less compete.

What do real competitive athletes do?

Drills! Lots and lots of drills. They don’t just get in the pool and swim to a gold medal without a great deal of training.

Scales and exercises are the drills for the singer.

But here’s the deal.

Ninety-nine percent of the students who enter my studio—which includes those with advanced degrees—have never done them. And if they have, it is only for a very short time. So what is the average vocal student getting for their money in an institution of higher learning today?

Lots of affirmation and four years of coaching.

Real technique? Not so much.

This takes us back to Schoen-René dictum.

What does it mean to be educated? The key to understanding her is in the words “principles of their art.”

Schoen-René and other teachers of her time taught in a manner which is considered anachronistic today. She taught her students how to breath, open their throats, and create beautiful tone via tone placement with pure vowels. She then made her students vocalize on pure vowels using 5-tone scales, which rose to the octave and beyond: increasing the difficulty exponentially so that there would be no difficulties later. How long did this process take? At least two semesters—a year—for those admitted as graduate students to Juilliard. She also taught her private pupils in the same manner. No one got away with singing repertoire right way. No one. As it is, Schoen-René is known for having a great number of pupils who sang with the Metropolitan Opera—the only other voice teacher who could boast of this being Oscar Saenger—who also held his students to scales and exercises for a long period of time.

What is gained by the observant student during the process which Schoen-René imposed on her students?

Besides a career, the student who isn’t just standing there waiting to be fixed—but has a working brain—learns to ascertain the physiological conditions accompanying correct bel canto tonal production in all its permutations.

How is this done?

As noted by Johannes Meeschaert—a student of Julius Stockhousen, himself a student of Manuel García—this involves “a feeling for listening and a listening for feeling.”

This is accomplished through the agency of the ear rather than the force feeding of facts!

To put things on a practical level, the student of bel canto vocal production can only begin to understand the physiological processes involved—i.e scientific explanation—after first being able to speak and sing pure vowels.

That is the gateway, door to enter, line to cross, and conundrum to crack.

Photo Credit: Anna E. Schoen-René in Minneapolis, MN, circa 1895, courtesy of Ernst Schoen-René.