The Voice Teacher’s Note Book

Truth to tell, I’ve had Gustave Garcia’s The Voice Teacher’s Note Book: A Short Synopsis for Teachers of Singing and Examination Candidates in my possession since 2006. Yes, a long time. I just pulled it out of its file. I realized that I didn’t include information relating to voice placement in my 2013 introduction to Hermann Klein’s The Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method Based upon the Famous School of Manuel Garcia, which is—hello—all about voice placement. [1]

Gustave Garcia [2, 3, 4], the son of Manuel Garcia—the father of voice science and the grandson of the Romantic tenor Manuel Garcia—wrote his manual for voice teachers in 1910. He included teachings about the resonators that tell us something of what the Garcia School of Singing taught regarding voice placement.

I have included pages 15-17 and 21-22 below. Find the remainder of Gustave Garcia’s text on the download page.

My comments follow.

The Resonators

Strictly speaking, the whole body is a resonator of the voice. It may also be said that the platform on which the singer stands, and the hall in which he sings, contribute vastly to the resonance of the voice.

Q. The chief resonators being: — The Thorax, the Trachea, the Larynx, the Pharynx, the Oral and the Nasal cavities, — describe their influence as resonators.

A. As soon as the air ascends from the lungs, it acquires vibration from the vocal cords in the same manner as the air above the cords, and the ribs are elevated to their fullest extent, the thorax becomes tensioned and adds to the sonority and quality of the voice.

The Trachea is an important resonator, its elasticity permitting the singer to increase or diminish its size vertically and laterally. Owing to this and its affinity with the bellows-like function of the lungs, the vocal mechanism has been compared to that of the organ with its pipes of different length.

The Larynx, with its two ventricles or depressions, parallel and above the vocal folds, forming a chamber, to which the entrance is the chink of the glottis or the space between the lips or edges of the vocal cords, is an important factor in modifying the quality of the voice. The breath entering these vestibules is set in vibration or vocalized, and transmits its vibration to the air already in the vestibules. These vibrations are again transmitted and directed into the upper larynx, the pharynx, and mouth, by the false vocal cords or bands, situated immediately above the vestibules, and parallel with them. The false vocal cords are not so susceptible to control as the true vocal cords, and may therefore be regarded as of secondary importance.

The Pharynx is the most important resonator; its posterior wall, which can be seen through the mouth, gathers the sounding waves as they are reflected from the epiglottis and projects them forward beneath the soft palate against the firm sounding-board formed by the hard palate and the teeth. The muscles of the pharynx (the constrictor and palato-pharyngeal, covering the bony surface of the posterior wall of the pharynx) serve so to shape the reflecting surface that the vocalized breath may be directed to any desired point. (See figure 1.)

Q. Describe the function of the soft palate?

A. It is the function of the soft palate and uvula to act as a kind of valve, controlling the sounding waves and directing them up either through the pharyngeal vault into the nostrils, when two muscles (called the palato-glossi) contact and diminish the size of the fauces into the mouth, when the palato-pharyngeal muscles contact and draw the palate back towards the pharyngeal wall, diminishing or cutting off entirely the passageway to the post-nasal space.

Q. What deduction can you evolve from the above facts?

A. If the palato-glossi muscles are contracted violently they diminish the size of the fauces to such an extent that the passage left is too narrow for the voice to retain it sonority, thence it assumes a twangy or nasal sound which is most objectionable, such as might be obtained by the exaggerated articulation of a thin bright i (Italian). If on the other hand the palate closes entirely the passage to the post-nasal space, the voice lodges itself in the pharynx and is liable to become muffled, as in an exaggerated articulation of the vowel u (Italian).

Q. By what means can you obtain a modification in the shape of the reflecting surface of the pharynx?

A. By the use and choice of the Italian vowels and their various modifications or shades.

Q. Give some instances.

A. The bright or open Italian vowels like a in calm or a in fat; e like the sound of English a in fate or e in elm; i like the sound of English ee in feet; o in soft, would project the sounding waves beneath the soft palate, by the process already explained, against the hard palate. The close o as in robe, the u as in too, would cause the soft palate to be raised and the sound to be directed against pharyngeal vault, which again redirects it through the nasal passages and accessory chambers, as well as the mouth.

Q. Have the frontal chambers any influence over the resonance of the voice?

A. Yes.

Q. Give us an illustration?

A. It is a known fact that some negros, who have no frontal cavities or resonating chambers, have voices devoid of resonance; on the contrary, others, such as the African negros, have a more developed cavity and possess a more resonant voice. [5]

— Gustave Garcia, The Singing Teacher’s Note Book (1910), p. 15-17.

Nasal Sounds

If in the production of sounds the soft palate be depressed and the voice reflected through the nasal cavities, thus making the nose the principal resonator, the result is an inevitable contraction of the nasal muscles as already explained, and a meagre, unpleasant sound, very much resembling the bleating of a sheep, especially on the vowels e and i (Italian). The remedy for this is to take a deep breath as in the act of yawning, thus raising the soft palate (see page 15) against the nasal cavities; by rounding the vowels, the voice is directed against the pharynx and again reflected through the nasal cavities and the mouth, and the soft palate adjusts itself simultaneously with the pharynx by the performance of a to and fro, up and down movement. Another mode of counteracting the nasal tone is to pinch the nose whilst singing, thus enabling the singer to distinguish the nasal buzz from properly produced sounds.

An effective method of counteracting these defects is to find out which is the best note, the best vowel, or shade of vowel the voice can produce, and drift in the same breath and smoothly from shade to shade on the same note and vowel, with the least possible disturbance in the position of the larynx and mouth. The same practice should be repeated on all the vowels and their multifarious shades, and also from vowel to vowel. (a, e, i, o, u, Italian) and note to note, either in groups of notes or in scales.

— Gustave Garcia, The Singing Teacher’s Note Book (1910), p. 20-21.

Some Observations on Reflection

Readers of all things Garcia will know that Herman Klein also wrote about the pharynx as a reflector in his essay The Bel Canto (1923), twelve years after Gustave Garcia wrote his teacher manual. Do I believe both Klein and Garcia give us a principle of singing from Manuel Garcia? [6] It seems logical to think so.

Klein also observed in The Bel Canto (1923) that vocal masters “opened their pupils' throats (temporarily at least) until the sound waves had learned to find their way to every facial cavity or space capable of ‘reflecting’ vocal tone.” [7]

For his part, Gustave Garcia tells us about the phenomena' physiology. He tells us that two things affect the direction of vocal tone: (1) the rising and rounding action of the soft palate and (2) Italian vowels. He further tells us that pinching of the nose is helpful in “enabling the singer to distinguish the nasal buzz from properly produced sounds.” [8]

Moderns will know that the sinuses do not resonate, which, I believe, was established in 1928, while the phenomena called voice placement falls under the umbrella of Psychoacoustics, which too few singing teachers know about, even those steeped in scientific jargon. This leads me to ask: Why is voice placement so hard to understand?

I have some thoughts on that. First and foremost, the tuition of singing treats the inculcation of Italian as just another language. Today, Conservatory students jump right into singing in German, French, English, and Italian, while students in former times (50 years ago) would sing in Italian for two years, if not longer. Students today do not master the sounds of singing—and Italian—historically, contains the sounds necessary for extraordinary singing.

But here’s the thing: you can give a singer Italian tonal values without even saying what you are doing—be they a classical or a popular singer. How is it done? You make it a practice to speak and sing—demonstrating—Italian tonal vowels in all that you do and insist that your clients do as well. Does this take a great deal of repetition? Of course, it does. It is not an intellectual exercise but a procedural one. For these sounds to be perceived by the singer, the voice teacher must be able to make them by example. This is what was done in the 18th century. Read Vincenzo Cirillo’s text, A Lecture on the Art of Singing, on the download page. He makes this very clear. He also notes that singing only begins once the singer can inculcate all Italian vowels using a compound vowel as perceived from the center of the head—or, as he notes, behind the soft palate.

1. Yes, I was being provocative when I wrote the introduction. But mostly, I was making a point.

2. Gustave Garcia (1837-1925) was the grandson of the Romantic tenor Manuel Garcia (1775-1831) and the son of the father of voice science, Manuel Garcia (1905-1906). Gustave Garcia taught singing at the Royal Academy of Music (1880-1890), the Guildhall School of Music (1883-1910), and the Royal College of Music (1884-1925).

3. “Gustave Garcia died in London on June 12, at the age of eighty-nine. He came of a family of noted musicians. His father, Manuel Garcia, who died in 1906, at the age of 102, was a celebrated vocal teacher, the inventor of the laryngoscope and the author of the ‘Traite Complet de I’Art du Chant.’ His grandfather, Manuel Vicente Garcia, was born in 1776, over 150 years ago. This remarkable succession of professional musicians bridged over the traditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Madame Maria Malibran, the greatest singer of her time, and Madame Pauline Viardot Garcia, belonged to this extraordinary family. Gustave, son of Manuel the younger, was born in Milan on February 1, 1837. When he was about six mouths old his parents returned to their home in Paris, and Gustavo remained there until he was seventeen, receiving his education at the College of St. Barbe. In 1850 he went to England, and was sent to a private school, kept by a clergyman, to learn English, remaining there for six months. His father had decided to make an engineer of him, but he showed no more aptitude for that than the shipping business, of which he had, alter a term at an engineering school, a brief taste in Manchester. It was about this time that his aunt, Pauline Viardot, went to Manchester to fulfil some concert engagements. Young Gustavo appealed to her, told her of his incapacity and distaste for business, and begged her to ask his father to allow him to follow the profession of a singer. This, she did, his father consented, and he was packed off to Paris to study, first with Busine, a baritone, and then with Bataille, a bass, both well-known artists of the Opera Comique. He remained in Paris a year, returned to London to study with his father for three years, and made his debut in the title role of ‘Don Giovani’ at Her M'ajesty’s Theatre at the age of twenty-three. After a short season at that theatre he went to Italy, and sang in various operas at La Scala, Milan. At the Carcano Theatre he produced ‘Don Giovanni,’ which had not been produced in Milan for thirty-two years. For five years he toured that country, singing at the principal theatres, with an interval of five months at the Opera-house, Athens. At the age of twenty-nine he returned to London, giving several, concerts in Paris on his way hither, and shortly afterwards married Miss Linas Martorelli, an accomplished soprano, with whom he gave many concerts in London and the provinces. In 1830 he was appointed professor at tho Royal Academy of Music, remaining there ten years. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music from 1883 until 1910, and in 1884 he joined the staff of the Royal College of Music, teaching there until his final brief illness.”

   —DEATH OF GUSTAVE GARCIA. Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 19.

4. Gustave Garcia also wrote The Actors' Art: a Practical Treatise on Stage Declamation, Public Speaking and Deportment. London: T. Pettitt & Co., 1882, and A guide to Solo Singing. Containing Full Instructions for Singing, with a Detailed Analysis of Some Well-Known Works and Songs. London: Stainer, Novello, Ewer & Co., 1914.

5. Did this passage give me pause when I read it in 2006? Yes, it did, which may be why I put it out of my mind. Garcia’s facts are not our facts. That is certain. We know that the nasal or frontal cavities are not resonators. We also know skin color has nothing to do with resonance.

6. Herman Klein was one of Garcia’s last 4-year students. See the author's page to find his manual for singers.

7. “Free, unobstructed access to these ‘forward’ cavities can alone enable the voice to obtain all the advantages of complete resonance.” Herman Klein, The Bel Canto (1923), p. 22-23.

8. So properly produced singing contains nasality but isn’t in the nose? This phenomenon can be described as a matter of inner listening/feeling and a function of bone conduction. Read my posts on the work of Tomatis for additional perspective.