12 chapters
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12 chapters
Note
Note
Dr. Frank E. Miller, the author of this book, is one of the leading New York specialists on throat, nose and ear. He numbers many singers among his patients and is physician to the Manhattan Opera House, Mr. Oscar Hammerstein's company. To expert knowledge of the physiology of the vocal organs he adds practical experience as a vocalist. Before and during his student years he was a singer and held, among other positions, that of tenor in one of the large New York churches. This experience has bee
2 minute read
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Song, so far as voice-production is concerned, is the result of physiological action, and as voice-production is the basis of all song, it follows that a singing method, to be correct, must be based on the correct physiological use of the vocal organs. The physiology of voice-production lies, therefore, at the very foundation of artistic singing. The proper physiological basis for a singing method having been laid, something else, something highly important, remains to be superimposed. Voice is
12 minute read
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Further observations of a general character may be allowed to precede a more detailed consideration of method. Some people wonder why a person who is gifted with voice simply can't get up and sing without any instruction. The reason is that voice is an instrument; a natural, human instrument, it is true, yet one in the use of which the fortunate possessor requires practice and training. The purpose of a singing-method is to produce a perfect coördination of all parts of the human voice-producing
10 minute read
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
We speak of the breath of life; and breath is the life of song. Beautiful singing is predicated upon correct methods of breathing, without which, though there be a perfect larynx and perfectly formed resonance chambers above, the result will be unsatisfactory. Breathing, in fact, is the foundation of the art of singing. Breathing consists of taking air into the lungs and expelling it again, or as the physiologist would say, respiration consists of inspiration and expiration. Although they are es
21 minute read
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Air having been taken into the lungs, the act of exhaling it—the act of expiration—is, for ordinary purposes, a very simple matter. The elasticity of the parts of the body, the expansion of which made room for the inflation of the lungs, as these became filled with the air that was being drawn into them, permits the disadjustment to be readjusted almost automatically. Elasticity implies that a body which has been expanded returns spontaneously to its normal size and position. Thus with expiratio
17 minute read
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Above this chapter I might well have placed the following lines which George Eliot wrote above Chapter XXXI. of "Middlemarch." The lines telling of the great bell stirred by the note of a flute played at the proper pitch suggest the moving power that lies in sympathetic vibration. The first time a military body crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, the spectators were surprised to hear the order given for the soldiers to march out of step. They had expected to be thrilled by the sight of a thousand men c
22 minute read
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
It is sympathetic vibration, manifesting itself in some instances in the chest and in the head cavities, and in other instances almost entirely within the latter, that gives to voices their peculiar timbre or tone-quality—their physiognomy. It is by timbre that we distinguish voices as we distinguish features. With instruments, differences in quality of tone—differences in timbre—are due to differences of shape; and in case of instruments of the same kind, for example, violins, to slight differe
13 minute read
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
The subject of vocal registers is a difficult one—difficult to understand and, when understood, difficult to make intelligible to others. In fact, it is so difficult that some people get rid of it by calmly asserting that there are no registers. This is unfortunate, because the blending of the registers, the smoothing out of the voice where one register passes over into another, the elimination of the "break" between them, is one of the greatest problems which the teacher of voice-production is
13 minute read
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
It should be remembered that in the old days, from which traditions of phenomenally high voices have come down to us, musical pitch was lower than it is now. In those days a tenor, for example, could carry up his voice in the adjustment for the middle or in phenomenal cases even for the chest register, instead of changing to the head register, more easily than can be done now. In fact, nowadays, when a composer calls for a very high note, it usually is transposed, so that actually the supposedly
15 minute read
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
The coup de glotte , translated as "stroke of the glottis," refers to the manner in which a note should be attacked. This matter of attack already has been covered by inference many times in the course of this book. For, as the effectiveness of vocal attack depends upon the way in which the air-column strikes the vocal cords, it follows that the advice constantly given and in accordance with which the entire vocal tract of the singer should adjust itself as if by second nature to the tone that i
14 minute read
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
I should say that no one should be more scrupulous in his habits than the singer. It is more difficult to keep the keen edge of the voice in good repair than that of the sharpest razor, and nothing should be done to dull it. No one more than the singer requires to observe the moral and physical laws. The singer should always be in training, always in the pink of condition. By nature, women should be more subject to impairment of voice than men. But they are not. They are brought up to take bette
21 minute read
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
Vocal hygiene is a specific system based upon well-regulated principles for a specific purpose and applying to a specific class in the family of nations. But there is the difference that, whereas the laws governing the general health of the community have legislative sanction and are strenuously enforced by official authority, the laws of vocal hygiene bear no seal of state or municipal power, save in the broadly general sense indicated, but rely for enforcement upon the individual who is most n
12 minute read