Rampant throughout the incredibly diverse
approaches to the teaching of voice are
three ”stunners” that stand out below the
fray. I will deal with two of them in this
Tip, leaving the most egregious--in my
opinion--in Part 2. Let us begin with two
failed techniques, the first one of which
has been around a long time, but just
recently has again gotten my attention, as a
long-time student/pro of voice came through
my door. I not only teach voice and coach
repertoire, I fix broken voices. The
challenge is to teach a new “student” to let
go of the constrictions imposed upon the
tongue/throat so that the tongue, the soft
palate and … the voice are free from
excessive tension and are allowed to take a
more gentle, deliberate approach … in
proving that the previous parasitic
tensions, were unnecessary, even harmful.
As is most always the case, we start with
this “repair” by standing in front of the
mirror and working with my Breathing/Support
Technique. That takes about fifteen minutes.
Then, layer-by-layer we strip out the
tensions and bring forth the focused,
ringing natural voice. Most often, it is an
epiphanic moment.
The “Flat Tongue Technique” which
incredibly is doomed by its very name,
(Walk to your mirror, shape a lovely
oval with your lips, with the top lip
down ... you too, guys–go through the
five basic vowels; A E I O U--pure
vowels, not modified–clean, pure RINGING
vowels and ask yourself, rhetorically,
”Did my tongue lie flat?” Of course not!
All by itself, the tongue demonstrated
the fact that you clearly can’t sing the
pure vowels A and E without the arch of
the tongue jumping upandforward ... to
where it must be to sing those pure
vowels; no modified vowels, please! (Oh
you can kinda make it close by raising
the tip of your tongue and tightening
your throat a bit, but that’s cheating
... it muffles the sound and guarantee
ya ... it ain’t an A or E, by anyone
else’s standards. Tape yourself!)
Did I forget to mention that you must
actually must “LOOK” to see what your
mouth is doing, what it is your tongue
is doing, how much you over-use your
mouth to pronounce the vowels that are
simply made by the movement of the
tongue in the mirror, in order to really
see what’s going on? The idea may be
novel, even obvious … but ya never
really look at yourself “clinically,
technically!” It’s a given that most of
you will start by looking into the
mirror but … at the very instant of the
first tone, your eyes will drop like a
rock to the floor, while you go inside
your head and listen ... the eyes
ironically returning to the mirror as
you finish! It’s what people do.
If you are a serious student of the
voice, a tape recorder is really, really
necessary, because your perception of
what you sound like … isn’t necessarily
what your audience hears! It’s because
you are inside your head, listening and
also hearing your voice as it fills a
room, with your “outer ears” not your
just your “inner”... you’re not outside
like were are. Record yourself and play
it back ... It will take several
playing’s to hear various
things/problems because–in your
mind--you already KNOW/FEEL what you
have done! Therefore, you will “tend” to
hear the one on the playback ... the way
you had intended to sing it! (Is that a
play on words?) Does that make sense to
you? It will ... after you play a
phrase, five or six times. You’ll be
amazed at what you hear!
Use a small flashlight to see your
tongue; it should just be there, with
the tip of it in the recess behind your
back teeth, but never touching your
teeth. If the arch of the tongue isn’t
going upandforward–that’s one word-on
the E, A and Ih (as in with) vowels ...
you will not hear a pure vowel on the
recording. (You brain will try to make
it sound like a pure E or an A, but it
won’t be ... because your arch is
nowhere near upandforward enough! You’ve
got to tune to a pure A by teaching your
tongue how high to go!)
Do this experiment or not, depending
upon whether you’re just “having fun”
taking voice lessons, or you really want
to advance your technique.
Parenthetically–my faithful readers will
please forgive me–but EVERYONE CAN SING
... given the proper concepts. Say out
loud, THE VOICE IS A WIND INSTRUMENT!
(That’s the best you can do? I can’t
hear you! Hold a yawn, pop yer belly out
and kick it in as you talk ... and
you’ll double the size of your voice ...
get tall!) Re: Tip August, 2007
The “Smiling Technique” is taught–in my
opinion--generally by a teacher ... who was
taught by a teacher, who was ... etc. who,
while she might have had a really good
handle on high voice herself, she hadn’t the
“understanding” of what actually makes it
work (she’s probably a Natural Singer), in
order to be able to explain it to a
student-- the subtle things her tongue is
doing and what the effect of the “long
narrow mouth has on the quality of tone” and
“lift and grow” concepts-- to be able to
explain “exactly how” SHE/HE was able to
sing the high notes. The voice is an enigma
to most “teachers” whether prominent or not!
They are unable to verbalize—the things they
do naturally--the things that must be done,
in coordination, “en balance,” for them to
be consistently ready on demand ,,, lessay
for instance ... for the high C, on the
fourth page of an aria. These teachers
get-bye most often because some of their
singers “just know” where those notes
are–how to sing and they are the magnets
that draw in the other students, who may
have the talent, but have a teacher who
can’t find it—but whose main function is to
pay the rent.
At the request of a wonderful friend and
Colleague, Dr. William Hall, Founding Dean
and Artistic Director for the Center of the
Arts, Chapman University, with whom I had
sung an opera and a number of concerts, I
gave a one hour Master Class for the voice
majors. The gym was crowded and energetic,
so I started off, by teaching everyone in
the bleachers, how my breathing and support
works ... I never take a singing breath!
“Taking” is the operative word. I never pull
air into my body, “a singing breath” on
stage ... I pop out my Belly-Button with my
throat open ... and my lungs fill full. The
BB drops the diaphragm allowing a space that
air just naturally fills.
The first student chosen for me was a tall
baritone with twice the voice he was using,
so I fixed that. He wouldn’t stand tall, as
he sang the Count’s aria from Nozze di
Figaro. I ended up, arm in arm with him–told
him to stand tall, revel in your height–and
walked him through the aria, asking him in
English the questions that would anticipate
the next lyric. I sat down halfway through
... as he dazzled his audience! I had made
him aware of his emotions and not to
apologize for his height; as he gained steam
... his confidence soared! They loved him!
Then came a lovely young soprano, very
musical, beautiful voice but, as she
ascended toward her top, her mouth became a
forced smile that also spread the high
notes, cutting the beauty of her voice and
coming in flat. I had her lengthen her
mouth, top lip tucked and, using my support
technique, she got tall, crisply ... and
soared over the top, owning the high-notes,
that had hitherto deserted her. The class
was appreciative ... and we did whole bunch
more high notes, to the enjoyment of the
crowd. I then asked her the first of three
questions, “You’re singing with the Smile
Technique?” She said yes. “How did those
high-notes, you just sang, feel and sound?”
She said, “They sounded great ... and my
throat didn’t hurt!” She then let out a
lady-like roar that class joined, in of
approval of her obvious improvement. I
encouraged her, “Now that you know how to
sing through the high voice, never sing wide
again.” She looked uncomfortable with my
suggestion and then, oh boy, “light dawned“
and I asked the third question: “Your
teacher is sitting in the bleachers, right?”
She gave me a rueful nod and I said, “Well …
just don’t go wide, ever! It encourages your
soft palate to drop so that you can’t fully
rotate the sound upandforward into the nasal
pharynx ... to allow the high voice to fly.”
I suspect the third singer was a teacher–a
ringer-who sang an Art Song very well! I had
specifically asked for students with vocal
problems that I could fix on the spot. She
asked if I had any comments for her and,
since she had been stylishly, in concert
mode, barely moving, with her palm resting
on the piano ... I suggested only that a bit
more energy would have been beneficial.
I wanted to fix something that was “broke!”
It was a bit frustrating to waste the time
... and I think the students felt it as
well. I sent my “honorarium” as a
contribution for their scholarship fund.
Needless to say ... I was not invited back
in a similar capacity, although I attended
several functions where student’s would come
up to me and ask, “When are you going to
give another Master Class? That was cool!”
It doesn’t take much to make me happy!
Beware:
Whenever you go in for your first lesson,
just ask the prospective teacher to sing
something for you. If she/he offers the
excuse that, “I really don’t sing anymore
... ”your next question should be, “If your
technique isn’t good enough to keep your
voice in excellent shape ... why should I
place my voice--life–in your hands?” Then
... get the helloutta Dodge!
