Vocal pedagogy

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Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in singing teaching and helps in defining what it is to sing, how to sing work, and how the correct singing technique has been achieved.

Vocal pedagogy encompasses various aspects of singing, ranging from physiological processes of vocal production to artistic aspects of song interpretation of different genres or historical epochs. Typical areas of study include:

• Anatomy and human physiology associated with the physical process of singing.
• Support breathing and air for singing
• Posture to sing
• Phonation
• Vocal resonance or sound projection
• Diction, vocal and articulation
• Vocal registration
• Sostenuto and legato to sing
• Other singing elements, like extension range, tone quality, vibrato, coloratura
• Health problems and vocal sounds related to singing
• Vocal styles, like learning to sing an opera, belt, or Art song
• Phonetic
• Voice classification

All these different concepts are part of developing proper vocal techniques. Not all vocal teachers have the same opinion in any study topic that causes variation in the pedagogical and vocal approaches.

Video Vocal pedagogy

History

In Western culture, the study of vocal pedagogy began in Ancient Greece. Academics such as Alypius and Pythagoras studied and made observations about the art of singing. It is not clear, however, whether the Greeks ever developed a systematic approach to teaching singing because little writing on the subject survives today.

The first surviving record of a systematic approach to teaching singing was developed in medieval monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church sometime near the beginning of the 13th century. As with other fields of study, the monasteries were the epicenter of the intellectual life of music during the medieval period and many men in the monasteries devoted their time to studying music and the art of singing. Very influential in the development of vocal pedagogical systems were the Johannes de Garlandia and Jerome monks of Moravia who were the first to develop the concept of vocal registers. These people identify three registers: chest sound, throat sound, and head sound (pectoris, guttoris, and capitis). Their concept of a voice, however, is much more akin to the understanding of modern pedagogy about the falsetto list. Other concepts discussed in the monastic system include vocal resonance, sound classification, breath support, diction, and tone qualities to name a few. The ideas developed in the monastic system greatly influenced the development of vocal pedagogy over the next several centuries including the Bel Canto singing style.

With the commencement of the Renaissance in the fifteenth century, the study of singing began to move outside the church. Tribunals of wealthy supporters, such as the Duke of Burgundy who supported the Burgundian School and the Franco-Flemish School, became secular studies centers for singing and all other fields of music study. The vocal pedagogical methods taught in these schools, however, are based on concepts developed within the monastic system. Many teachers in these schools have their initial musical training from singing in church choirs as children. The Church also remains at the forefront of the current musical composition and remains very influential in shaping the tastes and practices of music both inside and outside the church. It was the first Catholic Church to popularize the use of a 16th-century corrato singer, ultimately leading to the singer's popularity in Baroque and Classical operas.

It was not until the 17th century opera's development that vocal pedagogy began to escape the established thinking of the monastic writers and develop a deeper understanding of the physical process of singing and its relation to key concepts such as vocal and vocal registrations. resonance. It was also during this time, that the recorded voice teacher began to appear. Giulio Caccini is an example of an important early Italian voice teacher. At the end of the 17th century, the method of singing bel canto began to flourish in Italy. This singing style had a major impact on the development of opera and the development of vocal pedagogy during the Classical and Romantic period. During this time, teachers and composers first began to identify singers by and write roles for more specific types of voices. However, it was not until the nineteenth century that a more vivid system of sound classification such as the German Fach system emerged. In this system, more descriptive terms are used in classifying sounds such as soprano coloratura and lyric soprano.

The sound teachers of the 19th century continued to train singers for careers in opera. Manuel Patricio RodrÃÆ'guez GarcÃÆ'a is often regarded as one of the most important vocal teachers of the 19th century, and is credited with the development of laryngoscopy and the beginnings of modern sound pedagogy.

The field of sound pedagogy became more developed in the mid-20th century. Some American voice masters began studying the science, anatomy, and physiology of singing, especially Ralph Appelman at Indiana University, Oren Brown at the University of Washington School of Medicine and later Juilliard School, and William Vennard at the University of Southern California. This shift in the singing learning approach leads to the rejection of many of the statements of bel canto singing methods, especially in the field of vocal enrollment and vocal resonance. Consequently, there are currently two prominent schools of thought among today's voice teachers, those who maintain the historical position of the bel canto method and those who choose to embrace a more contemporary understanding based on the current knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. There are also teachers who borrow ideas from both perspectives, creating hybrids from both.

Appelman and Vennard were also part of a group of voice instructors who developed courses for early voice teachers, added these scientific ideas to standard exercises and empirical ways to improve vocal techniques, and in 1980 the subject of pedagogy sound began to be included in many a degree program of music for vocal music singers and educators.

More recent works by authors such as Richard Miller and Johan Sundberg have increased the general knowledge of voice teachers, and the scientific and practical aspects of voice pedagogy continue to be studied and discussed by professionals. In addition, the formation of organizations such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing (now an international organization of Vocal Instructors) has enabled voice teachers to build more consensus on their work, and has expanded understanding of what teachers do.

Maps Vocal pedagogy

Study topics

Pedagogical philosophy

There are basically three main approaches to vocal pedagogy, all related to how mechanistic and psychological control are used in singing actions. Some voice instructors advocate an extreme mechanistic approach that believes that singing is largely a matter of getting the right physical part in the right place at the right time, and that correcting vocal errors is achieved by calling attention directly to those parts that are not working properly.. At the other extreme, it is a school of thought that believes that attention should not be directed to any part of the vocal mechanism - that singing is a matter of producing a proper mental image of the desired tone, and that correcting vocal errors is achieved by learning to think the right mind and releasing emotions through musical interpretation. Most vocal teachers, however, believe that truth lies somewhere between the two extremes and adopts a composite of the two approaches.

The nature of the vowel sound

Physiology of vowel sound production

There are four physical processes involved in producing vocal sounds: respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. These processes occur in the following order:

1. Breath taken
2. Sound starts in the larynx
3. The vocal resonator receives the sound and influences it
4. Articulator shapes sound into recognizable units

Although these four processes must be considered separately, in actual practice they merge into a coordinated function. With an effective singer or speaker, one should be rarely reminded of the processes involved because their minds and bodies are so coordinated that people only feel the integrated function they produce. Many vocal problems result from lack of coordination in this process.

Respiration

In the most basic sense, respiration is the process of moving air into and out of the body - inhalation and breathing. Breathing for singing and speaking is a more controlled process than the ordinary breathing used to sustain life. The controls applied for breathing are essential in good vocal techniques.

Phonation

Fonation is the process of producing a vowel sound by vibration of the vocal cords which in turn is modified by the resonance of the vocal tract. It occurs in the larynx when the vocal folds are brought together and the breath pressure applied to them in such a way that vibration occurs then causes an audible acoustic energy source, that is sound, which can then be modified by articulatory action. the rest of the vocal tool. The vocal folds are brought together primarily by the action of the interarytenoid muscles, which attract the arytenoid cartilage together.

Resonation

The resonance vowel is the process by which the basic product of the phonation is increased in timbre and/or intensity by the cavities filled with the air traveling on its way to the outside air. The various terms associated with the resonance process include amplification, enrichment, enlargement, enhancement, intensification, and extension, though in acoustic authority the rigorous scientific usage will question most of them. The main point drawn from these terms by the singer or speaker is that the end result of the resonance is, or should be, to make a better sound.

There are seven areas that may be listed as vocal resonators. In sequence from the lowest in the body to the highest, this area is the chest, the trachea tree, the larynx itself, the pharynx, the oral cavity, the nasal cavity, and the sinuses.

Studies have shown that the larynx, pharynx and oral cavity are the main resonators of the vocal sound, with the nasal cavity playing only in the nasal consonants, or nasal vowels, as found in French. This main resonating space, from the top of the vocal cords to the lips, is known as the vocal channel. Many voice users experience a sensation in the sinuses that may be misconstrued as resonance. However, this sensation is caused by sympathetic vibrations, and is the result, not the cause, of efficient vocal resonance.

Articulation

Articulation is the process by which the combined product of a vibrator and a resonator is formed into a recognizable speech sound by muscle adjustment and movement of speech organs. The adjustment and movement of this articulator produces verbal communication and thus forms an important distinction between human voices and other musical instruments. Singing without comprehensible words limits the voice to nonverbal communication. In relation to the physical process of singing, the vocal instructor tends to focus more on active articulation as opposed to passive articulation. There are five basic active articulators: lips ("labial consonants"), flexible front tongues ("coronal consonants"), middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonant"), tongue root together epiglottis ("pharynx consonant"), and glottis ("glotted consonant"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more can work together in so-called coarticulation .

Unlike active articulation, passive articulation is a continuum without many clear boundaries. Linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, alveolar, alveolar and palatal, palatal and velar spots, velar and uvular joins into each other, and consonants can be spoken somewhere between the named places.

In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the top surface or blade of the tongue making the contact ("laminal consonant"), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonant"), or below the surface ("sub consonants -apical"). This articulation also merges into one another with no apparent limits.

Interpretation

Interpretation is sometimes imprinted by the voice teacher as the fifth physical process although firmly it is not a physical process. The reason for this is that the interpretation does not affect the type of sound the singer makes which is ultimately achieved through the singer's physical action. Although teachers can introduce their students with musical styles and performance practices and suggest a particular interpretive effect, most voice teachers agree that interpretations can not be taught. Students who have no natural creative imagination and aesthetic sensitivity can not learn it from others. Failure to interpret well is not a vocal error, although it can affect the vowel sound significantly.

Vocal sound classification

Vowel sounds are divided into two basic categories - vowels and consonants - with various subclassifications. Master Sounds and serious-sounding students spend a lot of time studying how voices and consonants make sounds, and learn about problems that can be caused by certain consonants or vowels while singing. The International Phonetic Alphabet is often used by vocal teachers and their students.

Issues in describing vowel sound

Describing vocal sounds is an imprecise science especially since the human voice is a stand-alone instrument. Due to the internal vocal instrument, the singer's ability to monitor the resulting sound is complicated by the vibrations brought to the ears through the Eustachean tube (hearing) and the bone structure of the head and neck. In other words, most singers hear something different in their ears/heads than what people hear. As a result, the teacher's voice often lacks focus on how to "voice" and more about how "feels". The vibration sensations resulting from the closely related phonation and resonance processes, and the kinesthetic arising from muscle tension, movement, body position, and weight serve as a guide for the singer on the correct vocal production.

Another problem in describing the vowel sound lies in the vocal vocal itself. There are many schools of thought in vocal pedagogy and different schools have adopted different terms, sometimes from other artistic disciplines. This led to the use of a number of descriptive terms applied to sounds that are not always understood to mean the same thing. Some terms sometimes used to describe the sound quality of sound are: warm, white, dark, bright, round, reedy, spread, focused, closed, swallowed, forward, rang, hooty, bleaty, plummy, mellow, pear shaped, Etc.

Alignment Body

The singing process works best when certain physical conditions of the body exist. The ability to move air in and out of the body freely and to obtain the quantity of air needed can be greatly influenced by the alignment of the body from various parts of the respiratory mechanism. The sunken chest position will limit the capacity of the lungs, and the tense belly wall will impede the trip down the diaphragm. Good body leveling allows the breathing mechanism to fulfill its basic functions efficiently without undue energy expenditure. Good body alignment also makes it easy to start the fonation and to tune the resonator because proper alignment prevents unnecessary strain in the body. Voice Instructors have also noted that when the singer considers good body alignment it often gives them greater confidence and tranquility while performing. Viewers also tend to respond better to singers with good body alignment. Good body smoothing in general also improves overall body health by allowing better blood circulation and preventing fatigue and stress in the body.

Respiratory and breathing support

In the words of Robert C. White, who paraphrases "Credo" to sing:

In the Beginning there is Breath, and Singing with Breath, and Singing is Breath, and Singing is Breath. And all the songs are made by Breath, and without Breath no Singing is made. (White 1988, p.26)

All the songs begin with the breath. All vowel sounds are created by vibrations in the larynx caused by air from the lungs. Breathing in everyday life is a function of the subconscious body that occurs naturally, but the singer must have control of the intake and breathing breath to achieve maximum results from their voices.

Natural respiration has three stages: respiratory period, respiratory period, and rest or recovery period; these stages are usually not consciously controlled. In singing there are four stages of breathing:

1. respiratory period (inhalation)
2. set the control period (suspension)
3. controlled respiration period (phonation)
4. recovery period

These stages must be under the conscious control of the singers until they become conditioned reflexes. Many singers leave unconscious control before their reflexes are fully conditioned which ultimately leads to chronic vocal problems.

Voice classification

In European classical music and opera, sounds are treated like musical instruments. Composers who write vocal music should have an understanding of the singers' skills, talents, and vocal traits. Sound classification is the process by which the voice of the human song is evaluated and thus set to sound type. These qualities include but are not limited to: vocal range, vocal weight, vocal tessitura, vocal timbre, and vocal transition points such as breaks and lifts in sound. Other considerations are physical characteristics, speech levels, scientific testing, and vocal registrations. The science behind the classification of sounds developed in European classical music and is slow in adapting to the more modern forms of singing. Voice classification is often used in operas to link potential roles with potential sounds. Currently there are several different systems used in classical music including: the German system Fach and the choir music system among many others. There is no universally applied or accepted system.

However, most classical music systems recognize seven different major sound categories. Women are usually divided into three groups: soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto. Men are usually divided into four groups: countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass. When considering children's voices, the eighth term, treble, can be applied. Within each of these major categories there are several sub-categories that identify specific vowel qualities such as coloratura facilities and vocal weight to distinguish between sounds.

It should be noted that in choral music, the singer's voice is split only based on the vocal range. Choral music most often divides the vocal parts into high and low sounds in each sex (SATB). As a result, the typical choir situation gives many opportunities for misclassification. Since most people have a moderate voice, they must be assigned to an exorbitant or too low level for them; mezzo-soprano had to sing soprano or alto and baritone had to sing tenor or bass. One option may present a problem for the singer, but for most singers, less danger in singing is too low than singing too high.

In contemporary forms of music (sometimes referred to as Contemporary Commercial Music), singers are classified by the style of music they sing, such as jazz, pop, blues, soul, country, folk, and rock styles. There is currently no authoritative voice classification system in non-classical music. Attempts have been made to adopt the types of classical sounds to other forms of singing, but such attempts have been greeted with controversy. The development of sound categorization is done with the understanding that the singer will use classical vocal techniques within a certain range using vowel production that is not measurable (without a microphone). Because contemporary musicians use different vocal techniques, microphones, and are not forced to enter into certain vocal roles, applying terms such as soprano, tenor, baritone, etc. can be misleading or even inaccurate.

Rapid identification hazard

Many vocal teachers warn of the danger of rapid identification. Early attention to classification may lead to misclassification, with all the dangers involved. Vennard says:

"I've never felt any urgency about classifying early students, so many premature diagnoses have been proven wrong, and it can be dangerous for students and embarrassing for teachers to keep fighting for improper purposes, should start in the middle of the voice and work up and down until the voice classifies itself. "

Most vocal teachers believe it is important to establish good vocal habits within a limited and comfortable range before trying to classify the sound. When posture, breathing, phonation, resonance, and articulation techniques have formed in this comfortable area, the actual sound quality will emerge and the upper and lower limits of the range can be safely explored. Only then can the classification be determined temporarily, and it can be adjusted as the voice continues to grow. Many recognized voice instructors suggest that teachers start by assuming that a sound is a moderate classification until proven otherwise. The reason for this is that the majority of individuals have a moderate voice and therefore this approach is less likely to misclassify or damage the sound.

Vocal registration

Vocal registration refers to the vocal register system in human voice. The register in the human voice is a certain tone sequence, produced in the same vocal cords vibration pattern, and has the same qualities. The register comes from the function of the larynx. They occur because the vocal cords are capable of producing several different vibrational patterns. Each of these vibration patterns emerges within a certain pitch range and produces certain characteristic sounds. The term register can be somewhat confusing because it covers several aspects of human voice. Glossary can be used to refer to the following:

• Certain parts of the vowel range such as upper, middle, or lower registers.
• Resonance areas such as chest or head sound.
• The fonatori process
• A certain vocal timbre
• Sound area specified or limited by vocal pause.
• Part of the language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting.

In linguistics, the register language is a language that combines the tone and vowel of phonation into a single phonological system.

In speech pathology, the term vocal register has three constituent elements: certain vibrational patterns of the vocal cords, certain tone sequences, and certain types of sounds. The pathologist's speech identified four vocal registers based on the physiology of the larynx function: vocal register fry, modal registers, falsetto registers, and whistle lists. This view was also adopted by many singing teachers.

However, some vocal teachers regulate the register differently. There are more than a dozen different constructs of vocal registers used in the field. The confusion that exists about what a register is, and how many registers there are, is partly because of what happens in the capital list when someone sings from the lowest tone of the register to the highest note. The vibration frequency of the vocal cords is determined by their length, voltage, and mass. As the pitch rises, the vocal folds are extended, the tension increases, and the thickness decreases. In other words, these three factors are in a state of flux in transition from the lowest tone to the highest notes.

If a singer holds either of these factors constant and interferes with his progressive status change, his laryngeal function tends to be static and eventually break occurs with a clear change of tone quality. These breaks are often identified as register boundaries or as transition areas between registers. Different changes or breaks between registers are called passaggio or ponticello. The vocal instructor teaches that by learning a singer can easily move from one list to another with ease and consistent tone. The register can even overlap while singing. Teachers who like to use this "list mixer" theory usually help students through "parts" from one list to another by hiding their "lift" (where the voice changes).

However, many voice instructors disagree with this boundary difference that blames such breaks on vocal issues that have been created by static larynx adjustments that do not allow the necessary changes to occur. This difference of opinion influences the different view of vocal registration.

Coordinate

Singing is an integrated and coordinated action and it is difficult to discuss every technical field and individual process without connecting it with others. For example, phonation only appears when connected to respiration; articulator affects resonance; resonator affects the vocal fold; the vocal cords affect breath control; Etc. Vocal problems are often the result of a failure in one part of this coordinated process that causes the voice teacher to frequently focus, intensively, on one area of ​​the process with their students until the problem is resolved. However, some art areas of singing are so much the result of coordinated functions that it is difficult to discuss them under traditional titles such as phonation, resonance, articulation, or respiration.

Once the sound students become aware of the physical processes that make up the singing and how those processes work, students begin the task of trying to coordinate them. It can not be denied, students and teachers will become more concerned with one technical area than the other. Various processes can develop at different levels, with imbalances or lack of coordination generated. The field of vocal engineering that seems to depend heavily on students' ability to coordinate functions is:

1. Extend the vowel range to its maximum potential
2. Develop consistent vocal production with consistent tone quality
3. Develop flexibility and agility
4. Achieve balanced vibration

Developing singing voice

Some people think that singing is not a natural process but a skill that requires a highly developed muscle reflex, but others assume that some ways of singing can be considered as natural. Singing does not require much muscle strength but it does require high-level muscle coordination. Individuals can develop their voices further through a careful and systematic exercise of both songs and vocal exercises. Vocal teachers instruct their students to train their voices in a clever way. Singers should keep thinking about the kind of sounds they make and the kind of sensation they feel when they sing.

Practice singing voice

There are several purposes for vocal exercises, including:

1. Warm sounds
2. Expand the vocal range
3. "Lining up" sounds horizontally and vertically
4. Get vocal techniques like legato, staccato, dynamic control, fast figuration, learn to sing comfortably, and correct vocal errors.

Expand the vocal range

One of the important goals of vocal development is learning to sing at the natural boundaries of a person's vocal range without any obvious change or disturbing quality or technique. Voice instructors teach that singers can only achieve this goal when all the physical processes involved in singing (such as laryngeal action, breath support, resonance adjustment, and articulatory movement) work together effectively. Most voice teachers believe that the first step in coordinating this process is to establish good vocal habits in the most comfortable sound tessitura first before slowly extending beyond that range.

There are three factors that significantly affect the ability to sing higher or lower:

1. Energy Factor - In this usage the word energy has several connotations. This refers to the body's total response to the making of sound. This refers to the dynamic relationship between the breathing muscles and the outgoing muscles as a breathing support mechanism. It also refers to the amount of breath pressure sent to the vocal cords and resistance to that pressure, and this refers to a dynamic sound level.
2. Space Factor - Space refers to the amount of space created by the movement of the mouth and the position of the ceiling and the larynx. In general, the singer's mouth should be opened wider, the higher they sing. The internal space or position of the soft palate and larynx can be dilated by the relaxed throat. The voice teacher often describes this as a feeling like "early yawn".
3. Depth Factor - In this usage the depth of the word has two connotations. This refers to the actual physical sensation of the depth in the body and the vocal mechanism and this refers to the mental concepts of depth associated with the quality of the tone.

McKinney says, "These three factors can be expressed in three basic rules: (1) When you sing higher, you have to use more energy, when you sing less, you have to use less (2) When you sing higher , You have to use more space, when you sing less, you have to use less (3) When you sing higher, you have to use deeper, when you sing lower, you have to use less. "

General music studies

Some vocal teachers will spend time working with their students on general musical knowledge and skills, especially music theory, music history, and musical styles and practices related to the vocal literature being studied. If required they can also spend time helping their students become better vision readers, often adopting solfÃÆ'¨ge, which gives certain syllables to scale records.

Skills and performance practices

Because singing is a performing arts, sound masters spend most of their time preparing their students for performances. This includes teaching their students behavioral etiquette on stage such as bending, troubleshooting issues such as stage fright or nervous tics, and use of equipment such as a microphone. Some students may also prepare careers in the field of opera or musical theater where acting skills are required. Many voice instructors will spend time on acting techniques and audience communication with students in this area of ​​interest. Opera students also spend a lot of time with their vocal teachers learning foreign language pronunciation.

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See also

• Human voice
• Master's voice

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References

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External links

• Books on vocal pedagogy
• The history of vocal pedagogy
• The National Singing Teachers Association
• Articles & amp; Guide for Better Singing
• Vocapedia, NATS-sponsored comprehensive database of vocal singing and pedagogy

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Source

• Thurman, Leon; Welch, ed., Graham (2000). Bodymind & amp; voice: Voice education foundation (ed revised.). Collegeville, Minnesota: The VoiceCare Network et al. ISBNÃ, 0-87414-123-0. CS1 maint: Additional text: author list (link)

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