Resonance in Singing and Speaking

Mental conception precedes execution. The picture must exist in the artist's mind before it can be drawn on the canvas. The architect must mentally see the majestic cathedral in...

What is called "placing the voice" or "tone production" or "focusing the voice" is, as already stated in the previous chapter, chiefly a matter of resonance--of control of the r...

Since the vocal organism first became an object of systematic study, discussion has been constant as to whether the human vocal instrument is a stringed instrument, a reed instr...

It has been said that "breathing is singing." This statement is equally applicable to speaking. While the aphorism is not literally true, it is true that without properly contro...

The intimate relationship existing between voice culture and the science of acoustics was formerly slightly perceived. The teaching of singing, as an art, then rested altogether...

A generation ago the speaking voice was even less understood than the singing voice. That the two were intimately connected was but half surmised. Only an occasional person reco...

The subject of registers has always been the _bête noire_ of vocalists, a source of controversy and confusion. The term "register," as commonly used, means a series of tones of...

Pupils are constantly urged to sing and speak naturally, because the "natural" tone is correct. This is exceedingly indefinite. It is natural for a child to imitate the first so...

Unfortunately, many teachers have taken this attitude, overlooking the fact that, although life is dependent on normal, healthy breathing, such breathing is, in civilized commun...

In one respect there is marked contrast between these two factors. Until right habits are so thoroughly formed that the singer's breathing is automatically controlled, conscious...

What is the most frequent obstacle to good singing, the difficulty with which pupil and teacher most contend? Throat stiffness. What more than anything else mars the singing of...