SINGING DEFINED

Psychophysically, artful singing is the dynamic (ever changing) act of coordinating instantaneously the physical sensations of respiration (the will to breathe), phonation (the will to utter a sound), resonation (the will to form a particular vowel position), and articulation (the will to communicate by forming both vowel and consonant) into a disciplined utterance.

Such a definition is confined to psychophysical terms because no aesthetic definition of singing is acceptable to everyone. Rightly so, for man interprets his song within the boundary of his own life experience, and the multiplicity of variation within human conduct causes one person to deny the beauty of song, another to embrace it. Yet all men can sing within limits of their own emotional sensations, and for this reason, song has become universal.

Some song is primitive, some has reached the level of an art form. The definition stated above refers only to the rigorous disciplines demanded of the art song as expressed by the contemporary recitalist and the manner in which various conceptual and physical forces are exerted under the organ of sound.

An objective of a singer is to develop an acceptable technique that depends upon a sensation experience learned from an active vocal process which involves the psychophysical acts of respiration, phonation, resonation, and articulation.

In considering the instrument to which such disciplines are applied, one is aware that the total body is involved in the singing process and that each bodily force depends upon the others in the complex act of supporting the laryngeal sound.

BREATHING FOR SINGING

“The mechanics of breathing is a problem requiring, on one hand, the detailed knowledge of the classical anatomist and, on the other, the analytical understanding of an engineer.”¹ The profundity of this statement is realized by those who have attempted to analyze, by scholarly research methods, the nature and functions of the respiratory act in song. So complex are the muscular controls of breathing, so minute are their effects when expiration is linked with phonation that a reconciliation of these forces in song has defied accurate physiological description.

Students of voice learn varied processes of the act of breathing that have their origins in the masters of the golden age of song. Teachers speak positively of the breathing process in song, but at best, their directions are more personal than factual because experimental evidence on breath control for singing is not available to them.

The body of knowledge known as voice science has yielded vital information on breathing for speech that provides a firm point of departure for teaching breathing for singing. Yet a variety of social and musical demands separates the speech act and the singing act. Muscle group actions are more varied and complex in singing than in speech because the duration of the sound and changes in frequency and intensity place additional demands upon the antagonist muscles of respiration. (See “Point of Suspension,” p. 11.)

The voice student cannot conceivably be compelled to know the anatomy of the respiratory system with the thoroughness of the classical anatomist. The teacher of voice is interested primarily in those muscle group actions that involve expiration during the singing act and secondarily in those which involve inspiration. The intercostal lift, the abdominal tuck, and the feeling of support are terms that are deeply imbedded in professional terminology and must be investigated during the vocal process of singing.

The physical analysis of muscular action in this book is limited to those activities that are significant in song and to those that will implement the studio experience of explaining the act of breathing by providing a factually correct terminology. For this reason, it concentrates, not on breathing for living, but on breathing for singing.

Some knowledge of anatomy is indispensable for a complete understanding and diagnosis of inspiration and expiration problems in song. The muscles and skeletal structure of the body that provide the necessary leverage for support of and resistance to the breath pressure are the author’s only consideration. Within this chapter he hopes to reconcile these physiological concepts and physiological systems.

Support in Singing

Support is the act of constantly sustaining the vocalized sound with the breath pressure. It is realized only when expiration is instantaneously coordinated with phonation. The onset of attack is soft, not hard.

To explain it in other terms used by the profession, it is the sensation of always being “under the tone with a low muscular effort”; it is the sensation of “singing on the breath”; it is the sensation of “establishing an abdominal muscular effort coordinated with the vocalized sound.” The inexperienced singer constantly fails to maintain such a connection during intervallic change and more often in diatonic passages where the vowel is altered. In the words of the definition, he fails to sustain the vocalized sound with the breath pressure.

This definition suggests that the objectives of support are as follows:

1. To unify and coordinate the forces of expiration and phonation through action in song by establishing the sensation of a point of suspension through direct action of the abdominal musculature and by using an antagonist musculature in the phonatory effort.

2. To provide the motor activity or driving forces for the production of unwavering sound during phonation by employing the strong muscles of the body.

3. To provide for an ample supply of breath, always allowing for adequate reserve.

4. To relieve all undue tensions of the musculature of the neck and throat.

To understand and apply this definition of support in the singing act, one needs to examine several types of breathing employed by students of singing. Also, one must understand that breathing for singing is always controlled or stabilized expiration; it is not passive as is breathing for living.

The Point of Suspension

The point of suspension is the body sensation created by a balanced pressure of the thoracic muscles of inspiration opposed by the abdominal muscles of expiration.

Such a state of balanced suspension may be illustrated by pressing the palms of the hands together, and increasing the pressure of each hand against the other. The hands do not move because the pressures exerted are equal.

In singing, the driving force of the abdominal musculature often exceeds the resisting force of the thoracic muscles, and controls are lost. Ideally, the entire scale should be sung on the point of suspension where thoracic and abdominal pressures are balanced. Such a condition assures complete control of intensities as well as changes of interval. The Italians, drilling constantly with the messa di voce, attempted to establish this sensation as a basic sensation for all singing. The wise singer will always use the point of suspension as a reference for correctly produced vocal sound.

Clavicular Breathing

This type of breathing is identified by a predominant expansion in the extreme upper chest accompanied by a raising of the shoulders and clavicles during inspiration. This strained physical position creates unsteadiness in the phonated sound and lack of control of pitch and intensity.

A steady descent of the clavicles during expiration is impossible, and unsteadiness within the sung sound is inevitable.

Clavicular breathing creates tensions of the neck and throat that directly affect the vocal resonance. With tension present, the pharynx is less subject to direct control, and the larynx tends to be held at a high position. The singer, lacking an adequate breath supply, is forced to breathe more frequently; ihus, he is unable to sustain long phrases, and his general musical utterance suffers.

Thoracic Breathing

Often identified as rib or costal breathing, this type of breathing is characterized by an increase in the transverse dimensions of the thoracic cage, as the singer concentrates on the act of holding the ribs expanded laterally after inspiration. The concept of thoracic breathing depends more upon the singer’s thought being directed toward the action of the intercostal muscles and ribraisers for expiration than upon the action of the lower abdominal musculature. Steadiness of the phonated sound cannot be achieved by this method when it is used as a teaching device. The value of thoracic exhalation is erroneous. “Except for the transverse thoracis [Fig. 15], there is no thoracic musculature of exhalation.”²

Abdominal Breathing

During expiration the abdominal muscles and strong muscles of the back (Figs. 12-15) act as a sphincter^* to thrust the abdominal viscera upward into the domes of the diaphragm, which is in a state of flexible tension during phonation since the muscles of the diaphragm are muscles of inspiration, not expiration. The state of suspended resistance during phonation is provided by the muscles of inspiration, which are now antagonist muscles holding against the force exerted by the abdominal musculature causing the upward thrust of the viscera. “Mechanically speaking, the direct downward pull on the thoracic cage by the antagonist muscles of inspiration firms the skeletal walls of the thorax. The inward pressure of the anterioabdominal musculature forces the viscera and the diaphragm upward”³ This action applies a steady uninterrupted flow of breath pressure against the vocal folds; this pressure is most efficiently utilized when there is no undue tension in the neck and throat. This state of thoracic and abdominal muscular suspension is sustained during phonation in song and is recognized by the tension of the epigastrium (area below the sternum) and a normal expansion of the thoracic cage. “The anterolateral abdominal muscles are the only indisputable muscles of expiration and should be examined whenever the group behavior of the expiratory muscles is under consideration.”⁴

The Dualistic Nature of Support

Support within artful singing demands coordination of the sensation of respiration with the sensations of phonation, resonation, and articulation. This feeling for a suspended, balanced musculature must be synthesized into a single act by the voice teacher who is able to conceive the whole sound as the sum of its parts and to direct the application of such a synthesis to fit the interpretive needs of the art song and aria.

Support in singing is dualistic in concept and performance. To become a successful performer and to achieve self-expression with technical eloquence in passages demanding rapid coloraturas, the singer must employ two remotely related physical sensations, each of which embodies a specific vocal technique.

The first technique of body control and support requires a sensation of abdominal pressure being countered by thoracic resistance in such a manner that the abdominal pressure is always greater than the resisting antagonist forces created by the muscles that comprise the rib-raiser group. (See p. 30.) If the tension of the abdominal and back muscles of expiration is to be increased considerably, the ribs must be held fixed against this abdominal pull so that equilibrium can be maintained. The muscular sensation of effort is felt above the belt line. The singer does not need to concentrate upon low tensions at the pubic arch. Such contractions of the pelvic diaphragm are automatic.

The ability of the singer to increase the abdominal effort at will is assurance that he is always sustaining the sound with the breath pressure. This sensation is one of complete abdominal control of the phonated sound while singing the pulsated scale, melismatic or bravura passages. In creating such an outgoing effort, the singer’s attention is directed more toward controlling the sound in its forward movement than in restraining or controlling the breath stream (Records 1-4, Pulsated Drills Applied to Song Literature, Band 4).

The second technique of body control and support is one in which the singer releases the dominating pressure of the abdominal and back musculature and employs a balanced suspension of thoracic and abdominal muscular forces that enable him to sustain the quiet vocalized sound with apparent ease. The sensation of such action is one of resistance⁵ or holding back the breath. The point of resistance or the point of suspension may be experienced by inhaling deeply and panting lightly during full inflation. (Notice the high chest and the lateral expansion of the thorax or rib cage.)

Chest Position

When the singer has taken a full breath and holds it in a state of suspension, the chest should be held high (a) to permit lateral expansion to occur in the lower ribs of the thoracic cage and (b) to permit the new breath to be taken instantaneously with very slight movement of the lower thoracic cage. This action makes the breath less noticeable and is the reason why the professional seems to breathe easily because he has developed the proper chest position to provide him with maximum breath and maximum control.

As a drill for sustaining a high chest position and developing a technique for quick inspiration of the breath, sing quietly the following scale pattern—

Do not interrupt rhythm at the breath point.

If the student is constantly reminded to keep the chest high, he will learn to recognize the physical sensation of resistance associated with body posture during the singing of restrained, quiet passages. In such a system, the resisting antagonist group of muscles becomes more tense and assists in providing an even flow of the breath in the utterance of the quiet sound. When these two muscular forces are in balanced suspension, a condition of equal pressure and resistance prevails, and a correct adjustment of the vocal folds and glottic aperture is the result. When this state of balanced suspension is disturbed, a marked change occurs in vocal quality.⁶

If tension is increased only upon the abdominal musculature, the vocal folds become tense and the glottic aperture becomes smaller. The tone then becomes “pushed” and soft sounds are impossible to achieve. If the tension is increased only upon the antagonist group, the adjustment of the vocal folds becomes more relaxed and the glottic aperture is enlarged. The phonated sound then becomes colorless and uninteresting. Arnold Rose suggests the following four significant concepts for the control of vocal force in song.

To sing pianissimo, mezzo forte or fortissimo, the singer must realize that the control of the vocal force in singing is accompanied by:

1. A conceptual recognition of the amount of vocal force that is to be used.

2. An increase or decrease in the amplitude of the vocal fold vibration through an adjustment in the tensions of the respiratory muscles coordinated with the total laryngeal musculature.

3. An increase or a decrease in the size of the resonating system (the concept of vowel size).

4. By controlling the damping factor in the production of the vowel sound.⁷

When producing a pianissimo sound, the singer must first conceive the amount of vocal force he wishes to use since the pianissimo may be accomplished by varying the amplitude of the vibrator, by making the resonator more efficient, or by controlling the breath pressure.

The amplitude of the vocal fold vibration is controlled by the concept of the singer. All that he needs to do is to conceive a pianissimo sound and the folds will adjust themselves. However, the steady application of breath pressure and the size of the resonator, which affects the quality of the sound, must be deliberately controlled. To control both breath and resonation, a conscious effort must be made to supply additional breath volume without increasing abdominal tensions or disturbing the resistance of the antagonist group of muscles which comprise the rib-raiser group. The sensation is one of excessive abdominal support while holding the rib cage at a high position.

In singing pianissimo sounds, the damping of the high partials of the tonal spectrum is related to the flaccidity of the soft cavity walls and the size of the cavity. The singer finds it therefore, advantageous to relax the jaw, as in the beginning stages of the yawn, thus permitting the cavity walls to become more relaxed because such damping creates a change in vowel color rather than in intensity. This change in vowel color, or quality, creates the illusion of greater differences of volume than actually exist. (See “The Dissipation of Sound Energy—Damping,” p. 118.) In applying damping, the experienced singer has an established concept of resonator control which has proven successful for him. Therefore, the position of the mandible, tongue, jaw, and larynx has developed into a familiar concept which has become automatic. Singing a pianissimo with the enlarged resonating system is always difficult for the beginning student, but he eventually must learn to form all words within this larger resonating form.

In singing mezzo forte, the natural, balanced mechanism of expiration and of resonating provides the correct breath pressure for all pitches.

When one is singing fortissimo, more breath is used than when singing pianissimo. The singer must not permit the breath to run freely; rather, he must hold back the breath to permit a proper balance to be created between the breath pressure and the laryngeal control. Again, this control is a conceptual one that involves the vowel and vocal quality.

The Case for Synthesis of Effort

The manner in which support is taught has always been a source of professional controversy. Breathing for singing is best taught when it is coordinated with the sung sound. To teach breathing as an isolated action is to delay the process of synthesis or coordination of phonation and respiration into a single dynamic utterance. Listed below are several physiological reasons why such a synthesis is advantageous:

1. Breathing for living requires complex muscular activity under many different conditions, which are more often passive than forceful; breathing for singing demands a constant uninterrupted flow of breath pressure coordinated with phonation under predetermined conditions.

2. Independent control of the muscles of expiration is impossible. Expiration within the singing act is a synthesized process involving some twenty-five or thirty muscles.

3. The muscular set employed in isolated breathing exercises is quite different from the muscular set used when expiration is coordinated with phonation.

4. Controlled expiration in song is basically conceptual. The singer grasps the idea of linkage of breath pressure and vocalized sound by experiencing the sensation of a particular physical effort; he will miss this experience if breathing is taught as an isolated act.

The manner by which this unification of physical effort and vocalized sound is taught is also conceptual. The singer or teacher does not think of support in terms of isolated musculature, but as a synthesis of effort identified by a familiar sensation which results from a coordinated body movement. Therefore, the concept of support can be taught only through a psychological method that imparts to the student a physical sensation of the completely unified act of expiration and phonation.

This concept of coordinating respiration with phonation may be taught in several ways; all of them depend upon the teacher’s concept of support, which he accepts as true and which he is able to recognize and interpret in the student utterance.

One way to attain such a synthesis is to coordinate the body movement with the pulsated drills.

THE PULSATED DRILLS

Objectives of the Pulsated Drills

The drills have four major objectives:

1. To enable the student to identify the body sensation of the point of suspension by unifying and coordinating the forces of respiration and phonation through action in song.

2. To provide an awareness of the physical sensation of vitality and action of the abdominal and back musculature, consciously controlled.

3. To refine to a point of perfection this basic action of pulsated tones throughout the vocal range.

4. To bring to the student the awareness that the total body is the vocal instrument.

Tension and the Pulsated Drills

Most teachers advocate the elimination of inordinate tension in singing. They conceive the singing act as a total response and do not explain exactly which part of the body should be tense and which part relaxed. However, they defend relaxation. Such teachers are usually able to demonstrate such relaxed production by sustaining a high pitch softly or fortissimo with apparent ease, which the inexpert student views with admiration and bewilderment.

The suggestion, implied or stated, is that this is the way it should be done. The teacher often fails to take into consideration either his own natural coordination and talent or the rigorous experiences of trial and error through which he has learned how to control and balance the forces of tension by applying thoracic resistance to strong abdominal muscular action. The teacher often fails to consider the student’s position along a similar path of progress in relation to his own, and he attempts to demand that the student imitate a completely controlled synthesis of effort too soon.

Pressure and tension are not synonymous. Pressure is balanced tension. To sing forte or piano, high or low, without employing pressure is impossible. The singer must learn to eliminate tensions by controlling pressures. When the tensions are eliminated, the resulting balanced mechanism produces sounds which seem easy and relaxed. Such an effect is common to any perfectly coordinated athletic feat. To this same end, one must remember that all of art is artifice; when the artist seems most poised and relaxed, at that moment he is most artificial, for he has learned to discipline every muscle in his body to create the illusion of ease and poise. Without such physical disciplines, artful singing could not exist.

If teachers who are now expert singers consider their experiences as singers, most will recall that they passed through a period when their voices were driven by excess tension. Such a period is necessary in the vocal development of most singers, for without such physical exertion they never could have learned the muscular disciplines which enabled them to coordinate the forces of respiration and phonation. Singing is a predominantly athletic act, and to instruct a student to imitate the teacher-preferred sound by relaxation is often misleading advice. Patience is needed here by both teacher and student so that the student may experience the sensation of the breath sustaining the sound in motion by employing a vigorous, energized physical action that is analogous to the movement of a bicycle: it demands a positive forward motion and direction for its stability while the lack of it causes the vehicle to become unbalanced and to falter.

Unbalanced, forceful tension may ruin a voice. When the drive of the abdominal musculature which causes an increase in breath pressure exceeds the resistance of the antagonist musculature, usually laryngeal muscles are employed to assist in balancing the forces of tension. The result is a throaty, restricted sound and, if it is continued, a deterioration of vocal quality. The pulsated drills are designed to make the student aware of the delicate balance of pressure, tension, and resistance. By constant dedicated drill the student will one day achieve the physical dexterity needed to expertly maintain the balance between pressure and resistance without tension.

Vocal Force in the Pulsated Drills

The pulsated drills should not be sung with a restrained quiet sound. The singer should find a positive forthright mezzo forte level of intensity where the voice is free and without throat constriction. The singer will not be able to force the sound if the point of suspension is sustained.

The big sound, the sound produced by the heavy mechanism, can be dangerous when it is sung in preference to all other intensity levels. When this sound is produced the vocal folds are vibrating at maximum amplitude at all frequencies of utterance and laryngeal controls are minimized.

The sounds produced by the light mechanism which demands more controlled action of the vocalis muscle (the edges of the vocal folds) should be used as a point of reference in expanding intensity dimensions.

Relaxation in singing often results in a voice which is well controlled but diminutive in size. Because the singer is working at such low efficiency, he is not employing the full possibilities of his endowment. In such cases the breath pressure is balanced with the vocal folds, but the voice will be ineffective. The American singer has developed such a technique for radio and television. Nothing is wrong with such technique except that without electronic amplification the singer has a little voice, and he is deprived of the dynamic qualities which enable him to dominate an audience or participate in either concert or opera.

All factors considered, a teacher does much better to develop a student’s voice through energized effort. This method permits the student to discover the proper intensity dimension of his natural endowment and to respect it through intelligent restraint. Many singers and teachers long for the day when they are able to sing loud and high. For every student to realize such a goal is impossible. The task of each teacher and singer is to discover just how loudly and how high he should sing.

To develop a voice to the proper intensity limit of the singer’s endowment is difficult, and it demands considerable time for the development of muscular controls required for a disciplined and artful performance. When mastery of such control is achieved, the result is more rewarding to both singer and listener.

Presentation and Performance of the Pulsated Drills

These drills are best presented by asking the student to sing a series of five, seven, and nine pulsations upon one pitch, each pulsation evenly and lightly stressed. Excessive stress should be avoided. However, in some cases low abdominal breathing may only be recognized by such gross movement. As the condition of proper support is recognized by the student, the excessive stressing should be decreased. After the single pitch exercise has been mastered, the five-tone scale may be introduced, and sung in the same connected manner, both ascending and descending. While singing the scale, the singer must keep the muscular tension and the breath pressure constant to produce an even, undistorted stressing that is perfectly timed with each change of pitch. Such a condition results from a balanced muscular suspension caused by an even distribution of pressure and resistance.

The drill process for the recognition of support in singing and its establishment as a basis for a sound vocal technique is presented here only as one way in which this important concept may be introduced. It is designed to aid in the coordination of respiration and phonation and to help those students who do not use abdominal muscular support during phonation in song. The drills may be heard on Record 1-4, Band 1.

The exercise requires five and nine pulsated sounds on one pitch level sung on the neutral vowel [ʌ] as in up.

When the drill is introduced, it must be sung quietly with no attempt on the part of the singer to attain a metallic, bright, open, or dark pharyngeal sound. Such sounds create a tension at the larynx. The muscles of throat and neck should be completely relaxed. The laryngeal position should be stable but not depressed. The tongue should be held at the bottom of the lower front teeth, and the jaw should be half open. The muscular sensation of effort must always be felt above the belt line. The sensation of exertion of the back muscles closing the circle is important.

Goal 1 is the mastery of the body through increased speed and reduced effort by coordination of the pulsation upon one tonal level. The act of singing these pulsated sounds upon one pitch level should be drilled to the point of mastery. Mastery is achieved when the singer has attained recall of the conditions of the exercise and is able to reproduce them at will away from the teacher. The mastery of this drill may occur within one lesson or within one week. Success depends upon the ability of the student to coordinate the abdominal muscular movement with the phonated sound without distorting the tonal line.

Goal 2 is the timing of each pulsation with a pitch change by singing an ascending and descending five-tone scale as accurately as possible with the same pulsation pattern mastered on a single pitch. The descending five-tone scale will cause some trouble because the singer is constantly thinking in terms of up and clown. As he starts the top tone of the scale, he invariably fails to sustain the sound with the breath pressure as he makes the turn into the descending pitch sequence. He fails to sustain a muscular condition of flexible tension that will enable him to control the regular pulsations at all times.

The cause of this failure is basically conceptual and may be remedied by first sustaining the condition of the successful ascending scale over a sloping pattern longer than that required to make the abrupt downward turn demanded by the five-tone ascending-descending scale. The visual imagery that will help the student grasp the problem quickly is this:

This pattern suggests the five-tone scale with an abrupt turn at the top. The pattern which appears below suggests a five-tone scale where the condition and sensation of ascending is sustained through five intervening notes and continued within the descending pattern.

With this concept, the singer reduces the ascending-descending pattern into a level pattern, and pursues the sound in exactly the same manner mastered in the single-pitch drill. Drilling the student on abrupt turns in scale patterns then becomes a simple task. The usual conditions of overexertion and overstressing will be present, but the suggestion of less effort will soon bring about the proper balance or equalization of the forces of expiration and phonation to produce a smooth even scale.

Goal 3 is the application of the same sensation of abdominal support to simple scale patterns with piano accompaniment after the diatonic scale has been mastered. The student should make every attempt to increase the speed and reduce the excessive stressing at each pitch change.

A series of basic exercises that demand the same body control as those described in the basic drills has been presented in Library of Musical Classics: Thirty Daily Exercises by Concone, Vol. 555 for low voice, Vol. 294 for high voice (published by G. Schirmer). Exercises 1 through 5 are diatonic and should prove to be no trouble if Goals 1 and 2 are mastered. Exercises 9 and 14 involve the problem of following the sound through pitch skips and alteration of the vocal pattern. Exercises 2, 4, 9, 10, and 14 are recorded on Record 1-4, Band 2.

The drills are based upon the definition of singing that provides the major premise for the writing of this book. Psychophysically, singing is the dynamic act of coordinating instantaneously the physical sensations of respiration, phonation, resonation, and articulation into a disciplined utterance.

Advantages of the Drills

The benefits of a planned muscular discipline are worth consideration:

1. The student cannot sing the drill material unless he is supporting the sound correctly, that is, unless he is coordinating phonation with expiration.

2. Each of the drills consists of a simple act that the student must perform for himself and that enables him to recognize the sensation of coordination.

3. These drills emphasize to the student the need for the developing conscious control of the abdominal musculature to provide a vitalized body action that must be coordinated with phonation in song.

4. Coordination is more quickly accomplished when the vowel sound is ignored. In these drills the neutral vowel [ʌ] as in up is used at early stages to encourage coordination. The problem of pointing, focusing, and clarifying the vowel is drilled after the student has coordinated expiration with phonation. Point, projection, and focus are problems of resonation that are basically aesthetic in nature and are based upon teacher preference of sound. Any teacher can bring refinement to a vowel sound provided the respiration problems are solved first.

5. The student is able to recognize the sensation of the pulsated sound when he is practicing away from the teacher’s directives. He should have no question in his mind as to whether he is performing the right or wrong action; either he can do it or he cannot.

6. These drills may be omitted for those students who can perform them skillfully. Song materials that embody similar problems of execution may be substituted.

The drills may also be omitted for those students who, for reasons of poor coordination, cannot perform them at all. For such students velocity studies will always be difficult.

In teaching the physical actions associated with the pulsated drills and the concentrated scale exercises (Concone, Marchesi, Abt, etc.), the author has discovered that within a group of twenty voice students, ten are able to execute the drills skillfully when first introduced to them, five find them troublesome and must work on body coordination, and from three to five cannot comprehend the physical action necessary to sing them correctly and find the experience frustrating. Experienced singers with good voices often fall into the last group. Neither chronological age nor experience influences failure to perform the drills accurately, for a very young person who has never had a formal voice lesson may be able to do them perfectly at sight. Coordination of body and sound is an athletic task requiring an ability that varies with each individual singer.

Such a unification of forces involves a discipline of mind and body that many students find difficult to achieve because they do not possess the proper muscular coordination. This lack does not mean that they cannot sing. It does mean that such singers will be limited in their careers, that other vocal faults will emerge within their technique because they lack muscular coordination, and that a vast amount of vocal literature will be denied them because they are technically unable to sing it. The finest singers who attain professional stature usually possess this unification of breath pressure and phonation naturally, but a greater number of voice students must discover this body-voice relationship through thoughtful vocal exercise and guidance, for breathing for singing is a planned muscular discipline which can be learned by those who are dedicated. The full realization of this fact brings to us the thought that expert singing may well be within the reach of only those who, by gift of birth, have an ability to control and coordinate the musculature functions demanded by the singing act.

THE VIBRATO IN SONG

The vocal vibrato may be created by high laryngeal controls which are evident in the vertical movement of the thyroid cartilage. When such controls are employed, the singer is unable to regulate the vibrato rate and the frequency variation tends to exceed one-quarter step as the singer sings piano and one-half step when he sings forte. The vibrato gives the aspect of a tremulo to all sung sounds.

Correctly produced, the vocal vibrato is a vocal ornament that is directly related to the sensation of support. It is physiologically controlled by the muscles of respiration, and is thereby, basically, a respiratory function assisted by coordinated laryngeal controls. It is produced by minute alterations of body pressures which are reflected in undulations of the breath column. This variation in subglottic air pressure causes the pitch to rise and fall as the singer attempts to control the pitch by keeping the mass, length, and tension of the vocal folds constant. The rate at which the pitch fluctuates depends upon the balance of the suspended tension of two muscle groups, (a) the antagonist musculature of inspiration and the abdominal musculature of expiration and (b) the infrahyoid and the suprahyoid muscular groups for laryngeal stabilization. Studies made by the author in radiography and cinefluoroscopy reveal that this undulation is observable throughout the entire phonatory tube and its walls. The singer who does not sing with abdominal support is not able to control the vibrato rate. (An acceptable vibrato rate is between five and seven pulsations each second.) Variation of muscular control to increase or decrease the vibrato rate can be learned. This action is directly related to expiration; the breath pressure must be even and uninterrupted to produce an evenly undulated vibrato. Quick surges of the breath or sudden pressures and relaxations will bring to the sound an unevenness that is most unpleasant to the musically trained ear.

The variation of pitch should not exceed one-quarter of a tone from the center of the sung pitch. If the pitch variation approaches one half-step in the extent of its movement, the sung sound is usually offensive and creates the illusion of insecurity of pitch. Such an effect is usually accompanied by an uneven undulation, with the accent of the sound more pronounced above the center of pitch than below it. The unevenness is caused by excessive pressure of the abdominal musculature at stress points in the natural vibrato rate.

The excessively fast vibrato, which is similar to a bleat and lacks steady undulations, is usually caused by clavicular breathing and a failure to unify respiration with phonation through the use of abdominal musculature. A high laryngeal position is usually present during the singing of such sounds, and the vibrato rate cannot be controlled. A remedy for such a condition is the use of the preceding drills. A wise procedure is to start these drills at the natural vibrato rate, intensify it, and work toward a conscious awareness of the source of muscular exertion and thereby, enable the singer to sustain the sound with the breath. If the vibrato rate is fast and evenly undulated, the scale will be fast, but the pulsation rate can be slowed when need be through a slight relaxation of the abdominal musculature, which is exerting too much force. If the vibrato rate is slow, the scale will be slow, but the pulsation rate can be stepped up by increasing the tension of the supporting musculature.

Many singers and listeners do not hear the vibrato as a separate entity, but rather, they hear it as a total voice quality complex. Such performers do not consider the vibrato rate to be a factor of physical dysfunction in the singing act. The vibrato rates of their voices have been accepted as natural and, therefore, they have reasoned, unchangeable.

The natural vibrato rate and the natural body coordination of the individual have a direct relationship. This relationship is not permanently fixed or set and may be disciplined during the singing act. To assume that the vibrato rate should be constant is to say that the breath pressure should not vary regardless of the drama, intensity, or repose of the musical phrase.

More logically conceived, in the interpretation of emotional musical phrases the vibrato becomes a musical implement which rapidly throbs during the expression of great emotion and tranquilly undulates in the expression of repose. Such use of the vibrato is evident in Records 1-4, Band 3. To reiterate, a perfectly controlled vibrato rate is the result of a balanced musculature conceptually energized by the muscles of respiration (rib-raisers holding against the rib-depressors) assisted by specific laryngeal control, i.e., control of length, tension, and mass of the vocal folds.

THE ANATOMICAL SYSTEM AND
MECHANICS OF RESPIRATION

The immediate concern of this chapter is with the respiratory act of breathing for singing. To understand respiration for singing, one must understand the human mechanism by which vocal sounds are produced; also, one must study the functioning of that mechanism in the light of the latest scientific information at hand.⁸

The Lungs

Although they cannot exert any force other than that provided by the elasticity of the tissue itself, the lungs are the primary organs of respiration. Their movement within the respiratory act depends wholly upon the pressures exerted on them by the surrounding musculature.

Each of the two lungs is divided into lobes (Fig. 1). The left lung has two lobes, the right three. In conformation, they follow the outline of the thoracic cage. The base of the lungs follows the conformation of the domes of the diaphragm.

The porous, spongy tissue of the lungs is made up of millions of tiny air sacs, called alveoli, through which oxygen is passed to the blood stream. During expiration the air is passed from the alveoli into larger sacs, the tabules, then to the bronchioles, to the bronchi, the trachea, and the mouth.

Fig. 1. The Lungs

Source: Johannes Sobotta and Eduard Uhlenhuth, Human Anatomy (7th ed.; New York: Hafner Publishing Co., 1957).

The lungs are enclosed by a delicate membranous sac called the pleura. This enclosure makes the air pressure within the lungs very responsive to forces exerted upon it by the action of the thoracic cage and the abdominal diaphragm. When the pleura is ruptured, the lung collapses. (The pleura is often ruptured deliberately during surgery to repair the lung or to permit diseased areas of lung tissue to heal.)

Vital Capacity

Breathing for singing requires a full inflation of the lungs at each inhalation of breath. The amount of breath that can be taken in at each inspiration varies greatly. For men the average volume is approximately 225 cubic inches; for women the volume is 150 to 175 cubic inches. The amount of air that can be inhaled during maximal inspiration and expiration is called the vital capacity of that individual. Regardless of how hard one tries to expel the last bit of air from the lungs during the expiratory process, a volume of about 100 cubic inches always remains. It is called the residual air.

Despite the fact that some men have a vital capacity of 350 to 400 cubic inches of air and some women 250 to 275, research has proved that no correlation exists between vital capacity and tone quality nor between vocal force or phonation in speech.⁹

The amount of tidal (inhaled) air that passes through the vocal folds during phonation in song during one expiration has not been scientifically determined. Research in phonation for the speech act has revealed that 30 cubic inches of tidal air, or 13 percent of the total vital capacity, is used in a single respiratory cycle.¹⁰ This volume of air is relatively small. The controlled utterance in song is always accomplished under the conditions of forced inspiration and expiration, and the singer is constantly adjusting to variations in pitch, vocal force, duration, and the resonating system for changes in quality or tonal effect. Therefore, the quantity of air used in song during one respiratory cycle may be higher than that required in speech; perhaps it may be as high as 100 cubic inches of tidal air or 54 percent of the vital capacity.

Increased vocal force in singing usually demands a greater expenditure of breath than that required of a sound sung mezzo forte. Increase in loudness, however, is also achieved through an adjustment of the resonating system, alteration of the surface of the cavity walls, and adjustment of the laryngeal musculature in a complex synthesized act. (See “Closed and Open Tones,” _P. 89.)

Statistics from studies of vital capacity in relation to the speech act¹¹ reveal that little or no correlation exists between a good or poor speaking voice and the vital capacity of an individual; the person who uses more breath in accomplishing the vocal task is not necessarily a better speaker, nor does he necessarily possess a better voice than that person who uses little breath in expiration. Breathiness of sound excepted, this concept may also be applied to the sung sound. Adequate and accurate research studies are needed to obtain precise information on the respiratory process in song.

The Framework of the Thorax

The thorax (chest cage) is made up of cartilages and bones (Fig. 2); it is covered with a delicate membrane called the pleura:

1. The sternum (breast bone) forms the front of the thoracic cage. Its top supports and articulates with the clavicles. Laterally, it is attached to and articulates with the costal cartilage of ribs one to seven. At the base of the sternum is the xiphoid process, a cartilaginous appendage that serves as a point of attachment for the abdominal musculature.

2. Twelve ribs on each side articulate with the sternum in front by means of the costal cartilages, and articulate at the thoracic vertebra by means of movable facets that are stabilized by ligaments. The eleventh and twelfth ribs, which are not attached to the sternum, are called “floating” ribs.

3. The thoracic vertebra forms the posterior wall of the thorax.

Fig. 2 The Skeleton of the Thorax

Movement of the Thoracic Cage

Inspiration and expiration for living or for singing are wholly dependent upon the movements of the thoracic cage. During inspiration, the cage moves in three directions simultaneously: vertically, anteroposteriorly, and transversely. Atmospheric pressure of fifteen pounds per square inch at sea level is being exerted constantly upon the body. Differences between the outside air and the air within the respiratory system are constantly being adjusted by the cage movement. Any movement of the thoracic cage is followed by a corresponding movement of the lungs. If the thoracic cavity is enlarged by movement of the ribs, cartilages, and the diaphragm, the capacity of the pleural cavity increases. This act lowers the pressure within the lungs, and air rushes in from outside the body. As the capacity of the thoracic cage is decreased, the pleural cavity is put under pressure and the air is expelled.

The ribs are articulated to the vertebra by their facets and to the sternum by the costal cartilages in such a manner that, when they are lifted upward, the lateral dimension between the ribs on either side increases. This movement, which causes an increase in the transverse dimension of the thorax, is very much like that of raising a bucket handle. The anterior-posterior dimension between the sternum and the spinal column (Fig. 3) also increases. The increase in the vertical dimension of the thorax is caused by the descent of the diaphragm, which forms the floor of the thoracic cage.

Fig. 3. Movement of the Thoracic Cage

Muscles are either striated (striped, skeletal, voluntary), e.g., pectoralis, or unstriated (smooth, organic, or involuntary), e.g., trachealis. The muscles of respiration are striated muscles. Every muscle is paired, each one has a mirrored homologue on the opposite side of the midline of the body. The only exception to this is the diaphragm. All striated muscle has an origin and an insertion. The origin is the fixed end, the insertion the movable end. Action will occur at the point of insertion of each muscle. The direction of pull is always toward the origin.

Every muscle, agonist, has its antagonist. When the agonist relaxes, the antagonist contracts and vice versa.

THE MUSCLES OF INSPIRATION

Inhalation can occur only when the air pressure within the lungs is less than the atmospheric pressure outside the body. The air then rushes into the lungs. To permit the air to enter, the pleural space within the thorax must be increased.

In addition to the muscles governing the descent of the diaphragm, other muscles of the thorax increase the pleural space and cause the air to enter the lungs. These muscles may be divided into rib-raisers and rib-depressors.

The action of each of the rib-raisers is to lift the ribs during the process of inspiration and to suspend this condition during the process of forced expiration of the breath in song. The rib-depressors serve as guying muscles and exert a downward pull on the ribs when the vertical fibers of the diaphragm contract, thus moving the lower border of the rib cage outward and upward during forced inspiration.

The Pelvic Diaphragm¹²

Two diaphragms are necessary to produce controlled inspiration and expiration in song. The pelvic and the abdominal diaphragm each have different functions. The pelvic diaphragm serves as a sling to support the compressed viscera during forced inhalation. Although it is somewhat stabilized during inspiration, it is more firmly stabilized during expiration (Fig. 4).

The pelvic diaphragm is formed by the paired muscles levator ani. Together they form a funnel-shaped muscular floor to the pelvic cavity and so support the visceral contents of the pelvis.

Origin—Each muscle originates along a line beginning in front of the inner side of the pubic arch. These most important fibers extend along the side wall of the pelvis as far back as the ischial spine.

Action—Each muscle acts as a fulcrum to support the viscera during respiration. The pelvic diaphragm need not be consciously controlled during the forced expiration in singing, for the will to expire forcefully causes it to become fixed simultaneously with the contraction of the abdominal muscles of expiration.

Fig. 4. Pelvic Diaphragm
(after Cates-Basmajian)

The Abdominal Diaphragm¹³

Origin—The muscular fibers in the abdominal diaphragm are divided into three parts:

1. The vertebral, which arise as crura from the lumbar vertebra. Figs. 5A and 5B).

2. The costal, which arise from the costal margin.

3. The sternal, which arise from the xiphoid process (tip of the sternum).

Insertion—They all pass upward and converge on the central tendon.

Action—Contraction of all of the muscular fibers of the diaphragm draws the posterior part of the central tendon downward and forward, compressing the abdominal viscera. This action of lowering the floor of the thorax causes an increase in the vertical dimension of the pleural cavity and a sudden decrease in atmospheric pressure within the lungs; outside air then rushes in.

Fig. 5A. Abdominal Diaphragm, Front View

Source: H. A. Cates and J. V. Basmajian, Primary Anatomy (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1955).

Contraction of the vertical muscular fibers of the diaphragm, that is, those fibers inserted into the costal margins, moves the lower border of the rib cage outward and upward. This action increases the transverse diameter of the thorax (Fig. 6).

The diaphragm serves as the floor of the thorax and the roof of the abdomen. It is double-domed with the right dome slightly higher than the left (Fig. 5A).

At the apex and center of the diaphragm is the “central tendon,” a solid cartilaginous sheet almost elliptical in shape to which all of the muscle fibers of the diaphragm are attached. Through the central tendon pass the aorta (the large artery carrying blood from the heart), the vena cava (the great vein returning blood to the heart from the lower part of the body), and the esophagus (the foodway to the stomach).

If the ribs are held fixed in any way, contraction and relaxation will result only in the upward or downward movement of the dome. There are no muscles capable of raising the diaphragm. Ascent of the diaphragm results from the upward thrust of the abdominal viscera by the action of the abdominal musculature as the rib cage is held in the state of suspension by the antagonist muscles of inspiration.

Fig. 5B. Abdominal Diaphragm, View from Below

Source: Wilber D. Bowen and Henry A. Stone, Applied Anatomy and Kinesiology (6th ed.; Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1949).

The diaphragm descends one and five-tenths centimeters during quiet breathing. During forced inspiration the excursion is from six to seven centimeters.¹⁴

Fig. 6. The Action of the Diaphragm on the Costal Margin

The ninth rib and costal cartilage are shown passing from the vertebral column (V) posteriorly to the sternum (5) anteriorly. A is the arc of movement of the rib about the vertebro-sternal (A-P) axis. D is the direction of the costal fibres of the diaphragm at their origin. Contraction of these fibres causes an upward and outward movement of the rib. Reproduced by kind permission from The Respiratory Muscles and the Mechanics of Breathing by E. J. Moran Campbell (London: Lloyd-Luke [Medical Books], 1958).

Pectoralis Major (Fig. 7)

Origin—Bicipital groove of the humerus.

Insertion—Collar bone (clavicle), sternum, and upper five or six ribs.

Pectoralis Minor (Fig. 8)

Origin—Coracoid process of the shoulder blade.

Insertion—Lower four or five ribs.

Levatores Costarum (Fig. 9)

Origin—Spinal process of each vertebra.

Insertion—First and second ribs below the point of origin.

Latissimus Dorsi (Fig. 10)

Origin—Bicipital groove of the humerus.

Muscles of Inspiration

(after Sobotta)

Fig. 7. Pectoralis Major

Fig. 8. Pectoralis Minor

Fig. 9. Levatores Costarum

Fig. 10. Latissimus Dorsi

Insertion—Spinal process of the lower six thoracic vertebra, lumbar and sacral vertebra, crest of the pelvis, and lower four ribs.

Action—The rib-depressors serve as antagonist muscles during the process of inspiration by pulling downward against the upward force exerted by the rib-raisers and to aid indirectly in controlling the expulsion of air during the process of exhalation.

Serratus Posterior Inferior (Fig. 11A)

Origin—Thoracic and lumbar vertebra.

Insertion—Lower four ribs.

Quadratus Lumborum (Fig. 11B)

Origin—Crest of the ilium (pelvis).

Insertion—Twelfth rib.

Rib-Depressors

(after Sobotta)

Fig 11A, Serratus Posterior Inferior B, Quadratus Lumborum

THE MUSCLES OF EXPIRATION

Expiration occurs when the abdominal musculature and muscles of the thoracic cage exert a force against the pleural cavity, thereby, creating stronger pressure within the lungs than that of the outside air. The singing act demands controlled expulsion of the breath stream. Therefore, the singer must conceive of the act of expiration in song as one of balanced suspension with the muscles of inspiration, the rib-raisers, acting as antagonists, and the muscles of expiration acting as the control muscles which supply an even pressure in the expulsion of the breath.

The most important muscles in the expulsion of the breath are the following abdominal muscles: rectus abdominus, transverse abdominus, external oblique, internal oblique, transverse thoracis, and latissimus dorsi.

Rectus Abdominus (Fig. 12)

Origin—Sternum and lower four ribs.

Insertion—Pubic arch.

Action—This large muscle, extending vertically up to the front of the abdominal wall, is one of the strongest muscles of the body. It is enclosed within a fibrous sheath. Its action is to compress the abdominal viscera, forcing them inward. The great length of the muscle is interrupted by cartilaginous sections called tendenous inscriptions, which permit pressure to be concentrated at various points on the abdominal wall.

Transverse Abdominus (Fig. 12)

Origin—This muscle runs horizontally across the body; posteriorly, the lumbar facia; inferiorly, the inguinal ligament and crest of the pelvis; superiorly, the lower six costal cartilages.

Insertion—It interdigitates with the rectus abdominus and is attached inferiorly to the crest of the pubic arch.

Action—To compress the viscera and contract the thorax.

External Oblique (Fig. 13)

Origin—Lower eight ribs.

Insertion—Crest of the pelvis, crest of the pubic inguinal ligament.

Fig. 12. Rectus Abdominus and Transverse Abdominus

Action—Compresses the abdomen and depresses the thorax. This muscle extends downward and forward from its point of origin to the crest of the pelvis, forming a long wide wall that greatly aids in controlling the breath during expiration.

Internal Oblique (Fig. 14)

Origin—Crest of the pelvis inguinal ligament and the lumbar fascia.

Insertion—Lower six costal cartilages.

Action—Depresses thorax. This muscle extends upward and forward from its point of origin. The muscle fibers run upward, crossing in an opposite direction the fibers of the external oblique.

Transverse Thoracis (Fig. 15)

Origin—Lower portion of the sternum.

Insertion—Second to sixth ribs.

Action—Depresses the ribs during exhalation.

Muscles of Expiration

(after Sobotta)

Fig. 13. External Oblique

Fig. 14. Internal Oblique

Fig. 15. Transverse Thoracis

Latissimus Dorsi (Fig. 10)

This muscle has been described as a rib-raiser facilitating inspiration, for the latissimus contains muscle fibers that are able to elevate the ribs. Contraction of the muscle as a whole during forced expiration compresses the lower thorax and, therefore, assists expiration. During long periods of singing, muscular fatigue is experienced in the lumbar-thoracic region; this fatigue originates in the latissimus dorsi, which, with the abdominal muscles, creates a sphincter during expiration. It is the only large muscle of the back that is capable of doing this.

The muscles of exhalation in the preceding list force the abdominal viscera inward and upward against the abdominal diaphragm, which is completely relaxed during exhalation. The volume of air within the lungs is forced outward in a steady even breath stream as the domes of the diaphragm are thrust into the thoracic cavity and as the walls of the thorax are forced inward by the action of the oblique and transverse abdominus and the depressor muscles of inspiration.

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^* A sphincter muscle is one used to close a circle; muscular exertion is applied equally throughout its circumference.