WHERE SHOULD I COVER MY VOICE?

In 1986, Richard Miller, one of the most celebrated pedagogues of his era, released his most definitive text “The Structure of Singing”.  In this book, Miller published charts which stated that the location of passaggi was objective within each sub fach.  These charts indicated that the interval between the primo and secondo passaggi was a perfect 4th.  It was stated that lyric tenors had passaggio locations at D and G, spintos at C# and F#, heldentenors at C and F and the list went on.  Other pedagogues disagreed, producing their own charts and data.  New York-based teacher Mark Oswald for example, who at the time of writing this article is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, believes that Miller’s charts do not take into consideration the effects different vowel formations have on passaggi.  Oswald states that for the Italian [a] vowel, the correct interval is a 5th and not a 4th.  This belief is contested amongst other teachers and resultingly this subject has become a confusing one for the developing singer.  I will not contribute to this debate by confirming or denying any of the aforementioned information, rather I will make the following point. 

Modern vocal pedagogy to its own detriment is hyper-focussed on finding the component parts of vocal technique.

 

THE WONDERS OF VOICE SCIENCE

Today we seem to have an understanding of every individual function within the voice.  Despite this, our ability to put all of those pieces together is found wanting.  I am not stating that more recently discovered data within vocal science is necessarily incorrect but I am prepared to declare that the sum of the compartmentalised understanding does not seem to equal the whole.  Could it be that the information itself is not attributable to the poor results but that the failings stem from our approach?  A Heuristic analysis clearly supports the theory that the more compartmentalised our approach becomes, the worse we sing.  Why then is it that we continue to double down in an approach which is not yielding results? 

 

THE EMPIRICAL APPROACH

It’s a fact that maestros of the past developed great singers without the need to think in this compartmentalised manner.  How is it that these results were possible?  In this article I will offer insights that go a long way to answering this question.  To achieve this, a historical frame of reference will be offered.  The methodology of its construct is straightforward and logical, and merely involves looking to the past and analysing the perspectives of four great singers.

 

GILBERT DUPREZ: 1806-1896

The great French tenor Gilbert Duprez is in part responsible for the creation of the full-voiced tenors that we expect to hear today.  One momentous evening many years ago, Duprez graced the stage in the title role of Rossini's William Tell.  During his Italian premiere performance, which historians consider to be during 1831, Duprez took the then unprecedented step of singing the High Cs in full voice.  In the years that followed his reputation grew, and after the Paris premiere in 1837 there was no turning back.  Duprez, like Caruso who would follow him, had single-handedly redefined tenor singing forever. 

Towards the later part of his career Duprez entered a period of significant vocal decline which was most likely attributable to him not fully mastering this technical innovation. Like pioneers in any field he made mistakes which greatly benefitted those who would follow him.  During his lifetime he made valuable contributions to the teaching of singing.  Amongst them are these following insights.  Duprez proposed that instead of entering into head voice that he preferred to extend the chest voice.  This statement illustrates his preference for one-register singing.  He also discusses the vocal term voix sombre, which means “voice shadowing”.  He stated that this technique was what permitted him to extend his chest voice beyond his passaggio.  He writes that he searched for the equivalent term in Italian but found that it did not exist.  Duprez concluded that there was no requirement for the creation of the term in Italian because the Italians subscribed to a tonal identity in which the whole voice was shadowed.

 

BENIAMINO GIGLI: 1890-1957

The famous Italian tenor is considered by many to have had the greatest technical facility of any who ever lived.  As a young boy of 12 years old, Luciano Pavarotti once met him during a tour which visited Modena.  Pavarotti recounts that due to nerves he missed his first opportunity to approach the great tenor on the way to his morning practice.  This however was fortuitous as it enabled the young Luciano to listen to the great Gigli vocalise for approximately 45 minutes before they subsequently met.  Pavarotti recounted that during the practice he heard him singing scales from bottom to top in many different emissions, open emissions, closed emissions, semi-open emissions and falsetto.  Pavarotti stated that it sounded like there were five different tenors in the same room.  It is widely accepted that Gigli had the ability to sing open tones above his passaggio without the emission being characterized as voce aperta.  In other words, Gigli was capable of singing his higher notes in a balanced way without the requirement of covering.  During Gigli's life he stated that he would not teach because he believed he would destroy his students.  Gigli went on to say that he had an affinity for open sounds which only he was able to do because he had perfect support. 

 

GIACOMO LAURI-VOLPI: 1892-1979

Like Gigli, his contemporary Lauri-Volpi had achieved an incredible technical facility.  These technical commands enabled both men to sing dramatic repertoire despite having lyrical voices.  The fact they both sang at a high level to a very old age is testament they were both masters of voice.  A student of the great teacher Antonio Cotogni, Lauri-Volpi had developed a rare and distinguished understanding of singing.  Many of his ideas were published in his 1955 book Voci Parallele.  In relation to the topic discussed in this article, Lauri-Volpi stated that he did not advocate closing the voice at a certain note when approaching the upper voice.  Instead he advocated not allowing the voice to open.

  

LEONARD WARREN: 1911- 1960

Born Leonard Warenoff to parents of Russian descent, Leonard Warren of the Bronx in New York became one of the greatest baritones in history.  Warren auditioned for the Met Competition in 1938.  The audition was by "air" and was conducted over a radio broadcast.  Such was the size and quality of his voice, the audition panel were convinced that they were the subjects of a practical joke and that the voice they were hearing was actually a seasoned professional.  Warren had one of the biggest and smoothest voices of any baritone who had ever lived; the continuity of the sound as it progressed from the middle voice into the top was simply astonishing.  So extensive was his high register that when in the mood he would perform Manrico's Cabaletta "Di Quella Pira" from Il Trovatore as a party trick.  In the act 1 finale of Rigoletto, Warren would on occasion sing high Cs as he cried out for Gilda with blood-curdling virility.  These sounds are for me amongst the greatest sounds ever recorded.  Based on the smoothness and balance of his registration, an argument could be made that there could be no better advocate to weigh in on the topic being discussed.  On one occasion Warren was interviewed where he was questioned about his technique.  At one stage during the interview the interviewer asked "Mr Warren, on which note do you cover your voice?”  There was a long pause whilst he thought about the question.  After some time he eventually replied, "I would say I cover my whole voice".

 

THE CONCLUSION

In looking into the minds of these great singers a common viewpoint is strikingly obvious.  None of them were focused on an individual point in the scale.  Instead they focused on the characteristics of the sound as a whole.  Each of the four men rejected the necessity of "doing something at a specific pitch".  Duprez who acknowledged the superiority of Italian singing said that the Italians did not need to shadow the voice at a certain point because they sang with the whole voice shadowed.  Warren rejected the idea that he covered on a specific pitch because he stated that he covered his whole voice.  Gigli, both in his singing and in his ideas, did not advocate making any change at a certain point of the scale as he had perfected the ability to sing a number of different ways and could do whatever he chose.  Lauri-Volpi also stated that rather than introducing a change on a certain pitch he just aimed to keep the sound uniform throughout the voice.

 

WHAT SHOULD WE GLEAN?

These great singers of the past had advanced empirical knowledge of how to sing.  Their approach did not give focus to compartmentalised understanding which we could refer to as microdata.  They were not even aware of these details, including in many instances the functions of basic vocal anatomy.  These great singers would not have known the difference between an arytenoid and a hemorrhoid.  Furthermore, if it were possible for us to go back and talk to them about "skewing the quotient or coupling formants", they would similarly have had no idea what we were talking about.  In spite of this they did understand exactly how to sing by developing empirical knowledge through the observation of macrodata.  This approach of focussing on macrodata has a very beautiful mathematical logic behind it because macrodata contains the combined effects of microdata.  Simply put, their approach understood that if the sum of the parts was correct then the parts themselves must also be correct.  When approaching any vocal question such as “to what degree and where should the cuperto be applied?”, these singers did not need Miller or Oswald to tell them, neither would they need to consult charts or diagrams, and they would most certainly never think to look for the answer in a book.  All of these things represented no value to them because they possessed something far more valuable.

They had a refined understanding of how their entire voice should sound. 

 

WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?

Each and every one of us is to a greater or lesser degree a product of our environment. Resultingly, both our processes and our understanding are influenced by the ideological trends of our time.  For all of us this means that we are likely to be microdata orientated in our approach, which makes us susceptible to missing the forest for the trees.  The big take home from reading this article is how does this concept of micro and macrodata specifically apply to you?  Is your paradigm constructed in the most productive way? 

To find out I will invite you to complete a simple test.  You will be both the person taking the test and the examiner.  The test will be done in silence and you will be the only one who ever knows your result.  To complete the test simply ask yourself the following question:

When I read the title of this article, did I expect an answer to the question? 

 

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