The Eye and Ear in Voice Training
What is there in or about voice teaching that is difficult? Any problem is difficult if one can't solve it, and it is easy if he can. Therefore the difficulty is not in the problem, hut in the individual; hence the individual becomes the problem. When one has mastered the principles of mathematics he has not changed mathematics, he has only changed his understanding of it. When one has mastered a Schubert song he has done nothing either to Schubert or the song, the work has all been done on himself. This forces us to the conclusion that the difficulty in learning to sing is not so much in the art as in the one who is trying to learn it.
Truth neither makes concessions nor imposes difficulties. It is the same to all men. If one does not find its mastery easy the obstruction is in himself.
Why mortals are born with different talents, tastes, and trends I do not presume even to offer an opinion. I only know that they are not born equal, the constitution to the contrary notwithstanding. No two people have exactly the same gift for anything. That this is true in music no one will deny. Some begin where others leave off. No two approach it in the same way. It does not make quite the same appeal to any two. Each one responds to it according to his gifts. To develop a musical mentality in each of these widely differing individuals is what the teacher undertakes to do. That he must have something more than a formula with which to effect it goes without saying.
What is the first step? Inasmuch as the singer must use his voice when he sings, the first thing to do is to train his voice.
There never will be sufficient time to tell the lengths to which the human intellect has gone in its efforts to perfect an unfailing method of voice culture. Nothing of which we are aware presents such evidence of human frailty and the worthlessness of human opinion.
Not an argument has been advanced that has not been contradicted, and not a contradiction that has not in turn been argued out of existence. The endless pro and con of it ought, by the laws of logic, to create an eternal equilibrium or deadlock, but it doesn't. This particular war is still on, and at times it can scarcely be called civil war.
What is the cause of this vehement disagreement? The answer is not hard to find. The skirmish that has attracted most attention in the past fifty years was precipitated by that class of inquirers who look at the voice instead of listening to it. Their birth dates from that of the laryngoscope. They have gone to the limit of believing what they see, notwithstanding the unreliability of vision is very generally understood. If proof of this statement were needed these investigators have furnished an abundance of it in the general disagreement among themselves on what the laryngoscope discloses. Each one sees the vocal mechanism doing certain things and he takes it for granted that all vocal mechanisms should be made to do what he thinks he sees that particular one doing. But all vocal mechanisms do not do the same things in the same way nor can they be made to do so; therefore all of the looking at the voice that has been done in the past fifty years has done nothing to help the vocal teacher, but it has resulted in incalculable harm to many teachers and students. It has raised a callow brood who look upon the wonderful discoveries made in the laboratories as so much pure science to dissent from which in the slightest degree is to strike at the very foundations of polite learning. Teachers with this attitude of mind almost invariably resort to direct control of the vocal mechanism and unless they see it doing what they think it ought to do they are not satisfied until they have whipped it into line. They hope by this means to produce a good tone, but it is doubtful if such teaching ever resulted in a good tone or a good singer. If it did it was because the singer was great in spite of it. It usually means going back and doing the work all over.
Relative Importance of Eye and Ear
What is the relative importance of the eye and ear in voice training? The ratio can scarcely be more than one in a hundred. To prove this let us go into the studio where vocal problems are solved, not to a physics laboratory.
Suppose a beginner comes for her first lesson and we ask her to sing the second line G. Instantly a large number of things call for judgment and decision. Is it a pure singing tone? Is it resonant? Is it sympathetic? It is steady? Has it sufficient power? Is it too white? Is it too dark? Is it breathy? Is it throaty? Is it properly sustained? Is it emotional? Is there evidence of imagination in it? Is it produced with the right mechanism? Is it alto or soprano quality? On not one of these points can the eye aid in rendering a decision. They are all problems for the ear.
Let us go further and ask her to sing a scale. Here another list of items calls for judgment. Is the scale even? Is it the same power throughout? Is it the same color throughout? Are all tones smoothly connected. Does the tone become brighter or more somber toward the top? Are the upper tones as free as the lower ones? Are there evidences of change of register? Is there evidence of forcing a mechanism beyond its legitimate bounds? Is this scale equally resonant throughout? Does it indicate a lyric or dramatic voice? Is the intonation perfect? Further, if we test this voice for flexibility, for the messa di voce, for the enunciation of vowels and consonants, the pronunciation of words, for style, interpretation, mood, etc., we find in every instance the appeal is to the ear and the judgment depends upon what the ear hears.
To proceed, one or all of the things mentioned above may be imperfect in this voice, in the beginner's voice they all will need more or less remodeling, and every voice will present a different combination of imperfections, for the voice is an expression of individuality and in this the variation is infinite.
The transforming full of imperfections into a pure musical organ is the problem confronting the teacher. It is a problem for the psychologist raher than the physiologist, because every one of the things mentioned above and a large number the mention of which space forbids, undeniably exist first as mental concepts and the success of the teacher will depend altogether upon the quality of his musical concepts, for he can demand nothing better from his student than his own ideals. When the student vocalizes the teacher must hear two tones, the one the student sings and the one he ought to sing, and the one he ought to sing must be as definite in the teacher's mind as the one he does sing. It is the same in interpretation. The teacher hears the perfect interpretation as well as the imperfect one offered by the student. Otherwise he will be of little value to the student.
The development of a refined musical nature is the result of a wide and intimate acquaintance with the best in music, for music in its highest aspect deals only with what is pure and beautiful. It is impossible for me to associate beautiful music with coarseness, crudity or vulgarity in any degree, nor can I see how these opposites can exist simultaneously in the same personality. Either one would be uncomfortable in the presence of the other. The teacher, of all people, should be of pure thoughts and ideals. The atmosphere of the studio will attract or repel according to the quality of the teacher's ideals. The teacher unconsciously gives out something of himself along wtth the lesson and it should at least be wholesome.
I have spoke of what I consider essential in the training of the teacher, because there is far too much teaching done with meager and insufficient preparation. Such statements as "I don't want to study very long, just enough to be able to teach," and this is not uncommon, fills one with amazement that there is anyone with such a concept of teaching. It is such untrained cars and consciences that can listen to forced upper tones indefinitely without offence. If such things offended the teacher's ear they would be stopped at once.
If the teacher has been properly trained he will recognize that the faults in the untrained voice are not physical, they are wrong concepts manifesting themselves. One may have a perfectly normal vocal organ and still be doing everything wrong and he will continue to do so until he learns to control it with right concepts.
"But," says someone, "look at that stiffened tongue, rigid lower jaw and throat. Do you mean to tell me there is nothing physically wrong?" That it just what I mean to tell you, and the proof is short and decisive. You see a rigid tongue, but you are looking at effect, not cause. We never see cause for the reason that causation is mental and cannot be cognized by any one of the physical senses. This is the weak spot in so-called scientific systems of voice training. They work with what they see, consequently they are working with effects and leaving causes untouched.
There is nothing physically wrong with this student, but there is something mentally wrong. He has directed a mental impulse of tension into the tongue until this impulse is working automatically and has become what we call a habit. But there is no such thing as a physical habit. Habits are mental. In this instance the habit is wrong, but how shall we right it? To change the effect we must change the cause. This is the only scientific way. To tinker with the effect and leave the cause unchanged is not scientific, it is merely stupid. To get rid of rigid tongue, lower jaw, and larynx an impulse of relaxation must be directed to them until the habit of perfect freedom is formed. Then they make no further trouble.
Some teachers make endless trouble for themselves and their pupils by trying to gain direct control of the mechanism through working with what they see. The result is all manner of mechanical instructions about placing the voice, most of which, if carried out, would prevent the voice from ever being placed.
Why make this matter of forming the voice so difficult when it is inherently simple. It is not developing muscles, but ideas. It is forming habits of mind which, when exercised, result in beautiful tone. The right idea of tone will control the mechanism unerringly if it is free enough to be responsive.
The good tone you hear coming from your student is effect. The cause is a correct tone concept. In making a good voice out of a bad one we do not change the instrument, but we do change our way of playing on it. When the instrument is free enough to be responsive then the matter of how well one produces his tone and how intelligently he sings will be governed by his concepts of tone and interpretation.
The Pupil
I have been speaking of teaching and the teacher, but we must not forget that the pupil is the problem. Why do not all of our pupils improve at the same rate?
Is it possible for the teacher to study the pupil with such accuracy and adjust his teaching to the individual need so perfectly that all may improve with equal rapidity? I believe this is what every live teacher tries to do, but so far no one has succeeded. Pupils go to the teacher with a variety of wrong ideas and habits, mental trends which are the result of environment, opportunity and racial characteristics. These are the things that confront the teacher in his efforts to form a musical mentality. If the problem were physical it would be comparatively simple, but when it consists of mental tendencies which, perhaps, have been handed down for a thousand years it assumes a far more difficult phase. Every student knows what he likes. What he likes may be bad, but it is the best he knows at that time. It satisfies his ear, which is his taste, and he will do nothing better until his taste changes. When a taste of this kind has been pampered a bit and is associated with a dash of egotism you have a real problem. Talking mechanics to such a one might affect his temper, but not his taste.
It is of primary importance that the pupil learn to hear himself when he vocalizes. He doubtless thinks he does, but in the beginning he does not, save in a general way. He hears himself making tone, hut there are many things in the tone which he does not hear. Of this I have absolute proof daily. Hearing is mental, and the student will hear all he is able to hear, that is, to the limit of his experience, no further. As better models are presented to him and his experience enlarges he begins to hear more in detail until he finally becomes completely conscious of what he is doing. This makes correction of his faults easy.
A great prophet once said: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." There is a vast difference between theory and absolute truth. Voice teaching has been theorized almost to the limit of the human imagination, but underneath all of these over-exercised fancies there are certain eternal truths that base all artistic expression. They are a definite concept of the beautiful, and freedom of utterance (technic). These are habits of mind, and they are the things which free the vocal student from all false doctrines. Voice teaching should be musical training, and as music is something to hear it must necessarily reach the student through the ear, not the eye.