My Sonic Valentine

The Echo Of The Universe

Valentine’s day this year is set to be quite a landmark.  Apart from being the day dedicated to St Valentine the patron saint of Love there is also a highly significant astrological alignment: the moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationships and Jupiter and Mars will be aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation. Forty years ago these intuitive lyrics heralded this dawning of the Age of Aquarius:

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then love will rule the planets
And peace will steer the stars

February 14^th is also the 7^th World Sound Healing Day.  Many people are beginning to realise the power of sound to heal and transform and so I along with many others will be accepting this cosmic invitation to send out a Sonic Valentine by sounding the heartsound “AH”.  In addition I have my own personal musical contribution which you will find on YouTube – a song I composed and performed called “The Echo Of The Universe”with lyrics by Deirdre Haynes.

The universe it echoes
Through a wilderness of time
Up above and down below
Could the universe be mine

I’ll gather safely in my arms
The sun and moon above
Stars at night watch out for me
In a zodiac of love

music © Glenna Tomson
lyrics © Deirdre Haynes

So why not join in the celestial choir on 14^th February.

Light and Love
Glenna

Digging Up The Past

Having failed to write a post at Christmas as I intended, and then missed the New Year too, I have finally managed to get my fingers tapping again on the keys of my computer.  I have my excuses though – we were bereft of two of the wonders of modern life during the holiday period, central heating and the internet! Fortunately on Christmas day with the turkey cooking away in the oven, we managed to keep the house cosy and of course the alcohol and rich food warmed us on the inside but as the days (6 days in all!) wore on and the outside temperature plummeted our activities in the house were restricted to huddling round the gas fire in the lounge, reading or watching films on TV.  Anyway, on the 29^th December heating and internet were both restored and we gratefully began to resume normal routine only to be overtaken by the flu.

And so, excuses having been made, it’s high time for some of the many thoughts about the voice that I had over the Christmas period to be put into print.  This time of the year gives us an opportunity to reflect, hence my title “Digging Up The Past”.  Reminiscing about my childhood, I recalled the moment I announced at the age of about eight that I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up.  Always an avid reader, I had at an early age been introduced to the Greek myths and had been riveted by the Odyssey and the Iliad.  Little did I know then that I would go on to read these in the original Greek texts at school.   My odyssey through life of course has been the voice but in many ways studying the voice is very much like being an archaeologist; one is constantly digging down through the layers to unearth more knowledge.  Many insights which have come to light only recently have turned much of my thinking upside down – in fact my previous post focussed on the fact that sometimes the bit of knowledge we seek is found by taking a totally different path in our thinking.

Digging up my past with regards to posts written in this blog, I was startled to realise that I have changed my stance quite considerably on many issues of vocal technique some of which hark back to flashes of my first naïve attempts at sound making.  It is remarkable how close I was to the innate wisdom of the voice and yet I did not know how I did it.  I am sure many of you will relate to this and how we can get so bogged down when we go on to seriously study the voice. How difficult it is to make conscious those things that had worked with ease in an unconscious way! A great number of singers have had very successful careers not knowing how they did it but there is a great danger in this – quite a number have lost their natural sound along the way and then their career crashes because they did not know how to get it back.  I really admire Renee Fleming in this respect, because she struggled with her technique for a long time.  A highly intelligent woman, she was obviously quite determined to figure it out completely.  In her book “The Inner Voice”, she writes, ” Among the important realizations I had in my own days in the practice room was that if one route to any one phrase didn’t work after days of trying, then the exact opposite route should at least be explored, as well as every alternative in between, as counterintuitive as that often seemed.” Thank you, Renee! She also sums up the intricacies of the human voice beautifully with this sentence – “Analyzing a voice and discerning why it isn’t functioning freely, beautifully and artistically are like trying to dissect a snowflake.  Each instrument is entirely different from all others, because each mind and each body that produce it is entirely different.” So good luck with your own snowflake in 2009! I will be passing on my insights in later posts and don’t be surprised at some major shifts in thinking due to digging up my past!

PS And by the way I will also be writing much more about my esoteric path with the voice this year, so keep reading!

Taking A Different Path

All of us suffer blocks from time to time and very often the way forward is simply to take a different path, turn our ideas upside down and shift our thinking, even, dare, I say it,  try out what you may think is the “the wrong thing”. Many of the great scientists have made discoveries like this when all else has failed.

The passaggio has been concerning me again lately, and as I am convinced that the passaggio holds the key to unlock the whole voice, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about it and waiting for an epiphany.  I still, after many years tend to have a very slight clunk as I go from chest to head voice.  Occasionally I am lucky and steer through it but I am not convinced that I have really pinned the process down exactly in my vocal muscles.  The other day with the help of a very enlightened teacher I steered my way through the passaggio as never before.  Without her encouragement I would never have executed the manoeuvre.  Just at the point where I normally change into head mechanism (Eb to E) she told me to continue to hold the position and not change!  Horror of horrors it felt as if I was pushing chest too high then just at the point where I would have given up I suddenly emerged into a head tone of such resonance I could hardly believe it.  I had radically changed what I thought was my truth and found the answer. I suddenly realised that having this cut-off point – no chest beyond E – had locked me in and I had not discovered what would happen if I stuck it out.  What did happen was that the percentage of chest voice got less and less (something Marilyn Horne talks about in “Great Singers On Great Singing”) and by waiting a bit longer I slid effortlessly into a very vibrant head tone.  By the time it was necessary to be in head voice I was already in it!  There has to be a feeling of stretch during this manoeuvre and you must leave the sound connected to the diaphragm.  “Zen In The Art Of Archery” comes to mind as you must maintain the tension at the point of change just as an archer does.

So take my advice and don’t be afraid to take another path – you may find the answer you are looking for.  Classical singers in the main treat their voices with kid gloves but even if you end up doing a manoeuvre that fails at least you can discard that idea and you are unlikely to damage your voice.  Vocal damage happens over a long period of time – it does not happen with the odd bum note! Practice is not necessarily about making beautiful sounds – it is an opportunity to look at the raw material of your voice.  Sculptors start of with a very rough block of stone and carve it into something beautiful and we should do the same with our voice.  Practice should be about sound-making and the singing comes out of that.

PS Warning -  if you are inexperienced you need to work with the help of a good teacher, as manoeuvres such as the one described in this post have to come after you have established a basically healthy vocal production.

Circles Of Energy

One of the many inspiring books I have read over the summer is Patsy Rodenburg’s “Presence”.  For those who don’t know already, Patsy Rodenburg is one of the most respected voice coaches in the UK and although she teaches actors her techniques can be used just as easily with the singing voice.  The main thrust of the book which is so succinct and perceptive is that basic human energy falls into three circles.

First Circle is the Circle of Self and Withdrawal and although useful at times for moments of introspection and reflection, if you live mainly in this circle you will be limited, your passion for life will be dulled and you are shy.  You will also tend to absorb other people’s energy to try and compensate and therefore you will be rather a draining person to deal with – I can think of several of my students who are like this and if I am not careful they can wipe me out by the end of the lesson!  First Circle energy will also not be enough for a performer to be effective.

Third Circle is the Circle of Bluff and Force where energy is outward moving and non-specific – people who operate mainly in this circle are self-centred but in a different way.  They want to be the centre of attention – we have all come across people like this at parties and all that energy which they push out has the effect of making us switch off.  Third Circle operators are in fact using this way of behaviour as a shield to protect themselves. They do not receive any energy from the world as they are alone, fighting to control life and perceived by people around them as arrogant and over-bearing.  In singing these performers tend to push the voice out there using too much energy and the audience hit by this barrage of sound does not listen with rapt attention.  In teaching, these are the students who march into the room with an over-inflated sense of self-confidence and do not listen.  Again these people are exhausting to deal with.

Second Circle is The Energy of Connecting.  People who operate in this circle have real presence.  People who operate in this circle give out energy but also receive it back. These are the performers who literally change our lives when we listen to them. You feel they are connecting directly with you personally even although you may be one of a very large audience.  They connect.  These students are the ones who give back energy to you and we emerge from our studio feeling as if we have not been working at all. If only all our students could be like that, we say.

If you don’t possess this book, get your hands on it asap.  Not only is it a great handbook for performers and teachers, it is a handbook for life itself.

Two Kinds Of Singing

I have just returned from a trip to Spain having thoroughly recharged the batteries. One of the joys of a holiday is more time to read. I decided it was time to drag myself away from books on singing technique. I had several waiting to be opened and the temptation was strong to pack them but instead I took up a recommendation of one of my students – an interesting girl studying psychology – and bought two books by Paulo Coelho. I chose two because of their strong association with Spain – “The Pilgrimage” and “The Alchemist”. Am I the last person on this planet to discover this author? OK, I know the critics love to dismiss his writing as rather treacly New Age but there is much to admire about the simplicity with which he weaves ancient wisdom into pure fairy tale.I delighted in feeling like a child who during the long summer break loved to curl up with a book that took me on a magical journey. I have since ordered every book he has written from Amazon, so there!

What has all this got to do with “Two Kinds Of Singing” you may ask. Well, there is a lovely passage in Coelho’s “The Witch Of Portobello” which caught my eye. When the heroine, Athena, is taught calligraphy by a Bedouin he remarks that:

“There are two kinds of letter. The first is precise, but lacks soul. In this case, although the calligrapher may have mastered the technique, he has focused solely on the craft, which is why it hasn’t evolved, but become repetitive; he hasn’t grown at all, and one day he’ll give up the practice of writing because he feels it is mere routine.

The second kind is done with great technique, but with soul as well. For that to happen, the intention of the writer must be in harmony with the word.”

How true this is of the Art of Singing. The great singers are great because they sing with soul.

More On Humming – It’s Only For The Bees!

I’m back after a protracted absence and I’d like to follow on from my last post about humming.  As I said, it is not recommended practice in the true bel canto training.  E. Herbert-Caesari in his book “Vocal Truth” writes in depth about this and I thought it worth quoting in full.

“In view of the fact that humming is part and parcel of certain methods and a supposed solvent of the question of tonal placing, we deem it expedient to bring into relief the dangers of this practice, the possible benefits of which are negligible.

One can hum on M or N; however, the former is most in use.  The mouth is closed, the cords are set in motion and the sound issues from the nostrils.  And because the cords are set in motion the singer must be careful now he hums or ‘emms’.  When an ascending scale is ‘emmed’ it often happens that as, or even before, the upper medium pitches are reached the larynx rises unduly and the tongue with it, while the soft palate comes down in equal degree; a dual movement that considerably narrows the mouth-pharynx cavity.  It is true that this cavity has not to be shaped to any particular vowel during the humming process; nevertheless, the vibrator mechanism becomes deranged and cannot function properly in the presence of such cramping of the said cavity – its primary resonating zone.  It is deranged as soon as the larynx itself rises beyond a certain physiological level (floating level we call it); which deranging prevents accurate general adjustment.  As the pitch rises still further, conditions will worsen if the larynx continues its upward movement.  If it does, up goes the tongue with it and down comes the soft palate in equal degree.  This increase in the flattening and cramping of the aforesaid cavity is assuredly not going to improve matters.  In such cases, the higher the pitch the more the elevation of larynx and tongue, and the descent of the soft palate becomes abnormal, and more than ever it is impossible for the cords to function correctly.  If this indiscriminate humming is persisted in for half and hour or so at a time, as sometimes is practised by teachers and choirmasters, the voice – or rather the cords – register unmistakable fatigue, developing also an uncomfortable feeling of ‘rawness’.  In the case of choirs, this may happen only once a week, so there is time for recovery before the next dose.  The added mischief lies in the possibility of young singers adopting the method in their own studies.

In light sopranos especially, and more than the other categories, the larynx is already set in a naturally high position in the throat; consequently, if its elevation is unduly and therefore unnaturally increased with this humming business, then the strain is considerable, particularly on the high pitches.

We have even read that humming was one of the ‘secrets’ of tonal placing of the Old Italian School! We are not of this opinion.  In any case, this school had no ’secrets’ of this or any other kind.

It is not a genuine process for the so-called placing of the voice nor for exercising it systematically.  It teaches little or nothing as far as the basic tonal sensations and their variations are concerned, and it is only in exceptional cases that a singer is able correctly to hum up the scale to the highest pitches with a balanced vibrator mechanism.  Even so, it will profit him or her but very little.  On general lines it wastes both time and energy.

To our thinking, a limited use can be made of humming: (1) for giving the student an idea of what is meant by absolute freedom of vibration, because on the lowest notes the cords can be felt to be working freely, to be ‘singing’ in an unhampered medium; (2) for the slightest warming of the voice just on the first octave, in places where actual singing is impracticable.

For our part, we have no use for it; furthermore, we consider that all available energies should be devoted to the advancement of the student without halting to trifle with such negligible factors.”

I think this is a definitive and comprehensive statement, so take heed and leave it to the bees to do all the humming!

To Hum Or Not To Hum

The answer is NO!

I begin 2008 with a confession – I have used the hum in my own vocalizing and teaching in the past.   Indeed it has been and continues to be used in many 20th and 21st century studios.  The hum however, is not part of the true bel canto approach to technique.  The hum originates in the ‘placement’ and ‘singing in the mask’ theories (humming or using nasalized sounds is supposed to place the voice forward and in the mask) and one of the main culprits for the emergence of these ideas was Jean de Resque.

Lamperti on the other hand said to his students, “Don’t hum”! His biographer, William Earl Brown says, “When Lamperti said, ‘Singing is humming with the mouth open’, he did not mean that humming with the mouth closed would bring this about! ‘If you cannot sing with the mouth open, you cannot with it closed’, he would exclaim. ‘You cannot hum right, until you can sing right…Don’t hum!’ He believed that humming fatigued the voice.

Humming may be of some temporary use if a student is using pressed phonation as it can encourage them to ease off, but why not work on the source of the problem at the cords, the start of the note.

My own teacher said ‘Don’t hum!’ in my second lesson with him when he walked into the room and caught me in the middle of doing a quick warm-up on humming exercises.  It encourages the larynx to lift so no humming – sorry Pooh!

Christmas Post

As the year draws to a close and before I snuggle up to the fireside with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie I thought I’d better write you all a quick post. First of all I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and I am of course looking forward to continuing on my vocal odyssey in the year to come. I have lots of ideas bubbling away at the moment but I’m putting them on the back burner as the time has come to rest my brain for a little while.

I am realising more and more that the voice is one of the most potent means of self-transformation. This is my quest, my hero’s (OK heroine’s!) journey – the inner journey we must all make when we seek enlightenment. (Joseph Campbell makes interesting reading on this subject.) Our voices are stamped with our own personal history and if we clear away all the junk that we have acquired in the voice since early childhood we will clear away the junk from ourselves too.

“If I Were A Bell”

In my teaching I tend to avoid the over-use of imagery.  Some teachers rely almost entirely on imagery which can be a bit wafty for my liking.  I personally want to try and understand the nitty-gritty mechanical aspects of my voice and to build up an awareness of what my muscles are actually doing.  However, sometimes imagery can  perk up the usual instructions.   I have used the image of a bell this week on a few occasions to get my students to feel the expansion at the bottom of the ribcage in breathing.  This image was used by Jean de Reszke (“The Teaching of Jean de Reszke” by Dale V Gilliland published by Pro musica press). For those who are unfamiliar with his name he was a famous tenor and became a celebrated teacher and for me the interesting bit was that he taught Maggie Teyte a singer for whom I have a great admiration.I have always had slight suspicions about de Reszke’s teachings as he was quoted as saying that singing was all a question of “the nose” which of course it isn’t! However, I swallowed my prejudices and read the above book and found that there is much to be learnt from him.  The following passage is lifted from the book:

…….in inhaling, the lower ribs are to be expanded without raising the chest:- “Imagine yourself to be a great church bell, where all the sonority is round the rim.” But, this was not to be confused with sticking the stomach out – abdominal breathing – the abdomen was to be kept up and in, to give greater support to the diaphragm.  In singing this expansion was to be kept as long as possible, and the lower ribs not allowed to collapse in order that the breath might be kept under compression to the very last. This was, in fact, the first step towards the legato style of the true Bel canto.

A Honey Drop

A short post which follows on from “The Unruly Tongue”.  After I had written that post I suddenly remembered reading in Renee Fleming’s book “The Inner Voice” that she had struggled with tongue tension: “Beverley would have me place a honey drop in the center indentation near the front of the tongue to tame its unruly wandering back and down. Not wanting to choke on the foreign object the back of the tongue rises slightly and stays forward.  One has to keep the tongue relaxed and ungrooved as well, resting softly behind the front of the bottom teeth.  With the honey drop, the only scales that can be performed are on an AH vowel, as any other vowel would indeed put one in danger of choking” (page 62). Well, if it’s good enough for Renee it’s good enough for me!