Caruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing | Page 8

were detached and falling away
from her face. As one great singer expresses it: "You should have the
jaw of an imbecile when emitting a tone. In fact, you shouldn't know
that you have one." Let us take the following passage from "The
Marriage of Figaro," by Mozart:
[Illustration: Voi-che sa-pe-te-]
This would make an excellent exercise for the jaw. Sing only the
vowels, dropping the jaw as each one is attacked--"o, eh, ah." The o, of
course, is pronounced like the English o and the i in voi like e. The e in
che is pronounced like the English a. Sapete is pronounced sahpata.
You now have the vowels, o, ee, a, ah, a. Open the throat wide, drop
the jaw and pronounce the tones on a note in the easiest part of your
voice.
Do not attack a note at the same time that you are inhaling. That is too
soon. Take the breath through the nose, of course, and give it an instant
to settle before attacking the sound. In this way you will avoid the
stroke of the glottis which is caused by the sudden and uncontrolled
emission of the accumulated breath. In attacking a note the breath must
be directed to the focusing point on the palate which lies just at the
critical spot, different for every tone. In attacking a note, however,
there must be no pressure on this place, because if there is the
overtones will be unable to soar and sound with the tone.
From the moment the note is attacked the breath must flow out with it.
It is a good idea to feel at first as if one were puffing out the breath.
This is particularly good for the high notes on which a special stress
must be laid always to attack with the breath and not to press or push

with the throat. As long as the tone lasts the gentle but uninterrupted
outpouring of the breath must continue behind it. This breath pressure
insures the strength and, while holding the note to the focusing point on
the palate, insures its pitch. In a general way it can be said that the
medium tones of the voice have their focusing point in the middle part
of the palate, the lower tones coming nearer to the teeth to be
centralized and the high notes giving the sensation of finding their
focusing point in the high arch at the back of the mouth and going out,
as it were, through the crown of the head.
The resonance in the head cavities is soon perceived by those who are
beginning to sing. Sometimes in producing their first high notes young
people become nervous and irritated when singing high tones at the
curious buzzing in the head and ears. After a short time, however, this
sensation is no longer an irritation, and the singer can gauge in a way
where his tones are placed by getting a mental idea of where the
resonance to each particular tone should be.
High notes with plenty of head vibration can only be obtained when the
head is clear and the nasal cavities unobstructed by mucous membrane
or by any of the depression which comes from physical or mental cause.
The best way to lose such depression is to practice. Practicing the long
scale, being careful to use the different registers, as described later, will
almost invariably even out the voice and clear out the head if continued
long enough, and will enable the singer to overcome nervous or mental
depression as well.
The different sensations in producing the tone vary according to the
comparative height and depth. Beginning from the medium tones, the
singer will feel as if each tone of the descending scale were being sung
farther outside of the mouth, the vibration hitting the upper teeth as it
goes out, whereas with the ascending scale the vibrations pass through
the nasal cavities, through the cavity in the forehead and up back into
the head, until one feels as if the tone were being formed high over the
head at the back.
I want to say right here that whenever a young singer feels
uncomfortable when singing he or she is singing incorrectly.

In attacking the note on the breath, particularly in the high notes, it is
quite possible that at first the voice will not respond. For a long time
merely an emission or breath or perhaps a little squeak on the high note
is all that can be hoped for. If, however, this is continued, eventually
the head voice will be joined to the breath, and a faint note will find
utterance which with practice will develop until it becomes an easy and
brilliant tone.
The reason that the tone has not been able to