Resonance in Singing and Speaking | Page 2

action
of each organ used in vocalization and articulation. To this end I sought
vocal instruction and advice, which, modified by my own observations,
have produced the most gratifying results.
Up to that time it had been held that the nasal cavities must be cut off
from the mouth by the closing of the soft palate against the back of the
throat; that the passage of ever so little of the sound above the palate
would give a nasal twang, and that the sound was reinforced and
developed only in the cavities of the throat and mouth. My practice in
Oral Surgery, coupled with my own vocal studies exposed this fallacy
and revealed to me the true value of nasal resonance.
The late Mme. Rudersdorff had begun to recognize the effect of nasal
resonance, but she left no published record of her conclusions. It does
not appear that she or her contemporaries realized the true value of the

nasal and head cavities as reinforcing agents in the production of tone,
or appreciated their influence upon its quality and power.
There are perhaps few subjects on which a greater variety of opinion
exists than on that of voice culture, and few upon which so many
volumes have been written. Few points are uncontested, and exactly
opposite statements are made in regard to each.
Formerly great stress was laid upon the distinction between "head
tones" and "chest tones," "closed tones" and "open tones." The whole
musical world was in bondage to "registers of the voice," and the one
great task confronting the singer and vocal teacher was to "blend the
registers," a feat still baffling the efforts of many instructors.
Many teachers and singers have now reached what they consider a
demonstrated conclusion that registers are not a natural feature of the
voice; yet a large contingent still adhere to the doctrine of "register,"
depending for their justification upon the unreliable evidence furnished
by the laryngoscope, not realizing that there will be found in the little
lens as many different conditions as the observers have eyes to see.
Garcia himself, the inventor of the laryngoscope, soon modified his
first claims as to its value in vocal culture.
On this point we have the testimony of his biographer, M.S. McKinley:
"As far as Garcia was concerned, the laryngoscope ceased to be of any
special use as soon as his first investigations were concluded. By his
examination of the glottis he had the satisfaction of proving that all his
theories with regard to the emission of the voice were absolutely
correct. Beyond that he did not see that anything further was to be
gained except to satisfy the curiosity of those who might be interested
in seeing for themselves the forms and changes which the inside of the
larynx assumed during singing and speaking."
Of similar purport is the word of the eminent baritone, Sir Charles
Santley, who, in his Art of Singing, says:
"Manuel Garcia is held up as the pioneer of scientific teaching of

singing. He was--but he taught singing, not surgery! I was a pupil of his
in 1858 and a friend of his while he lived;[1] and in all the
conversations I had with him I never heard him say a word about larynx
or pharynx, glottis or any other organ used in the production and
emission of the voice. He was perfectly acquainted with their functions,
but he used his knowledge for his own direction, not to parade it before
his pupils."
[Footnote 1: Garcia died July 1, 1906, at the age of 101.]
The eminent London surgeon and voice specialist, Dr. Morell
Mackenzie, says of the laryngoscope, "It can scarcely be said to have
thrown any new light on the mechanism of the voice"; and Dr. Lennox
Browne confesses that, "Valuable as has been the laryngoscope in a
physiological, as undoubtedly it is in a medical sense, it has been the
means of making all theories of voice production too dependent on the
vocal cords, and thus the importance of the other parts of the vocal
apparatus has been overlooked."
Not only in regard to "registers" but in regard to resonance, focus,
articulation, and the offices and uses of the various vocal organs,
similar antagonistic opinions exist. Out of this chaos must some time
come a demonstrable system.
A generation ago the art of breathing was beginning to be more an
object of study, but the true value of correct lateral abdominal breathing
was by no means generally admitted or appreciated. It was still taught
that the larynx (voice-box) should bob up and down like a
jack-in-a-box with each change of pitch, and that "female breathing"
must be performed with a pumping action of the chest and the elevation
and depression of the collar bone.
Fortunately, teachers and singers recognized