The Psychology of Singing | Page 6

1723. This was translated
into English by M. Galliard, and published in London in 1742; a
German translation by J. F. Agricola was issued in 1757. The present
work will call for several citations from Tosi, all taken from the
English edition. Only one other prominent teacher of the old school, G.
B. Mancini, has left an apparently complete record of his method. His
Riflessioni pratiche sul Canto figurato was published in Milan in 1776.
Mancini's book has never been translated into English. Reference will
therefore be made to the third Italian edition, brought out in Milan,
1777.
Tosi and Mancini undoubtedly intended to give complete accounts of
the methods of instruction in singing in vogue in their day. But modern
vocal theorists generally believe that the most important materials of
instruction were for some reason not mentioned. Three registers are
mentioned by Tosi, while Mancini speaks of only two. Both touch on
the necessity of equalizing the registers, but give no specific directions
for this purpose. About all these early writers have left us, in the
opinion of most modern students of their works, is the outline of an
elaborate system of vocal ornaments and embellishments.

On the side of tradition a slightly more coherent set of rules has come
down to us from the old masters. These are generally known as the
"traditional precepts." Just when the precepts were first formulated it is
impossible to say. Tosi and Mancini do not mention them. Perhaps they
were held by the old masters as a sort of esoteric mystery; this idea is
occasionally put forward. At any rate, by the time the traditional
precepts were given to the world in published works on the voice, their
valuable meaning had been completely lost.
Gathered from all available sources, the traditional precepts are as
follows:
"Sing on the breath."
"Open the throat."
"Sing the tone forward," or "at the lips."
"Support the tone."
To the layman these precepts are so vague as to be almost unintelligible.
But modern vocal teachers are convinced that the precepts sum up the
most important means used by the old masters for imparting the correct
vocal action. An interpretation of the precepts in terms intelligible to
the modern student would therefore be extremely valuable. Many
scientific investigators of the voice have sought earnestly to discover
the sense in which the precepts were applied by the old masters. These
explanations of the traditional precepts occupy a very important
position in most modern methods of instruction.
There can be no question that the old masters were highly successful
teachers of singing. Even leaving out of consideration the vocal
achievements of the castrati, the singers of Tosi's day must have been
able to perform music of the florid style in a masterly fashion. This is
plainly seen from a study of the scores of the operas popular at that
time. Empirical methods of instruction seem to have sufficed for the
earlier masters. Not until the old method had been in existence for
nearly one hundred and fifty years does an attempt seem to have been

made to study the voice scientifically. In 1741 a famous French
physician, Ferrein, published a treatise on the vocal organs. This was
the first scientific work to influence the practices of vocal teachers.
For many years after the publication of Ferrein's treatise, the scientific
study of the voice attracted very little attention from the singing
masters. Fully sixty years elapsed before any serious attempt was made
to base a method of instruction on scientific principles. Even then the
idea of scientific instruction in singing gained ground very slowly.
Practical teachers at first paid but little attention to the subject. Interest
in the mechanics of voice production was confined almost entirely to
the scientists.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century the mechanical features
of voice production seem to have appealed to a constantly wider circle
of scientists. Lickovius (1814), Malgaine (1831), Bennati (1830), Bell
(1832), Savart (1825), brought out works on the subject. It remained,
however, for a vocal teacher, Garcia, to conceive the idea of basing
practical instruction on scientific knowledge.
Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) may justly be regarded as the founder of
Vocal Science. His father, Manuel del Popolo Viscenti, was famous as
singer, impresario, and teacher. From him Garcia inherited the old
method, it is safe to assume, in its entirety. But for Garcia's remarkable
mind the empirical methods of the old school were unsatisfactory. He
desired definite knowledge of the voice. A clear idea seems to have
been in his mind that, with full understanding of the vocal mechanism
and of its correct mode of action, voices would be more readily and
surely trained. How strongly this idea had possession of Garcia is
shown by the fact that he began the study of