04/01/2024
On Dropping Vowel Weight: Part 3
Cornelia van Zanten was a brilliant teacher and writer of vocal pedagogy books. Her book "Bel Canto: Des Wortes von Cornelia van Zanten" is brilliant and include almost 50 pages of exercises that are extremely effective. It was used in Germany as the foundation of vocal training from 1911 until 1923.
My dear friend Jenny Nyland studied with a student of Cornelia van Zanten, Jo Vincent, herself a fine singer and teacher. In the previous post I spoke about causes of vocal weight including (1) use of too much cord mass too high in pitch, (2) employing too much breath pressure, which thickens the cords, (3) forward jaw thrust, which raises the laryngeal position and slightly separates the cords, (4) dragging a lower register too high in pitch (5) dropped facial posture and therefore soft palate, (6) narrowing of the tongue-root and pillars of Fauces, (7) forward thrust of the head position, and (8) singing heavier repertoire than the appropriate fach. ALL of these factors are important to consider when we instruct young singers. This is because employment of too much vocal weight can cause difficulty with the high range, imbalance in registration, general employment of too much breath pressure to force phonation, and resulting squeeze of the sternocleidomastoid muscles.
I traveled to my friend Jenny's house in Amsterdam in early 1990 at her invitation. She introduced me to some fantastic exercises that she learned from Jo Vincent, who studied with Cornelia van Zanten herself in 1919. These exercise were not easy, but over time and practice I learned a tremendous amount of information from working on them.
Exercise Part 1: Moving Without Moving the Throat
This exercise requires that the singer learn to move pitch ONLY with the stretch of the vocal folds, without any sudden laryngeal adjustment. It may sound simple, but it can be challenging. The purpose of the exercise is to teach the vocal folds to stretch for pitch change, creating balance in registration by thinning the cords appropriately.
The exercise uses a hum, but with the jaw slightly unhinged (small space between the back teeth), lips closed, and the tongue-tip down below the lower teeth, in the lower gum area, which assists in achieving sufficient internal acoustical space.
First try phonating on single pitches with this approach to the hum. The slightly unhinged jaw invites more internal acoustical space and allows pitch movement with minimal laryngeal movement. Work slowly and the minute you feel any muscular adjustment, stop and begin again.
1......3.........1.........
Hum......................
Move pitch on a major 3rd without feeling laryngeal muscles moving. In truth, in order to achieve this the larynx does tilt slightly down and forward while ascending in pitch.
Exercise Part 2: The Full Scale
1....2....1... / 1....3.....1 / 1....4....1 / 1....5....1.. / 1....6....1 / 1...7...1 / 1...octave.....1
This part of the exercise requires tremendous concentration and it will take time and patience to achieve it without sudden laryngal adjustment. Take your time. You can monitor the larynx by placing fingertips just above the thyroid cartilage. Registration will balance perfectly with this slow deliberate exercise, making it virtually impossible to drag voice weight from a lower register.
More in Part 4: "Different Approches to Dropping Vocal Weight
I hope this exercise benefits you. Have a great day. David
David Jones' Book "A Modern Guide to Old World Singing" is available at www.amazon.de, www.amazon.com, www.thebookdepository.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the ebook at www.ebooks.com.
David Jones Instructional CD is available as download ONLY at www.voiceteacher.com.
