The Head Voice and Other Problems | Page 8

of truth. The only way the singer can injure the vocal instrument is by
forcing it. That is, by setting up a resistance in the vocal cords that
prevents their normal action. If this is persevered in it soon becomes a
habit which results in chronic congestion. Singing becomes
increasingly difficult, especially in the upper voice, and in course of
time the singer discovers that he has laryngitis. Will a knowledge of
vocal physiology cure laryngitis? Never. Will it prevent any one from
singing "throaty?" There is no instance of the kind on record. In a
majority of cases laryngitis and other vocal ills are the direct results of
bad voice production and disappear as the singer learns to produce his
upper tones without resistance. These things are effects, not causes, and
to destroy the effect we must remove the cause. This will be found to
be a wrong habit and habits are mental, not physical. When a mental
impulse and its consequent response become simultaneous and
automatic the result is a habit, but it is the mental impulse that has
become automatic.
The terms, tension, rigidity, interference, resistance, all mean
essentially the same thing. They mean the various forms of contraction
in the vocal instrument which prevents its involuntary action. If we
follow these things back far enough we shall find that they all have
their origin in some degree of fear. This fear, of which anxiety is a mild
form, begins to show itself whenever the singer attempts tones above
the compass of his speaking voice. Here is undeveloped territory. The

tone lacks power, quality and freedom, and as power is what the
untrained singer always seeks first, he begins to force it. In a short time
he has a rigid throat, and the longer he sings the more rigid it becomes.
By the time he decides to go to a teacher his voice is in such a
condition that he must take his upper tones with a thick, throaty quality
or with a light falsetto. Among female voices I have seen many that
could sing nothing but a full tone in the upper register, and that only
with an unsteady, unsympathetic quality.
Now a point upon which all voice teachers can agree is that the upper
voice is not properly trained until it has a perfect messa di voce that is,
until the singer can swell the tone from the lightest pianissimo to full
voice and return, on any tone in his compass, without a break and
without sacrificing the pure singing quality. How shall this be
accomplished? If the singer is forcing the upper voice it is safe to say in
the beginning that it never can be done by practicing with full voice.
Such practice will only fasten the habit of resistance more firmly upon
the singer. To argue in the affirmative is equivalent to saying that the
continued practice of a bad tone will eventually produce a good tone.
There is but one way to the solution of the problem; the singer must get
rid of resistance. When he has succeeded in doing that the problem of
the head voice is solved. The bugaboo of voice placing permanently
disappears. The difficulty so many have in placing the upper voice lies
in this, that they try to do it without removing the one thing which
prevents them from doing it. When the voice is free from resistance it
places itself, that is, it produces without effort whatever quality the
singer desires. The term "head voice," doubtless grew out of the
sensation in the head which accompanies the upper tones, and this
sensation is the result of the vibration of the air in the air head cavities.
Many have taken this sensation as a guide to the production of the head
voice, and in order to make sure of it they instruct the student to direct
the tone into the head. This is not only an uncertain and unnecessary
procedure, but is almost sure to develop a resistance which effectually
prevents the tone from reaching the head cavities. When there is no
interference the tone runs naturally into the proper channel. It is not
necessary to use force to put it there.

HEAD RESONANCE
Whether or not the head cavities act as resonators is one of the many
mooted points in voice training. Those who believe they do are much in
the majority, but those in the minority are equally confident they do not.
What are the arguments? That there is a sensation in the head cavities
when singing in the upper part of the compass no one can deny. Does it
affect tone quality? The minority offers the argument that it cannot do
so because the soft palate automatically rises in singing a high tone,
thus closing