In my second post on classical singing, I will list some of the ways in which natural instincts may have to be overcome in order to sing efficiently. We are constantly being told that singing should “feel natural”, when nothing could be further than the truth. If we define “natural” as “that which we are born doing”, how can we say that singing feels natural, if we are not born singing? Are we really to believe it’s natural given that we struggle as beginners?
As with all posts in this series, my advice is gleaned from my personal experience, and may not apply to everyone. Nonetheless, I’m sure there are other students out there who have the same issues I do.
That said, let’s look at several habits we must reconsider if we wish to make progress.
The mouth needs to be opened wide
Looking in a mirror while singing, I am often amazed at how little my mouth opens unless I consciously will it otherwise. While speaking, I barely open my mouth at all. This is perfectly acceptable in speaking (try it: you can speak basically just fine with your teeth clenched shut), but does not work in singing.
The energy sufficient for speaking is not enough for singing
If we are constantly being told that singing should feel effortless, and should feel like speaking, should it surprise anyone if we open our mouths and barely any sound comes out? Truly “effortless” phonation is little more than speaking under one’s breath. The energy required for singing is closer to that of yelling that to that of speaking (although it’s easy to get carried away with this). Speaking can be a good source of instruction for singing, but I prefer to imagine I’m speaking to someone in the next room, rather than someone standing right in front of me.
The vowels used in speaking cannot produce the proper tone for singing
The primary danger for beginners in vowel formation is the tendency to involve the intrinsic muscles of the larynx when we form vowels with the extrinsic articulation muscles. In The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing, W. Stephen Smith refers to this as “entanglement”, and American speech patterns virtually guarantee this to a rather severe extent. The vowels must therefore be produced purely and deliberately, with a minimum of nonessential engagement. Beginning American singers also have many other problems with vowels, such as trouble with diphthongs and a failure to understand that it is in the vowels themselves that singing happens.
The vibrato needs to be encouraged
When I was a novice, the vibrato phenomenon totally mystified me. All trained singers exhibited it, yet I did not. Every source I read and everyone I spoke with all said the same thing: “vibrato happens automatically and you don’t do anything to create it”. People even accused me of deliberately withholding it in my own singing, to my immense frustration. Nonetheless, it has always been obvious to me that the majority of trained singers have it, and the majority of untrained singers don’t, so I knew the trained singer is in fact doing something. My own vibrato finally emerged when I discarded this harmful idea that vibrato happens automatically.
Exhalation must be controlled properly
In speaking, we are used to letting our air out quickly, collapsing our ribcages, or holding the airflow back with throat tension. None of this will work in singing. The exhalation must happen automatically, with the singer neither forcing the air out, nor holding it in. This is perhaps the most fundamentally important element of singing, and yet it is one that speaking does not prepare us for.
One final point
Finally, to progress in singing, as in most endeavors, one must overcome the fear of making mistakes. This fear is so ingrained by our society, we equate mistakes with failure, and with personal deficiency. Singing seems to take this to an extreme, as we are the instrument, and listeners seem to judge us when they judge our playing.
