 For the artistic purpose of
singing, the voice needs to be trained to produce ably the requisites of the particular
style of music. The art of singing had been closely connected with religious activities
for many centuries. It can be said that the voice-culture for singing evolved from the
recitative methods of sacred hymns. In the West, the voice-culture methods are said to
have been developed by Greeks and Romans. The ancient chants of the West - Gregorian and
Ambrosian - spread through the Christendom from Rome. There existed many schools in Greece
and Rome to train pupils for chanting.
From the fifteenth century onwards, the
polyphonic and harmonic types of music began to flourish and part singing paved the way
for the classification of the voices into six types - Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Mezzo
soprano and Soprano. They are classified according to the range and quality of the voice.
The Bass voice is the lowest of the voices among men. It has very deep and mellow tone.
Soprano is the highest among women's voice and has three subdivisions as Lyric soprano,
Colaratura Soprano and Dramatic Soprano. The word 'Soprano' is etymologically synonymous
with 'Soprano' - the head, chief or highest. The Dramatic Soprano has a more wide range
than Colaratura and the beauty of the voice lies in the ringing and round quality of the
higher notes. In the lower octave it resembles the quality of Contralto voice. The child's
voice that is normally reedy is called 'Treble' the range within G. clef.
Training of the voice is usually begun as early as five or six years of
age. Prime importance is given to tone production for the first two years. Children are
taught to recite simple rhymes and sing little songs. Short vocal exercises are also
prescribed. Regarding the continuation of voice training exercises during the adolescent
age, much diversity of opinions prevail to date. The voice-culture methods include
solomisation and vocalisation practice, breathing and humming exercises and little songs.
Vocalisation practice on the vowels ah, ae, eh, oh and oo are administered to enhance the
quality of the voice. The humming exercises on the consonant M are taught to increase the
resonant quality of the voice. Apart from these musical exercises, special kinds of
breathing techniques are advocated to make the voice powerful and emotional. The breathing
exercises improve the capacity of the lungs and encourage the expansion of the lower ribs.
This in turn helps the singer to hold the breath for a long time and expel it evenly and
smoothly.
Finally, the standing posture is adopted while singing, because the
music of the West lays much stress on the 'bulk' of the voice and emotion in tone quality.
In France, the declamatory style was prominent during the Seventeenth century. The voice
was trained to produce the ornaments under the name 'Gout-de-chant'. But this style
vanished during the Eighteenth century, when Gluck's opera became popular. 'High-chest
breathing' was resorted to make the voice sound shrill and emotional. At present, nasality
and shrillness of tone are aimed at. Hence more importance is paid to 'place' the voice on
the nasal cavities and high-chest breathing.
In India, we did not have any definite information regarding the method
of voice training before the bifurcation system into North and South. The two systems of
music - North and South differ in the style of executing the broad system Indian Classical
Music. Therefore the methods of voice training also vary to suit the particular style of
music. With regard to the present day methods of training the voice, the only source that
is available is the traditional practice of singing of the professional musicians of
today.
(to be continued)
Dr. Durga is an internationally well-known voice training specialist
for singers. She received her research degree M.Litt., from the Madras University, for her
thesis on Voice-Culture. Indian Musicological Society, Baroda, has brought out her book on
Voice Culture. Carnatica, Chennai, has brought a video out titled "The Ideal
Voice" with her presentation on Voice Culture. She has conducted many workshops on
Voice-Culture in India including the Shibir for Gujarat - Sangeet Natak Academy, India,
and in other foreign countries including Bharathiya Vidhya Bhavan, London. Dr. Durga is a
visiting professor for Voice Culture at S.N.D.T., Women's University, Bombay and The Music
Academy, Madras.
Dr.S.A.K.Durga
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