A training manual for the low male voice

Assisting young singers in their quest for solid vocal training has become increasingly difficult in today's world of accelerating technological, scientific, and physical progress. New technology is used to monitor and analyze the human body. As a result, we are able to capitalize upon human performance. Records of speed and endurance are toppled daily. Competitive athletes expect ongoing improvement, even if the human body does not oblige by evolving at a corresponding rate. Institutions of higher education currently expect no less from our young singers, so that what is true for today's athlete is equally true for today's singer. Skilled singing, after all, is an act of physical prowess. Students are now expected to meet standards that were once reserved for only the most highly regarded professional artists.;Armed with the best intentions, many teachers appear to have turned their focus gradually from technical training to performance preparation. Concerns such as stage presence, stylistic determinants, diction, phrasing and text interpretation now absorb the majority of the lesson. These concerns, having gravitated to a position of primary focus, diffuse any hope of establishing a sound technical foundation. In this environment both teacher and student become obsessed with the rush for results.;It is my opinion that the educational system in the United States has inadvertently contributed to this problem. The overly demanding rehearsal and performance schedules frequently seen in colleges, universities and conservatories leave only marginal time to attend to technical study. The assumption is made that sound vocal production will develop through the demands of performance curricula. In the end, performers and teachers alike are obliged to rely more heavily on innate musicality, stage craft, and personality, in the hopes of disguising or compensating for technical shortcomings, or underdevelopment. Placing technique in a subordinate position generally leads to a mediocre vocal product, offering the singer little hope for a promising, lasting career.;With these facts in mind, the purpose of this manual is to provide the voice teacher with (1) a synthesis of physiological and mechanical information central to understanding vocal production and technique; (2) suggestions for the effective organization of voice lessons during the first two crucial years of undergraduate study; (3) a process for identifying, diagnosing, and solving pedagogical problems in low male voices resulting from improper registration.