August 2, 2013: Assumptions about Body Size and Size of Voice! Are you a larger-bodied person with a large voice, or a smaller-bodied person with a light voice? You COULD be a larger-bodied person with a lyrical voice or a smaller-bodied person with a larger voice. It seems there is the international assumption that if you are larger, you have a large voice, and if you are smaller, you have a small voice. This mirrors the ongoing ignorance about the voice and size of sound. Even though larger-bodied persons often have larger voices, it is not always true. Just this week I taught a soprano from Brazil who had been taught as a lighter voice (I should say SQUEEZED as a lighter voice). The resulting frustration was obvious when she came in the door. She traveled from Rio to New York for a reason; to find her true voice. When we accomnplished the open pharynx and the laryngeal tilt, a dark and ringing large voice came out of he. This is why my studio often looks like the U.N. People want a diagnosis of what their voice truly respresents; size, repertoire, appropriate body-voice connection, etc. Again this is a case where this young woman had been taught the ‘high, light, bright, forward approach’ and she was always frustrated about singing. Why? Because she could not release and express her total voice easily and enjoy singing. I will never forget Lindquest’s statement, “The voice is an expression of the soul, and when the voice is in a stuck state, part of the soul is suffering from lack of expression!” I agree with him completely. While it is often true that larger-bodied singers have larger voices, it is not always the case. Arleen Auger was not a small or tiny person, yet she had an absolutely beautiful lyrical voice. In fact I often use her as an example of a lyrical singer who was body-connected. I went to most of her master classes and she was quite wise about the voice and taught technique ‘through the back door’ in her classes. She would often say, “Well, there IS a place for us lyrical singers in this business as well you know!” She was right. During that time, the profession was obsessed with larger voices, but there were great singers who were lyrical singers as well. Lesson Learned! Years ago, a lovely French mezzo came into my studio. She was quite petite and had a very tiny rosebud-shaped mouth, small head and small body. I was young in my teaching and I remember saying to myself, “Well this is going to be a small voice!” Then we started to vocalize and she almost blew me off the piano bench. I was so shocked by this experience. But the one thing she did have was an extremely long and wide neck, indicating a long vocal tract, and a wide pharyngeal cavity. Since the pharynx is the primary resonator, it makes sense that she had a larger sound. I learned a lesson in that session, NEVER ASSUME! This business of enlightened teaching needs to be laced with exerimentation and finding what works for the individual singer. Making assumptions about anything can backfire on both teacher and singer. WHAT Dictates Size of Voice? There are several factors that dictate size of voice (1) size (length and thickness) of vocal fold structure (2) length of the vocal tract (3) width of the pharyngeal chamber (4) size of oro-pharynx (5) proper connection to the body, and (6) balance in upper and lower overtones. Even though we may think that a larger voice comes in a larger package (and it often does), never make that assumption. There are many larger voices in smaller packages. I have several dramatic sopranos who were smaller in structure and have difficulty getting hired because the agent or opera director does not really believe they have a larger voice. They assume that they are pushing the voice to make this sound. This is just not the case and it can make life difficult for such a singer. The same goes for the larger-bodied person with a lighter lyrical voice. Often they are invited or encouraged to push their voice bigger, as it is assumed they should have a larger sound. In the end I refer to the concert in Philharmonie Hall in Berlin, where I had 11 singers performing only 3 days after the wall came down. The conductor of the Hanover Opera House came up to me and said, “Well I can tell they all come from the same ‘farm’ or training, because they all have color and tremendous resonance and lack of push in the voice! But WHO were the larger voices and WHO were the smaller ones, as they all carried in the theater the same?” If the voice is produced correctly, it will carry no matter what the size or sound. Have a great day! David Photos: Arleen Auger and Allan R. Lindquest
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:07:48 +0000
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