Some time afterwards the whole question of singing and singing teachers became one of general interest and discussion. Books by Mandl of Paris, Morell Mackenzie, Lennox Browne and others described the anatomy and action of the vocal organs. Professors of singing also wrote about their different methods. Possibly, owing to the surgeons not being singers, or the singing masters not being clear in their physiology, little came of this. About this time too, through the genius of Wagner, the increase in the power of the orchestra reached its climax; and a corresponding increase of sonority on the part of the singers became necessary.
To members of the "old guard" such became possible. When, however, theSe experienced ones were replaced by younger and sometimes half-trained singers, serious decadence in the art was observed. There seemed occasionally a struggle between the voice and the orchestra which was not conducive to a feast of bel canto. Lamperti attributed this decadence to the quality of the music being no longer suitable to the voice. The composer Verdi, de ploring the absence of purity and expressive phrasing, declared that singers must return to the methods of the old masters.
The tendency of modern singing is to arrest the breath by a rigid contraction of the parts which should be free to form the tone and pronunciation. The achievement of the old singers was to breathe silently and to control the breath while emitting the voice through the open throat. Lablache, when asked how Rubini breathed, answered "although I sang a duet with him I could not discern when or how he breathed." Pacchierotti wrote "He who can control the breath and sustain the vowels with the throat open, knows well how to sing." Crescentini added "Singing consists of freedom about the neck and the voice resting on the breath." Here we will make enquiry into the tone of the voice, and the importance of the freedom of spaces in the mouth. An admirable practice for realising the shape of the tone spaces is that of slowly whispering the vowels. As the vocal cords are not in action, noth ing distracts the attention from the pronunciation or the breath. After having whispered, the throat feels much more open when we start singing the same vowels. Donders of Utrecht noticed that the vowels; when quietly whispered, caused the air in the mouth to resound at different pitches. Dr. William Aikin has determined the exact pitch of the English vowels, so that these, when cor rectly whispered, cause a musical scale to be distinctly heard.
Any man by sustaining "Ah" in a whisper and tuning this whisper to the note C (an octave above the third space, treble clef) will realise the greatest resonance possible to that vowel, and a remarkable sense of openness at the back of the tongue. This being undeniable, the following conclusions are worthy of careful consideration: i. By correctly tuning a whispered vowel, we realise the openness of the throat which we must attain during singing. 2. The vocal cords being so near the base of the tongue, their natural action is dependent on the freedom of the tongue. 3. Freedom of throat and tongue sets up in turn freedom of the soft palate, lips, face and eyes. 4. Throaty, gloomy, nasal or "white" sounds are impossible in that open state of throat by which we correctly tune the vowels.
In the following whispered scale, the pattern words contain the vowel sounds, which only are to be whispered, the consonants being ignored. By reason of their smaller tone cavities, the whis pers of women tune a minor third higher than those of men. The pattern sentence suggested is :—Who would know aught of art must learn and then take his ease.
We must now realise that we cannot tune the voice by anything we see or feel. We have no direct control over the action of the vocal cords. Many people, when given a note on the pianoforte, are at first all at sea as they try to sing that note. It is only by employing the right mechanism that the voice can tune uncon sciously in the very "eye" of the note intended. So it is only by alertness in listening to the tune that the right mechanism can be attained. The accompanying illustration from "Plain words on Singing," by William Shakespeare, shows the unconscious short ening of the vocal cords, which occurs in the different registers.
Giuglio Caccini (b. 1558) maintained that "the first and most important foundation is how to start the voice in every not only that the intonation be faultless, but that the quality of the tone be preserved." Agricola (b. 172o) says "Many singers, before reaching a higher note, cause several others to be heard, with the result described as 'seeking the note' or scooping up to it." It is impossible to sing with the tongue rigid, and at the same time, with the throat open. The art of singing lies in the avoidance of rigidity and the adoption of the open throat.