Voice Science and Vocal Art, Part One: In Search of Common Ground

VOICE SCIENCE HAS INFLUENCED, and to some extent, even defined voice pedagogy over at least the past fifty years. While few voice experts agree on the quality and extent of this influence, most would concur that it is significant, that this influence has been both positive and negative, and finally, that disagreement and miscommunication between voice scientists and voice pedagogues unfortunately persist. This article and its companion, "Motor Learning Theory and its Application to Voice Training," explore the relationship between science and art through its history, its current state, and the new field of cognitive science to which voice pedagogy could look for a rapprochement between these two valid modes of understanding and teaching the voice. THE INTRODUCTION OF VOICE SCIENCE The definitive appearance (or invasion, depending upon one's point of view) of science in the field of artistic singing can be traced back to the introduction of the laryngoscope into the field of vocal studies by Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906). Whether or not Garcia was the actual inventor of this instrument is debatable,1 but the wide ranging influence of Garcia's observations and applications cannot be denied. In a bold career move, he presented his vocal method to the Parisian Academie des Sciences in 1840, an act that firmly solidified his reputation as one of the premiere voice teachers of his time. But its presentation in a place of science rather than at the Paris Conservatoire (where Garcia himself was a professor from 1847 to 1850),2 was significant not only for Garcia personally, but also for the history of voice pedagogy itself. Garcia's presentation effectively established an alternate track in the world of elite vocalism, a scientific track that was to grow in importance and influence from that moment on. Garcia's impact on the history of voice pedagogy has been newly interpreted by James Stark in his important and well researched book Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy. Garcia polarized the whole field of vocal pedagogy with his introduction of the laryngoscope, [and] with his theories . Garcia's vocal pedagogy became the concern not only of traditional voice teachers, but also of scientists and medical doctors. His pioneering work with the laryngoscope opened the door to throat doctors, some of whom used the device to support their own theories of laryngeal function in singing . In many ways Garcia can be considered the father of modern voice science whose legacy is no less apparent today than in his own time.3 Of all Garcia's theories, his coup de la glotte, a maneuver that Garcia himself declared was the foundation of his renowned technique, was, according to Stark, the most "radical, influential and controversial. "4 This technique advocated a firm glottal closure at the onset of phonation as the basis for a brilliant, ringing sound and efficient tone production. Whether this technique was injurious to the voice or simply misunderstood by those who took issue with it is a tantalizing question; Stark makes a convincing argument that Garcia's coup de la glotte maneuver was grossly misinterpreted by the international vocal community, in part due to unfortunate semantics. It is significant to the history of voice pedagogy that one of Garcia's main detractors, Louis Mandl (1812-1881), was neither a singer nor a teacher of singing, but a famous Hungarian physician, medical researcher, and professor of what was then the emerging field of microscopy at the Paris Academy of Medicine.5 Both men had professional ties to the Paris Conservatoire,6 and to the vibrant scientific community of Paris, which was "the undisputed European center of science and medicine" up through the 1850s.7 In addition to Mandl, there were at least four more critics of Garcia, whose assessments of his method varied in severity from simply advocating a breathy or "simultaneous" glottal attack as a way to cushion the glottal plosive (which they all perceived the coup de la glotte to be), to American physician Dr. …