The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1909-03-11
; n my first talk I said . few
words. but not half enough. on

~N my first talk I said . few
words. but not half enough. on
the subject OF breath control.
My second talk was the physi-
ological aspect Of the throat. head and
tongue. for 1t IL necessary to become
thoroughly acquainted with the mech.
anism with which you are to work be
fore you can really sing. Today I'm
going to take mp the subject Of tone
emission and the attack
A great many singers suffer from
the defect called ''throatiness" OF the
emission-that is TO say. they attack
or start the note In the throat. Sooner
or later this attack viii ruin the most
beautiful voice. As have said before.
the attack Of the note must come from
the apoggio, or breath prop. But to
have the attack pure and perfectly In
tune you must have the throat entirely
open, for it Is useless to try to sing
II the throat is not sufficiently open to
let the sound pass freely. Throaty
tones or pinched tones are tones which
are trying to force themselves through
a half closed throat blocked either by
insufficient opening Of the larynx or by
stoppage Of the throat passage. due to
the root OF the tongue being forced
down and back too hard or possibly to
a low, soft palate.
In order to have the throat perfectly
open 1t Is necessary to have the jaw
absolutely relaxed.
have found in studying different
nationalities that It is fairly easy for
the French and Spanih people to learn
this relaxation Of jaw and the opening
Of the throat. but the English speaking
people generally talk with the throat
half shut and even talk through half
shut teeth. Some time when you are
talking rapidly suddenly put your hand
up to your jaw. You will flnd that It
is stiff: that the muscles beneath It
tongue muscles, are tight and hard:
that the jaw seldom goes down very
| far In pronouncing any Of the English
words. whereas in singing the jaw
should be absolutely relaxed. going
down and back just N far a. It can
with ease.
The jaw Is attached to the skull
right beneath the temples In front Of
the ears. BY icing your two fingers
there and dropping the jaw you will
flnd that a space between the skull
and jaw grows as the jaw drops.
| In singing this space must be m
wide as is possible. for that indicates
| that the jaw IL dropped down, giving
| its aid to the opening at the back Of
the throat. 1t will help the beginner
| sometimes to do simple relaxing exer
! cises. feeling the jaw drop with the
fingers. It must drop down. and It II
because the jaw is relaxed to its ut
most.
Il However, for a beginner 1t Is as wei
to practice opening the mouth wide
being sure to lower the jaw ut ths
back. Do this many times day with
out emitting any sound merely to gel
the feeling Of what an open throat I.
really like. You will presently begir
to yawn after you have done the exer
else a couple Of times. In yawning Ol
in starting to drink a sip of water thu
throat is widely open. and the sensa
tion is a correct one. which the singel
must study to reproduce.
have noticed a great many actor
and actresses in America who speal
with jaws tightly closed, or at leas
closed to such an extent that only tn
smallest emission of breath is possi
BILE. Such a voice production will new
er allow the actor to express any vary
ing degree Of emotion and will ais
completely eradicate any natural beau
ty OF tone which the voice may have
However, this is a fault which cal
easily be overcome by practicing thi
daily relaxation Of the jaw and a
ways when singing breathing n II th
jaw hung perfectly loose. or. bette
still. as II you had none at all. Whe
you can see vocalist pushing on th
Jaw you can be perfectly certain this
the tone she II emitting at that mt
ment is a forced note and that th
] whole vocal apparatus is being to-
tured to create what Is probably not
pleasant noise.
Any kind of mental distress wi
cause the Jaw to stiffen and viii hav
an immediate effect upon the voic,
This is one Of the reasons why a sin!
eT must learn 10 COutIOl uer StuOIlOH
and must not subject herself to an
narrowing experiences. even such Z
watching a sensational spectacle. b
fore she Is going to sing. Fear. worr.
fright. stage as well as other kind. Sc
the jaw. So does too great q determ
nation to succeed. singers min
must control all OF her feelings II It
going to control her voice. She mu
be able even to surmount q feeling ,
illness or stage fright and to contr
her vocal apparatus as well Al b.
breath, no matter what happens.
The singer should feel as II her IA
were detached and falling away fro
her face As one great singer e
presses It: "You should have the n
OF an imbecile when emitting q ton
In fact. you shouldn't know that ~
have one" Let US take the followfl
passage from The Marriage Of Fig
TO-" by Mozart:
3E@@8@@E8Z
y voi-e6 - N-ss-
This would make an excellent exc
else for the jaw. Sing only the 30,