THE PSYCHO PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH

The hearing of models of good singing, including records of voices similar to that of the student; the singing of three contrasting qualities such as "the singer's in his nose" (nasality); "the singer's in the well" (muffled) and "the singer's in the bell" (normal) these are indirect techniques. Calling "hey" in a loud voice to bring about a balanced coordination of the dynamic processes of respiration, phonation, articulation, and resonation, is another indirect approach to establishing normal quality.

The psycho physiological approach to the development of the singing voice is a matter of training the vocal mechanism to respond to the dictates of the mind.

Q As a teacher of singing, what are you trying to accomplish?
A First, I am trying to help singers develop their vocal talent.

Q How do you go about it? It seems to me that singing is so complex, that is, such a complex combination of physical and psychological factors, that you wouldn't know how or where to begin. The generally accepted idea is that no two individuals can be taught the same way.
A What you have said seems to be the generally accepted idea. However, from a singing standpoint we are all the same in part and tend to function in the same way. This applies to child, adolescent, and adult, male or female. In other words, there are individual similarities that make possible a definite basic approach to vocal technique. From a psy¬chological standpoint we are confronted with individual differences which complicate the teaching problem; yet there are individual similarities as well.

Q What do you mean by physical processes?
A The physical processes involved in singing and in speech may be de¬scribed as follows: respiration, including inhalation and exhalation; phonation, the production of sound at the level of the larynx, called voice; articulation, the breaking up of the phonated orunphonated breath stream at the level of the larynx, called voice, or at the level of the mouth, called speech; and resonation, the modification or amplification of the vocal sounds by means of the resonators - the pharynx, the mouth, and the nasal passages.

Q Do these processes present any unusual problems?
A Very definite problems. The fact is that the size, musculature and de¬velopment of the mechanisms that bring about the processes vary with different individuals. The problem is to co-ordinate the processes to obtain the best results. Improper balance between the processes due to inferior mechanisms, or weakness of the mechanisms creates pro¬blems that are peculiar to each process.

Q What do you mean by "best results?"
A This question involves a consideration of the goals and objectives. The ultimate goal should be the ability to sing the literature for ones' par¬ticular type of voice. The technical goal maybe stated as follows: a pharyngeal control of the vowel sounds, balanced by lip action when necessary, with a clear and accurate articulation of the consonants, supported by a variable pressure flow of the breath, with a ringing re¬sonant quality.