The Unbearable Ease of Singing

By Raija Roivainen

Human voice is a psychophysical phenomenon. Singing can be considered as a continuous muscular movement. The elasticity, mobility and tension-free action of the muscles of the entire body are the essential prerequisites of easy, natural singing. Stress and anxiety, stiff postures and conscious attempt at muscular control will impede the ease of performance. In brief, don ́t do the singing, let it happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raija Roivainen
• Release date: Jun 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9789529344932

Book preview

1. FOREWORD

The world of the human voice is fascinating and mysterious, a world which we think we know rather well. Yet there is so much more to know if we only begin to examine closer what is happening, in both our body and mind, the interaction between them, while speaking and singing.

All voice trainers use their acquired knowledge for teaching, and certainly would not in any way prevent the students from benefitting from this information. Nevertheless, the question is often asked as to why good singers do not spring up in greater numbers nowadays when recognized facts about voice are readily available. The simple answer to this question is that in general this information has not been taken into consideration.

One reason for this could be that it is painstaking and time consuming to acquire a deeper understanding of the anatomy, physiology and psychology involved in the production of the singing of a singing. Part of the problem is that these areas of study are not as a rule adequately included in the singing curricula. This problem is compounded by the fact that it is not easy to find fully comprehensive text books which are accessible and which aid the teachers in producing good voice projection. The aim of this book, therefore, is to introduce and clarify the basic principles of how to achieve what I call ‘the unbearable ease of singing’. Hence, the title of this book.

A highly esteemed singing pedagogue once told me that knowledge of physiology is not necessary in training the voice. In this I agree, provided the student already has an exceptional ear for music and good motor skills and that the teacher possesses an exemplary singing voice as a model. Teaching is based on imitation where the student is able to pick up a natural way singing in the same way a child picks up its mother tongue. This, however, is rare and few can expect or rely on such good fortune.

If there is a day when voice performance does not run as smoothly as usual, then it is of paramount importance to have relevant knowledge of the physiology of the vocal organ. This kind of information acts like a crutch for support whenever vocal problems occur. In my view, every student should have the right to receive this undisputed, well founded knowledge of singing. To this end, the student should be able to ask the teacher for this kind of information, or even question points in teaching, rather than blindly taking advice based more on pure authority as opposed to receiving thoroughly researched information. The way of teaching may vary, sometimes due to the different personalities of the teachers, but as to the basic facts of anatomy and physiology, different schools do not exist.

My own singing, as well as my teaching, has not followed the usual beaten track. Acquainting myself with the ideas of Wilhelm Reich (Character Analysis, 3rd Edition, London, Vision Press 1948) on reflections of the mind in the muscular action of the body, gave me the impetus to pay attention to the important interaction between voice and mind. Psychological points have all too often been neglected in the area of pedagogy whereby teaching methods consist mainly of physical training. However, the voice is a psycho-physiological entity, and both parts should be present to ensure a balanced result which could be called ’The Unbearable Ease of Singing’.

2. THE INGENIOUSNESS OF BREATHING

In order to be a good singer, the physiology of breathing and its vital significance for the body to function at its best should be thoroughly learned and internalized. Singers and teachers, very often use misleading, ambiguous terms and images, and in the process forget or even create confusion about the actual primary function and working principles of the organs involved in breathing.

The primary function of breathing is to inhale oxygen to run the production of energy for the body and to exhale carbon dioxide resulting from this process. Breathing is regulated by the respiratory centre located in the brainstem. This centre automatically sends messages via the nerves to regulate the rate and depth of breathing in order to maintain optimal levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. The required amount of oxygen varies immensely, depending on the activity.

Use of the larger muscles in heavy manual labour - but not for singing - increases the need for more oxygen in the muscles in direct relation to the consumption of energy, and demands deeper breathing for more effective exchange of gases. When sitting down after returning from jogging, for example, the rate and depth of breathing begin to decrease, without any conscious control, to meet the decreased need of energy. If the control mechanism does not work automatically, heavy breathing would go on after energetic exercise, with the result that it might cause a higher risk of hyperventilation. It is this unconscious control of breathing that makes it so ingenious. Conscious attention to respiration during singing or vocal training can therefore be forgotten, as indeed it is forgotten during sleep.

The main purpose is not to get the maximum amount of oxygen into the blood, neither in the relaxed state, nor under pressure. Hyperventilation can cause a wide range of symptoms from headaches and nausea to dizziness. If singing needed great volumes of air in the lungs, respiration would quickly exceed metabolic needs and produce hyperventilation symptoms. To take an example to its limits, we could imagine a singer between songs putting a paper bag over the nose to re-breathe the exhaled air in order to return to normal oxygen/carbon dioxide levels to avoid falling unconscious. If one loses consciousness, caused by hyperventilation or by holding one´s breath too long, the body will soon resume normal breathing due to this reflex action. Besides the blood gas levels, the centre for breathing receives information from other sources, for instance from receptors which sense the over expanded state of the lungs. The act of breathing can, of course, be voluntarily suspended for some minutes, and indeed this reflex action is essential to prevent drowning in the event of accidentally falling into water.

A singer must learn to trust the automatic operation of the breathing system. The centre for the control of breathing in the brain will signal the appropriate muscles when the body needs oxygen or when it needs to eliminate carbon dioxide. The diaphragm is the most important muscle for this action. In the relaxed position, it has the shape of an inverted bowl arched between the chest and stomach cavities. While inhaling the diaphragm is activated, the muscle is contracted and the arch of the diaphragm flattens, enlarging the chest cavity downwards. At the same time, the outer rib muscles lift the ribcage expanding the chest; when the chest expands the cavity creates a vacuum in the lungs and causes the air to flow into the lungs.

Exhalation is normally a passive process, when the breathing muscles relax. Muscles always seek a state of rest. The lung resembles an elastic balloon that deflates automatically when its mouth is open. When the breathing muscles return to their relaxed position, the ribcage and the lungs contract. The lungs are folded in a bag called the pleura. Thanks to the vacuum in between, the pleura acts as a lining to the thorax, which prevents the lungs from collapsing.

While inhaling, the muscles for breathing become active; while exhaling these muscles become passive. It is a fact that many other muscles around the thorax and abdomen are also involved in the expansion and compression of this process, and that this can be consciously regulated to a certain degree. However, for singing, more reliance has to be placed on the unconscious control system. One of the questions frequently asked by students of song is: What shall I do if I get short of breath? My answer is: Either you will take in more air or you will die! It has been my endeavour from the very first singing lessons, to lead the students away from paying attention to the act of breathing.

FIG. 1. BREATHING

During the first lessons it is beneficial to discuss the basics of the breathing organ with the students. Breathing draws oxygen into the body by inhalation and then removes carbon dioxide by exhalation. From the lungs the oxygen is absorbed into the blood and conveyed to all parts of the body by circulation. This is an essential process since oxygen is required to create energy in the muscles and other aerobic organs.

It will take some time before the complex muscular mechanism used for singing is developed enough to create a voice that can carry and that can hold long phrases, without the feeling of shortness of breath. If there is extra tension or extra activity in the respiratory muscles, it will prevent the optimum intake of air into the lungs. If the muscles are under continuous, actively maintained expansion, the chest will gradually take on a barrel shape, as can sometimes happen in serious cases of asthma. The pulmonary alveoli lose their elasticity from which it will take a long time to recover. I have occasionally worked with students who have lost a healthy way of breathing, at least partially, because of some incorrect instruction in how to breathe. Having made progress in training, some of them have been fortunate enough to be able perform without their asthma-inhaler. These cases have brought to mind the possibility that the asthma had worsened due to the adoption of the poor habit of using auxiliary breathing muscles spontaneously and of tensing them voluntarily.

All muscular tensions, an unnecessary suit of armour, can be relaxed. One effective way to do it is to ask the student to give a deep sigh and simultaneously let the body collapse. After exhalation the lungs will fill up spontaneously. Timid students tend to retain air with their muscles: they are afraid to let the lungs deflate freely, thus preventing healthy inhalation. They might even obstruct natural inhalation by tightening muscles. Asthmatics make this mistake because they are afraid of allergens in the air, while the timid are afraid of, or are allergic to other people. Out of fear, they may even suffer shortness of breath when being reprimanded by a teacher.

The more air in the lungs, the more effort the lungs make to try to deflate because the expanded muscles seek to return to a relaxed state. It is extremely difficult to sing with extra volume of air in the lungs while trying to store part of it. Smooth, fluid bodily movements during singing will help to relieve the situation: when extra tensions are removed, breathing becomes natural and both body and mind are experienced as working in harmony.

The strength of a voice is not in direct proportion to the volume of air. This can be understood from common sense, but it can also be technically measured. A female soprano´s voice just as well fills the far reaches of a large concert hall as that of a male bass voice. If smaller lungs were not sufficient to produce enough volume and long enough phrases, small singers would require small-scale opera houses, where special miniature operas were shown. A two metre tall athletic singing student can only wonder how it is that his tiny, elderly, singing teacher´s phrases are longer and the voice has much more volume than his own, even though his lungs are much larger and his general muscular fitness seems much better. Except in certain lung diseases which limit the capacity of the lungs, the physical performance like singing depends primarily on the ability of the vascular system to carry oxygen-rich blood to the muscles. The capacity of the lungs is not a decisive factor, but on the other hand, singing does not require much air to flow through the vocal cords.

Some singers jog in order to increase their lung capacity. Good physical condition is always beneficial for helping to maintain a relaxed upright bearing without extra muscular tension. However, it does not help to achieve a bigger voice or longer phrases. We have witnessed brilliant performances by famous singers like Luciano Pavarotti and Jessye Norman, even though their overweight is a strain on their lungs, and apparently jogging or step aerobics was not a part of their daily routine. The Contralto, Marietta Alboni, actually put on too much weight to sing opera; she could not move and sing at the same time. Yet her voice was not affected and she continued with a concert career, singing while seated in a large armchair. Rossini called her the elephant who swallowed a nightingale. (D.W. Barber: When The Fat Lady Sings, 1990).

The air flow during speech and singing is mainly regulated by the muscles of the larynx. This particular network of muscles in the young, athletic singing student is not much used and not well trained: that is why the small singing teacher sitting on the piano stool is superior to him as regards the volume and other voice qualities. The fact is that vocal muscles require as much training as those used in sports and gymnastics. It is not a question of the size of the muscle but rather of muscular elasticity and agility achieved by many years of balanced precision training.

If a certain muscle is incapable of performing well, other muscles try to compensate. This strategy may succeed, but it is far from producing the best result. Beginners push more air against the vocal cords to substitute for the untrained muscles of the larynx. However, the vocal cords have a great deal of work to do. They close the glottis, they regulate the air