The Art of Singing: The Science of Emotions

By MIHAELA BUHAICIUC

In teaching one the art of singing, the constant emphasis on good breath, phrasing and enunciation, tone and poise, text and character becomes, although probably not intended, a rigid mental processing for both student and mentor. Studies autonomously without filtering through the emotional self, the mental act will not rise to true feeling and original art. The mental component fits into a greater dynamic configuration in order to define interpretation, communication, and artistic beauty in singing.

The Art of Singing. The Science of Emotions is a voyage still in progress. Tentatively engraved in this volume, the first impressions after eighteen-year search of artistic truth are collected as a compendium of thoughts and excitements with elucidations on both rational and emotional landscapes. The book traces concepts of science, art, spirituality, and philosophy mirrored in the ideal performing the self through singing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: May 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490716671

MIHAELA BUHAICIUC

Mihaela Buhaiciuc (DMA, State University of New York at Stony Brook) is an active performer, voice researcher, pedagogue, lecturer, and true advocate of meaningful singing. She has been for five years a full-time faculty at the University of Mobile in the U.S.A. In 2012 she has joined the faculty of Transilvania University of Brasov in Romania, where she currently coordinates the voice are.

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© Copyright 2014 Mihaela Buhaiciuc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Cover and charts design: Raul Bran

Charts concepts: Mihaela Buhaiciuc

First published at MediaMusica Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, România.

Interior photos of University of Mobile students by Dan Anderson

ISBN: 978-1-4907-1666-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-1667-1 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Trafford rev. 5/9/2014

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To my son, Andrei

The song passes; the emotion remains.

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1

Science and Art in the Act of Singing

Conceptual Meanings

Chapter 2

The Singer’s Instrument

A Metaphysical Approach: Body, Mind and Heart

Chapter 3

Science in the Art of Singing

A Philosophical Sketch

Chapter 4

A Pedagogical Approach

Chapter 5

Spirituality in the Art of Singing

Hypothesis and Conviction

Chapter 6

In Lieu of Conclusions:

Reflections on the Postmodern Vocal Repertoire

Acknowledgments

Selected Bibliography

Selected Webgraphy

Music Scores

About the Author

Foreword

From the cosmic nebula of the universe, we are born, not by accident, with the gift of singing. Perceived less mentally in its infantile stages but felt sufficiently, the act of singing uncovers forms and colors of expressed emotions. For the professional singing artist—and in most cases throughout the book, I will be referring to the classically trained singer—the path toward genuine artistic success is not the standard highway for popularity as one may dream but a narrow road for deep exploration and self-exploration, which brings an internal fulfillment greater than any other one.

The Art of Singing. The Science of Emotions touches the two different approaches to singing and vocal pedagogy: the empirical and the scientific ones. The book is meant to shape a different perception by integrating and harmonizing the two methods within a larger and greater concept—the science of emotions—based on natural mental, emotional, and physical balance. The book is not conceived to impose a method—as each singer has to find its own way of being and feeling—nor to oppose different opinions as we all learn from them. The reflections offered in the book represent the outcomes of my perceptions and my artistic experience. Inspired to write about it, I hope that this collection of thoughts becomes an inspiration for anybody who is in search for one.

2012

Mihaela Buhaiciuc

Chapter 1

Science and Art in the Act of Singing

Conceptual Meanings

The Science of Singing

In the vast world of science, singing is a discipline well defined and researched. Thousands of articles, books, and journals that fill up the traditional and electronic libraries offer the seeker of laryngeal sensations clear definitions of anatomical concepts and vocal functionality. Technology and computerization, ingeniously developed, allow studies with incredible results in the field of vocal acoustics and voice manifestation. We can now calculate precisely the vowel formants and the distribution of the acoustic energy throughout the resonators. A healthy breath combined with an objective perception of the physical reality assembles specific configurations of the vocal tract, articulators, and resonators that correspond perfectly to the law of acoustics.

It all started back in the nineteenth century when the continuous growth of facts brought to the table by Manuel Garcia changed the course of the singing art and the way it was taught. Affected since by breaking up Garcia’s big observations into more exact, measured data, the study of singing became today a spectacular process of scientific expansion.

Unsatisfied with the common empirical teachings of the time, Garcia finally accomplished his long-term mental challenge: to observe the action of the glottis during phonation using the laryngoscope. His invention, well received by performers and later recognized in the medical field, established Manuel Garcia as a scientific voice teacher in demand. However, his knowledge on vocal action and his physiological observations on the human voice did not change his approach to teaching. He continued to preserve the old singing essentials handed to him by his father without talking about the science of them. The scientific investigation on the vocal mechanism only confirmed to him that what he was previously taught about singing was correct.

According to Monahan,¹ the year of 1840 may be regarded as the starting point of the so-called ‘scientific era’ of voice training. Many writers—singers, teachers, and doctors—started operating with the new concepts published on the vocal organ and its mechanism. The inclusion of minute descriptions and diagrams on the anatomy and physiology of the vocal apparatus was apparently obligatory² in any scientific work, unlike the previous ones, which were based on sets of progressively ordered vocalizations. In those times of rapid changes, another scientific publication drove the average person to thinking about things beyond his own grid of life: Helmholtz’s dissertation on the nature and propagation of sound waves, Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen, published in 1863.

The fabric of new images taken from the physiology of the vocal organ was delivered upon the singers who soon