EMOTION61

It is always a question whether a singer should actually feel the emotion he is trying to portray in the interpretation of song material. The fact is that a singer must maintain control of his vocal production. In so doing he must simulate the emotion rather than give way to it completely. In other words he must keep his emotions from running away with his voice.
Effective emotional singing is dependent on the artistry of the singer, and artistry would seem to be an inborn talent which flowers with experience.

Terminology 62

By vocal terminology is meant the special words used in the teaching of singing. Although an acceptable book on terminology has been published, there is still considerable confusion as to the use of many terms. This is partly due to the difficulty of expressing in words the scheme or organiza¬tion of the act of singing. In addition, many young teachers have not verbal¬ized their way of singing as it was acquired, and most students have no under¬standing of the teaching terminology.
The teacher has the problem of telling the student what is good or bad about his singing in such a way that the student will understand what he, the teacher, is talking about.

This leads to the use of many terms that are high¬ly psychological and misleading. For example, nasal resonance is one of the accepted terms for describ¬ing the basic quality that should be sung to get the best results. Yet "nasal" resonance is not actually nasal as compared with nasality, where the breath passes through the nose. Both Bartholomew1' and Russell2'claim that in good singing there is no resonance above the level of the mouth, except on the nasals. The term "nasal" resonance maybe said to describe what is only an illusion of being nasal.

Head voice and chest voice are also psychological terms used to describe particular vocal qualities, which are thought by many teachers and students to be the result of head resonance and chest resonance. Actually the head and chest are not true resonators but sympathetic resonators, and the vib¬rations which are felt in the head and chest are not resonance but the result of bone conduction of sound from the vocal cords. What is thought to be actual resonance is in reality only an illusion of resonance.

Another term used in the teaching of singing is relaxation, which is usually thought of as a condition of complete muscle inaction. Actually re¬laxation is a relative condition which is neither too tight nor too loose, and which is described as tonus, a condition of partial contraction which is al¬ways maintained. When the dynamic processes involved in vocal production are properly co-ordinated there is an illusion created which is interpreted as relaxation.

Actually this illusion is a condition of flexibility or freedom from too much tension. There are occasions when the suggestion to relax may eliminate conflicting tensions, or loosen up performers who are "tied up in knots." Generally speaking, relaxation is a misleading term, as is much of the terminology used in singing based on illusion, unless the true basis of the terms used are understood.