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P r o v e n a n c e

Re giste r Un ific a tio n Giv e Me a Br e a k!


Stephen F Austin
pr o v e n a n c e (prv-nns) a. Place of ori-
gin, source. [zLat. Pro yen ire, to originate.]
It commonly has been appreciated
by voice teachers and singers through-
out the last several hundred years that
the untrained voice exhibits several
different qualities of sound when the
entire extent of the pitch range is con-
sidered. Historically, a series of adja-
cent notes on a scale that have similar
qualities has been described as belong-
ing to a particular register. One finds
no universal agreement upon how
many different registers there are or
what to call them, but if there is any
consensus it is that the quality of notes
in the lowest part of the range is typ-
ically different from those of the high-
est part of the range, at least in the
voice of a beginner. Manuel Garcia
ascribed the different qualities to a
different mechanical action within
the larynx itself.
By the word register we understand a
series of consecutive and homogeneous
Journal of Singing, November/December 2004
Volume 61, No. 2,
pp.
199-203
Copyright 2004
National Association of Teachers of Singing
tones going from low to high, produced
by the development of the same mechan-
ical principle, and whose nature differs
essentially from another series of tones
equally consecutive and homogenous pro-
duced by another mechanical principle.
All the tones belonging to the same reg-
ister are consequently of the same nature,
whatever may he the modification of tim-
bre or of force to which one subjects them.'
Even this concise description has not
been universally accepted, but it con-
tinues to provide a basis for discus-
sion and examination of this rather
complex subject.
Premier singers of any age have
been noted for their ability to sing
with an "even scale," that is, with a
uniform timbre throughout the range.
Composers of opera and art song
expect a singer to be able to use the
extremes of the singing range, and to
do this, the singer must be able to
access notes that span several regis-
ters. Therefore, the distinct qualities
of the registers must be joined into a
two to three octave range that all
sound similar. This process has been
called register unification.
METHODS OF REGISTER
UNIFICATION
Several register unification methods
can be found in the literature. In the
twentieth century, most of them
involve some sort of vowel modifica-
tion or vowel migration technique.
This approach perhaps would be best
exemplified by the work of Berton
Coffin.' Dr. Coffin developed a com-
prehensive system of vowel modifi-
cations as a singer traversed his or
her singing range. The procedure is
based on the interaction of formants
(a resonance of the vocal tract) and
partials (sound energy originating at
the larynx). The notion is that by tun-
ing formants to partials one can unify
the scale by providing the ideal
acoustic environment in the vocal
tract. Many other proponents of this
approach could be named.
Covering is another common reg-
ister unification device, especially for
the male voice. Vowel modification is
a part of this method, but covering
typically involves specific changes in
the vocal tract at particular points in
the range. A study by Dr. Ralph Apple-
man described this process using
acoustic analysis and x-ray. Results
suggested that in making the transi-
tion into the head voice, the larynx
would lower and the vestibular space
would increase. Results also suggested
that the vocal folds would thicken as
a part of the change of posture in the
lower pharynx.' Many practitioners
of this method have a particularly
noticeable change of quality at the
point of transition and many practice
a specific pitch on the scale at which
the tone must "go over." Covering
does provide access to an extended
range on the top, but sometimes with
a noticeable "ahoogah" quality.
Register building and coordination
is a third procedure for unifying reg-
isters. It is based upon the notion that
the tonal quality associated with a
register is the direct result of a par-
ticular adjustment of the intrinsic
laryngeal muscles. This idea derives
from the register definition developed
by Garcia. Since each register is the
result of a particular muscular adjust-
ment, it should be possible to effect
a change in the strength of a register
and to coordinate the muscular activ-
ity into a unified scale by directed
exercise. Proponents of this concept
NOVEMWR/DECEMBER 2004
199
Example 1. Garcia register breaking exercise.
Stephen F. Austin
posit that in most voices there is an
imbalance of muscular strength and
coordination within the intrinsic mus-
cles of the larynx and that this is the
cause of the lack of uniformity
throughout the scale. The teaching of
Cornelius Reid is a well known exam-
ple of this approach today.' When the
registers have been sufficiently
strengthened they can be coordinated
so there is no sudden shift of domi-
nance from one to the other. The
result is the even scale.
THE BREAKING POINT
A very curious register unification
device is found in many nineteenth
century sources, beginning with
Garcia. This was the practice of begin-
fling a tone in one register and with-
out stopping the air flow, allowing the
tone to "flip" into an adjacent regis-
ter. Register "breaking" depends upon
the fact that the ranges of adjacent
registers overlap and a large number
of pitches can be sung with one of
several laryngeal adjustments, or reg-
isters. In Garcia's method these were
"first studies." Addressing the female
voice, Garcia writes,
When the chest voice has been well estab-
lished (which should be done in a few
days), the student must immediately work
to blend that register with the next.
Sometimes nature herself has undertaken
that task, but voices thus favored are rare.
This necessary study nearly always dis-
heartens the student, but it is up to the
teacher to direct capably and to take care
of the voice which has been confided to
him. One will practice by passing alter-
nately from one register to the other on
the tones 134 -17 4 without interruption and
without aspirating in that passage between
registers. This succession should take
place on the same breath; it should be prac-
ticed seldom and performed slowly, firmly
bringing out the passage, then the speed
and the number of repetitions can be
increased. At one time the student should
begin with the chest register tone, at
another with that of the falsetto. One must
not be afraid of accentuating the kind of
hiccup which occurs in the passage from
one register to the other; only continued
practice can first alleviate it, then make
it disappear.'
This is advised for female and tenor
voices. Garcia suggests that if the bari-
tone and bass want to blend the two
registers, then they should do it too,
but a third lower (Example i).
Charles Battaille shows the influ-
ence of his teacher, Garcia, when he
prescribed the alternation of registers
as well.
In practice this returns us to the neces-
sity of studying in principle the passage
from one register to the other; from F4 to
G 4 for women and tenors, from E4 to F4
for baritones, because between these two
points the muscular tension is moderated
and the falsetto register has gained enough
ring for it to be used with advantage. This
brings us to the following exercise: the
alternating and frequent repetition of the
notes F4 in chest and G4 in falsetto for
tenors and for women, E4 to F4 for bari-
tones, producing these two sounds with
the aid of a slow and regular expiration.
Such movements allow the fascicles of the
thryo-arytenoid to become accustomed to
being stretched and relaxed with ease,
speed, and dexterity.'
Here we see the scientist at work.
Battaille performed extensive obser-
vations using the laryngoscope and
posed theories that anticipated the
work of Minoru Hirano and associ-
ate William Vennard, who in the
197 0s described the role of the laryn-
geal muscles in registration.'
Another famous nineteenth cen-
tury musician, basso Luigi LaBlache
(17 94 -1858), described the same exer-
cise in this way:
The two registers of the male voice fre-
quently afford unequal sounds, which
would produce a very disagreeable effect,
if the ability to unite them could not be
attained by study. The highest tones of
the chest are very strong, by the very effort
which they require, while the first head-
tones are very soft and often feeble. Hence
it is necessary to apply one's self to
strengthening the latter, and softening
the former. As our organs permit us to
produce the extreme sounds of one register
in the next register, the best means of
uniting the two kinds of sounds, is to
begin by making a single sound pass from
the chest-register to the head-register, and
vice versa.'
Carlo Bassini (1812-187 0) was one
of America's most popular voice ped-
agogues in the mid-nineteenth cen-
tury. He recommended that after the
chest and middle voices have been
established they need to be united.
The female voice may begin the task of
joining the two registers by using first one
and then the other on each of these notes:
(C4 -G4 ).Take fresh breath on each sound,
until the difference between the two reg-
isters is perfectly well heard and under-
stood; afterward, however, sing with the
same breath the note twice over, first in the
chest and then in the medium register but
with great care to make as perceptible as
possible the sort of hiccup between the
200
JOURNAL OF SINGING
Provenance. '
- C1CMC. MCMCCMCMCILCM 0
Example 2. Bassini register breaking exercise.
L,._
- -_-_----
I 1 _ 0 1
=_ =_;_==-====
Piano. ^
notes, that marks the passage between the
two registers when fresh breath is not
taken. . . Care must also be taken not to
lessen the force or intensity of the chest
note, in order to give the medium note all
the strength of which it is capable. One
of these registers is always the weaker of
the two, and the greater strength lies gen-
erally in the chest voice: in order to equal-
ize the two, it would seem at first perhaps
natural and proper to reduce the power
of the stronger to a level with the weaker;
but this is wrong; for experience has
proved that such a proceeding would
weaken the voice.'
Bassini includes many exercises for
both male and female voices utilizing
register breaking for the unification of
the registers (Example 2).
I have included a number of exten-
sive quotations here to make the point
that this practice was broad and can
not be attributed entirely to the influ-
ence of Garcia alone. Many other
eighteenth century pedagogues
include register breaking in their
books. In a fascinating dissertation
on this topic, Lyle ' listed a large num-
ber of pedagogues from the nine-
teenth century who utilized this
technique, including the renowned
German baritone Julius Stockhau-
sen," Heinrich Panofka,' 2 Auguste
Panseron , H
the American George
Frederick Root,' 4 and the famous
Australian Dame Nellie Melba.'5
It is difficult to find much twen-
tieth century discussion concerning
this practice. One notable exception
is found in Richard Miller's Training
Tenor Voices.
In the late-teenage tenor voice, it some-
times seems that all attempts to enter
upper voice in vocepwna in testa (full legit-
imate "head voice") are unrewarding. In
such cases, the young tenor should begin
with af lsetto tone on a pitch that lies a few
semitones below the secondo passaggio, in
the zona di passa1a.gio, and then pass from
falsetto to legitimate voice on the same
pitch.
Miller goes on to say,
Sometimes the falsetto/full exercises are
equally useful above the secondo passag-
gio (G4 for the lyric), and with some tenors
may be extended with comfort up through
Bb4 ,
B4 and even C5 (especially with lyric
instruments). '7
Miller cautions that these exercises
are not in any way meant to bring the
quality of the falsetto into the full
voice, but are onset exercises. He states
emphatically that the benefit of begin-
fling the tones in falsetto is to "avoid
any tendency toward pressed mus-
cular onsets" (Example
3 ) 15
CONCLUSION
Register switching was a rather
common practice for the unification
of registers in the nineteenth century,
and perhaps earlier. ' 9 From what is
known about the physiology of vocal
registers today, there is strong evi-
dence that the register is defined by
the state of contraction of the thy-
roarytenoid muscle (TA), the muscle
that makes up the body of the vocal
fold. When a tenor begins a tone in
falsetto the TA muscle is passive.
When he then breaks into the head
voice, or the voce corn pleta, the TA
muscle is engaged, changing the shape
of the vocal fold and therefore the
quality of the tone. The pedagogical
principle is that the TA will engage
at a level that is appropriate for the
pitch and intensity and will trans-
form the falsetto into the legitimate
head voice. This is an alternative to
approaching the top always from
below, where the tendency is to bring
up excess activity of the lower mech-
anism and delay or prevent the free-
dom required to attain the operatic
head voice. In the female voice the
pedagogical notion is that by switch-
ing from chest to middle voice, the
appropriate activity of the TA will
carry over into the middle voice and
eventually alleviate the hole in the
middle voice.
I have used this process with both
male and female voices for a number
of years. For women it can be very
useful in helping them find and estab-
lish their low mechanism. They begin
in a very light, breathy mechanism (I
call it falsetto) on /a/ at E4 or F4 and
then they drop a fifth below, letting
it "break" into the chest voice. The
low voice then can be strengthened
and appropriately integrated into the
rest of the instrument. This process
has been helpful for a number of
tenors whose range is too short due to
excessive weight in the high voice. I
have them sing descending intervals
of a fifth or a third beginning at D4 .
The initial tone is in falsetto. They
then descend with a loud "hiccup"
into the coordinated register on the
pitch below. Transpose up by half
steps so that the lower note is taken
through the passaqgio area. If they
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 2 0 1
Stephen F. Austin
keep the vowel quality stable, a trans-
formation of the registration will occur
with a little practice and nurturing.
I also have them repeat a pitch (per-
haps F4 to B4 ) three times, the first
two in a strong, supported falsetto.
The third time I tell them to sing it
in "something that isn't falsetto," but
feels a lot like it. I use the term mezzo
faLso (from Anthony Frisell2 0 ) for this
transitional quality. Given a little time
and patience, the mezzo falso will be
able to take on more weight from the
low mechanism and bloom into the
full operatic head voice. This also can
be done without interruption of the
tone as recommended by our nine-
teenth century sources.
The process of register breaking
can be a bit disconcerting to the stu-
dent at first, and might raise the eye-
brows of folks walking by your studio
door. But I would encourage you to
go to some of the original sources iden-
tified here and read a little more detail
about how to do it, and then try it.
This method is "tried and true," a
technique with "provenance" for uni-
fying registers and building a beau-
tiful voice that is even from top to
bottom.
NOTES
1. Manuel Garcia II, Memoire on the
Human Voice. Found in Donald V.
Paschke, A Complete Treatise on the
Art of Singin.g: Part One (New York:
Da Capo Press, 1984), xli.
2 . Dr. Coffin's primary works in this
area are Sounds ofSinging (Metuchen,
NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987) and
Overtones of Be! Canto (Metuchen,
NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1980 ).
3. Ralph Appleman, "Radiological find-
ings in the Study of Vocal Registers,"
ed. John Large, Vocal Registers in
Singing (The Hague: Moujton, 1973),
59-92 .
Mr. Reid's singular contribution to
this approach is presented in several
important texts including: Be! Canto,
The Free Voice (New York: Coleman
Press, 1965), Psyche and Soma (New
York: Joseph Patelson Music House,
1975), and An Essay on the Nature of
Singing (Huntsville, TX: Recital Publi-
cations, 1992 ).
S. Manuel Garcia, Complete Treatise On
the Art of Singing, Part 1, translated
and edited by Donald Paschke (New
York: Da Capo Press, 1984), 50 -51.
Originally published as Nouveau Trait
Sommairesurl Art du Chant (Genve:
Minkoff diteur, 1847).
6. Charles Battaille, Physiology as Applied
to the Study of the Vocal Mechanism, in
Richard Joiner, tr. and ed., Pioneer in
Vocal Science and the Teaching of
Singing (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow
Press, 1998), 178. Originally pub-
lished as Dc la physiologic applique
a 1 'tude tic la mechanisme vocal (Paris:
Victor Masson and Sons, 1863).
Charles Battaille (182 2 -1872 ) was a
leading bass in France, a physician,
and voice researcher.
Through the use of laryngeal elec-
tromyography, Hirano and his asso-
ciates suggested that it is the activity
of the thyroarytenoid muscle that
determines the vocal register. M.
Hirano, W. Vennard, and J. Ohala,
"Regulation of Register, Pitch and
Intensity of Voice," Folio Phoniatrica
2 2 (1970 ): 1-2 0 .
8. Luigi LaBlache, LaBlache's Complete
Method of Singing (Cincinnati: John
Church Co., nd.), 6.
9. Carlo Bassini, Art of Singing (New
York: C. H. Ditson, 1884), 11.
10 . John Christopher Lyle, "Register-
switching as a Pedagogical Device for
Register Unification of the Singing
Voice: An Historical Analysis"
(Unpublished PhD dissertation,
University of Oregon, 1995).
Julius Stockhausen, A Method of
Singing, tr. Sophie Lowe (London:
Novello, 1884). Originally published
as Julius Stockhausens Gesa ngs-meth-
ode (Leipzig: Peters, 1884).
12 . Heinrich Panofka, The Art of Singing
(New York: G. Schirmer, 190 0 ).
13. Auguste Panseron, Method of Vocali-
zation for Soprano and Tenor (New
York: G. Schirmer, 1898).
14. George Frederick Root, Introductory
Lessons in Voice Culture and in the
Principles of Execution (Philadelphia:
Theodore Presser, 190 1).
15. Nellie Melba, The Melba Method
(Melbourne: Chappell and Co. Ltd.,
192 6).
16. Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices
(New York: Schirmer Books, 1993),
60 -61.
17. Ibid., 63.
18. Ibid.
19. Lyle makes a very interesting case
that this practice was common in the
nineteenth century among many
teachers because it was common prac-
tice in the eighteenth century as well.
2 0 . Anthony Frisell, The Tenor Voice
(Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1964),
Stephen F Austin, MM, PhD, is a singer,
voice teacher, and a trained scientist. He
received a masters degree in vocal perform-
ance with the late Dr.John Large at the Uni-
versity of North Texas, and a PhD in Voice
Science at the University of Iowa with Dr.
Ingo Titze. Dr. Austin's dissertation was
titled "The Effect of Sub-glottal Resonance
1 r
r
r
i
false Itowice piena
Example 3. Miller register breaking exercise.
202
JOURNAL OF SINGING
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and other researchis published in the Jour-
nal of Voice.
Dr. A ustin recent!jj joined the f aculty of the
University of NorthTexas, where he is asso-
ciate prof rssor of voice and voice pedagogy.
He is associated withthe Texas Center f or
Music and Medicine, a joint ef f ort between
the college and the UNT HealthScience
Center in Fort Worth. The center provides
a unique opportunity f or collaboration
among musicians, physicians, researchers,
psychologists, educators, and biomedical
engineers. Prior tohis UNT appointment
he served as associate prof essor of voice and
area coordinator f or the Vocal A rts Divi-
sion at LSU.
Dr. A ustin has presented recitals, lectures,
and workshops across this country and in
A ustralia and Europe. He is regularly f ra-
tured on the f aculty of the A nnual Sympo-
sium. Careof theProf essional Voicesponsored
by The Voice Foundation. He has made pre-
sentations tonational conventions of the
National A ssociation of Teachers of Singing
(NA TS), theA rnerican Speechand Hearing
A ssociation (A SHA ), and the Music Teach-
ers National A ssociation (MTNA ). He has
been a f eatured guest lecturer at the sum-
mer and mid-winter workshops sponsored
b,yNA TS. Dr. A ustin has been a regular con-
tributing author toAustralian Voice, the
journal of the A ustralian National A ssoci-
ation of Teachers of Singing, and he serves
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torial board f or the Journal of Singing. He
alsoisa member of the Scientif ic A dvisory
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Dr. A ustin is a successf ul studioteacher
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try including the Houston Grand Opera
Studio, Grass Roots Opera, Des Moines
MetroOpera, Seagie Colony, and many
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