The Legacy of Garcia, Part 2

[This is a continuation of a reprinting of The Singing Method of Manuel Garcia (A Plea for the Larynx in Singing) by Lewis B. Canterbury. The first three sections of the document appeared in Journal of Singing 64, no. 5 (May/June 2008): 619-624.) IV The Argument from Practical Results FOR THE FIRST OF THE TWO STOCK OBJECTIONS to the Garcia approach [see previous issue], that the human larynx needs no definite attention in training, since, like the heart muscle, it is automatic in its functioning, the answer is that, although the human eye is capable of focusing and seeing without conscious training, still its efficiency is susceptible of considerable extension; examples-the sight of the aboriginal Indians and the hunter, or the sea captain at sea. The same is true of the ear. Though all can hear, they do not hear with the accuracy of a Toscanini. As a purely physical act, the first cry of the infant is but the tone making of Flagstad-(1) motor breath; (2) closed glottis; (3) resonating head; but the muscular power and co-ordination is, in the latter vocalist, tremendously extended. For the second objection-that any conscious direction of the pupil's thought and effort to the larynx will result in undue and fatal stiffness in the exterior muscles of the throat and jaw, the answer is that, when any organ is functioning perfectly, its possessor is never conscious of that locality, and never stiffens muscularly that portion of the anatomy. When digestion is perfect, when the heart beats perfectly, one never thinks of those respective spots; but let over-acidity appear, or some organic or functional irregularity of heart action, and the attention is immediately drawn to the particular region affected. So with the larynx; if functioning perfectly you may be sure there will be not temptation to stiffen any of the extrinsic muscles of the throat. The reason, indeed, for a stiff tongue and jaw in singing is precisely that the intrinsic muscles of the larynx are functioning poorly. Having now refuted the three principal objections to this singing method-viz., the "stroke of the glottis" and the two others just discussed-let us consider for a moment the much mooted problem of "breath control" as solved through the Garcia philosophy. Surely every fine singer would admit that the forward flow of the breath should not appreciably be held back; notice I say "fine singer"; for the thousands who attempt beautiful tone making by pulling and pushing the chest, abdomen, and intercostals muscles will never sing beautifully. It is as fatal to hold back the free stroke of the motor breath as it is to "pull" your drive in golf, or the cue in a "draw" shot of billiards. Franz Proschowsky is quite right when he says-"a correct tone creates its own (breath) support." How, then, is the uprushing breath to be controlled? Garcia's answer would be-"just as the pushing water behind the Hoover dam is controlled by the 'dam' of a finely trained laryngeal tension and opposition, which, like your house faucet, emits all the way from a desired dropping to a much fuller rush." As to the equally mooted question of the voice "placing," the argument and approach is the same; any trouble or deficient action here being the result of an imperfectly trained and acting larynx. Since this chapter is concerned with practical results, let us glance for a moment at some of the subjective sensations (bodily feelings) reported by eminent singers; then prove that these sensations resulted in each case from laryngeal action. The great coloratura Tetrazzini writes-(Caruso and Tetrazzini on Singing, page 14)-"in singing I always feel as if I were forcing the breath against the chest." This subjective sensation is what the old Italian masters called the "appoggio" and is, as every fine singer knows, a most admirable and necessary feeling while making tone; but it is caused by a properly tensed larynx. If a fireman's hose could feel and speak, it, too, would undoubtedly say that when the pressure of water is on, and the nozzle nearly or entirely closed, it "felt" as if the water was forced against the fabric of the hose; but let the nozzle be opened and that sensation would vanish. …