7 Singing Truths from 1911

“It has been said that speech differs from song as walking from dancing. Speech may be called the prose, and song the poetry of vocalization.” – Thomas Fillebrown, M.D., D.M.D.

I love this guy. He wrote about 100 years ago about the voice. But the things he says still apply. They may seem a little old fashioned now, but the principles of how the voice works are exactly the same. Perhaps a bit of the psychology and philosophy about the singing voice or what makes a good singing voice change from generation to generation, but nothing truly changes.

Check out what he wrote back in 1911 and see it you agree!

1. That the singing and speaking tones are identical, produced by the same organs in the same way, and developed by the same training.
2. That breathing is, for the singer, only an amplification of the correct daily habit.
3. That “registers” are a myth.
4. That “head tones, chest tones, closed tones, open tones,” etc., as confined to special parts of the range of the voice, are distracting distinctions arising from false education.
5. That resonance determines the quality and carrying power of every tone, and is therefore the most important element in the study and training of the voice.
6. That the obstacles to good speaking and singing are psychologic rather than physiologic.
7. That, in the nature of things, the right way is always an easy way.

I am particularly love the way he uses the word “psychologic” when it comes to problems with the voice.
It is SO TRUE!

I have written about this in the Inside Voice Outside Voice

{ 0 comments… add one }