Easy is good. Bad is wrong!

"Good singins is easy and difficult singing is bad" So said the great Australian Prima Donna Dame Nellie Melba when giving a talk at the old Guildhall School of Music & Drama. How many of us have actually thought about that when commencing any sort of  vocal training? Of course, it stand to reason that this should be so. However, we're also taught that is hard to study singing, that it is a very physical activity, that the voice is delicate and may be easily damaged and then not repairable. That breathing is important and projection and 'support' are requisites of good vocal tone. All of these statements are true - the list goes on and on but maybe completely confusing to a gauche and uncertain student.

 Melba was right. Easy singing means if it all appears to be working correctly and the notes flow out in an harmonious fashion, it's a pretty good bet that the body is doing exactly what it needs to do to produce a tone and is not having impositions placed upon it. If it is difficult and your top note splits each time you attempt it, it's time for a re-think!

 

There are many vocal coaches in the world today who are just that - vocal coaches. They can get you through an examination or accompany you beautifully on the piano, but many have ideas about vocal pedagogy that should send any student of singing running for the door! There have been accounts of students being made to wear tight belts to 'help' support their voices. Lying on the floor with multiple books placed on their diaphragms (for information,what most people perceive as the diaphragm working properly is actually their abdonimal and obliques;  the diaphragm is an involuntary process over which we have no control) walking around the room breathing and holding breath for good breath management - all very well, but really only useful if you want to dive for pearls. None of these things will help your vocal process. All of these so-called methods are potentially dangerous to good healthy singing and show a complet misunderstanding of how the mechanism works.

 In the last paragraph it could be said that these various 'method's may show some rate of success. This may well be true, but when we are young our muscles have great recovery power. As we get older that's when we need good, sensible and easy technique! Nellie Melba was right!

Good singing is easy, but the path to getting it so may be difficult, daunting  and most confusing!

Filed Under: Singing Technique Myths