The early years

• Born in London on May 19, 1863.
• After schooling became a church organist and choirmaster.
• Attended the Blackheath Conservatory of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
• Lost both his speaking and singing voice as a result of poor teaching.

Journey of discovery

• Tried in vain to find a cure for his vocal problems, and began to research the origins of the voice for himself.
• Voice teacher Hugo Beyer advised him to imagine the tone being created above the tongue, which was helpful as far as it went.
• He deduced that tone was not created by the vocal cords but from within the sinuses.
• Devoted the remaining years of his life to developing and promoting his theory which he called Sinus Tone Production.

Life Achievements

• Wrote three books on sinus tone production.
• Gained certificates from both the Teachers Registration Council and the Royal Society of Teachers.
• Founded the Guild of the Voice Beautiful in 1933.
• By 1940 there were over three hundred members of the Guild.

Journey's end

• Ernest George White died in 1940 aged seventy-seven.
• Buried in Lewisham Cemetery next to his first wife, Ethel.
• In 1944 the Guild of the Voice Beautiful was reconstituted as the Ernest George White Society.

This brief biography is based on an article, Ernest George White, by Roslyn Wells, PhD that appeared in the Journal of the Ernest George White Society, 1995, 5 (9).

For the full article click here.