Arthur D. Hewlett, MA, BLitt, LRAM.
In the course of time, the emphasis has shifted decisively towards
the practical aspects of sinus tone, so that it may be more enlightening
to speak of a rule of sinus control (RSC) rather than a theory of
sinus tone production (STP). Theory has its explanatory place, but
the practice is what matters most. Those who study the practice can
form their own judgement about the explanation, the theory.
The basic steps in the practice are as E.G. White first discovered
and described them. Attention is to be centred on a high point in
the head and thence tone is to flow downwards, and the more forward
the starting point the higher will be the resulting note. With practice
this becomes habitual and eventually even simpler, for the voice
just rings in the head. The downward flow is the key: we are not
aiming to get the voice 'into the head' in a conventional sense.
So far perhaps this exposition could itself be dismissed as no more
than an idea, a hypothesis, although considering that by now there
is general assent to the notion that the sinuses are resonators,
implying that they 'resound' -sound comes out of them -insistence
on a downward direction should hardly be surprising. However, in
confirmation, nearly a century of experience has shown that the idea
works, and to great advantage. This does not mean that RSC can make
everyone into a great performer -native endowment is a limiting factor
-but it does mean that by adopting the right methods one can make
the most of one's endowment rather than simply neglecting it or,
worse still, striving with ill-founded methods. To master the first
steps the help of a teacher may be required, though there have been
reports from readers who have applied the written directions with
success. So it is worth trying.
But do not try too hard! . The first reward of sinus control is
reduction of physical effort: all you are doing is directing a flow
of air, so that producing a quiet humming sound takes no more energy
than breathing silently, and a crescendo eventually takes little
more. Meanwhile you can forget all muscular ancillaries. The lungs,
the larynx, the jaw, and in articulation the lips and tongue, will
function spontaneously in normal people if they are left to themselves,
and nothing is gained but harm can result if you try to manipulate
them. Similarly, the realisation that high notes come downward from
a more forward focus removes another potential danger. We have a
strong intuition that some notes are 'high' and some 'low' but it
is misleading. Notes are not high or low in any spatial sense: the
organist's hands move to the right and left, the cellist's fingers
nearer to the floor for higher notes. So striving upwards for a high
note is effort misdirected. The sinuses form an almost horizontal
layer, and what is found, still referring to practical experience,
is that although they are not a long straight tube they do respond
somewhat like a recorder, or any woodwind for that matter. If sinus
activity is mainly in the frontal sinuses (across the forehead just
above the eyes) it is as though the recorder was played with the
finger holes uncovered; as activity spreads to other sinuses the
effect corresponds to stopping the finger holes successively while
-most importantly -the frontal sinuses, like the top end of the recorder,
do not fallout of use. In short, the foundation of sinus control
is to find and use the frontal sinuses, always with that downward
flow. There will then be little difficulty in utilising the whole
sinus system with pitch determined by horizontal variation of focus.
The claim that experientia docet the success of this approach
needs substantiation. White himself recorded work with one who had
long been unable to speak because of damage to the vocal folds yet
after tuition addressed an audience in the Queen's Hall. I too had
a student who had only been able to use an exhausting whisper, and
taught him to speak comfortably and to sing the compass of an octave.
'Why', it may be asked, 'did these subjects lose their voices in
the first place if the vocal folds were not responsible?' An explanation
(i.e. a theory) can be offered and will be found later. For the moment
however let us remain with the practical and note some experiences
under normal physical conditions.
Ronald Dussek (who was for a time organist of the temporary cathedral
at Guildford and for many years before his death chair- man of the
Ernest George White Society) when he was Precentor of Radley College
was congratulated on the 'silk purse tenors' in his school choir.
It was a perceptive phrase, recognising bat a pleasing performance
was secured from the recently 'broken' voices of adolescent boys.
Gilbert Curtis, whom many readers will remember, taught sinus control
to men and boys in 50 years or more of choir training and wrote:
'If such methods are urged with tact and enthusiasm,
the choir will realise that these work in practice and that they
can now choose their dynamics. In addition they will be encouraged
to listen to themselves and each other. This in itself is most
valuable as in choir work Shortcomings may be due as much to
bad listening as to bad singing.'
The experienced author of a recent article on Choral Singing, Charles
Cleall, who in earlier years had sung as a counter-tenor, wrote after
studying sinus practice:
'...elicitation of baritone-timbre was very gradual
and elemental. Its strangeness is difficult to express verbally,
because the effortlessness was so extraordinary that the thoughts
in one's mind went something like this: Who is that singing?
It can't be me, surely? Perhaps I am not hearing a physical note,
but imagining hearing it Little by little (there were) introduced
crescendi and diminuendi; leaps; chromatic passages; ending with
songs and recitatives. By this time, one accepted that one actually
was singing the notes one's mind registered; but the effortlessness
remained, and the effectiveness of timbre stayed .'
Dr F1orence Windebank was a music specialist in a training college,
with a lifelong interest in singing. She wrote of her early studies
with distinguished teachers, Dr George Oldroyd and Professor E. Herbert-Caesari,
acknowledging that she learnt much from them and by then hoped that
she knew something about singing. Later, after retirement, she 'came
across', as she puts it, books on sinus tone and then:
'Once more, somewhat to my astonishment, I was
a student; and not just to get clear on a few minor points, but
to begin a complete retraining of the voice on new concepts of
tone production. What made me undertake this reappraisal of the
whole of my life's work as a teacher of singing? Basically, it
was that early in my lessons, I began to discover an added richness
to the quality of my voice that convinced me that it was worthwhile
to go through the training towards a new mastery. Moreover, I
knew that with this new knowledge and experience I should not
again teach by my former methods. It therefore seemed right to
go the whole way and become recognised by the E.G. White Society
as one of their teachers of Sinus Tone Production'.
The practice serves as well for speaking: teachers and clergy with
failing voices have been saved with lasting benefit.
If that is a sufficiently persuasive introduction to the methods
and merits of sinus control practice, a non-contentious view of the
theory may be of interest. So far, the likeliest explanation is that
the voice functions, like other wind instruments, (played with the
breath!) as an integrated whole, the constituents reacting on each
other so that no one element can properly be considered alone. What
turns a breath column into a vocal tract is the involvement of the
sinuses, and what facilitates involvement is the function of the
vocal folds. Their observed vibrations can best be understood as
the result of rhythmic changes of pressure in the vocal tract rather
than as the cause. Thus a working hypothesis or general theory can
be expressed in two propositions:
- The voice is produced by the integral activity of the vocal
tract comprising the organs and air spaces extending from the lungs
to the sinuses.
- In training and developing the voice attention is best directed
to the sinuses, leaving all muscular organs to function for the
most part freely and automatically.
It is a significant fact in this connection that the very existence
of the sinuses is a comparatively recent discovery. It was not until
about 100 years ago that they first appeared in medical and surgical
records. By contrast the association of laryngeal movement with speech
was observed Over 2000 years ago, so that the writer of psalm 115
could include among the failings of idols: 'neither speak they through
their throat' .No wonder the notion is firmly entrenched and Shakespeare
too invites one to 'tune his merry note unto the sweet bird's throat'!
Yet in point of fact the visible movement of the 'Adam's apple',
carefully observed, can be seen to be associated with articulation
rather than with phonation. The answer to the question posed earlier
about the effect of damage to the vocal folds is that this may cause
a loss of intuitive control with consequent voice failure, but conscious
control can be gained by focusing on the sinuses. These are invisible
and stable, but once their existence was recognised it was not long
before their possible vocal function was discerned, E.G. White's
Science and Singing being published in 1909.
Nevertheless, it is not the purpose of the Ernest George White Society
to pursue such arguments, however interesting, but to proffer a boon,
namely the opportunity of learning the authentic practice of sinus
control as it has been widely tested and proven.
Arthur Hewlett, born in 1902, studied with Ernest
G. White from 1925 until his death in 1940. Mr. Hewlett was founding
General Secretary oif the Ernest George White Society in 1944,
and served in that capacity for 43 years, becoming Honorary President
in 1987.
All enquiries about matters discussed here, and
about the Society, should be addressed to the Secretary, Dorothy
Douse at this e-mail address:
dorothy@d.douse.freeserve.co.uk |
