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Updated: September 5, 2025
How any one with even a slight understanding of mechanics could imagine the checking of the breath by the inflation of the ventricles of Morgagni, is hard to conceive. The Psychology of Tone-Production At the risk of some repetition it is therefore advisable here to sum up the laws of psychology bearing on the vocal action.
There is in reality no problem of tone-production such as the accepted theory of Voice Culture propounds. The voice does not require to be taught how to act. Tone-production was never thought to involve any mechanical problem until the attention of vocalists was turned to the mechanical operations of the voice. This dates, roughly speaking, from about 1800.
In this sense breath-control is an inseparable feature of tone-production. All that need be known of the mechanics of the voice is therefore perfectly plain. The vocal cords are set in motion by the pressure against them of the expired breath. This operation is in accordance with Pascal's law and the law of the conservation of energy.
Some even go so far as to say that a clear delivery of the words will of itself insure a correct tone-production. But this theory calls for only passing comment. One has but to turn to the vaudeville stage to see its falsity. For singers of that class, the words are of the utmost importance, while the tone-production is usually of the very worst.
Speaking of the most frequent faults of tone-production, Tosi remarks: "The voice of the scholar should always come forth neat and clear, without passing through the nose or being choked in the throat." Mancini also speaks of the faults of nasal and throaty voice: "Un cantare di gola e di naso."
Intelligently directed practice in singing results in this simultaneous progress. As the voice depends for guidance on the ear, so the ear benefits by the improvement of the voice. Each advance made by the voice toward the perfect production of tone is marked by a greater facility in the technical use of the voice. Correct tone-production cannot be directly acquired by the singing of single tones.
Acquired faults develop only as the result of unnatural throat tension. The most common cause of acquired faults of tone-production was seen in the attempt consciously to direct the mechanical operations of the voice. Equipped with a thorough understanding of the subject of throat stiffness, the teacher is in no danger of permitting his pupils to contract faulty habits of tone-production.
There is no "column of vibrating air," or "stream of vocalized breath," in the mouth during tone-production. In the acoustic sense, the air in the mouth-pharynx is still air, not air in a current. The only motion which takes place in the air in this cavity is the oscillatory swing of the air particles.
Empirical knowledge, consisting merely of a succession of auditory and muscular sensations, lurks in the background of consciousness. To the intelligent vocal teacher there is something peculiarly fascinating about the study of tone-production. In listening to any faulty singer we feel with the utmost precision what is wrong with the voice.
This sums up, to the master's satisfaction, everything the pupil need do to correct this particular fault of tone-production. Other sets of sympathetic sensations, awakened by badly produced tones, are interpreted in the same manner. A tone heard to be held in the back of the throat is believed to indicate the need of bringing the voice forward in the mouth.
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