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Volume 3, Issue 1
February 2007
Table of Contents:
A Message from the President
From the Editor
Ohio Voice Association Call for Papers and Presentations
The Ohio Regional VASTA Meeting!
ROG goes to London
Shouting for Joy
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
VASTAns,
I write you this letter from my hotel room in frigid New York City. I make this trip every winter to recruit actors for the UCIrvine MFA program, and it seems there’s always a cold snap, provided, no doubt, to remind me how good I have it in my home town. I’m reminded, this time in particular, about the incredible web of institutions and people that make up the enterprise of Theatre, both in and out of academia. I’ve just come from a board meeting of the University/Resident Theatre Association and it strikes me that the population served by that organization is served also by VASTA. Across the table from me in that meeting was VASTA member Erica Tobolski and in the next weeks of this audition cycle I’m sure to see many VASTAns. Moreover, the students auditioning for us will have been coached by VASTA members, privately or in academic institutions. VASTA has grown in amazing ways, since its inception in August of 1986, serving as a focal point for the development of Voice and Speech as a distinct profession. It’s an incredible testament to the vision of our founders and to the sustained energy and intelligence of our members that Voice and Speech have come to be thought of as a unique and necessary field.
In the last few years VASTA’s board has also grown conscious of the need to make connections with other groups that might share some of our goals. Our first connection was with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and we continue to be a focus group of ATHE. For many years, our summer conferences were coordinated alongside ATHE for the convenience of those who were members of both organizations. In 2004 we held our conference in Philadelphia to coordinate with the Voice Foundation. In 2005 we traveled to Glasgow to strengthen our connections in Europe and this summer we’ll be in Denver working with the National Center for Voice and Speech. We’re due for a return engagement with ATHE in 2008 but we’ve been informed that they will be holding their 2008 conference in Denver so we’re looking for other options. In 2009 ATHE will be in New York and we’re planning to coordinate with that conference. Obviously this all takes a great deal of advance planning so I’m making a request of you. I’d love to hear from you with your ideas for conference sites and themes. Email me at pthompso@uci.edu. Of course, there are more than 400 of you and only one of me so I’d ask that you write “Member Conference Ideas” in the subject line so I can sort those messages out and read them all as a group.
There are other ways VASTA is connecting with those who till the same fields as we do. In 2005 VASTA joined with American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) to produce a joint statement addressing, The Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist, the Teacher of Singing, and the Speaking Voice Trainer in Voice Habilitation. In 2003 we began giving a VASTA scholarship each year to a young actor competing in the Irene Ryan Competition at the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. Just this year we’ve been working with ACTF to use VASTA members to provide feedback on the vocal artistry of some productions in the festival. VASTA Member Elizabeth van den Berg organized a VASTA workshop at her regional festival this year.
I hope that we can all think of ways to bring VASTA into contact with other groups, to coordinate some activity or just to let people know who we are. Sometimes it takes a commitment of time and energy and I know that we are busy people but perhaps we could all manage to do a just a little testifying. This is a wonderful organization and we do something valuable every time we spread the word.
Word,
Phil Thompson
FROM THE EDITOR
Dear VASTA Membership,
I hope this issue finds you all well. As I look over this issue of the VASTA Voice I am in awe of the events and involvement of this association. The presence of VASTA regionally and internationally is a wonderful thing. During the past two weeks I have had the pleasure to attended and lead workshops on voice and speech at two regional festivals of KCACTF (Kennedy Center College Theatre Festival) and it is always a delight to see my VASTA colleagues involved and working with students here. Daydrie Hague of Auburn University and Marlene Johnson of The University of Alabama at Birmingham are a part of the region IV festival and again I think such a connection with VASTA is wonderful.
The VASTA Voice is currently seeking a Regional Editor to assist with the process of gathering and editing news from members in the West Central region. If you are interested in serving VASTA and would like more information about this position please contact me at <ahetzel25@aol.com>. Our next issue will include the member news issue and we are always looking for article submissions from members. Deadlines for articles and member news for the next issue will be April 1 st . If you feel that you have been left out the member news feature please contact Mark Ingram <voicefightguy@yahoo.com> or myself and we will be happy to make sure that your news is listed in the next VASTA Voice and will put you in contact your regional editor.
Lastly I would like to send a hearty thank you to Mark Ingram, Associate Editor, for putting up with my tedious requests and being patient with me when I am just a little busy. Our technical support is provided by Michael Barnes, thank you. I look forward to hearing more from our members with articles and newsletter ideas.
Respectfully,
Allison
Ohio Voice Association Call for Papers and Presentations
The Program Committee for the spring ‘07 meeting of the Ohio Voice Association invites submissions for papers or presentations on topics related to voice. The meeting will be hosted by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) on Friday and Saturday, May 4th and 5th, 2007. We encourage submissions from clinicians, researchers, academicians, voice and speech trainers, and musicians for presentation in a welcoming, multi-disciplinary forum. The Program Committee consists of:
Rocco Dal Vera , M.F.A. (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music)
Ravi Elluru , M.D. (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center)
Doug Hicks , Ph.D. ( Cleveland Clinic)
Wendy LeBorgne , Ph.D. (Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation, University of Cincinnati, and Professional Voice Center of Greater Cincinnati)
Ron Scherer , Ph.D. ( Bowling Green State University, and University of Cincinnati)
Martin Spencer , M.A. ( Ohio ENT Surgeons and Central Ohio ENT)
Bridgitt Pauly , M.A. is our Logistics Chair and CCHMC coordinator.
Please submit topic outlines or related ideas/notices of enthusiasm to Program Chair, Martin L. Spencer,contacts listed below. Since the meeting is May 4-5, if you have an idea for a presentation, please make an informal contact immediately. A formal proposal can follow later.
Martin L. Spencer, M.A. CCC-SLP
President, Ohio Voice Association
Voice Pathologist
Ohio ENT Surgeons Inc.
974 Bethel Rd.
Columbus , Ohio 43214
Bus (614) 538-2424 x192
Fax (614) 538-2418
Cell (614) 406-1987
email: martin_spencer@ameritech.net
The Ohio Regional VASTA Meeting!
March 3rd, 2007 in Dayton, Ohio. Hosted by D’Arcy Smith and Wright State University.
The Meeting will include:
- Guest workshops/lectures from Rocco Dal Vera, Janet Feindel, Ian Borden, Dr. Wendy Le Borne, Dr. Ronald Scherer and Chuck Richie
- A chance to meet and socialize with other voice and speech professionals in the area
- Complimentary tickets to the Wright State University production of Urinetown, The Musical
There is an attendance fee of $20.00 if you register by February 21st 2007. $40 if you register after this date.
The attendance fee will cover the costs of equipment, basic catering and photocopy costs. All workshop leaders have volunteered their time. Meals not provided.
For more information or to confirm your attendance please contact D’Arcy Smith at (937) 775 -2488 or darcy.smith@wright.edu.
This event is open to all who are interested so feel free to pass it along.
Hope to see you there!
Best regards,
D’Arcy Smith
Assistant Professor Voice and Speech
Wright State University
(937) 775 - 2488
darcy.smith@wright.edu
ROG goes to London
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London was the site for a special reception, made possible in part by a VASTA Regional Outreach Grant, welcoming 180 voice practitioners from throughout the world. The conference, entitled “The Performance Breath: an Essential Exploration of Body, Voice and Word” was held on January 4 & 5. VASTA’s own Rocco DalVera, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Kristin Linklater, and David Carey were among the keynote speakers in addition to 20 other VASTA members who presented or attended workshops, lectures, and panel discussions. VASTA’s ROG provided funding to bring both members and non-members together in a social environment. The group was greeted first by Rocco who issued a VASTA welcome and then by Allan Rickman who spoke eloquently about his voice training at RADA and the invaluable coaches he has worked with throughout his esteemed career. Enthusiasm, energy, good will, and ideas sharing were present in abundance.
Many thanks to VASTA for making this funding available. If you are interested in hosting a regional gathering, go to vasta.org/resources/rog.pdf to find the simple application form
Shouting for Joy
Gail Springer is Professor of Performing Arts at the College of Santa Fe, and has directed the music for over 20 musicals at the Greer Garson Theatre. A professional singer, voice teacher and coach, Gail is a Certified Master of the Estill Voice Training System, and specializes in applications for actors and musical theatre singers.
Anyone who has listened to singing around the world can attest to the rich diversity of singing techniques and resulting sounds. From Africa to the Balkans, China to Brazil, singers use the structures of the human voice production system to create a rich array of vocal qualities. Even within one country we hear vastly different voices from our many music sub cultures: jazz, heavy metal, country, alternative rock, Native American, gospel, pop, hip hop, Cajun, reggae, opera, musical theatre. Cultures revere certain timbres and condemn others, and voice training develops to support those preferences. Only in recent years has scientific research coupled with an appreciation of cultural diversity encouraged classically trained voice teachers to explore all possible vocal qualities.
After reading Sally Morgan’s article, Healthy Broadway Belt, in the last issue of VASTA Voice, I was struck by the culture clash of classical singing and Broadway belt. What could be more like culture shock than the feeling a classical voice teacher experiences the first time she faces a student determined to belt? Strategies that previously garnered excellent results are suddenly unsuccessful. Tried and true pedagogical techniques tend to exacerbate the problems and undermine the belt sound. If the teacher has the student belt while relaxing neck and torso tension, the voice cracks. If the teacher asks the student to “open up” or widen the vocal tract, the sound becomes paradoxically more constricted. If the teacher directs the student to release the diaphragm and inhale deeply, the belt sounds dangerously strained or cracks. And most exasperating of all, when the belt sounds good, the student appears to be doing everything wrong. What’s a teacher to do?
The majority of voice teachers in this country have been trained as classical singers. They have spent years analyzing and listening to the best singers in opera and art song, and through dedication and diligent practice, they have developed an aesthetic that is reinforced throughout the classical music world. Much of their training has been reinforced with warnings about the dangers of singing without those classical techniques. Therefore, it is not without fear that voice teachers leave their familiar culture and enter into the completely different culture of gospel, rock, or Broadway belt singing. Few have been prepared to discard their finely developed aesthetic discrimination in favor of cross-cultural vocal craft.
The unique value of the Estill Voice Training System (EVTS) lies in its ability to separate art from craft, aesthetic judgment from the use of the vocal instrument. This separation enables voice teachers to temporarily set aside their aesthetic judgment, and to understand and safely train students in whatever vocal quality each student prefers. I have found EVTS to be the most successful approach to teaching singers of diverse vocal styles, including belting. The work is easily understood, quickly applied, and minimizes risk. Jo Estill and her vanguard instructors, notably Mary McDonald Klimek and Dr. Kimberly Steinhauer, apply scientific research, educational methodology, and professional singing experience, to illuminate all types of singing, including those currently on the Broadway stage. EVTS students learn to hear the sound with their ears, feel the sound in the body, and see the sound on the Voiceprint computer program.
As musical theatre singers know, belt is not the only kind of singing a musical theatre actor needs to master. Classically trained singers who listen carefully to Broadway musicals are often impressed by the freedom of the vocal production aesthetic and the dedication to serving the text. Broadway singers call on a diverse assortment of voice qualities and styles.
In fact, a musical theatre singer may utilize several different qualities in one musical phrase. Consistent “beauty of tone” and musical expression are not the central requirements. Instead, the musical theatre actor reveals character, emotion and intention with a more realistic and heterogeneous vocal palette. This makes EVTS particularly useful and applicable. The training has no aesthetic bias, so it encourages the singer to experiment and communicate freely – a prerequisite for singing actors.
Jo Estill’s extensive laboratory observations revealed several common functional patterns in the larynx and in the use of the body as singers create various voice qualities. Based on her observations of sound quality or timbre, she labeled them falsetto, sob, nasal twang, oral twang, opera, speech and belt. Broadway singers use each of these sound qualities to varying degrees. Jo Estill’s research found that each of these qualities is the result of a consistent recipe or combination of relative positions and/or movements located
- in the larynx (i.e., thyroid or cricoid tilt, aryepiglotic sphincter contraction or release, true vocal fold changes, false vocal fold retraction or constriction, larynx raising or lowering),
- above the larynx (i.e., tongue height, jaw position, lip position, velum position),
- in the body (i.e., head and neck bracing, torso anchoring, breath flow or resistance).
Laboratory observations further revealed that one particular functional pattern is repeatedly implicated in vocal abuse symptoms. The Estill Voice Training System teaches singers to feel that pattern and avoid the risky function. “Closure of the false vocal folds during voicing, even slightly inward from the mid-range position, can affect both breath flow and the vibration of the true vocal folds.” (see Klimek pg. 34) Conversely, widening or retracting the false vocal folds reduces risk of injury during high stress vocalization, i.e. opera and belt.
This breakthrough discovery and Estill’s application exercises enable teachers and singers to avoid vocal abuse, while simultaneously allowing for liberal vocal experimentation.
None of the musical theatre voice qualities is more demanding or more dramatic than belt, and students and teachers are increasingly interested in it. There is nothing as exciting on the musical theatre stage as the climactic, belted phrases of a song. Audiences are thrilled by the total commitment, by the loudness and intensity of the sound, and by the risk taken by the singer.
Classically trained singers can usually master the twang, opera, falsetto, sob and speech qualities of musical theatre singing. But the classically trained singer and voice teacher face a daunting challenge when trying to enter the culture of musical theatre’s characteristic Broadway belt. As Jo Estill’s research shows, the physiological function of belt is different from classical singing in almost every way.
Although singers and voice teachers may sense that belt has something in common with “chest voice” or speech, research underlying EVTS supports a differentiation between “speaking on pitch” and belt. Such a “speaking” approach is ineffective and possibly harmful to the vocal folds because the physical function of “chest voice” and speaking do not include some of the most important aspects of belting. Belting is more like a spontaneous shout of joy than it is like speaking. Consider that a Broadway female belter is expected to belt more than an octave above middle C, the baritone belts to the G above middle C, the tenor to the B and C above that – pitches far beyond those reached by chest voice or speaking.
Estill teachers specify a shout of joy when teaching belt, because shouting with anger does not share the necessary conditions for the belt recipe. Researchers observe that various laryngeal structures respond in consistent ways to the expression of specific emotional or affective states. This association of emotions with vocal function provides an invaluable teaching tool for the informed voice teacher. For example, an audible, or even silent, laugh, cry, or sob result in retraction of the false vocal folds. Angry vocalization, on the other hand, induces constriction of the false vocal folds. Therefore, a role requiring a singer/actor to feel and project anger, necessitates a strong vocal technique to maintain false vocal fold retraction and avoid injury.
Likewise, the high intensity of belting can result in vocal trauma unless pinned to a reliable and consistent vocal technique that maintains false vocal fold retraction. Once the singer identifies the location and effort of holding the false vocal folds apart, the retraction can be maintained without resorting to the laughing, crying or sobbing triggers. General reminders to prevent vocal trauma while belting are to (see Klimek pg. 74)
- avoid bearing down on the vocal folds as in grunting or in anger,
- resist the feeling of excessive air building up below the true vocal folds,
- avoid lowering the larynx, whether during inhalation or tone production.
Anatomical observation of singers in laboratory research conducted by Jo Estill and others shows that both shouting for joy and belting depend on
- increased crico-thyroid space,
- thicker true vocal folds,
- smaller vocal tract caused by a high larynx, a high tongue, and a narrowed aryepiglottic sphincter (AES).
In addition, belting and shouting require
- decreased respiratory drive,
- high level of effort in head and neck anchoring,
- high level of effort in false vocal fold retraction to prevent injury.
In contrast to this, speaking depends on
- neutral crico-thyroid space,
- neutral larynx and tongue height,
- neutral vocal tract caused by a relatively relaxed AES.
Although speaking, like belting, requires thicker true vocal folds, it does not require head/neck anchoring or a high level of effort in false vocal fold retraction.
If we further examine these requirements relative to the practice of classical singers, it becomes clear why it is so difficult for classically trained singers to belt. The classical singing aesthetic requires the singer to vocalize with
- decreased crico-thyroid space,
- thinner true vocal folds,
- larger vocal tract space caused by a lowered larynx.
Classical singers are trained to
- take a low breath thereby lowering the larynx,
- use more breath (increased sub glottal pressure) than can be tolerated for the belt.
However, other aspects of belt are familiar to classical singers: high tongue, narrowed AES, high levels of effort in head and neck anchoring, and high level of effort in false vocal fold retraction to prevent injury.
Clearly one does not learn how to teach belt by reading and studying an article. It is only with careful practice under the supervision of a knowledgeable teacher, that the craft is acquired, mastered, and then applied with artistry.
Shouting for joy is ecstatic and liberating in the same way belting is ecstatic and liberating. But belting is shouting with duration, articulation, and on pitches, one after another. Extending a shout into song takes a tremendous amount of physical awareness and appropriate effort. The requirements are specific, and if one aspect is lacking, the belt will fail. Through functional anatomy, a rich supply of application exercises, problem solving and examples, the Estill Voice Training System is perfectly designed to teach singers how to belt safely.
To learn more about the Estill Voice Training System, visit their websites atwww.evts.com and www.trainmyvoice.com, or contact Gail Springer at allaboutthevoice@comcast.net .
__________________________
Klimek, M. M., Obert, K. B., & Steinhauer, K. (2005). The Estill Voice Training System, Level One & Level Two, Think Voice Series. Pittsburgh, PA: Think Voice International.
Chronological References in Voice Quality: Publications, Videos and Presentations 1974 to 2000, http://www.evts.com/bibliography.htm .
©2005, Voice and Speech Trainers Association
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