LANGUAGE

The role of language in singing teaching is one of the greatest problems in learning to sing. When someone tells us what to do, we want to try and do it. However, what actually happens is that we follow the instructions we have understood in our minds rather than what is intended by the teacher. The reason for this is that the body does not do something just because your mind says do it. In the world of the autonomic systems of the body volition is not enough. Just because you want something to happen does not mean it will. Control will not work however hard you try. In fact the harder you try the worse it gets. The difference between the quality of sound that is 'forced' or 'manufactured' and the sound that is 'free' is as wide as the Grand Canyon.
The whole world of defence mechanisms, emotional protection, instinctive responses lie in wait for the mere desire to sing well. Wanting something to happen in your body is not enough to make it happen. The search for objectivity in language has been a preoccupation of the scientific age, only for the singing profession to discover that it misses the point. The intellectual understanding of what words might mean does not mean it transfers to something happening in the body.
The reason for this is that the intellect is not the key to releasing feelings. Poetry and touch do that, as does a tradition of learning that acknowledges what has already been mentioned in the preceding pages. It is called the Mimetic tradition, learning by imitation. The human body is capable of imitation through connection just by being in the presence of someone who knows. It works on the same principles as catharsis. Here is a quote from a tenth century Sufi teacher………'When you care to speak, take care to speak only from your own experience and your own state. You should not talk about something you haven’t lived'……..
This tradition of learning depends on the awareness and sharing of feelings and the experience of the teacher who can guide the student into the space he needs to be in. It is used in the Russian schools, and was used in the Italian operatic tradition which I experienced. Students sat for six hours a day in groups of mixed ability every week for an awfully long time. Nobody in the West has that sort of time any more.
Sadly the use of the world of touch is more problematic in the modern age, though it is very effective in giving the student an experience of where their body needs to be. The mind then has to re-orientate itself to this state and learn to live there. This takes time, and is used by Alexander technicians to great effect. Like anything else it is all about the skill of the teacher.
Personally, I have found this approach very helpful though hard and slow. It does overcome the barrier of intellect which in my case turned words on their head without even trying. I never understood what anyone was talking about, but I found my voice worked infinitely better once someone had put my body where it needed to be using their hands. I then had to work out what had happened before the next session, which I eventually did. As a result of these experiences I have developed my own way of working, combining touch, image and science. External intervention enables connections to be made that would not otherwise be possible because of the habits and defences of the unconscious process.