Sinatra: Master of The Divine Couplet Of Singing Pt. 1

One of the secrets to Sinatra’s lovely singing is the way he expertly Italianized his vowels—that is, how he keeps them open and pure, and this is why he is able to move from English word to English word as though he is moving from Italian vowel to Italian vowel; the overall effect is that his singing seemed to flow along in a honey-like stream of beautifully open tones. That he could even perform his swing tunes with his Italian vowels doing all the swinging is all the more remarkable. His innovative back, down, and open vowels hold the key to this accomplishment.

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Good Results, Questionable Causes

Mustn’t there be good teachers who have played a vital role in the development of their students’ voices? Without a doubt! Yet, oddly enough, it is often not for the reasons believed by voice instructors themselves. One of my first singing instructors had me press my abdomen against the piano while I sang. He claimed that this exercise “trained my breathing muscles and made them stronger,” and provided “better diaphragmatic support,” which he insisted was the key to singing well. After a few months of doing this exercise, I noticed that my voice, in fact, did become stronger. Perhaps he was right! But then my progress inexplicably came to a standstill. To make matters worse, I actually bruised my hip by continuously pushing my abdomen against his piano. I realized that my teacher was not quite on the mark, so I moved on.

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Your Voice Muscles Are Endurance Muscles

It is common for voice instructors to describe the source of vocal sound—the larynx—as a delicate organ, and easily injured by misuse or overuse. But, the laryngeal musculature, like that of the pharynx and oral cavity, is naturally durable and resistant to fatigue. It makes little sense then to concentrate on how to avoid vocal overuse; instead, our focus should be on how to maximize the considerable power and performance potential that is inherent in our voice muscles. This, of course, takes us into the realm of exercise.

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Muscular Balance And Imbalance In Singing

Although the muscular processes of the voice are complex and carry out different functions, the muscles of the voice make up one interconnected system. In fact, a weakness in one set of muscles often results in muscular problems in other areas of the vocal muscular system. Weak vocal fold muscles, for instance, always lead to some degree of pharyngeal closing and inflexibility. The opposite is true also. When all your voice muscles are strong and well coordinated, the natural muscle tension that is created by singing is properly dispensed among the muscle groups of the larynx, pharynx, soft palate, and oral cavity. The result is typically a strong, resonant, and flexible voice, with good quality, control, range, and articulation.

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Singing Techniques And Voice Building Techniques

A technique is simply a typical (repeatable) way of performing an activity. If I mow the lawn of my house in an arbitrary fashion—that is, by pushing the lawn mower at random speeds and with arbitrary movements, then I am not employing a technique of lawn mowing. But if I have a usual way of mowing my lawn, perhaps moving the lawn mower at a uniformly slow speed, following a consistent pattern, and then mowing over the very same area again, but this time at a slightly faster, but uniformly faster, speed, and a different but uniformly different pattern, then I am using a real technique of lawn mowing. Should we apply the same strategy to singing and argue that developing a singing technique should be a principal goal for singers?

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