Discovering The "Open Throat" With The Help Of Enrico Caruso Pt. 3

Read Part 1 here

Read Part 2 here

In the 1930s, Italian singing master Arturo Melocchi became famous for making the lowered larynx technique the foundation of his “controversial method,” and taught it most famously to both Mario Del Monico and Franco Corelli (indirectly) who popularized his method just past the mid-half of the 20th century.

The idea of the lowered larynx, however, easily invites confusion. One might honestly ask: “How low must a singer drop his larynx in order to be understood as singing with a lowered larynx?”

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Discovering The "Open Throat" With The Help Of Enrico Caruso Pt. 2

Read Part 1 here.

The libraries at the University of Texas opened my eyes to a new reality. They had a wealth of information in regard to all aspects of the voice, from its physiological basis to its functioning in both speech and singing. When I started doing research, I was surprised to discover that specific muscles in the larynx, pharynx (throat), oral cavity, and soft palate determine how a voice sounds and behaves, that the voice is the expression of many muscles working in relation to each other!

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Discovering The “Open Throat” With The Help Of Enrico Caruso Pt. 1

Through my studies in Austin, Texas, I became acquainted with the controversial ideas of a famous Italian voice teacher from the middle of the 20th century, a certain Arturo Melocchi, who was reputed to have said daily, “the voice needs to be pushed.” He was the teacher of the famed operatic tenors of the 50s and 60s, Mario Del Monico and Franco Corelli. (Corelli had only one lesson from Melocchi himself and then studied afterwards with one of his students.)

I began studying the recordings of these two singers, and noticed that not only did Del Monico’s and Corelli’s voices resemble each other in striking ways, but both of their voices bore remarkable similarities to that of Enrico Caruso—the most celebrated tenor in history.

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Another Underwhelming Night For Singing At The Oscars

The 85th Academy Awards, unfortunately, was blemished with problematic singing:

1) Katherine Zeta Jones was clearly lip-syncing in the Chicago piece.  The maneuver should have been a no-no in light of the Beyonce's poor judgement call to lip-sync the "National Anthem" not too long ago.

2) Despite her large, exciting sound, Jennifer Hudson's screaming-like singing is finally showing early signs of vocal deterioration as her voice when she sings her high notes is beginning to wobble

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Methodology In Singing

A method of vocal development goes right to the core of one of the most controversial issues in the world of singing and singing instruction: Is a uniform system of singing possible? What about voice training? Is a uniform system of voice training possible? The answer is that while a singer’s artistic choices and singing technique are (or should be) individual to him alone, voice teaching/voice building principles and techniques are standardized and have universal application.

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