Cornelius Reid’s Vocal Pedagogy

Rita Gasala

Introduction

Cornelius Reid (1911-2008) was one of the most important vocal pedagogues of the late 20th century. He combined the modern insights afforded by vocal science, physiology, and psychology with the Italian art of Bel Canto. Through his sizable scholarly work, he attempted to revise and revived the 18th century Italian teachers’ techniques (Tosi, Corri, Mancini, etc.), opening a door to the understanding of the lost Bel Canto technique. According to Reid, this technique was centered upon the coordination of the registers: the chest voice and the falsetto (note that, to him, the falsetto is not a register above the head voice, as sometimes described). A deep understanding of registration, together with the anatomical knowledge that science shed on the field of voice since the invention of the laryngoscope by García, is what constitutes his method.

Reid’s Vocal Pedagogy

His approach on voice teaching rests upon the functional and registrational listening of singing; that is, being able to associate vocal sound with specific muscular (laryngeal) activity and therefore register (the vocalis muscle being more present in chest register and the cricothyroid in falsetto)[1]. “The ear needs to be trained to distinguish subtle differences in vocal quality and associate that quality with the probable balance of tension distributed among the muscles involved in phonation.”[2] For example, reducing intensity in a given tone in chest voice will reduce the activity of the vocalis muscle. Another example: if the intonation is correct (meaning that the cricothyroid is functioning well), but the singer has respiratory problems or jaw tension, the arytenoid system and its association with the chest voice is not functioning properly.[3] Reid criticized what he found was predominant in vocal teaching: prioritizing aesthetics over a correct functionality and therefore a healthy singing. Good is beautiful, and not vice-versa: aesthetical considerations are subjective and vary through time. Focusing on the aesthetics of sound rather than on the technical freedom during the lessons is “confusing the process of learning how to sing with the art of singing”.[4]

Reid advocates for a development of the falsetto in any singer, no matter the sex or voice type. Unless the chest voice is very weak, in order to bridge this passaggio, the chest voice needs to be lighter, which is known as mezzo petto, and maintain this intensity while increasing the pitch, going beyong the passaggio and merging into the mezzo falso (Mancini). Then, the overall intensity shall be increased in order to develop the voce piena or full voice, a complete integration of the 2 registers. Once this is achieved, the messa di voce (mezzo falso, mezzo petto, voce piena and reverse), shall be exercised. This exercise shall be practiced on an /a/ vowel, because it “invites more chest voice participation and therefore, at a reduced intensity level, encourages a smooth juncture with the falsetto.”[5] Sometimes, if the registers have not been correctly merged into each other, a complete separation of the registers is necessary.

Furthermore, his method is based on the awareness of the necessity of working primarily in the source of sound: the vibrator, rather than the resonator (the shape of the pharynx).[6] That is, working on the tonicity of the cricothyroid and the arytenoids, and on the flexibility of the vocalis. To Reid, this is the most important concept of vocal mechanics. A lack of equilibrium in this mechanism will cause a disequilibrium in the surrounding mechanisms (pharyngeal muscles, extrinsic laryngeal muscles, breath system), and vice versa. This is most commonly than not the case because, being highly sensitive to emotions, throat muscles usually exert constricting tensions. Reid’s main work, like Alexander Technique or the Feldenkrais Method, is on releasing these tensions on the throat, thereby restoring the motility within the vocal mechanism. Since these laryngeal muscles are involuntary (being related to breathing and swallowing), they have to be worked on indirectly. Reid identifies three possible vocal control and development factors in order to do so: pitch, intensity and vowel.[7] A pure, vibrant, and well-defined vowel reflects a balanced and efficient voice production.[8] The singer shall have a clear pre-conception of these three factors before singing the phrase. This is also called prephonatory tuning, and it constitutes one of the main differences between singing and speech.

Reid also attempted to reconcile and shed some light on the conundrum of modern and ancient vocal terminology. Amongst Reid’s writings is A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology, a major work in musicology, where he explains and delimits the meaning and origin of words widely used but rarely concretely understood such as “appoggio”, “sostegno”.

He also questioned the correctness of certain expressions, such as “putting the sound in the mask” or “forward”, since it involves no functional principle, and confuses the effect (vibration) with the cause (muscular movement). When laryngeal muscular freedom is achieved through a correct registration, genuine and healthy frontal resonance (not to be confused with nasality) will be achieved. The singer’s formant is therefore a result of a free pharynx, and not a cause. Resonance is secondary. The notion of (or the active need for) support is also questioned. To Reid, this is one way to compensate for an imbalanced and involuntary throat system, since, apart from the diaphragm, the respiratory muscles (abdominal, pectoral, dorsal, etc.) are voluntary. The problem with excessive subglottal pressure is that the angulation of the vocal folds in Gothic arch cannot resist it without stiffening.

Another misconception that he identifies is the treatment accorded to sung consonants. Sung consonants, he says, shall be treated as unvoiced, especially in the high pitches. This is because, being voiced consonants constrictive, the vowel coming after the consonant is distorted, which creates imprecision in the understanding of the text rather than accuracy.

Further research

In summary, Reid questioned several of the vocal science principles that were in vogue in the 20th century and still are. For a further and more concrete understanding of Reid’s methodology, a very rich archive containing more than fifty selected fragments of his vocal lessons taught during the last two decades of his life is available online at https://corneliusreid.buzzsprout.com/.

References

  1. Reid, C. (2005). Voice Science: An Evaluation. Australian Voice, Volume 11, p. 28. https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/voice-science-an-evaluation.pdf ↩︎

  2. https://corneliusreid.buzzsprout.com/ ↩︎

  3. Reid, C. (2007). Vocal Mechanics and the Cultivation of Listening Skills, p. 21. https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/vocal-mechanics-and-listening-skills-for-web.pdf ↩︎

  4. Reid, D. (2019). Functional Vocal Training . Retreived from: https://corneliusreid.com/2019/05/21/functional-vocal-training-2/ ↩︎

  5. Reid, C. (2005). Voice Science: An Evaluation. Australian Voice, Volume 11, pp. 28-30. https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/voice-science-an-evaluation.pdf ↩︎

  6. Reid, C. (2007). Vocal Mechanics and the Cultivation of Listening Skills, p. 11. https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/vocal-mechanics-and-listening-skills-for-web.pdf ↩︎

  7. Bybee, A., Ford, J.E. (2002). Sixty Years On The Bench. The Modern Singing Master: Essays in honour of Cornelius L. Reid, p16. https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/60-years-on-the-bench.pdf ↩︎

  8. Reid, C. (2005). Voice Science: An Evaluation. Australian Voice, Volume 11, p. 12 https://corneliusreid.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/voice-science-an-evaluation.pdf ↩︎