UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: February 28, 2007 I, ___________________You-Seong Kim____________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Musical Arts in: Voice It is entitled: A Pedagogical Approach to the Trill in Singing This work and its defense approved by: Mary Henderson Chair: Stucky__________ Barbara Honn___________________ Kenneth Shaw___________________ ______________________________ _ ______________________________ _ A Pedagogical Approach to the Trill in Singing A document submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Advanced Research of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Performance Studies Division of the College-Conservatory of Music 28 February 2007 By You-Seong Kim 406 Carriage Hill Dr. Athens, OH 45701 [email protected] B.M., Seoul National University, 1995 M.M., Seoul National University, 1998 Commnittee Chair: Prof. Mary Henderson-Stucky Committee: Prof. Barbara Honn Committee: Prof. Kenneth Shaw Abstract In a singing lesson, a voice teacher might try to demonstrate how to trill, but the trill is often regarded as a ‘mere ornament’ that is not required and can be eliminated. In the past, however, the trill was treated as one of the most important elements in singing as can be seen in many vocal treatises of the Eighteenth century. Knowing the importance of the trill in singing, voice teachers should become familiar with different methods of effective trill instruction. Eighteenth-Century vocal treatises are useful to see the stylistic execution of the vocal trill, while the Nineteenth-Century and later vocal treatises usually provide actual trill-development exercises. Those vocal exercises seem to be classified as two kinds: A series of measured note- alternations that are supposed to be practiced in different tempi, usually slow to fast, and a series of acciaccatura with various intervals, such as the seconds, the thirds, the fourths, the fifths, and even the octaves. According to the research of the several vocal physiologists, the trill is one of the vocal oscillations, as the vibrato and the trillo, and can be also considered to be a variant of the vocal vibrato. In order to produce a good vibrato, the coordination of respiration and phonation is an important factor, and that has to be pursued as a basic skill for all singers. Voice teachers should not abandon the idea of “teaching vocal trill,” even though a student’s vocal facility is not so great. As in many other singing techniques, the trill and its stylistic execution must be an important attribute to be added in general instruction of classical singing. i ii Contents I. Introduction: Trill in Singing ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 II. Definition and Nature of the Vocal Trill ------------------------------------------------ 4 A. Trill as an Essential Vocal Ornament in the Shake Family -------------------------- 4 1. The Tremolo/Trillo -------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 2. The Vibrato ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 3. The Trill --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 B. Anatomical Origin of the Vocal Trill ----------------------------------------------------- 15 III. Approach toward Teaching of the Vocal Trill ---------------------------------------- 22 A. Pedagogical Aspects ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 1. Natural Gift or Learned Technique? ------------------------------------------------ 22 a. Mancini and Manfredini ----------------------------------------------------- 23 b. When to Start Exercising the Trill in the Course of Vocal Training -- 26 2. Different Trill Exercises in Historical Treatises and Modern Sources ----------------- 29 a. The Old Schools in Bel Canto Tradition (ca. 1700–1900) ---------------------- 30 Tosi Mancini Manfredini Hiller Garcia I and Garcia II Lablache M. Marchesi Bassini Lütgen Lamperti J. Lind b. Methods after 1900 ----------------------------------------------------------- 53 W. Shakespeare C. Ware H. Witherspoon Vernnard O. L. Brown L. B. Henderson R. Miller B. Stylistic Aspects in Performance Practice ---------------------------------------------- 69 1. Velocity -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 69 2. Beginning Note: Upper-note Trill and Main-Note Trill ------------------------- 72 3. Use of the Turn Figure as Termination -------------------------------------------- 81 4. Half Trill and Schneller (Inverted Mordent) -------------------------------------- 85 IV. Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 86 Bibliography iii I. Introduction: Trill in Singing Eighteenth-Century Italian opera arias, often referred to as arie antiche, are universally used for beginning singers. Aside from some primary concepts and techniques in singing such as proper breathing, phonation, resonation, and registration in terms of classical singing, the first thing which often challenges a young singer is the little sign, usually indicated with ‘tr’ or wavy line, that calls for a trill. As is the case of other instruments, trilling is not a technique that is often mastered from the beginning stages of learning how to sing. An instrumentalist might be asked by a teacher to regularly exercise the technique; thus, one can hardly imagine a professional instrumentalist who is not able to trill. This, however, is not always the case with voice lessons. A voice teacher might try to demonstrate how to trill, but the trill is often regarded as a ‘mere ornament’ that is not required and can be eliminated. In the past, the trill was treated as one of the most important elements in singing. In a tonal piece in the Baroque, Classical, and even Romantic eras, a trill of considerable length was generally required for a cadence, hence the Italian word cadenza. As discussed by many bel canto singing masters of the past, such as Pier Francesco Tosi (1653– 1732) and Giambattista Mancini (1714– 1800), listening to a singer’s strong, even, fast, and, consequently, beautiful trill must have been a major concern for the audience.1 In keeping with that tradition, the trill remains an essential tool for singers. Moreover, a trill is sometimes used for a highly specific purpose, such as text painting or 1 Julianne Baird, Introduction to the Art of Singing (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 17. A good trill described by Tosi is “equally beaten, distinct, flexible, and moderately quick.” 1 expression. It has been generally associated with the description of birds singing, which appears frequently in song texts from the Baroque down through the contemporary period, or with a laughing sound of excitement, as is the case of the long trill in Norina’s first aria in the Donizetti opera Don Pasquale. In these cases, one cannot conveniently avoid the trill due to technical deficiency. Given the significance of the trill in classical singing, voice teachers should become familiar with different methods of effective trill instruction. There are many available resources to which a voice teacher can refer for teaching the trill. Most singing treatises of the Eighteenth Century deal with the matter of vocal trill in the ornamentation section. They, however, tend to give a description of an ideal trill in singing, rather than giving actual trill-development exercises. In spite of this deficiency, they are still valid references, for their ideas on the ornament provide the basis of the trill-teaching methods of the Nineteenth Century. In the Nineteenth-Century vocal treatises and pedagogy books, more practical suggestions of the technical aspect of trill singing are introduced. One can find some common elements from those exercises, but there are also several different features. The more recent pedagogy books tend to incorporate some scientific elements. They actually show the difference visually by using oscillographs of the different vocal oscillations, such as trill, wobble, tremolo, and trillo.2 Some authors also synthesized the different historical trill exercises and suggested the most ideal ones that they would consider. There arose other aspects to consider—such as the gender issue in trill instruction: “Is the trill a more important and 2 Jean Hakes, Thomas Shipp, and E. Thomas Doherty, “Acoustic Characteristics of Vocal Oscillations: Vibrato, Exaggerated Vibrato, Trill, and Trillo,” in Journal of Voice 1:4 (1987). Jean Hakes, E. Thomas Doherty, and Thomas Shipp left several lab results that involved these issues. Oscillograph allows these different vocal oscillations to be viewed as a two-dimensional graph. 2 essential tool of singing for certain voice types?” Or, “Should a voice teacher consider different trill-teaching method for certain voice types?” For some authors of the vocal treatises, those questions do not matter at all, because, for them, the ability to sing trill is indispensable for singers of both genders. According to others, however, female singers have to be trained more for trill singing, as they sing much repertoire in which the trill functions prominently.3 In the process of acquiring the necessary information from various sources from the different eras, the biggest difficulty perhaps is deciding what method (or methods) should be used among the many different and, sometimes, controversial