Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SINGING SINGING 459
August Grell, who relinquished the directorship
in 1876, on account of hia advanced age, but
retained a seat and vote in the committee, with
the title of honorary director. Martin Blumner,
the next conductor, was bom in 1827, and appointed
in 1870 ;
[he wrote a history of the
Society, which was published in 1891, and
shortly before his death in 1901 the present conductor,
Georg Schumann, was appointed.] p. s.
SINGING is the musical expression of the
voice. It is part of our natm-al condition to
possess organs for the production of sound, and
perceptions to make them musical, and being
thus equipped, it is but natural that the art of
music should be intimately associated with
human life.
Like many of the other animals, we express
our pain, sorrow, joy, pleasure, hunger, rage,
satisfaction, and love, in sounds which have
their vital and instinctive meaning like any of
the actions or gestures associated with the
elemental functions of human nature. We
have no more necessity than they have, however
imitative we may be, to look to external
phenomena for the origin of this wonderful
possession. It is natural to the infant to cry
when it is cold or hungry, and crow when it is
pleased. So, with the growth of sensibility and
perception, a little child knows how to plead
with its voice, in tones quite different fi'om
those of mere asking, without any vocal training
whatever. The same instinct which has enabled
the child to appeal to its parents and fellowcreatures,
has taught man to appi-oach his God
with praise and supplication. But the most
remarkable indication of the instinctiveness of
song is the characteristic growth of the voice
organs at the outset of manhood and womanhood.
It is as if the full development of the
body were crowned with the completion of the
instruments of sound, which express with such
particular eloquence the passions and emotions
attendant upon the great mystery of sex.
Through the growth and refinement of our
perceptions, the art of singing becomes the
musical expression of every emotion suggested
by thought and imagination.
It not infrequently happens that individuals
are bom to attain by the light of nature to a
high degi'ee of perfection in this art ; and even
when this is not so, the inherent sincerity of
imperfect singing can sometimes appeal more
powerfully to our feelings than the most efficient
training could make it do. While the whole of
humanity is probably in some measure acquainted
with the feeling of a desire to sing,
and the form and condition of the vocal instruments
appear to be as a rule normally fitted for
the production of musical sound, the wonder is
that everybody cannot do it. But there is no
doubt that the fault lies more often in defective
musical perception than in the condition of the
organs of voice.
Music demands a high development of a
particular sense, the foundation of which is
inborn, though its perfection requires cultivation
; and therefore there are individuals who
have all the materials for singing, but are still
without the faculty of using them for that
purpose. Another important obstacle to the
acquirement of the power of singing is that,
with the intellectual development of the race
has arisen a demand for perfection in speech
and diction, which often interferes with the
process of vocal training.
It should be remembered that language is a
purely artificial acquisition of mankind. We
all have to spend years in acquii-ing habits of
speech so that we may understand and explain
th« ordinary cu'cumstances of life. So local is
this, that we grow up speaking the language
which prevails around us, by the simple process
of imitation, without thinking whether its
sounds are musical or not, and this introduces
a series of common difficulties which are more
linguistic than vocal, and which will be considered
more fuUy later on.
It thus becomes apparent that the art of
singing has within it a great deal that is quite
outside the province of music. For although
the musical expression of the voice is of prime
importance, the whole foundations of the instruments
involved belong strictly to the province
of Physiology, like any of the other natural
functions of the body, and by far the greater
shsire of its educational side belongs to the study
of the speech organs.
The science of Phonology (i.e. the science of
vocal sound) has been specialised from its parent
science of Physiology, so that it may occupy
itself solely with the study of all the problems
involved in this important subject, and, by an
obligatory knowledge of music and languages,
carry out its conclusions in the service of the
art.
The fu-st step towards understanding singing
is to acquire a knowledge of the forces and
instruments which it employs, and their phonological
outline should, therefore, he made clear
before the fuller details are filled in.
The voice is built upon the same physical
principles as a reed-pipe of a chm-ch organ.
There is (1) a wind-chest in which the air is
compressed ; (2) a ' reed ' which vibrates and
produces the sound ; and (3) a resonator, which
gives it certain qualities.
(1) By the act of breathing out, we compress
the air which has been taken into the chest.
This force in being liberated causes (2) the Vocal
'
reed ' to vibrate when we bring it into position
and the sound thus produced is then modified
by (3) the Resonator, formed by the hollows in
the neck, mouth, and nose, which give quality
to the sound, and impress upon it the characteristics
of language.
Under these headings the components of the