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How can we help adults who cannot sing in tune? Let me report to you my work with a young Dutch lawyer who came to me for Alexander lessons three years ago. Initially, Petra came to me because she was having vocal difficulties when presenting her cases in court. She spoke in a very quiet, low pitched voice. Despite being an active young woman with her own sailboat, her whole demeanour was low key. For about the first year of lessons, when she came twice a week for a half-hour lesson each time, we just concentrated on learning the Alexander principles. She did very well indeed. At some point during the lessons that year, she asked me about singing. I had her sing a song for me of her own choosing, and it was evident that she could not "carry" a tune. She was a definite droner - i.e., someone who sang more or less on one note. I did not call any attention to the fact she was a droner but concentrated, instead, on the continued work of lengthening and widening, and doing the whispered "Ah". She continued having two one-half hour lessons a week. I also invited her to join a once a month workshop with other amateur singers who were studying with me. In those workshops I was using the songs of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter to help the students learn how to convey the meaning of texts. There were, then, two aims in the workshops: 1) good physical use and 2) communication of the emotion of the text. I paid no attention whatsoever to any vocal techniques or to singing in tune. Surrounded by other people who could sing in tune, joining with them to sing a song as a group, in an atmosphere of good physical use and no pressure, Petra's voice gradually began to rise and fall with the melody, albeit in a general way. She was a long way from singing in tune but changes were happening. After about two years of work she told me one day that she was beginning to win far more cases in court. Her presentations were much more solid, her voice carried better and the fact she was standing better seemed to give her a distinct advantage. There was certainly no doubt that she felt more confident and this was having a positive effect. Of course, legally she must have been well prepared. No amount of good posture or confidence could compensate for lack of solid preparation of a case. But it is interesting to speculate just how much a poor posture and presentation can take away from a well prepared submission. I also noticed that when she sang a song in the workshop she was beginning to pitch the song somewhat higher than she had done before. I began to get her to speak the text and to let her speaking voice raise and fall at about the same places where the melody rose and fell. I did this with her over a period of many months. Toward the end of June this year she sang yet again in the workshop and, to my utter delight, she sang the song entirely in tune, at a higher pitch, with good volume and good physical use. Adults can definitely be helped to sing in tune if they so desire. They need to accept that the process may take time, they need to accept that they need to apply the Alexander technique diligently - and most of all they need to be allowed to progress at their own rate without any pressure or attention being drawn to the fact they cannot sing in tune. I deliberately make this aspect of singing totally unimportant. What matters most is the ability to communicate the feeling and meaning of the text. All too often one hears professional singers with all technical skill one could hope for but who only concentrate on beautiful tone to the detriment of communication of feeling and text. How did I arrive at the idea of concentrating on communication of the feeling and text of a song as a means of teaching someone to sing? This was the basic premise of my singing teachers, Professor Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd Marling. Then, twenty five years ago, my son Andrew was born with Down's Syndrome. Fortunately he can function at a high level - he reads to about age 12, can travel from England to Holland by plane on his own, can ride a bicycle and play tennis, and is a whiz at using a computer. Very early on he showed a love of singing. However, he still cannot sing in tune, much as he'd love to. In order to help him sing, I have taught him how to phrase texts and connect with their meaning. He does this exceptionally well. He does it so well that sometimes people find it almost too intimate and don't know how to deal with the feelings he evokes in them. If he is visiting us and I am giving a workshop for amateurs, I invite him along and he joins in. The students are always amazed at his ability to put a song across without melody, and it is a source of great inspiration to them and me that he does this so well. He is at the stage now where his voice does raise and fall more or less where the melody does. He is still a long way off being able to sing in tune but the pleasure he gets from singing is touching. And who knows? One day he may also sing in tune. Recording of Petra singing |