Djarts Voice Coaching ~ www.djarts.com.au
© Daniel K. Robinson - 2011Page
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ApexSkills
By Daniel K. Robinson
(2011)
I spend a good deal of my time (and my student’s time) working on thefundamentals of singing. Technical skills such as breath management,intonation, and body alignment must be mastered in order to secure aperformance that is reliable and consistent. The ‘rudimentary’ abilities of asinger are best workshopped in the teaching studio and personal practice space;away from the review of others. There are however a range of skills that are notnecessarily honed in the solitary and clinical confines of the student’s practice.This group of abilities are known as
Apex Skills
.
Independent Coordination
The first apex skill is ‘Independent Coordination’. When an untrained singerenters the teaching studio they often enter with a co-dependent vocal system.For example, when they sing into the extremes of their upper register, the wholebody might respond with tension. The co-dependent voice is built on cause andeffect; what happens to one part of the system ultimately affects a range of other parts of the mechanism. It’s a bit like trying to rub you tummy and patyour head – it can leave you feeling a little uncoordinated!Good vocal tuition will endeavour to enable the student singer with skills thatflow with independent coordination. The independently coordinated voice willorganise a range of fundamental skills (breath management, vocal tract shapeetc.) in a manner that, while harmoniously synchronised, remains intuitivelyautonomous. Therefore a change in air pressure for example does notnecessarily dictate a constrictive response in the laryngeal mechanism;independent coordination enables adjustment to the separate characteristicsultimately delivering the vocal presentation as determined by the artist.It must be acknowledged that independent coordination is a fine balance toachieve. Sadly, many student singers do not stay the course of vocaldevelopment long enough to realise this area of refined skill. Fewer still tacklethe challenge of implementing independent coordination as an apex skill. Therefinement of fundamental skill is practiced in the studio, but the apex of independent coordination is perfected on the stage. It is only under the watchfulgaze of the audient that a performer experiences the rush of adrenalin whicheither empowers or disrupts their technical performance.
Technical Performance
It has been a long held ‘untruth’ in the field of contemporary vocals thattechnique is not a necessary attribute of the contemporary singer. A technicallysecure voice, so the cultural misnomer goes, will be stifled by a clinicalwhitewash; subverting any aesthetic value that the singer might be seeking todeliver. Far from whitewash…this view is absolute hog wash and is often held bythose who have not taken the time to work (the operative word being ‘work’)technique into their performance. It is true to say that technique should be
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