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singing
Table of Contents
Introduction
Singing versus speaking
The character of Western
singing
Bel canto from the 17th to the
early 19th century
Mid-19th century departure from
bel canto style
Singing since the turn of the
20th century
References & Edit History
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singing
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Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
singing, the production of musical tones by means of the human voice. In its
Category: Arts & Culture
physical aspect, singing has a well-defined technique that depends on the use of
Key People: Bob Dylan • Bruce
the lungs, which act as an air supply, or bellows; on the larynx, which acts as a Springsteen • Frank Sinatra • Elvis
reed or vibrator; on the chest and head cavities, which have the function of an Presley • Grace Bumbry ...(Show more)
amplifier, as the tube in a wind instrument; and on the tongue, which together Related Topics: shape-note singing
• throat-singing • choir • Eurovision
with the palate, teeth, and lips articulate and impose consonants and vowels on
Song Contest • scat ...(Show more)
the amplified sound. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they
are nevertheless coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are See all related content →
made to interact upon one another.
Singing versus speaking
Singing is distinguished from speaking by the manner in which the breath is expended to vibrate the vocal cords.
Singing requires more breath the louder, higher, and longer one sings. It also requires that the emission of breath be
more firmly controlled. A pertinent analogy is the function of the instrumentalist’s breath in playing a reed instrument
—e.g., a clarinet, an oboe, or a saxophone. The technique of singing depends ultimately on the coordination of the
various anatomical mechanisms in order to produce a propulsion of sound in a steady flow. A further distinction
between singing and speaking is the control that is required, in singing, of the movement and reflexes of the larynx. As
one sings higher, the larynx tends to rise sympathetically and at a certain point becomes an interference causing the
voice to break, or crack. Not much movement of the larynx occurs within a singer’s normal range, which is usually about
an octave and a third. Beyond that range, either above or below, an element of technical accomplishment sets the
professional off from the unschooled amateur.
Britannica Quiz
Singers, Musicians, Composers, and More Quiz
The character of Western singing
Western singing is distinguished above all by its volume. Singers of other cultures may have a wider range, particularly
a greater upward extension; but it is doubtful that they have sung louder. Western singing is also distinguished by its
concern with pure sound, with the tone quality, or timbre, and with colour, with what is felt to be the sheer beauty of the
voice itself. Both singers and their listeners, in Western music more than any other, have tended to lose sight of song’s
roots in language and to think of singing as a purely instrumental production.
Modern Western styles of singing largely derive from the Italian bel canto, which had its origin in a style associated with
the polyphonic music of the 16th century. Because this music expressed the significance or the moods of the text, a great
range of expression was required from the singers, who, in these polyphonic works, assumed something of the function
of a vocal orchestra. The art of singing accordingly evolved to allow the singers the maximum power and variety of
expression. (See also bel canto.)
Bel canto from the 17th to the early 19th century
Bel canto singing from the 17th through the early 19th century was built primarily on the recognition that the intensity
of vocal tone on a single note may be increased or diminished. The varying of this intensity was known as the messa di
voce. There is, however, a difference between variation in intensity and variation in volume of vocal tone. The style
depended on the technique of intensity; that is, tone was varied by increasing or decreasing the air pressure on the
glottal lips and not by enlarging the oral chamber, which merely resulted in a larger tonal volume. The style was also
based on the principle that the voice has two “tones,” a diapason tone produced when the larynx is in a relatively low
position, and a flute tone when the larynx assumes a higher position. These distinctions, however, were largely
obliterated when a broader style of singing was introduced by Richard Wagner and later composers.
Physical aspects of the technique of bel canto singing demanded a stance in which the chest was raised and the stomach
drawn in; the raising of the soft palate together with a corresponding lowering of the larynx; and the drawing back of
the chin with the effect of opening the throat. Correct breathing was above all essential, and the Italians went so far as
to declare that “he who knows how to breathe can sing.” By a contraction of the upper abdominal muscles, control is
achieved over the diaphragm, which thus enables the flow of air pressure from the lungs to be kept steady. This
principle, which was the basis of singing in the 18th century, was later adopted by the Spanish tenor Manuel García,
who declared that “the lungs are for tone emission, the glottis is for pitch, the oral cavity is for vowel and timbre, and
the front of the mouth is for consonants.” The function of the diaphragm is to regulate the pressure of air, while the
larynx, as a nozzle in a water spray, determines the nature of the flow.
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With the muscles in appropriate position and the reserve of air under proper control, accented notes in singing are
given their full value not as startling percussive notes but in the manner of an accented note produced by a violinist who
prepares his effect by the proper placing of his bow. An exercise known as vibrazione enables the singer to control the
voice at the larynx and, by attacking a note softly, to increase the volume by pressure of the larynx.
Mid-19th century departure from bel canto style
Later schools of singing paid much attention to the resonation of the voice in the “mask,” that is, the cavities of the
head, though this resonation did not affect the radiative power of the voice but only its volume. These singers, and also
the still-later parlando singers, who effected a union of speech and singing, made a conscious use of resonation in this
way and differed from the bel canto singers in that they exercised less control over physical mechanisms.
The development of the orchestra by Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi, and Wagner in the 19th century encouraged
singers to seek means of amplifying their voices by methods of resonation unknown in the bel canto style, and a new
method was established of “singing on resonance.” Jean de Reszke, who emphasized the function of the nose in
resonation, was the main exponent of this school. Apart from the facial mask and the nose, other resonators were held
to be the hard palate and the teeth.
Demands made on the voice by the Romantic operatic composers transformed the principles of the style, largely
because the human voice would have been submerged by the vast orchestral resources drawn upon by these composers.
Especially in the later music dramas of Wagner, sheer weight of orchestral sound forced the singer to unprecedented
vocal exertions. With Verdi it was the vehemence of dramatic utterance rather than the presumptions of the orchestra
that called for louder and more emphatic singing than would have been thought seemly in the age of bel canto. Singers
found it difficult, if not impossible, to be at once forceful and elegant. A strong reaction thus set in, especially in
Germany, against vocal improvisation and embellishment of any kind. What had seemed the ultimate in singing from
the 17th to well into the 19th century was now anathematized as presumptuous frippery.
Singing since the turn of the 20th century
Florid song lived on into the 20th century in the surviving operas of the older repertoire, but it tended to become
stereotyped and the property of specialists. Whereas until about 1830 all singers were expected to be masters of the
devices of bel canto, they were now categorized as dramatic, lyric, coloratura (specialist in florid song), and so on. The
traditional range classifications of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass were also widened to admit the mezzo-soprano, the
baritone, and the bass-baritone.
The second half of the 20th century produced a predictable reaction in favour of the singer, with a revival of public
enthusiasm for nearly forgotten operas by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, and even of the
true bel canto operas of George Frideric Handel, and the emergence of singers capable of acquiring the requisite
technique imposed by music that left much to the singer’s invention and discretion. The popular singer, too, relieved by
the microphone of the necessity of raising his voice, and exploiting the improvisatory conventions of jazz, employed
intuitively many ornaments and expressive devices nearly identical to those of bel canto. The vocal requirements of
avant-garde music extended beyond those of traditional operatic singing to include wider flexibility of timbre,
techniques such as Sprechstimme (musically pitched speech), and improvisational fantasy drawing on sounds formerly
excluded from the trained singer’s vocal resources.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.
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Arts & Culture
Carlo Bergonzi
Italian singer
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Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Carlo Bergonzi, (born July 13, 1924, Vidalenzo, Italy—died July 25, 2014,
Category: Arts & Culture
Milan), Italian singer. Born near the city of Parma, he studied at its conservatory
Born: July 13, 1924, Vidalenzo, Italy
and made his debut as a baritone in 1948. Three years later he made a second
Died: July 25, 2014, Milan (aged 90)
debut as a tenor. His La Scala debut followed in 1953, his U.S. debut at the
Chicago Lyric Opera in 1955. From 1956 to 1983, his beautiful voice was a fixture
See all related content →
in the 19th-century Italian and French repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera. He
gave a farewell recital in New York in 1994.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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Arts & Culture
Little Anthony and the Imperials
American music group
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Also known as: the Imperials
Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Little Anthony and the Imperials, American rhythm-and-blues vocal group
Category: Arts & Culture
whose career straddled the eras of doo-wop and soul music. The Imperials were
Awards And Honors: Rock and Roll
formed in New York City in 1958 as a new incarnation of a short-lived group Hall of Fame and Museum (2009)
called the Chesters. The vocal combo’s original members were Jerome Anthony
Gourdine (b. Jan. 8, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.), Clarence Collins (b. March 17, See all related content →
1941, Brooklyn, N.Y.), Ernest Wright, Jr. (b. Aug. 24, 1941, Brooklyn), Tracy Lord,
and Nat Rogers (byname of Glouster Rogers).
The Imperials found instant success with their second single, “Tears on My Pillow” (1958), a doo-wop ballad
distinguished by Gourdine’s youthful falsetto. While introducing the song on the radio, influential disc jockey Alan
Freed, an early supporter, called the group Little Anthony and the Imperials (in reference to Gourdine), and the
moniker stuck. After a number of less-successful releases, a brief departure by Gourdine, and the replacement of Lord
and Rogers, the group hit its stride in the mid-1960s. Producer-songwriter Teddy Randazzo brought the Imperials’
vocal style in line with the popular soul sound of the day, resulting in a string of pop and rhythm-and-blues hits,
including “I’m on the Outside (Looking In)” (1964), “Goin’ out of My Head” (1964), and “Hurt So Bad” (1965).
By the mid-1970s the group’s commercial fortunes had waned and the lineup had gone through several changes, most
notably the 1969 departure of Wright. Gourdine left in 1975. The Imperials carried on for four more years but never
achieved another American hit. Gourdine, Collins, and Wright reconvened in 1992 with latter-day member Sammy
Strain (who had since joined the O’Jays) for a successful appearance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Thereafter, the group continued touring with varying lineups into the early 21st century, releasing a new album, You’ll
Never Know, in 2008. Little Anthony and the Imperials were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
This article was most recently revised and updated by John M. Cunningham.
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