Journal of Singing Featured Article:

Pedagogic Pears: Exploring Vocal Resonance

by Robert Edwin

IN VOICE PEDAGOGY CIRCLES, the term “pear-shaped tone” has fallen into disuse. Popular in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the phrase describes a tone that is full, clear, warm, and resonant. The pear-shaped tone was the industry standard in both the teaching and performance of most Western European vocal music.

If one examines the fruit in question, one can see how its shape aptly describes a classically sung tone. The narrow top of the pear represents the treble-dominant higher overtones. In Italian, these high, light, bright frequencies are called chiaro. As the pear broadens out, so does the singer’s voice as mid-tone frequencies are added. The pear rounds out even more as does the singer’s timbre when more bass-dominant, lower overtones are introduced. These dark, rich tones are called oscuro in Italian.

In the never ending search for better ways to communicate gender-neutral and fact-based singing techniques to my students, I’ve resurrected the pedagogic pear from my youthful memories; I remember my voice-teaching parents using the term. I’ve discovered that by putting a contemporary spin on it, the metaphor can serve all singing styles and especially help in addressing the vocal diversity that is modern music theater.

Regarding the pear metaphor, assumptions are dangerous, so it may be wise to first ask students if they know what a pear looks like. You may have to draw a picture for your non-fruit eating singers, but once that’s settled, you can begin to explore the various sections of the pear. I like to start at the top. Ask the student to sing a major triad with a thin, straight-toned, and nasalized sound in the middle of either the thyroarytenoid-dominant register (“chest” register), or the cricothyroid-dominant register (“head” register). Sometimes students initially find it difficult to change resonance and vocal fold activity, so it may be necessary for them to mechanically lower the soft palate to get the desired sound. Repeat the exercise in the other register.

Although vowels are standard practice for many vocalises, a better choice might be a single-syllable word such as love, me, wow, or hey. This allows the singer a communication context that can be carried through the entire exercise. In other words, he or she is actually “saying something” and, therefore, is less likely to disconnect the physical and emotional energy the actor can provide. The nasalized sound represents the very top of the pear (maybe even the stem). It has minimal resonance and loudness due to the size of the resonator and the two little orifices where the sound exits the body. It can be our resonance starting point.

Next, ask the student to sing the word again with a partially raised palate and a laterally (east and west) spread mouth position with as many teeth showing as possible. If that is a difficult concept to grasp, suggest he sing as if he were auditioning as a vampire with fangs for the Twilight series. The sound should now resonate in the nose as well as the narrowed parts of the rest of the vocal tract. This sound helps serve singing styles that include country, punk, pop, as well as their many manifestations in music theater, such as in the shows American Idiot, Legally Blond, Guys and Dolls, and Little Shop of Horrors. Inform the student that bright, highly chiaro vocalization includes only a small portion of the body of the pear.

Have the student repeat the exercise several more times, each time adding more roundness and fullness to the word by allowing more vocal fold and resonator activity. As the pear-shaped tone gets bigger, the singer should be sequentially creating contemporary, pop-
driven sounds (the new Disney princes and princesses); then traditional Broadway mix and belt (the Porter, Gershwin, Berlin shows); then light and conversational legit (the old Disney princes and princesses); then light classical, otherwise known as “popera” (Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman types); and finally end up with a fully realized classical sound.

It’s important to note that the singer is not necessarily changing the balance between chiaro and oscuro (light and dark). Rather, the singer starts with chiaro and adds oscuro to it. Almost all styles of singing demand some kind of chiaro. The variable is the oscuro. Pop uses the top and a bit of the body of the pear while classical uses almost all of the pear, save for the nasality. Remember, it is important that all singers do the exercises in both registers since using the whole voice is necessary for both vocal health and vocal diversity.

Taking the exercise one step further, ask the student to try to create a chiaro-less sound, one that might be described as “woofy,” overweighted, too dark, or lacking ring. It is a sound put to good use by Bert Lahr as “The Cowardly Lion” in The Wizard of Oz, as well as opera singers creating the comedic stereotype of the bad Wagnerian soprano. That comedic sound is not so funny, however, when created by serious singers overcovering or trying to make their voices bigger than they naturally are. They cut off the top of the pear and can put both their voices and their careers in jeopardy by overtaxing the instrument.

The aforementioned overcovering exercise can also be used to help teacher and student establish Fach, or voice type. While voice range (how high and how low) is a primary element in determining Fach, the amount of oscuro a voice can comfortably handle also factors into the equation. Simply put, if teachers find out how big their students’ pears are, they’ll be less likely to misdiagnose voice types. A small larynx with small vocal folds and a short vocal tract cannot produce the same amount of fullness and depth that a larger instrument can. How many naturally lyric sopranos end up on the vocal trash heap after seeking fame and fortune trying to be dramatic sopranos? Conversely, how many belters with low and dark voices attempt to “defy gravity” for similar reasons as the sopranos and sing roles meant for higher and lighter belters?

No matter whether the vocal pear is small, medium, or large, it is important for every singer to explore all of his or her pear. Tribal, cultural, and gender biases often called “tradition” still inhibit our noble profession from developing the full capabilities of the human voice. How many boys and men are put off by the word “falsetto” or the thought that they are singing “like girls and women” and, as a consequence, never completely integrate that CT vocal fold muscle shared by both men and women? In the same vein, how many girls and women are discouraged from singing in their TA-dominant register because they were told or believe that they shouldn’t “sound like a man” or that the use of “chest voice” by women was a “dangerous register violation?”

In light of the plethora of recent voice science, pedagogic, and cultural research, treating the voice as gender neutral can be perceived as good, healthy, and productive pedagogy. That said, this teacher/author clearly recognizes that profound differences exist between men and women, and, in fact, celebrates those differences. However, when it comes to the human voice, the celebration is for its inclusivity rather than its exclusivity vis a vis male versus female singing. Tribal, gender, and cultural differences aside, perhaps the pear-shaped tone exercises can become a “plum” in your pedagogic tool kit

Robert Edwin has served NATS in many capacities—among them: New Jersey Chapter President (1985–92); author of "The Bach to Rock Connection"—the first regular feature in the Journal of Singing dedicated to CCM (nonclassical) voice pedagogy (1985–2002); National Secretary/Treasurer (2002–06); first Master Teacher in the NATS Intern Program to represent the private studio sector (2005); first "wired" master class clinician at a NATS national conference (Nashville 2008);and JOS Associate Editor (2002-present).

Mr. Edwin is a frequent faculty member of the Voice Foundation's Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice, and is an active member of the distinguished American Academy of Teachers of Singing. His DVD on child voice training, The Kid & the Singing Teacher, with CCC-SLP Barbara Arboleda, is available at www.voiceinsideview.com. He is a chapter author for the 2011 Oxford University Press, Handbook of Music Education, and his chapter on teaching children appears in the book, Pediatric Voice Disorders (Plural Publishing). www.robertedwinstudio.com

Reproduced with permission.
Journal of Singing, November/December 2011
Volume 68, No. 2, pp. 193-194
Copyright © 2011 National Association of Teachers of Singing

Journal of Singing is the official journal of National Association of Teachers of Singing, providing current information regarding the teaching of singing as well as results of recent research in the field. A refereed journal, it serves as an historical record and is a venue for teachers of singing and other scholars to share the results of their work in areas such as history, diction, voice science, medicine, and especially voice pedagogy. Journal of Singing is published five times annually (Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb, March/April, May/June). Richard Dale Sjoerdsma, Editor-in-Chief

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