Article Title
Keywords
Metropolitan Opera, tenor, Jussi Bjorling
Abstract
"Each year new groups of young people find that they have voices and set about discovering the best and surest means of developing them. Thus, while the subject of vocal technique is constantly a new one, it is also as old as the race of man. People sang long before they built instruments to play upon, and the fundamental principles of vocal emission must have been the same, ever since our first ancestors experienced the pleasure of expressing their emotions through song. Whether one sings an operatic aria or a simple country call, these fundamental principles are the same, because singing is primarily a natural physical function . The rules of study which we apply to our vocal development are not imposed upon us; on the contrary, they are formed from centuries of observation of the natural behavior of those parts of the body that are used in singing. While the young child must be taught everything he is to do, certain actions are more natural than others. Eating, for instance, is more natural to man than driving an automobile. I like to regard singing in the light of a natural function. It must be thoughtfully taught and carefully learned; but basically, it is a part of natural human living. Its rules and habits, therefore, should always conform to natural physical behavior.
Recommended Citation
(1999)
"Good Singing Is Natural,"
Journal of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK: Vol. 8:
No.
1, Article 12.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jussibjorlingsociety/vol8/iss1/12