For those who choose the voice as an artistic profession, the term vagusonar is probably new. But not the "classical vocal approach", which in singing or speaking brings together the sound waves in the body in such a way that the named registers of chest and head voice find a register mix in the whole-body sense. This resulting floating sound effect is more serious in singing, because here the sounding breath must be kept in balance particularly intensively.
A lot of literature and many singing teachers are ready to support anyone who chooses this complex path:
Metaphors and analogies help with the necessary sound imagination, YouTube channels for online courses and public master classes inspire, at least initially. Universities and theatres have so far been flooded with hopeful singing and acting students from all over the world.
Many of them present a fresh, well-carrying and fitting natural voice in the entrance exam. Much of it is already located, works according to the natural abilities. The eyes shine, the initially somewhat shy impression changes during the aptitude test into a fresh, curiously self-confident expression:
Look – here I sing (or speak), and I don’t want to do anything else!
This unconditionality is required of those who decide to take an entrance exam for the professional fields of artistic singing or acting. A healthy sense of self-esteem, combined with the feeling of special talent, the love of one’s own voice, resilience and coherence in balanced interaction. In addition, an individual vocal colouring that – at least one day – will be able to reach the innermost core of the audience. Not to mention excellent concentration and learning skills.
Thus, the highly motivated and expectant candidates are bombarded with countless ingredients that are unfortunately capable of transforming the upright, hopeful initial attitude into intimidated, unmanageable expectations. Can it go well? ...
... By no means. Theatres and concert halls are filled with insecure, frightened and discouraged singers who suffer from agonizing stage fright. They seek psychotherapeutic help or attend courses that offer embodiment-focused orientation to make things easier. It is not uncommon to visit two or three singing teachers at once, because each one could offer a new opportunity to finally be or become a sufficiently competitive singer. Orientation is sought outside, instead of being directed inward. Opinions clash with opinions, which creates uncertainty and instability.
Offshoots of a previously balanced temperament begin to develop called envy, jealousy, competitive thinking, fear of criticism. These little plants from the realm of the emotional level have a creeping and nasty effect on the sound.
Our voice is connected 1:1 to our sensitivities, i.e. body energies - including negative and positive feelings.
If we feel inspired, the tone that sounds in the moment will make this emotional state audible, whether trained in the classical sense or not.
The opposite is also true: an insecure, uprooted posture develops an identical sound result.
This gives rise to the equation:
mental energy feeds (x) physical energy = audible and perceptible sound result
physical energy feeds (x) mental energy = audible and perceptible sound result
For our example, this can only mean that as the demands and external influences increase, the hopeful, positive self-effect decreases, and the sound result decreases with it.
So, we should do everything we can to make said energies happy?
Easier said than done, because what came first?
The mental or physical energy that has an audible effect on the sound result or the sound result that leads to mental or physical energy. Both times, regardless of whether in a positive or negative sense.
In other words: do I have to work on my physical and mental state first to produce satisfying sounds? Or should I produce satisfying sounds to positively influence my physical and mental state?
All physical activity - and singing and speaking are among them - is a cycle in which the trigger and effect are hardly definable, but the result can be influenced by each other.
If I now manage to dock myself at any point in this cycle and consciously select the trigger or effect, then I take over self-determined control.
Just as operands in a multiplication can be exchanged at will:
four x three is twelve in the result, as is three x four.
A sound experienced intensely in the body creates a pleasant emotional experience, just as a pleasant emotional experience can create and convey a sound that is intense in the body - in a mutually fertilizing cycle.
The whole thing is audible as a phenomenon of infinite flow, which only occurs when - from a singing perspective - the automatisms are allowed to take over and our will and the associated thoughts are replaced by the natural interaction of the body reflexes considered in their entirety: This is what we call FLOW.
It is this FLOW effect that leads artistic singing or speaking from an active process into a passive experience.
Not: I sing - no - it sings in me.
Viewed naively, this means: the will has to go, and with it all kinds of mental baggage. In addition, there is a huge number of superfluous muscle activities that are fundamentally not necessary for sound production and would only put obstacles in the way of the reflex processes that are taking place in the background.
The prerequisite for this? Trust.
Trust in the natural, innate self-regulatory powers - primarily our autonomic, here parasympathetic nervous system with its vagus nerve. But how can I trust in something that I cannot see, cannot understand? To do this, I would have to let go of my insecurity. It would be better to act and thus be safe.
This is how a supposed credo arises:
Supposed Credo:
I do not give up my will.
I close my eyes and go for it.
I grit my teeth and clench my buttocks too.
I pull in my stomach before high notes with method and force to actively catapult the notes to the top of my skull.
This way my singing can at least benefit from the head resonance.
I stay active better.
It'll be fine. It has to work. I have everything under control technically. I rely on helpful pressure.
With the help of this supposed credo, physical and mental doggedness begin to flirt with each other: I look at my competition through uncertain, eagle eyes, I anxiously search for directors and critics in the audience, I follow the sounds of my colleagues with envy.
Meanwhile, my insides tense up; it defends itself, narrows itself - I'm afraid. Stage fright becomes unbearable - hardly manageable = an unpleasant condition that is reflected in the same sound result. If I am honest with myself, then I know: Extreme stage fright arises from excessive demands on performance, coupled with the awareness of my own deficits. That makes me anxious. Yet:
Fear comes from narrowness - narrowness comes from fear...
Here too, an equation that seems to have no beginning or end.
What is the most important insight in these explanations?
Active action and clenching the teeth seem to be suboptimal.
That's right, because through muscular activity, as described, I prevent the body's own automatisms and thereby throw sand into a finely tuned, interlocking reflex structure. In addition, I use the strongest movable bone in my head to help me: the lower jaw. After all, it is the most powerful vassal of my will!
Equipped with active energy, I can now say: I sing!
But - didn't we want to aim for something singing inside me? One of the most pleasant feelings for people and here especially for singers: the FLOW feeling?
That would mean we would have to let go of activity and the lower jaw.
A letting go in order to allow. Only in this way can the body's automatisms and reflexes take effect.
Only in this way can defensively tension, narrowness, or fear, be transformed into
welcome expectation, stability and thus self-confidence.
The width that arises here (and that arises during singing) creates space for
the sounds, which I can now welcome to spread throughout my flexible body and thus lead to more resonance. Just as Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström so aptly described it in her book Schule der Stimmenthüllung:
"Sounds arise at points and become the periphery."
As a reminder:
Tenseness x tightness = fear
Relaxation x confidence = space
I suddenly learn to see my body as a resonance chamber, as an ideal concert hall. I can feel independent of the acoustic conditions around me. This makes me feel easier, sets me free. I no longer feel spatial and vocal limitations. My confidence in myself grows, and with it my tone.
I feel in a good mood; I am in harmony with myself and my tone.
I feel:
Mind = mood = body energy = sound result
Mood = body energy = sound result = mind
Body energy = sound result = mind = mood
Sound result = mind = mood = body energy
....an infinite equation.
If I put aside all superfluous pseudo-support and active ballast and instead familiarize myself with the body's natural vocal processes, then I find the chance to develop and reveal my own voice (Werbeck-Svärdström, Die Stimmenthüllung), to enjoy it and to free myself from inner tension and fear through this feeling.