Manuel Garcia Jr: A clear-sighted observer of human voice production

Abstract

Before Garcia, only a few notions of vocal production can be found in earlier singing treatises. In those days the authors wrote mainly upon the art of ornamentation and the rules of good language utterance. In the beginning of the 19th century, a radical change occurred with the development of scientific experiments. Several doctors or physicists drew up theories on human voice production, which were similar to those of sound production in woodwind instruments: flute, reed, or membranous lips. Yet, as the experiments on living human beings were impossible, the true nature of the vocal source remained under discussion. In addition, specific questions arose in regard to singing: Are the different registers produced by different vibrating sources or are they due to modifications of a single vibrating system? What are the reasons for a variation in loudness and in pitch, and how are the variations of voice timbre produced? Facing the contradictory opinions of the most famous scientists, Manuel Garcia Jr showed an astonishing insight as early as 1840, when he wrote his first 'Mémoire sur la voix humaine' presented to the Académie des Sciences de Paris. Being altogether an anatomist, a singer, and a great pedagogue, he could accurately observe the physiological phenomena of human voice in the right way. As the first user of the laryngoscope, he wrote a second paper presented at the Royal Society of London, in 1855, in which he confirmed his previous views. All along the different issues of his well-known singing method, we may see the lucidity and the improvements of Garcia's ideas. The only concession he made to the singers is related to the famous 'Fausset-tête' register, an unfortunate word that was bound to induce confusion later.

Laryngeal Vibratory Mechanisms: The Notion of Vocal Register Revisited

“…It has, nevertheless, imprecision from which some confusion could originate. When Manuel Garcia 1 presented his work to the French Académie des Sciences in 1840, 39 he gave the following definition of vocal registers which is still nowadays the most referred to: ''By the word register we mean a series of consecutive and homogeneous tones going from low to high, produced by the same mechanical principle, and whose nature differs essentially from another series of tones equally consecutive and homogeneous produced by another mechanical principle. All the tones belonging to the same register are consequently of the same nature, whatever otherwise may be the modifications of timbre or of the force to which one subjects them'' (translation of Garcia 1 from Paschke 40 ).…”

Effect of a web-based chronic disease management system on asthma control and health-related quality of life: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Case manager salary costs will be estimated based on the average pay scale of the Federation of Nurses of Quebec. Physician fees will be based on those set by the Provincial Health Insurance Board [136]. "Healthcare utilisation": Information from the provincial health insurance program administrator, RAMQ, will be obtained on asthma-related ER visits or hospitalizations.…”

Technical and Expressively Meaningful Functions of "Transitional Tones” and “Primary Tone” in the Context of Vocal-Register Performing Strategy

“…Важливим є розуміння фізіологічних процесів та робота голосового апарату під час виконання «перехідних тонів», що аналізують дослідники: R. Duhamel [15], J. Hey [20], N. Henrich [19], R. Husson [21], M. Castellengo [14], I. R. Titze [22]. Досвід співаків і педагогів у виконавській діяльності розкриває шляхи для оволодіння технікою вокально-регістрової виконавської стратегії: А. Кулієва [5], Л. Ванштейн [1], Н. Дяченко-Гордаш [2], С. Крушельницька [9], Т. Михайлова [7], Fucito S. [16], Beyer B. J.…”