Lamperti Keeps Singing Simple
Thursday, May 25, 2023 by Billy Roberts | Singing
The focus of this blog is on maintaining the voice through daily vocal exercise when practice time is scarce. The best tool I have found for this is the Lamperti book of daily exercises, although the Lütgen and Sieber exercises have also been useful for me. Although my primary job is tutoring math for high school students and preparing adults for the GED or Accuplacer exams, I have enjoyed becoming more involved with music over the past few years. As another school year comes to an end, I look forward to the opportunity to refocus each summer. Although I continue tutoring year-round, slight adjustments to my work schedule and my time outside of work help me to make the most of this season each year.
I first became acquainted with the Lamperti studies about ten years ago. My son had just been born, and I was not heavily involved with piano or French horn during this period. I had prior experience singing both tenor and baritone, and most of my musical energy was focused toward singing. I chose to sing baritone that summer in a local community choir. I was working a 40 hour per week non-music job, but I had access to a piano at lunch and spent about 30 minutes per day vocalizing. When I discovered the Lamperti exercises, I immediately found them useful in placing the voice and in building fundamentals. Unfortunately, I disregarded the disclaimer typically made in the forward of such books to avoid high notes that could not be approached correctly, and the book that I had covered the full tenor range from low C to high C.
What I failed to realize right away was that there is simply no healthy vocal technique for singing notes that are too high for a balanced, healthy voice. When I let go of the chest voice completely, I could get up there with a very light head voice that made me think maybe I had a high C. I also found that if I used an operatic technique but kept a certain amount of tension around the larynx, I could approach that area of the range with full voice. However, the type of modification I had to do was very unnatural. There are certain throat muscles that do provide support for the larynx, but if you have to think about it too much you’re probably doing it wrong. Really the only thing to understand is what it feels like for the throat to be relaxed without being spread wide.
This is where the Lamperti exercises become very useful. The first half-dozen or so Lamperti exercises are designed to place the voice. After my efforts with the original book failed, I discovered that there was an alto version which was suitable for basses and baritones. It spans the range from low A to F# above middle C, unlike the tenor/soprano version which covers a full two octaves. When I got back into the Lamperti studies, after a long period of piano and lighter singing, the alto book rather quickly helped my voice to find its place again. I’m at a place now where I can take about seven of the exercises each day and incorporate them into a twenty to thirty minute vocal routine, and I’ve made it through the book in four days. Then on the fifth day, I choose whatever I feel like for singing or additional exercise during that vocal time. Vacations or time off can disrupt this routine and cause some difficulty getting back into shape, but for the most part a little daily maintenance keeps singing easy, as it should be.
