The Bel Canto Tradition

The Time-Honored Method for Bringing Out the Best in Singers

“Bel canto” means “beautiful singing”. It is a very specific approach to classical vocalism that yields very specific results, including mastery of breath, passaggio, portamento, vocal health and longevity, and many other benefits.

Revised Excerpt From:

Elizabeth Fleming

Inheritor of the bel Canto Tradition

I met Betty Fleming in 1979 when the opportunity arose to stay in London for a year. Erik Levi, the British pianist and scholar, whom I met in 1978 at the Franz Schubert Institut Lied course in Austria, introduced me to her.

Betty, during the period I was attached to her studio (roughly 1979-1988), stood about 5 feet 5 inches, had a broad face resembling the structure of Birgit Nilsson’s, a large ribcage, and slim legs. She was always exquisitely coifed, groomed, and dressed having often just come from the Harrod’s near her apartment with a new dress or hairdressing. She wore large glasses that toned in with her bouffant ash blond hair and usually sat in a large, carved chair, with a cushioned back and seat, which looked authentically Baroque.

I arrived with a muffled voice held on the soft palate, a technique taught me by disciples of William Vennard in Los Angeles, and emerged nine months later (having three lessons a week) with something resembling an operatic sound.

One of the books consulted in preparation for the writing of this article was Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy by James Stark. What I read there was surprising because the bel canto method of Manuel Garcia and Francesco and Giovanni Battista Lamperti described by Stark was exactly the same as that taught by Betty Fleming.

Obviously, Betty’s ideas were not new ones. In fact, they were taught for several centuries and written about first in scientific, hence quantifiable, terms by Garcia and Lampertis. Stark’s physiological analysis has been extremely helpful in identifying the elements in the teaching of Gillis Bratt and Joseph Hislop as well as Fleming herself that have their shared origins in the Italian method as defined by Garcia and Lamperti.

Although it took several more years to solidify Betty’s concepts, the distance between Chicago and London not being easily traversed, the technical ideas have stood the test of time both in my voice studio and for my own professional singing.

My artistic journey began the day I walked into her studio. It has not yet ended.

Click the button below to view Myron Myers’ Bel Canto Lineage

Bel canto technique can be summarized as follows:

  • Upon inhalation, the navel is pulled toward the spine, isolating the epigastrium (called the “diaphragm” but literally is not) which moves out, the rib cage expands, the sternum rises.

  • The sternal movement helps to lower the larynx, to which it is attached.

  • The larynx is very low, depending on voice category according to recent research.

  • The vocal folds are firmly closed by either low pitch onset or glottal fry. Gottal fry used in this configuration leads to firm vocal fold closure. It is not dangerous.

  • Firm closure is Garcia’s glottal pinch. It means the cartilaginous portion of the folds (posteriorly) are tightly closed and only the anterior three-fifths of the vocal folds are vibrating.

  • The vocal fold musculature is active, therefore plump..

  • The breath is thereby held back at the laryngeal level, creating enormous sub-glottal pressure.

  • This plump vocal fold activity plus breath pressure is called appoggio.

  • Portamento-legato is used to extend this configuration over the entire range of pitches.

  • The resonance that develops from this registration is called “head voice.”

  • The resonance goes up on the soft palate, it is does not go out. The mask is not a bel canto strategy. Bone conduction may occur, as well as sympathetic vibration in the sinuses, but the sinuses are not resonating cavities. Individual “placement’ is alright.

  • Head voice resonance covers chest voice registration.