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Choral Vibrato: The Hundred Years’ War

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prove the training of the other voices. Such instruc- and burned-out voices. Fortunately for both St. Olaf
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tion would benefit the vocal health of all singers and and Westminster Choir College, as pedagogies evolved
aid in choral performance. throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, so
did the conversation about vibrato and vocal pedagogy
Pedagogy, Vocal Health, and Choral Performance within the choral setting.
In 1995, renowned vocal pedagogy expert Richard
Miller echoed this call for conductors to assist non-
vibrant singers rather than suppress the trained voic- Contemporary Views on Choral Vibrato:
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es. They claimed that trained voices would certainly Pedagogy and Vocal Health
balance more easily than non-vibrant ones. Nearly The debate over the use of vibrato in a choral setting
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thirty years earlier, in Miller’s first related contribu- continued into the 2000s; however, scholars increas-
tion to Journal of Singing, they commented that a legato ingly acknowledged the possibility of a viable “straight
line could only be achieved using vibrato, and that tone.” Many researchers remained firmly in the pro-
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“straight tone” only occurred through maladjustments vibrato camp. A select few abstained from weighing
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of the vocal instrument. Miller supported this think- in, preferring to offer scientifically based information
ing again in 2002. 32 about vibrato and the possible variations of its produc-
Evidence of this tug-of-war between vibratory and tion. While perhaps imprudent to assert any further
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non-vibratory singing within a choral setting can be generalizations, the pro-straight-tone camp in this re-
heard in archival footage of Westminster Choir Col- view contained more choral directors, whereas the
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lege and the St. Olaf Choir. In the 1941 recording pro-vibrato camp included more vocal teachers. The
of “Beautiful Savior” by the St. Olaf Choir, conducted third group comprised both. The literature search for
by F. Melius Christiansen, implementation of “straight this article provided two unique opportunities to zoom
tone” occurs during the choirs’ singing of text. While in further and characterize the evolving conversation
balanced and blended, listeners may hear results of around vibrato in a choral situation.
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“straight tone” singing including thinness of tone,
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and a pinched or even shallow tone. Two other points Book Reviews
of interest emerged when listening to the choir. First, Book reviews of Margaret Olson’s 2010 publication,
that the singers vibrated often during the hummed por- The Solo Singer in the Choral Setting: A Handbook for Achiev-
tion of the song, and second, that the upper voices of- ing Vocal Health, appeared in both Choral Journal and
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ten slid between pitches. Because a true slide does not Journal of Singing. Freed, from Choral Journal, situated
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linger on a frequency long enough to oscillate, employ- the book within the controversy between voice teach-
ing slides aids in “straight tone” singing. 37 ers and choral conductors, acknowledging the reality
Conversely, a 1960’s recording of the Westminster that many professional singers will likely earn a living
Choir, also singing “Beautiful Savior,” generously uti- in situations that require a variety of vocal qualities.
lized vibrato. Arguably balanced and blended as well, Greschner, from Journal of Singing, positioned vocal
listeners may hear results of a distinct Germanic style health as the preeminent issue of the book (beyond
of vocal training which, like some “straight tone” sing- even the parity of choral and solo singing). Freed omit-
ing, produced deleterious results. The twentieth-cen- ted the subtitle from their review and did not discuss
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tury pedagogical style known as Stauprintzip (vocal dam- the vocal health aspect of Olson’s book. Greschner
ming), taught by George Armin and their followers, took space to emphasize all the pedagogical, anatomi-
created controversy because of its muscular approach, cal, acoustic, and phonetic contents of the book. On
lowered laryngeal position, and over-emphasis on dec- the use of vibrato, Greschner noted Olson’s recom-
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lamation and breath-flow maximalization. Stauprint- mendation that choral directors and voice teachers de-
zip and other vocal pedagogies that prepared singers velop consistency of language around this issue. Later,
for Wagnerian-like vocal production often exhausted however, Greschner placed Olson in the pro-vibrato

24 CHORAL JOURNAL February 2024 Volume 64 Number 6