Legato-I/VI: Legato and Mental Imagery
Legato! What is it, and how do we do it? This is the first part of six looking for a successful understanding of legato. We approach it from the perspective of mental imagery. What is mental imagery? What mental imageries of legato are there? Which are successful, which not?
We’ll say that good mental imagery is crucial for good singing. We’ll say that good mental imagery is crucial for good legato. If we want good legato, we need to find good imagery. We’ll examine some common imageries for legato, and find them wanting. So, we’ll look for sound imagery on which to build legato.
Please share if you find something interesting or helpful. I’m absent from social media. AA
Introduction
Good legato is crucial for good singing. What is legato? How can we teach it? Why does it go wrong?
We know of course what we want the outcome of good legato to be: smooth, uninterrupted, quality sound. But what about the input? What is legato for the singer? What is legato in the mind of the singer? When the singer thinks “I will sing this phrase legato”, what, exactly, are they thinking?
More accurately, what are they imagining?
Whether we like it or not, singers have an imagination of what legato (what everything) is, in singing, and they attempt to enact that imagining when they sing. To help ourselves, or others, sing better we should consider, and use, that imagining, to improve performance.
Here, we’ll look for the imagining, the mental imagery, that underpins successful legato. As we do, we’re going to be making the following claims, claims that some pedagogies are reluctant to state.
We’ll say that:
Legato is specific mental imagery that strongly influences vocal performance.
It should be taught directly as such, fearless and rigorous in its imaginative content.
Legato goes wrong when the mental imagery motivating it is poor or absent.
We’ll look at three common approaches to legato, and ask how their implied mental imageries affect real world performance.
Not all imageries are created equal.
Singers often have a poor understanding, and so imagery, for legato. Many vocal problems can be traced back to this. Slides, swells, wobbles. Thin tone, held tone, monotone. Boring, meaningless, pointless singing. These can all be symptoms of misunderstood, mis-imagined legato.
Can we find a coherent imagery, that promotes successful legato, avoids pitfalls, and leads to good singing?
The Mental Imagery of Legato.
The mental imagery of legato is not a misty, metaphorical imagining. Rather, it can be, should be, carefully, precisely, understood: the understanding profoundly affects our singing.
If precisely formulated, rigorously pursued, legato is a powerful concept that can transform singing.
If, though, only vaguely considered, loosely investigated, legato causes significant problems; audible, physical problems. Problems that persist until imagery and concept are tightened.
Legato is powerful mental imagery that prefaces excellent singing: to form a clear view of legato is a significant part of learning to sing.
Mental Imagery.
Legato is mental imagery: what do we mean by this?
Let’s quote authority:
"We use the term 'mental imagery' to refer to representations […..]of sensory information without a direct external stimulus" (Pearson et al. Trends in Cognitive Science, 2015)
We can also note some research findings on mental imagery:
Mental imagery is the imagination of something that is not there, but imagery does not mean image. All the senses, internal and external, can be activated: we are not restricted to visual imagining only.
Imagined movements activate similar neural and physiological responses as do their real counterparts. (Kilteni et al, Nature Communications, 2018)
Visual mental imagery shares neural systems with real visual perception. (Stokes el al, Journal of Neuroscience, 2009, Kosslyn et al, Neuroimage, 1997)
Training mental imagery is proven effective in improving sporting performance. (Guillot et al, PLoS One, 2015)
There is considerable research literature into mental imagery. It suggests that mental imagery is real, is multi-sensory, and training it improves physical performance.
Even without the confirmations of research, practical experience suggests that a singer’s mental imagery profoundly affects their performance, whether or not they acknowledge it. How does mental imagery fare in vocal pedagogy literature?
Mental Imagery in Vocal Pedagogy.
Mental imagery is not, let’s say, over-discussed in the pedagogic literature. Much writing on singing prefers the firmer ground of anatomy, physiology and acoustics. It is, though, often discussed by practicing singers and teachers, albeit under other names. Many teachers observe the crucial role of mental imagery in a singer’s success, or a singer’s problems.
For, whilst much formal vocal pedagogy focusses on exactly "how" the body should be used for "premium" singing, this is not what most singers need. They are a long way from premium singing. Instead, they are often trying to do the wrong thing, based on poor understanding of singing. For them, the discussion of the “ideal” position of larynx, palate, tongue, jaw, support etc, is not relevant.
They have misunderstood singing, created poor mental imagery, and are, inevitably, getting into trouble enacting this imagery. So, it is their imagery that needs changing. They need to stop trying to do the wrong thing, not learn, yet, how to finesse the right. Physical adjustments might help change their mental imagery, might help clarify what singing is, but don’t always. Anyway, it seems short-sighted not to consider the motivating imagery for singing directly: why wouldn’t you?
And for those squeamish about mental imagery in vocal pedagogy, we can ask: how can singing (or anything) happen without it? Can singing really be only direct bodily action (“I raise my soft palate”) followed by sound, as some schools of technique seem inadvertently to suggest? It seems hard to imagine how mental imagery wouldn’t play a significant role as a singer prepares to sing, whether or not they know it. How could we sing, or do anything, without some kind of imagery guiding what we intended to do?
And if mental imagery is important for a singer, isn’t it also the business of the singing teacher?
Mental Imagery, Intention, and Embodiment.
We need to clarify some terms: imagery, intention and embodiment.
Mental imagery is the rich imagining we have of what singing is, before and whilst we do it. Singers understand their singing through various kinds of mental imagery: notation, acoustics, line, flow, language. And probably varieties of physical imagery also.
Intention means the mental preparation of the body to enact, to realise, those imaginings. Imagery and intention are in fact deeply intertwined, since part of the mental imagining of an act is the covert physical simulation of that act. We’ll ignore this subtlety, as it doesn’t impact our thinking here.
(If helpful, here is Wittgenstein on intention:
“What is left over if I subtract the fact that my arm goes up from the fact that I raise my arm?” §621 Philosophical Investigations.
You can see he is imagining that what is left over is the plan to raise one’s arm. This plan is our intention, and our intention is guided by the mental imagery we have of how, and why, we want to raise one’s arm.)
Embodiment, finally, is the change of our body as we attempt to carry out our intention. We have a plan, which requires action. Our body must change state to carry out that action. This is the embodiment of our plan.
Armed with these three concepts, let’s say that singing works something like this:
A singer has a mental image, an understanding, of what singing is. When they intend to sing, they intend to realise that imagery, in sound, or action. This intention motivates, coordinates, their body, as they prepare to fulfil it: their intention is embodied.
So, their mental imagery structures their intention, which, in turn, determines, to large degree, the way they motivate, use, their body. Parts of the body, tongue, palate, jaw, have no mind of their own: they can only follows the requests of our mind, our intention.
Imagery forms intention, which motivates, coordinates, our body.
So, we can track this process backwards: if a singer is misusing their body, has a “technical problem”, then there is a problem with their intention, and so, in turn, there is in fact a problem with their mental imagery. Nothing happens by accident.
All this is a long way of saying: if you want to change someone’s technique, you probably need to change their mind first.
Before diving into the mental imagery, a note on the successful embodiment of intent.
Successful Embodiment of Intent.
Even with good imagery and a well-formed intent, successful singing depends on the full embodiment, physical fulfilment, of that intent.
If our body is poised, aligned, free, it will be able fully to embody our intent to sing, and we will successfully realise our intention to sing.
On the other hand, we will only be able partially realise our singing if, either, the body is habitually compromised in daily use, or is specifically compromised when misused during singing. Such misuse is often a deliberate action taken by the singer, based on some misunderstanding of how singing works.
The state of the body before, and during, singing, is important. This state is, though, not a learnt oddity: it is a natural state of poise motivated by intention. Sometimes, yes, poise needs to be relearnt, but this relearning is not the same as the learning of odd, unnatural and new coordinations. Yet, beware, anatomical language in vocal pedagogy sometimes implies exactly this: that the singer must control and manipulate their body in new, unnatural ways, in order to sing well. Here, we reject that approach.
We can now summarise our position on mental imagery for singing.
Axioms of Mental Imagery in Singing.
Here, we hold the following axioms to be true:
Mental imagery is real.
Mental imagery is crucial in affecting singing outcomes.
Mental imagery can be understood, and crafted with precision, by both singer and teacher.
Our mental imagery forms our intention; it determines what and how we intend to sing.
Changing mental imagery changes intention.
Changing intention changes bodily preparation to sing.
Our bodily preparation to sing changes our singing.
Changing mental imagery, therefore, changes singing.
We’ll also hold that, whether we or they consider it or not, singers have a mental imagery of legato, that guides their singing. It is worth our time, then, to consider what that imagery might be.
These axioms are held on the basis of their practical truth. The scientist-singing teacher may not be satisfied without proof, but we must carry on teaching, and learning, anyway. These axioms seem borne out in lessons, and seem to facilitate effective teaching. The black-box of mental imagery, what exactly it is, and how exactly it works, may remain closed, but, with these inputs, outputs are good.
Our concern now will be to examine the imagery inspired by various visions of legato, and to consider whether the imagery, in theory and practice, inspires good singing outcomes.
Again, how can a singer best image legato for successful singing? What is legato in their mind’s eye?