Why Did Shalyapin Sing So Uniquely

by Sergey Krayukhin

A psychologist claims that he has the answer to this question.

People who attend meetings with Dr. Vladimir Bagrunov are usually amazed immensely: the prominent scientist and psychologist begins his communication with... singing. His voice charms listeners because of its beauty. He gets invitations to perform as a professional singer but he declines these suggestions.

He was endowed with an outstanding talent by nature and he entered a conservatory but it did not work out. Prior to training, he possessed a wonderful mild voice but after this training he lost his voice almost completely. And he was not the only one to suffer from the traditional vocal pedagogy. After that he had to leave the idea of becoming a singer and started learning psychology. He wanted to get a answer to the following question: why the widely accepted "perfect" methods of vocal training bring undesired results and even spoil young voices? These studies helped the scientist to reveal the phenomenon of Shalyapin's voice.

In many European vocal schools it is considered that vocal cords comprise the source of sound. The teachers usually suggest their pupils that power and sonority of sound depend on the depth of exhalation and on the support of the diaphragm. In his studies, Vladimir Bagrunov referred to the experiments performed by a Russian scientist I. Gruzinov after the battle at Borodino (which took place between the Napolen's army and the Russians troops). Mr Gruzinov anatomized corps of soldiers and he appeared to be the first in the world to show that in trachea there is a membrane which produces sound under the action of an air flow. Thus discovery was later developed in the works of a Russian physiologist L.Rabotnov who in 1932 developed a hypothesis explaining the role of bronchial system and particularly trachea in creation of sound while singing. In his sight, deep breathing distorts the produced sound because in this case the vocal chords cannot come closely together and a certain "air leakage" appears. Mr. Rabotnov came to the following conclusion: while singing one has to keep breathing "short" and not "long"' This means that the depth of inhalation and exhalation should be kept minimal. But nobody noticed his idea. After many years of neglect the Rabotnov's hypothesis was used in the course of Shalyapin's phenomenon investigation which was undertaken by Mr. Bagrunov during the last 20 years. The scientist maintains that for more than a century the researchers were failing to consider one very important component of the Shalyapin's system - the physiological component.

The fact is that Shalyapin got his first experience in art working not at a musical but at a drama theatre where he could watch performances in which actors used to chant. Actually, opera has attracted Mr. Shalyapin because it combined drama recital and singing. The intoned singing was the sprout which grew to become Shalyapin' system of singing.

Mr. Bagrunov says that in its essence Shalyapin's singing was a sort of speaking-thinking activity controlled through informational channels. Energy consumption here is less than one percent of that required in the case of usual singing. The central point in the Shalyapin's system was the intentional minimization of physical efforts. His colleagues and teachers could not understand whether his singing was clavicular, pectoral, abdominal or mixed. In reality, it was singing with small breathing.

Having revealed the mystery of the Shalyapin's phenomenon Vladimir Bagrunov managed to explain to himself why he had lost his voice. The point is that sound which is generated within the depth of bronchial tree, it the trachea with the membrane, is prone to distortions produced by strained outer muscles and the diaphragm - and this is exactly what he was doing exactly while singing scales and other vocal exercises. Now, remembering this grave experience, Mr. Bagrunov has elaborated a new methodology for voice training and in the beginning he tested it on himself. He managed to get his voice back.

Quite recently Mr. Bagrunov became the head of the Centre for voice development and training, named "Bagratid". This Centre has already gained great popularity in the city. Here every trainee can obtain his natural voice.

<< Back to the index