In training the voice, should teachers and students be concerned with training the ear–not in the sense musicians usually understand “ear training” (identifying intervals, chord progressions, and so on), but training the ear to a stronger acuity to high partials?
It could be argued that the role of the ear is given relatively short shrift in contemporary Western culture. Many observe that ours tends to be a society preponderantly oriented towards the visual. This is not to deny that the aural also is important in contemporary culture; but is it an exaggeration to say that the general populace is more finely attuned to the visual than to the aural? Electronic amplification of sound, in spite of the benefits it brings, has rendered a finely tuned perception of overtones more a matter of personal preference than a necessity.
