Bernoulli's Principle
A Beginner's Lesson in Bel Canto
Legend has it
That Leonardo da Vinci
Invented Bel Canto singing
Whether true or not
Bel Canto emerged from Italy
At the time of Leonardo
Singers in the great cathedrals
Relied on Bel Canto
No microphones necessary
Famous Italian-American singers
Who employed Bel Canto
Include Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin
The bel canto technique
Allows very strong and smooth vocal performance
With no adverse effects on the vocal chords
(Damaged vocal chords are a frequent complaint
(For today’s singers)
In Leonardo’s day the singer’s art
Could be tested by a lit candle
Notes loud enough to fill a cathedral
Emerge from the singer’s lips
(And bel canto singers always smile widely
(Because smiling opens the pillars of the throat)
With hardly enough pressure to cause
The candle flame to flicker
This is Bernoulli’s principle
Proper bel canto depends on
Heavily developed respiratory muscles
These muscles permit maximum filling
Of the lungs
The bel canto singer
Gently releases air from the lungs
And holds the note inside the oral cavity
As the lungs very slowly release air
Creating maximum pressure on the origin of sound
The hard pallet
(Bernoulli’s principle: the lower the velocity of air
(the higher the pressure)
Yesterday I said to my teacher
“I will sing a song!”
No no, he cried.
It is much too early for that!
We must focus on the notes!
From Wikipedia:
In the mid-nineteenth century bel canto became the vanished art of elegant, refined, sweet-toned musical utterance. Rossini lamented in a conversation that took place in Paris in 1858 that: "Alas for us, we have lost our bel canto"


I did not know any of this, sir.
No singers use this technique today?
This is all news for me, too! Very intriguing. I love this David.