Why Modern Singers Face Challenges Nineteenth-Century Pedagogues Never Had to Solve

For years, singers and teachers have asked the same question:

Why does vocal technique feel harder today than it seemed for generations of singers trained in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

We often assume the problem lies in changes in repertoire, expectations, or pedagogical approach. But current research across several scientific fields suggests something deeper and far more interesting:

Modern humans do not begin singing with the same oral and facial structures as people living before the Industrial Revolution.

And those structural changes influence nearly every aspect of vocal production.

This isn’t speculation — it’s a pattern showing up in anthropology, dentistry, ENT medicine, and orofacial myology. When you put the pieces together, the picture becomes clear.

1. Modern jaws and palates are smaller — and that changes the space we sing in

Anthropological comparisons between pre-industrial skulls and modern skulls show consistent differences:

narrower maxillae

reduced dental arch width

higher palatal vaults

less space for the tongue

These changes correlate with a major lifestyle shift: softer foods. When children no longer chew tough foods, the jaw and palate don’t develop to their full breadth. Even within the last century, dental research shows shrinking maxillary width in children from the 1950s to the 1990s.

For a singer, this matters because the tongue now occupies relatively more space in the mouth, and the pharyngeal shape changes accordingly. This can predispose singers to tongue-root tension, instability in resonance, and difficulty with vowel integrity—issues rarely discussed in 19th-century treatises because they were likely less extreme.

2. Mouth breathing is far more common today

ENT and sleep-medicine research consistently shows that modern adults mouth-breathe more than previous generations.

Reasons include:

higher rates of allergies

chronic sinus inflammation

pollution and environmental irritants

structural narrowing of the nasal passages

Mouth breathing alters craniofacial development, especially when it begins in childhood.

It leads to:

low, collapsed tongue posture

elongated facial structure

retruded mandible

unstable airway mechanics

All of these factors change the way a singer’s instrument behaves. A low tongue posture encourages tongue-root gripping as a compensatory behavior. A reduced airway creates the feeling of “tightness” or “squeezing” many singers describe.

3. Tongue posture is radically different from what historical pedagogy assumed

Orofacial myofunctional science has documented widespread patterns in modern adults, such as:

low resting tongue posture

tongue-root hyperactivity

dysfunctional swallowing patterns

jaw and neck recruitment

poor hyoid support

These behaviors directly affect the stability of the laryngeal suspension system and the pharyngeal space — core components of singing technique.

Historically, this kind of dysfunction was not addressed with much detail. Teachers like García, Marchesi, Lamperti, and Lehmann do mention the tongue, but only in basic terms:

keep it relaxed

keep it forward or resting near the lower front teeth

avoid letting it fall back

do not “thicken” or “engorge” it

What they do not provide are strategies for the severe compensatory patterns many modern singers bring into the studio: chronic tongue-root tension, extreme low tongue posture, habitual mouth breathing, palatal narrowing, or swallowing patterns that over-recruit the suprahyoid muscles.

Their simple instructions imply a different starting point — one where the tongue could already rest freely, airflow was already stable, and the airway was not chronically compromised.

4. This helps explain why singers feel like they’re doing everything right… yet still struggle

Common struggles like:

difficulty in the passaggio

an unstable or effortful top

persistent tongue tension

unclear vowels

reliance on jaw movement

inconsistent breath pressure

…are often rooted not in a technical misunderstanding but in the baseline structure and function of the modern vocal tract.

Nineteenth-century singers trained with wider palates, more forward tongue posture, consistent nasal breathing, and freer oropharyngeal space. Their teachers didn’t need extended corrective prescriptions — the baseline allowed simple guidance to work.

Modern singers often start from a very different physiologic foundation.

5. So what does this mean for vocal training today?

It means the foundation has shifted.

We can still rely on historical vocal technique — it remains remarkably accurate — but many singers need additional neuromuscular retraining to restore the baseline that nineteenth-century pedagogy assumed.

This includes:

healthier resting tongue posture

nasal breathing patterns

improved airway mechanics

reduced tongue-root compensation

better pharyngeal stability

clearer, more predictable resonance

When these systems are retrained, singers often discover that the “mysterious” technical problems they’ve fought for years begin to resolve quickly.

They gain access to the coordination the old masters described — because the instrument is no longer fighting itself.

If you want to explore this work further…

I created The Myofunctional Singer to bring these scientific concepts directly into the context of classical vocal technique. It covers tongue posture, swallowing mechanics, breathing patterns, and the neuromuscular foundations that influence registration and resonance.

You can learn more here:

www.themyofunctionfunctionalsinger.com