Arturo Melocchi’s Method Through His Students’ Testimonies
This article is based on the thesis La tecnica vocale di Arturo Melocchi, fra mito e realtà by Felicita Brusoni (University of Bologna, 2008–2009), from which the interview material and documentary framework are drawn. It presents a selection of quotations taken from interviews conducted by Brusoni with direct students of Arturo Melocchi: Romolo Castiglioni, Mario Gramigna, Mario Melani, Franco Corelli, and Robleto Merolla.
The aim of this reconstruction is not to perpetuate the myth that later developed around Melocchi’s name, but to distinguish between legend and verifiable pedagogical practice by privileging first-hand testimony. Melocchi left no written codification of his teaching; what survives is an oral tradition, reconstructed through convergent accounts of those who studied with him directly.
Awareness and Physiology in Melocchi’s Teaching
One of Arturo Melocchi’s greatest merits as a teacher was his insistence, from the very first lesson, on developing the student’s awareness of their own vocal instrument and its functioning. From his students’ accounts, we know that Melocchi spoke extensively not only about singing in general, but also about vocal physiology, illustrating correct vocal emission with numerous explanations and practical demonstrations.
This approach distinguished him from many of his contemporaries—and, in some respects, from many teachers today—who considered theoretical knowledge of the voice to be of little importance, or who avoided theoretical explanations altogether due to unfamiliarity with the subject themselves.
From this perspective, the vocal technique taught by Melocchi can be considered a reasoned system. Its aim was not merely to produce sounds, vocalizations, or musical phrases under a teacher’s supervision, but to cultivate in the student a physical and intellectual understanding of singing that allowed those results to be reproduced independently. This distinction is crucial in the preparation of a professional singer. Knowing how to imitate sounds is one thing; knowing how to reproduce them through an understanding of their physical causes is another. The latter means autonomy—having all the necessary tools in one’s own hands.
The Teacher According to Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli described his teacher in the following terms:
“He was an extraordinary teacher and, as a technician, a master. There was much to learn from him. He was suited to teaching and was superior to all the other teachers because he had a more than comprehensive answer to any question asked of him. He was a meticulous person who went to great lengths to explain the reasons why it was appropriate to take a note in a certain way and what the risks and consequences of using a different method would be.”
This testimony confirms that Melocchi’s authority did not rest on mystique or imitation, but on explanation, coherence, and technical accountability.
Breathing and the Central Role of the Diaphragm
“The diaphragm is the surname of singing,” explains Mario Melani when asked about the type of breathing required by Melocchi.
With regard to inhalation, Melocchi taught a breath intake in the lower torso, involving the mobile ribs as well as the abdominal and lumbar musculature. This type of breathing resembles that used in disciplines such as yoga, aimed at releasing bodily tension, and can properly be described as diaphragmatic breathing.
Regarding exhalation, Melocchi did not typically employ terms such as respiratory support or respiratory sustain. However, analysis of the demonstrative exercises shown by his students suggests that his work on the diaphragm involved both concepts, with a clear preference for support over sustain. Exhalation therefore relied more on respiratory support than on sustain, developing and strengthening the hypogastric (lower abdominal) muscle bands, which became the base of support and fulcrum for sustaining the diaphragm.
The Open Throat and Laryngeal Training
The first exercises Melocchi assigned to accustom students to the sensation of an open throat could be practiced silently, anywhere and at any time of day. These involved exaggerating the opening of the mouth and encouraging a temporary lowering of the larynx—sometimes aided initially by gentle external pressure with a finger—holding the position briefly, and then fully releasing it.
These exercises, with minimal variations between one and the other, which emphasize an exaggeration of the normal laryngeal position, produce a relaxation, almost like a stretching, of the muscles that govern the throat.
Melocchi insisted that yawning was one of the physiological conditions leading to what he termed an “open throat sound”—that is, the proprioceptive sensation of a full, free voice flowing unimpeded into a widened and relaxed pharyngeal cavity.
Registers and the “Pull” of the Vocal Cords
Romolo Castiglioni, a baritone from Rimini who studied with Melocchi in 1955–56, recalls the training of the laryngeal muscle as a distinctive feature of Melocchi's method. The most demanding part of the learning process—and the one requiring the greatest investment of time and disciplined practice—was the training of the tensor muscles of the vocal cords.
Melocchi placed particular emphasis on the register transition, enabled through what his students described as the “pulling” of the vocal cords:
“If a singer doesn’t know where the register transition is, his voice is ruined. Linking the three registers is the fundamental thing. Once you have trained this pull, the high notes become very easy.”
Resonance: What Melocchi Did—and Did Not—Teach
Melocchi and his school did not explicitly address issues of resonance balance, nasalization, or the use of upper resonators. According to the interviews, no direct references were made during training to “high resonance” or “mask placement.” Instead, explanations consistently emphasized keeping the sound low, in the laryngeal area—described as the place where the voice rests.
This does not imply that upper resonances were absent in practice. On the contrary, the remarkable carrying power and volume of Melocchi-trained voices would be inexplicable without their participation. When Melocchi spoke of keeping the sound low, he most likely intended to encourage a bodily resonance centered in the pharyngeal cavity, rather than a consciously directed focus toward the nasal or facial structures.
Melocchi considered the concept of the “mask” to be of little importance. It is likely that he avoided this terminology to prevent singers from fixating on nasal placement, which could restrict vocal emission. In singing, any indicated “direction” easily becomes an imagined point of arrival, causing the sound to fix itself rather than flow freely.
Affondo, Chest Resonance, and Projection
Romolo Castiglioni described Melocchi’s technical approach by stating that “the sinking reaches the chest cavity.” Mario Gramigna adds: “The masked sound comes naturally; all you have to do is pronounce correctly.”
The search for correct pronunciation naturally encourages a sensation of sound “toward the lips.” This does not force the voice into a literal forward placement—an impossibility within Melocchi’s vocal setup—but provides a sense of projection that allows the sound to benefit from resonances situated forward of the pharyngeal cavity.
“By pronouncing from the back, the sound picks up the vibrations of the thoracic cavity”—a statement that reflects the emphasis placed on pharyngeal resonance, complemented by vibratory sensations in the chest, particularly in lower notes.
Legato and Musical Line
Robleto Merolla recalls that Melocchi compared vocal legato to the sound of the cello. He suggested imagining the syllables of the sung text as the notes articulated by the cellist’s left hand on the fingerboard, while the breath binds the phrase like the bow drawn by the right hand.
To this, Castiglioni adds: “You play on the cords, but it is the chest that amplifies the sound. You have to bring the voice into the chest.”
The “Strong Method” and Its Critics
In this way, the student arrived on stage equipped with everything necessary to build a career. Castiglioni confirmed: “Melocchi’s vocal technique is one that, if used well, can make you a star.”
Melocchi also imparted practical life lessons: to study scores thoroughly with knowledgeable musicians, never to memorize operas carelessly, always to maintain good relations with conductors, and to be the first to enter and the last to leave the theater.
At his home one could encounter singers of every level—from beginners to internationally celebrated artists. He never accepted more than twelve or thirteen students at a time. His teaching demanded serious commitment; as Melani recalls, Melocchi once told him: “You have a voice that gives only half of what I demand.”
The expression “strong method” was first applied to Melocchi’s technique by Mario Del Monaco in his autobiography. According to Merolla, the term refers to a method capable of bringing out the full latent potential of a voice and sustaining long, resilient careers. As Melani observed, singers of that generation possessed considerable physical strength. Castiglioni adds: “The exercises Melocchi gave were for strong technique. If you want to grow, you have to bite off more than you can chew.”
Conclusion: Training Before Judging
What emerges from these testimonies is that the Melocchi method cannot be evaluated through brief exposure or superficial experimentation. Many who criticized the method abandoned it after only a few lessons, claiming it damaged their voices, without having undergone the physical adaptation the technique requires.
As Romolo Castiglioni rightly observed, before criticizing a vocal technique, one must first train the instrument. Judgments made without that training reveal little about the method itself and much about the conditions under which it was approached.
If you’d like a broader introduction to the Melocchi method, you may also enjoy the overview on our homepage: Arturo Melocchi Academy
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