Gary Catona

Infobox Person
name = Gary Catona

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image_size =
caption =
birth_name = Gary Anthony Catona
birth_date = birth date and age|1952|9|25
birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
occupation = Voice coach
Author
website = http://www.garycatona.com/

Gary Anthony Catona (born September 25, 1952) is an Italian-American "voice-builder," voice coach, and author. His voice strengthening methods are used by many singers, and have also been used successfully in rehabilitating damaged voices, notably in those suffering from spasmodic dysphonia. [cite news |last=Morris | first = Edward | title =Singer: 'Voice Building' Helped Me| publisher =Billboard Magazine | date = 1985-09-28|accessdate = 2008-02-13]

Biography

Gary Catona was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His first influence was the voice of pop/operatic tenor Mario Lanza. While attending Pennsylvania State University, and earning a BA in liberal arts and an MA degree in Philosophy, Catona continued to study voice. [http://hometown.aol.com/ktmcphrsn/myhomepage/business.html]

In 1980, Gary Catona moved to Austin, Texas to research the mechanics of voice production. He studied voice anatomy and discovered that the vocal mechanism was composed of specific muscles in the larynx or voice box (where the vocal cords create sound) and the pharynx or throat (the area where the vocal sounds resonate and take final form). He discovered the ideal kind of exercise program that corresponds to the fatigue-resistant muscles of the voice: isokinetics. With isokinetic exercising, maximum resistance is applied to muscle groups throughout their full range of motion, while keeping the movement of the motion constant.

Catona was introduced to Johnny Bush, a Texas-based country singer, who asked Catona to help recover his speaking and singing voice. [http://www.johnnybush.com/bio.html "Johnny Bush biography"] . Johnny Bush.com.] He had lost his voice to spasmodic dysphonia – a vocal disorder characterized by uncontrollable vocal-cord movement. Bush had struggled with spasmodic dysphonia for thirteen years. He tried various methods to treat his condition, including allergy medication, acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis and even psychological counseling. Bush was considering two invasive techniques that promised, at least, partial benefits. One was an operation in which a nerve (recurrent nerve) that controls the vocal-cord movement is sectioned (severed), which neutralizes the spasming vocal cord. Another option involved injecting botox, a paralyzing toxin, into the same nerve. "It is generally believed that at present there is no effective long-lasting treatment for this condition, although surgery and botox injections are sometimes used for temporary relief." [http://www.garycatona.com/biography2.html Gary Catona Official Biography] ]

Catona decided to incorporate very aggressive vocal exercises. After a week, Bush’s speaking voice became weaker, although his singing voice became stronger. After two weeks, Bush’s speaking and singing voice began to increase consistently in volume, resonance, and control, and finally returned in full force.

Career

A film critic, Michael Wilmington, who wrote for the "L.A. Times" and other publications, also suffered from spasmodic dysphonia. After two months of continued voice building, Wilmington’s voice returned, and in 1993 he wrote an article in the Calendar section of the L.A. Times to chronicle his voice return.cite news |last=Wilmington | first = Michael | title =Getting in Touch With 'the Voice of the Soul| publisher =Los Angeles Times | date = 1993-11-27|accessdate =2008-02-13]

In 1988, noted fusion-jazz guitarist Larry Carlton was shot in the throat by an intruder on his property in Hollywood Hills. Rushed to the trauma center at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, California, he arrived in critical condition. Because the bullet passed through his jugular vein, doctors said he could have died instantly. In fact, he made a great recovery but for one problem: the bullet had severed a nerve in his larynx that paralyzed his left vocal cord and reduced his voice to a whisper. Catona’s strategy with Larry included over-developing the one healthy vocal cord to the point where it began to compensate for the paralyzed one. Carlton’s voice returned to normalcy in three months. [http://www.geocities.com/wallstreet/bureau/2058/crusaders/larry_carlton.html] In 1991, celebrity publicist Dale Olsen, who knew of Michael Wilmington’s voice return put Catona together with actress Shirley MacLaine, who was preparing to go on tour and wanted to strengthen her singing voice. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2001_June_28/ai_75997701 "Gary Catona, "Voice Builder" to the Stars, Offers His Unique Brand of Vocal Magic"] . Business Wire. 28 June 2001.] MacLaine devoted five pages of one of her books, "Dance While You Can", to her studies with Catona.

R&B producer and singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds lived in the same Hollywood apartment complex as Catona and sought out his services to build a more durable singing voice and stronger high notes. After two weeks of voice building, Babyface reported increases in power and range in his voice.cite news |last=Leibowitz | first = Ed | title =A Swami of Song| publisher =Buzz Magazine | date = 1996-02-|accessdate = 2008-02-13]

Jack Klugman had one of his vocal cords removed because of throat cancer; his remaining vocal cord had to be radiated, which resulted in permanent scarring. The doctors saved a percentage of his speaking voice by inserting a prosthetic where the cancerous vocal cord had been. The procedure did little to bring back his voice and Klugman was left with a raspy noise for a voice that could hardly be heard above a whisper. Klugman worked with Catona and his voice was significantly stronger as vocal tone began replacing his breathy rasp. He returned to the stage with Tony Randall to do "The Odd Couple" in 1990 at the Belasco Theatre. [Klugman, Jack with Burton Rocks. [http://www.rd.com/content/center-stage----jack-klugman-remembers-tony-randall/2/ "Center Stage"] . Reader's Digest. January 2006.]

Other students included Brian Wilson, Liza Minnelli, Lenny Kravitz, Lionel Richie, Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, Larry Gatlin, Andy Williams, Gino Vannelli, Seal, Andrea Bocelli, Sade, Whitney Houston, Brian Wilson, Steve Perry, Tony Bennett, Muhammad Ali, Usher, Johnny Mathis, Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, Lisa Marie Presley, Dick Clark, Pat Boone, Back Street Boys, Julia Migenes, Tyra Banks, Shakira, Casey Kasem, Kenny Loggins, the Smothers Brothers, Paula Abdul, [ [http://tv.yahoo.com/paula-abdul/contributor/106554/bio "Paula Abdul"] . Yahoo! TV.] , [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/15/sbt.01.html "Showbiz Tonight"] . CNN.com. 15 April 2005.] Jennifer Lopez, David Pack and Annie Lennox.

Instruction

Voice building system

Catona's voice building system is a systematic method of exercising the muscles of the vocal mechanism.

The tradition of great singing

The history of Western singing began over 500 years ago in Italy. Names like Guilo Caccini, Pier Francesco Tosi, Nicola Porpora, Mancini, Manual Garcia II, and in the 20th century, Arturo Melocchi, are some of the voice teachers that created and passed on the great Italian singing traditions. "When one has a career, it's always necessary to give the best of ourselves, and to improve. I have been with an Italian-American teacher, Gary Catona, a specialist in an old method of developing the laryngeal musculature that influences the vocal cords. Already, I feel that my voice is changing and is becoming bigger, stronger." --Andrea Bocelli [bocelli.deutschland, "La Repubblica", Silvia Bizio, 'I sing for the emigrants', translation: M. Morgan, Monday, October 23, 2000]

Outside of enhanced resonance, power, range and endurance in the singing voice, Catona’s voice building system addresses vocal disorders such as hoarseness, nasality, vocal-cord paralysis and spasmodic dysphonia (strangulated voice). "He had extraordinary success with people who had suffered from an incurable voice disorder called spasmodic dysphonia (strangulated speech)." [MacLaine, Shirley. "Dance While You Can", Bantam Books, 1991. p103.]

Voice building system based on the vocal anatomy

In creating his voice system, Catona found that physical capacity in singing means the work of muscles of the larynx (voice box), the pharynx (throat), the oral cavity (mouth) and the soft palate. There are muscles for virtually every function of vocal behavior: Muscles for closing and opening the vocal cords; muscles for stretching the vocal cords; muscles that move the larynx vertically in the throat; muscles that constrict, expand, and elongate the pharynx; and muscles that control the jaw, cheeks, lips and tongue musculature. These muscles perform split-second adjustments during voice-production or phonation.

Vocal muscles are standard anatomy in all humans. In principle, all people must perform the same muscular actions during voice production. This led to the need for a methodology. Although singing should be personal and one’s singing style unique, the development of the muscles that support, guide, and control singing must be uniform – standardized. If the requirement of a methodology is applied to voice building, then this process will be based on a consistent and uniform foundation. Singing, in this sense, is like a sport in that it is grounded in the athletic performance of many muscles, and more particularly, on voice muscles. This simple idea of a muscular foundation to voice-production is the most important idea in voice building.Gundersen, Edna. [http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2005-02-22-voice-coach_x.htm "The real muscle behind the music"] . USA Today. 22 February 2005.]

Voice building system based on isokinetic exercises

Voice musculature works in terms of stretching in a variety of ways to produce different vocal results. For example, the vocal cords are stretched to different lengths to change vocal pitch. Appropriate exercise routine for the voice muscles should incorporate extreme stretching behavior as the basic mode of exercising. Isokinetics, applied to the muscles of the voice, combines extreme stretching movement with effective muscle-building principles.

By modifying exercises from different voice teachers in light of isokinetics, Catona developed exercises that began to produce consistently noticeable results in his own voice, such as increased power resonance and range. The fact that, traditionally, most voice teachers rarely considered approaching the voice from the perspective of rigorously exercising vocal muscles meant that a legitimate method of voice building was not within their reach. Ironically, the very source of vocal sounds, the larynx, pharynx, oral cavity and the soft palate, was bypassed in favor of emphasizing breath-management and projection into the head cavities or into the so-called mask. Students are taught not to think about the larynx, but rather to “relax-the-throat” and to “keep-it-out-of-the-way” during singing. As our understanding about the voice deepens, we realize the error of relaxing the throat. This would be equivalent to disengaging the voice muscles during singing, which would render singing impossible.

References

External links

* [http://www.garycatona.com/ Official Gary Catona website]
* [http://www.spasmodicdysphonia.us/ Spasmodic Dysphonia]

Persondata
NAME= Catona, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Catona, Gary Anthony
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Voice coach, Author
DATE OF BIRTH= September 25, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=