Tag: vowels

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Toward a functional vowel chart

We’ve all seen the classic vowel chart – [i] in the front, [u] in the back, etc.  But that’s not how we make the vowels, in classical singing, at least. 

I feel that [a] works best focused between the upper front teeth.  Not driven there, but loose and clear.

 [i] [e] [æ] etc. are all made by touching the upper molars with the back of the tongue.  The tip of the tongue touches the inside of the lower front teeth, as it always should.  The tongue should still feel loose.  “Make your tongue like raw liver” is still the rule!  The lips should not change.  Grimacing or pulling back the lips for these vowels only causes tension.

[u] [o] etc. are all made by protruding the lips in a perfect circle, with the tongue lying there uninvolved.  You can turn an [a] into an [u] by covering your mouth with your hand while you sing [a].  Try it!  If you’re not making these vowels in this manner, your tongue is closing your throat.  That’s why some people with big [a]s have tiny [u]s.

[u] is the most forward vowel, [i] is the farthest back, [a] is at the upper front teeth.  I go into more detail starting here:  http://phillauriat.com/id-like-to-buy-a-vowel/

So, here’s a first jab at a functional vowel chart:

Lips Teeth Molars
Most closed [u] [i]
Mid space [o] [e]
Most open aw [a] [æ]

(I couldn’t figure out how to get Word to do the IPA for aw)

I tried to do this on a drawing of the vocal tract, but it looks kind of dumb with a static picture.  An arrow pointing to the lips saying “[u] [o] and other lip vowels”, another pointing to the back of the tongue saying “[i] [e] and other tongue vowels”.   Not particularly useful.

Ah, but what about ü, ö and other vowels that use both?!?  Yup, ü has the lips like [u] and the tongue like [i].  For me, I find they work best if you focus on imagining (feeling, placing) those vowels at the point of the lips. 

So in practice, you can “place” the vowels where they’re made.  Alleluia could be thought of as front teeth, molars, lips, molars, front teeth. 

Thoughts?

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Vowel Non-Modification

Here’s a different way to look at “vowel modification” – the goal is not to modify the vowel, but to modify the way we make each vowel so it sounds the same throughout the range.

Singing is communication, and the vowels carry the meaning and beauty of any language.  If the vowels are generalized or incorrect, then communication, meaning, and beauty are all lost.

But, you say, what about vowel modification?  All those charts?  Well, the voice does change throughout the range.  If you kept the same shape of the mouth, tongue, lips, etc., going from low note to high note, the sound will tend to get nastier.  Keeping the same shapes going from high to low will tend to dull the sound. So, we modify the shapes to make the best tone for each note.  We should also aim for the best vowel for each note.  Change how we make the vowel for each pitch. 

I know that the vowels tend to go away at some point above the treble clef, but Steber showed that “Now is the night one blue dew” can be reasonably approximated up to at least B flat.  Was it the same shape and or feeling of her “oo” in mid-range?  Of course not.  But, it gave the impression of “oo” all the same.

So, go ahead and modify, but don’t modify the vowel, modify how you make the vowel.

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Gimmie some tongue!

Last time, we looked at the lip vowels, oh, oo, etc., and now let’s do the tongue.

(yes, I’m deliberately avoiding IPA)

So, ee, eh, etc., are tongue vowels.  Basically, you keep your mouth as it is for ah, and move your tongue so that the sides of your tongue are touching your upper molars, while the tip of your tongue is still just touching your lower front teeth.  This divides the mouth into two resonating chambers.

Important note:  the tongue has to move to create these vowels, but it still needs to be loose!

Try this:  sing a nice “ah” on a comfortable note.  Move your tongue into the position I described above, and you should get some form of eh, ee, or some such.  Keep it mushy, and don’t let the lips pull sideways – that’ll create tension!

The more space between the center of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the more open the vowel.  Try sliding it up and down, forward and back, and find the right spot for eh, ih, ee, etc., all on a single note.  These vowels can be completely clear, and still have the same basic quality and quantity of sound.  That is the goal!

You can actually use this to help loosen the tongue, by quickly alternating ah and ee on a single note.

If you sing an “eh” without touching the upper molars, the sound will be dull and tend to spread, especially when singing an ascending line.

Again, an important thing to remember in all this is that the tongue needs to stay loose, like raw liver (as Ellen Repp used to say)!

The goal with all this vowel work is to create sounds that are clear and consistent, so that the vowels are easily understood while the quality and quantity of the vocal sound stays the same.  When formed as I’ve described here and in the last posting, the vowels can stay clear and well sung throughout the range.

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I’d like to buy a vowel

As I’ve often said, the vowels carry the beauty and meaning of every language, and if they are generalized all that is lost.  Singing is communication!  If your concept of vocal production does not make that clear, you might as well play the kazoo.

What do I want to hear in a voice?  I want the vowels to all be clearly defined, so that even if I don’t understand the language I could write down what is being sung. I also want a consistent quality and quantity of sound and resonance, whatever the vowel and whatever the range. That shouldn’t be too hard, should it?

Well, maybe, but how to do that? Let’s take the vowels apart a bit, and see how we can accomplish all this.

When you just open your mouth, an ‘ah’ falls out. Actually, more like ‘uh’ but it take the slightest attention to turn that into ‘ah’. So, instead of the root of all evil, ‘ah’ can be considered the root of all vowels.

I don’t mean that you need to perfect the ‘ah’ before going on, or that ‘ah’ will be your first and best vowel. I’m just thinking of this in terms of vowel formation, in the physiological sense.

From there we have three types of vowels: tongue vowels, lip vowels and those interesting French and English vowels that need both tongue and lips.

“oo” is the most forward of all the vowels, “ee” is the farthest back.  Let me show you.

Lip vowels first:

You can turn an ‘ah’ into an ‘oo’ with your hand. Try this: sing a good ah, then while you hold it, cover nearly all of your mouth with your hand and it becomes ‘oo’.

That might not work in performance. For most singing, you’ll need to purse your lips like blowing out a candle. Loose lips in a tiny circle, slightly protruding, with the inside of the mouth open and the tongue forward and relaxed. If the lips aren’t forming the ‘oo’ then the back of the tongue is closing your throat for it. That’s why you can often hear singers who have a big ‘ah’ disappear when they get to ‘oo’ – the tongue closes off the resonance.

If you have a hard time convincing the tongue to stay out of it, try this mind game: Sing a long ‘ah’. Just ‘ah’ the whole ‘ah’ and nothing but the ‘ah’. While you’re singing it, more your lips into and out of the position I described in the above paragraph, and you should get a good ‘oo’. It may sound different from your customary ‘oo’ if you’re used to the back of the tongue getting involved. I’m working on an ‘oo’ for the paying customers in the nosebleed seats!

‘Oh’ is half way to ‘oo’ and the other lip vowels (‘aw’ etc.) are just varying degrees of this formation.  To get the hang of it, which shouldn’t take long, practice singing these vowels on a single note, easy mid-range at first, then moving higher and lower. Work to get them consistent clear, and loose, starting on an easy note and then throughout the range.

No tongue! That’s for next time.

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An Open and Shut Case

Let’s talk about an open voice.

Now, I’m not talking about open and closed vowels, open and covered registration, or even open or closed mouth, but an open voice.  What is that?

We’ve all heard singers who seemed like there was a lot of sound, if someone could unzip the top of their heads.  Not open.

I sang with a mezzo once who had one vowel, and it was “L” – not open.

Then, there are the singers described by one of two phrases:  “Open mouth, close throat” and “When push comes to shove.”  Still not open!

There are two parts to this open – a clear sound and a resonant sound.  I’ll tackle clear first.

The old saw “if you listen to yourself sing, you’ll be the only one to enjoy it” works here.  Lower voices are more often guilty of this – singing to themselves through the Eustachian tubes instead of to the paying customers in the audience.  (The Eustachian tubes help balance the air pressure across the eardrum, and open in the back of the throat.)  Many singers sing to themselves in this way, sounding swallowed to the rest of the world.

The vowels carry the beauty and meaning of every language, and if they are generalized, all that is lost.  Good singing technique should give you clear vowels throughout the range.

Now I know higher women’s voices lose a bit of understandability at the top of the range, which is why composers who want the text to be understood will repeat high-flying text in the middle of the range.  That said, in Knoxville, Summer of 1915, the B flat to A at the end of “Now is the night one blue dew” can and should approximate real [u] vowels.  And how many tenors, at the end of “Recondita armonia” try to make the F as loud as the B flat by singing “Tosca, sai to” instead of “Tosca, sei tu”?

So, we need to sing with good, clear vowels, but how?  Next time, I’ll tackle vowel formation, or how we can sing clearly throughout the range.