Vowels

Vowels in an Ensemble

  • You may be in tune but not matching vowels

Problematic vowels

  • u - lips not rounded enough. puckered too much, tongue to forward or lack of mouth space

    • move slowly from o to u to maintain resonance

  • i sometimes over modified to l or rounded for the sake of blending

  • a - excessive mouth opening

Vowels in CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music)

  • tone quality is brighter for MT

  • Vowel consistency isn’t always the goal in CCM as it is in classical styles

  • Vowels close to speech (more mouth than pharyngeal resonance)

    • Jaw is more closed in back lip opening is wider, tongue arch ir more forward

  • Try on u and ae

Diphthong and triphthong

  • Go through them quickly

Consonants

Classical

  • Short, crisp, quick to get toe the vowel

  • No amplification for amplification is key

CCC

  • Storytelling, conversational

  • Expression is important

  • Consonant length is often extended

  • More casual delivery

Vowel Pollution

  • When our brain is moving ahead to the consonant so our mouth follows


Jaw and Tongue Positions

  • L, k, g, t, d, m , n, ñ

  • [i] - tongue

Glides

  • [w] & [j] consonants or vowels

  • [w] = u quickly opening to the next vowel

  • [j] = [i] quickly opening to the next vowel

Plosive, Nasal, Fricative Consonants

  • Nasal: vocal tract is blacked but air flow continues out of the nose

  • Fricative: forcing air through a narrowed channel created by brining two articulators together

  • Plosive: Produced by air pressure that is ejected

All the R’s

  • American R: tongue curls backward

  • Flipped

  • Rolled

  • Guttural

  • Italian: Flip intervocalic

  • German and French: Flipped rather than guttural

Come Consonant Exercises

  • Energized consonants: f p

  • Alternating v and f

  • Nasals

    • Many mumbling mice

    • Mamma made me mash

  • Scooping ba, ma, pa, sa, va

  • Ja ja ja arpeggios - what are the tongue and jaw doing