Date sent: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 16:06:24 EST
Subject: Re: Senior Recital Reperiore--Scandinavian rep.
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

In a message dated 01/21/2000 1:21:04 PM Central Standard Time,
kandahar-at-ican.net writes:

<< It's [Finnish] notably Scandinavian, and yet, it's quite different from
the other countries. The language is completely unrelated, but as it
happens, it's perfectly phonetic, which makes it very easy to learn and to
sing!! >>

Well, I've sung in Estonian, which is very close to Finnish, and while it may
be phonetically consistent and therefore easy to learn, I don't find it
particularly easy to sing. Example: I sang a song called "Tuula Jehoova su
oigust" (umlaut over the o - which fell on E4 - hope my numbers are right)
and during a rehearsal an Estonian woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me,
but you are singing too much 'oy' on this word." I said, "Oh, thank you for
telling me ... how should it be pronounced?" and she said (produce this sound
by lifting larynx and locking up tongue): "uh-ee-gust" (heavy emphasis on
the 2nd part of the diphthong).

I managed to produce a reasonable facsimile and still maintain vocal freedom
by singing an open "uh" and going to "ee" quickly.... the lady came up to me
after the performance and said, "Oh, that was much better ... it was still
not [high larynx] 'uh-ee-gust' but at least it was not 'oy-gust'!"

I think it was a compliment ....


Chris Thomas
Mezzo-Soprano
Wauwatosa, WI

"I love to sing-a, about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a"