From: Sally Bradshaw
Subject: exercises on AAAH
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

I have been enjoying the comments on how to sing AAH and surprised it is
thought of as a problem vowel.

Actually it should be the most grateful and vocal vowel of all: the
Rachmaninov Vocalise consists of nothing but, after all. Most great
outburst notes at the culmination of operatic arias are AAH such as Tosca's
"Vissi d'Arte" and so on. I think that it is crucial to identify what your
tongue is doing and to understand what you want it to do. It must be free
and helping to make space at the back while not pressing down on the
larynx. Also you need to be sure that the "false vocal folds", just above
the larynx, are out of the way. You can check whether they are by emitting
a loud "Ha", like a laugh, low in the throat (so that you seem to feel it
around the base of your neck) and then trying to sing. The throat must be
open for any of this to work.

Songful