To: "Vocalist entry" <vocalist>
Subject: Re: TECHNIQUE: singing "ah"
Date sent: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 11:03:48 +0100
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Jessica wrote:

< suggestions.
When I sing certain vowels, my sound is way darker than it should be. For
instance, when
I sing "ah", it is more "aw" like I am swallowing the sound, making it
darker, perhaps
with an undesirable affected operatic sound and less "ah" like a pleasurable
expression.
>>

How far is the "a" sound used in your normal speaking language from your
ideal singing "ah" ?
I once thought that the back-in-the-troat, almost "arrr" sound was the
correct "ah" sound, because inside my own head it sounded like "ah". I have
a tape with a singing lesson where my teacher used 20 minutes to try to
explain what the sound really should be like. I didn't belive him, and kept
trying to put in some of the "arr" sound (thankfully, he didn't let me get
away with it). I think that I did it partly because "arrr" sounded louder to
me. I couldn't bear to leave out the "rrr" part, because I associated it so
closely with "ah", that it didn't sound like the same vowel at all. It made
me feel like a very small girl imitating a "fine lady".
It took some really intense listening to that tape to figure out what was
happening. Once the penny dropped, whenever I was asked to sing "ah", I
thought to myself: "What he ***really*** wants me to sing is that strange
vowel that is not "ah" inside my head but will sound right outside my head".
By now, the sound comes almost naturally to me. I'm really thankful for that
tape recording, because I'm not sure that I would have been able to convince
myself that the sound of the "new" "ah" was right without it.

Karin Mandix