Dear Caio and Vocalisters:
Thank you for your summary repeated below. It all sound very logical and I would agree with much of it. However:
>1. Romance-language speakers perceive basically 5 vowels and put any >vowels into those pre-conceived categories;
Is that not 7 vowels? It seems reasonable to include "awe" (IPA as backward /c/) and "EH" (IPA as /E/
>2. As an example, Romance-language speakers tend to perceive words >like 'live' and 'leave' as homophones due to those 5 vowel >categories cited above;
Exactly correct. My experience with native Italians supports this, for whatevet that is worth
>3. English speakers, on the other hand, have a wider range of vowel >categories;
Yes, English has a total of 14 to 18 vowels depending on what authority one uses. It is a at best a bastard language that has many, many fathers.
>4. As a consequence, two vowel sounds may be perceived as being >different by English speakers but as a single vowel sound by >Romance-language speakers;
I understand.
>5. Italian, as a Romance language, shares those 5 vowel categories;
Or is it 7 vowels as I mention above?
>6. Italian opera was created to entertain or enlighten an >Italian-speaking audience. As such, that audience perceives only >those 5 vowel categories;
See above
>7. Italian opera has taken advantage of those categories in order to >adapt vowel resonance and create harmonics necessary to project the >voice above the orchestra. That's what an evolutionary sociologist, >using a jargon adapted from evolutionary biologists, might call a >cultural pre-adaptation, a.k.a. a big favorable coincidence! hehe
I am not sure about the cultural pre-adaptation idea but the first part of this paragraph is partly true. Vowel sounds are identified by the two resonance peaks that occur in their sonic spectrum. The fundamental and its many partials which are produced by the vocal folds, taken together, would be interpreted by most of us as a kind of noise and not the sound of a human speaking or singing voice. The standing waves that are created within the vocal tract dampen (reduce) some of these partials and strengthen others in such a way that two very strong resonance peaks are created. It is these resonance peaks, called "vowel formants" that gives each vowel sound its identity. These identities can be given many names and some languages tend to lump similar vowels sounds into a few categories while other languages tend to create many categories. Italian is an example of the former and English an example of the latter.
>8. English opera singers have taken advantage of the development of >Italian opera and applied their background in singing to both their >Italian opera performances and their English-speaking opera;
Of course
>9. Most English speakers don't speak Italian, so vowel modifications >in Italian operas are meaningless to them. Obviously, the same can't >be said of operas in English;
I am not sure if I understand correctly what you mean here. Singers who have English as their native language are perhaps more aware of vowel modifications done by Italian singers because, to the English speaking singer these modifications sound like different vowels. When, for example, American singers discuss this with Italian singers the Italian singers often deny changing vowel sounds. Instead they say they are simply opening the sound a bit or closing it a bit. As you have most correctly said, to the Italian it is the same basic vowel. But to the American it is a different vowel because in English, there are other vowels available and the American ear tends to identify these different vowel sounds as different vowels.
But whether the Italian identifies vowel modifications as different vowels or not, the reality is that each modification of a vowel changes the frequency locations of its two resonance peaks, that is, its formants. Three basic resonance matches should occur if one is to achieve maximum efficiency of vocal production. 1 The vocal tract must be tuned to the fundamental or one of the partials of the phonated sound, preferably the fundamental because the is the strongest part of the phonated sound spectrum 2 The vocal tract must be tuned to the vowel formants for the selected vowel. If the fundamental and partials of the phonated pitch do not contain matches for the vowel formant frequencies of the selected then, technically, that vowel cannot be produced on that pitch and it must be modified slightly so that the vowel formants are adjusted to match the fundamental or partials of the phonated pitch. 3 The vocal tract must be tuned to emphasize the "singers formant", a resonance peak in the neighborhood of 2800-3200 Hrz. It is believed that this resonance peak, which is at a higher frequency than the vowel formants resonance peaks, is produced in the aryepiglottic area of the pharynx which would explain the rationale behind enlarging or widening the throat which is taught in many classical singing techniques.
There is not doubt that this method of singing was developed out of need to produce voices that could be heard above an orchestra. A side note here is the distortion of technique that often occurs when the orchestra is large and is not placed in a proper pit that gives its sound fullness but controls its intensity so that the singer can be heard. Wagner created a special theatre( Bayreuth) to make this work correctly but when his operas are performed in the wrong venue special singers need to be hired.
>10. If opera has perfection as its esthetic goal, as Lloyd put it >some time ago and was openly supported by many Vocalisters, anything >perceived as not perfect and accepted as such mars that goal and is >therefore not related to opera;
?????
>11. As English speakers notice when a vowel in an English word is >modified, vowel modifications are perceived as an imperfection to >that audience. Therefore, vowel modifications must be avoided in >English-speaking operas;
Not so. English speaking singers modify vowels because the acoustics of vowels does not allow otherwise if the voice is to be heard and it is not considered an imperfection. But to those learning to sing, it does appear as a distortion of the spoken vowel. To the listener it does not appear as a distortion
>12. THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT THAT IS BY PERFORMING THOSE OPERAS IN >SMALLER THEATERS, TO A SMALLER AUDIENCE AND WITH A SMALLER ORCHESTRA >SO AS TO AVOID THE NECESSITY OF SUCH MODIFICATIONS.
Obviously, this is not an option and it is not practiced. But amplification of the voice is an option because amplification precludes a voice singing at maximum efficiency. In fact, amplification does not allow a voice to sing with maximum efficiency.
>13. Not persecuting 12 as the way to reach the operatic esthetic >ideal in 10 is not opera, as can be said of the usage of microphones >on stage, etc, etc.
?????. Opera in English and other languages is not only succeeding but growing by leaps and bounds in the United States. It is the fast growing performance art in the USA. And though amplification is used at times to overcome a venue that was not designed for opera, because in the past opera was not very popular in the US, that is not yet the norm.
>I think I got you, baby! hehe
I am sure we all appreciate the competition reflected in your last statement but I choose to consider this forum as a discussion or even an argument but never a competition.
Thanks for your summary. -- Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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