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From:  dclark <DCLARK@r...>
dclark <DCLARK@r...>
Date:  Wed Jun 20, 2001  10:46 pm
Subject:  Here's the first one again! (Rats, NATS)


>===== Original Message From promero@w... =====

> Heh, that's the problem, It HAS to be in english. Honestly, in
>Luke Havregal you have an A4 with the word "Flames", that is Feh-
>eeems and the "eh" never gets to be open (that's the way english is)
>like it would in Italian, thus the sound is always in danger of being
>thrown to the back, AND if you choose to help yourself by turning it
>into an Italian e, the judges say you're not using the correct
>diction.

There are TWO e's in Italian, the closed "e" and the open "E", so if you
can
sing the latter purely, you should be able to sing it in any language.

>It's not that I'm dissing english or American composers, I
>just don't have particular love for the issues this repertory brings
>up because, at this point in my studies, I'm more preoccupied with
>acquiring the right placement of the sound in the italian vowels -
>which are the best conductors of sound-

I think you are making too much out of the "wonders of Italian." If you
study
the IPA, you will see that the same vowels are common to many
languages, and if you learn to sing the vowel itself cleanly, you will
be able
to place it any language in which it occurs. This is one of the reasons

NATS has this rule anyway.

>in order to become
>familiarized with where the sound should be in the passaggio, the
>issues of maintaining correct diction in the anglo language are
>conflictive with what you do with italian and the vowels are handled
>differently.

I don't find this to be true in singing or teaching.

>Honestly, from a tenor student, I would rather work on
>my passaggio with the best set of consonants

Do you mean vowels? See above.

>to aid the sound rather
>than to struggle along with darker vowels when I could be reinforcing
>my passaggio technique and later on approach it with a firmer upper
>register. Listen to Domingo singing "memory", why doesn't he use
>a 'proper' diction?
>yes, part of it is because his english
>pronunciation is horrible, but the other part is that he sings it
>with Italian vowels because- like it or not- they're the best vowels
>to produce sound--ESPECIALLY for tenors

This is certainly debatable. I'd love to hear Placido's own answer to
your
question.

> I realize most singers here are american and those are the vowels
>they grew up with

One's native language is ususally the hardest to sing in, because one
has the most bad habits established there.

>and you're familiar with that, but I was born
>speaking two languages---english and spanish, and the italian vowels
>(which are the same in spanish) give me an ease that the english
>vowels don't.

Perhaps it's just because there are fewer vowels in Spanish that you
find
it easier to manage than English, which has lots.

>On the side of the repertoire, I see Mozart, Rossini
>and Co. helping me build a stronger technique more than R.V.W or J.D.
>during my studies--

It sounds to me like you have never given RWV and JD a chance!

>it's just about where you are, really. YOu
>probably no longer face the issues I do (or never did, since your
>voice is different) and can feel comfortable with this repertory
>because you have developed the technique I am still in the process of
>developing.

We teachers face these issues every day with each one of our students.
It
sounds like your wise teacher wwants you to face it, too, which is why
he/she is having you enter the NATS auditions. Why not trust his/her
judgment and give it your best shot? You may be surprised at what you
learn.

--
|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair, Music Department
| Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112
| 901-843-3782, dclark@r...
() http://www.rhodes.edu




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12793 Re: Here's the first one again! (Rats, NATS) sopran@a...   Thu  6/21/2001   2 KB

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