Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...>
Date:  Tue Dec 17, 2002  6:56 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Holiday greetings and pronunciation question

Dear Margaret and Vocalisters:

There are, of course, many slightly different versions of the "uh"
vowel but all of them are useful to singing unless they represent an
extreme distortion of correct pronunciation.

The "uh" vowel is the only vowel formation in which the vocal tract
is conformed in an almost perfect tube or pipe shape. The tongue is
relaxed on the bottom of the mouth and the throat us allowed to be
open and can even be expanded. The "uh" vowel is the best vowel for
the female voice when singing above the treble clef (G5 and above)
because it more easily allows the singer to open the mouth and, in so
doing, raise the first formant frequency of the vocal tract to match
the sung pitch. Since all the other vowel formants (with the
exception of the second formants of the /i/ and /e/ vowels )are
positioned below the G5 it is not physically possible for the female
voice to maintain accurate vowel distinction above these pitches.

The fact that the throat is open and the tongue down does not
necessarily mean that the vowel is too far back. In fact the "uh"
vowel is the closest the voice can get to an absolutely open sound
that gives maximum resonance to the vocal instrument. It is for this
reason that it is automatically used when we yell loudly for help


--
Lloyd W. Hanson






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