Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Caio Rossi" <caioross@z...>
Date:  Sat Apr 8, 2000  4:14 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] Bel Canto technique...



Alain Zürcher wrote:
>2) I cannot find any reason why a [y] (French "u" or German "ü") or a
German
>closed or open "ö" (French "eu") should not be considered (and sung) as
>"pure".
>
>Depending on your native language, the concern with "pure vowels" is also
>very different. For an Englishman, it could mean "no diphthongs": each
vowel
>should begin and end with the same sound. For an American, you would like
to
>add "no nasality". For a Frenchman, the emphasis should be put on not
>letting the preceding and following consonants corrupt the vowel.


Alan, I think you missed the point here: [y] is not a pure vowel, as well as
[w], for no other reason than that of its being a SEMI-VOWEL. Just to review
( I guess:-) ): pure vowels are produced with no obstacles in the mouth,
so that the air can flow freely through it. Pure consonants, on the other
hand, need other vowel sounds to sound with. Semi-vowels, like [y], are in
between: it requires the blade of the tongue approaching the hard palate in
order to be produced. The air is not totally unblocked.

What seems to me to be special about Italian is that they tend to pronounce
sounds very clearly ( watch RAI and you'll get it. Just don't watch it for
too long or your neurons will start to collapse :-) ) . I'd agree with you
if you said that it doesn't make sense trying to make a language sound like
another. BTW, as a Brazilian with Italian origins born and living in Sao
Paulo, a city colonized mostly by Italians and whose native dwellers are now
labeled by the rest of the country as having an italianated accent, I feel
comfortable saying that the English and mostly the Chinese vowel system
sound much more complex, intricate and subtle than a language spoken with
pure plain sounds. I read no Chinese can be tone-deaf due to their complex
tone-varying vowel sound system.

Best regards,

Caio Rossi


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