Dear Linda and Vocalisters:
First, to answer your question, I hear the same vowel sound in
"Pull", "Nook", "Look" or "Push" which in IPA is usually given as [U]
or capital u. Small letter [u] is the sound in "Fool" (minus the
diphthong, of course)
There is a problem here because these sounds in English are short
forms of a vowel and are never sustained in spoken English. However,
when one sings in English, these sounds must be sustained so . . .the
singer must learn how to sustain them. It is a very learned skill.
The same is true of the other short vowels in English such as the [I]
in "Hit" or the [E] in "Let". Because these vowels are not sustained
in speech they become as foreign vowels even to native English
speaker when they are used in singing. Many less experienced singers
will let their vowel sound drift toward either a more open neighbor
of the the required vowel or a more closed form of the named vowel.
Thus [U] becomes either [upside down v] or some form of [u]; [I]
becomes [e] or some form of [i]; and [E] becomes either [ae] or some
form of [e]. But the correct vowel can be sustained even if it is
not sustained in spoken English.
It is perhaps unfortunate that these vowels are called short vowels
because this implies that they cannot be sustained. But they can be
with practice.
>"Lloyd W. Hanson" wrote:
>
>> I pronounce the word "Pull" in the normal American way. Miller uses
>> the work "Nook" for this same vowel which in IPA is written as [U] or
>> capitol U.
>>
>> I believe the usual vowel pronunciation for "Dull" is the [upside
>> down v] as is also found in the word "Fun".
>>
>> It is not unusual to extend the "AH" category of vowels into the
>> neutral category of vowels [upside down v], [U], and the [schwa]
>> because they are often considered as extension of the former.
>
>So, as a sustained sound (you sing "pull" over a slow melisma for
>instance) isn't it the same as the vowel in "look" then? or "push"?
>
>Linda
>
>
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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