Reg wrote:
> It seems to me that the idea of a partially raised valum
> is an anachronism. Either it is relaxed or it is sealed off as the
> tone is produced. Although what would it be doing during the
> nasal consonants?
Reg and List,
From what I have learned, during the production of the nasal
consonants the velum goes up and down at an alarming rate of speed.
And there is a normal coarticulation in vowels just before and after
the nasal consonant.
Reg wrote:
> Without the raising it would appear to me that pharyngeal
> resonance would be seriously damped causing efficiency
> reduction and noise.
Well Reg, your statement is dead on according to spectral
analysis by Miller, Austin and others. There is a shifting of the
formants and antiresonances are introduced. It appears that the
nasal cavity acts as a side-branch resonator- like a car muffler. We
all know what a muffler does- dampen the sound of the engine. This
effect appears to be the same in the voice.
Just to be clear let me say that I have NEVER used any
scientific equipment in a voice lesson. My professor hardly uses it
himself unless he's doing a study or teaching a class. I'm a singer,
just like the rest of the list. In my own singing I have found that
when my velum is completly raised(closing of the V. Port) my sound is
better. There are no "mad-scientist" pedagogues who use spec
analysis in every lesson- at least I hope not! Certainly it is
extremely difficult as Robin points out, to talk about this without
hearing anyone sing. But, on the same token, it is equally
difficult to talk about the subject without having seen the effect of
nasal resonance- acoustically. In addition, I applaud Robin for her
study of anatomy and phys- we need more teachers devoted to that
stuff :)
Take Care All,
Taylor L. Ferranti
DMA Candidate in Vocal Pedagogy
LSU
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