I'm going to try the L. Hanson "COMMENT" thing in this point-by-point
reply, but I'm going to call it "JOHN":
At 07:04 AM 2/13/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Wow, I thought you might be Scottish, both from your name and the
>Canadian address. As I posted on the [U] vowel, I was actually
>wondering if you might be hearing that Scottish mixed vowel. I too am
>of Scottish descent, on both sides, although I grew up in the states.
>Quite a coincidence. The rest of my family is in Canada, Scotland,
>England, and Australia.
JOHN: Sounds like the typical Scottish family! You've given me food for
thought here, although I try to run as far away from Scottish vowels as I
can in singing. Yet... yesterday, in my coaching, I was asked to sing a
Scottish song to see how my vowels would be in that - apparently it was a
nice sound. I wonder how Scottish I really sound, and will I ever really know?
>Anyway, enough about me...maybe the good old vowel chart will come in
>handy with the 'u' vowel. I assume you're familiar with it? You can
>experiment with 'in-between' sounds, until you find one that works. I
>always had trouble singing a closed [e] until I realized I had to sing
>practically an [I]. To me it sounds like 'pitto', but to the outside
>world it's 'petto'.
JOHN: One of my vocal ped. students has a problem like this: she couldn't
sing the vowel sound in the word "pig" (not that she's working on porcine
repertoire - we're just exploring what vowels work best as a starting
point.) even although she could say "pig". There is also the Coffin vowel
chart (The music library is my enviable day job) which seems to suggest the
kind of modification I was doing anyway.
>
>Now I have a question: I have always had trouble singing an E or F in
>the passaggio softly on the [a] vowel (I'm a tenor). As in :
>
>'Je CROIS entendre encore...' 'Un' AURA amorosa' 'Dalla sua PACE'
>
>It comes up very frequently in the literature, so I must get rid of
>this achilles' heel. I feel I must 'cover' these notes a bit in order
>to pull down the dynamic level (it's too perilous to sing them 'open'
>and softly). How should I accomplish this? I've been trying to modify
>the vowel towards 'awe' or 'uh', but it sounds TOO 'covered' for an E.
>Does anybody ever modify [a] towards the front vowels? Do different
>people modify in different directions? I've noticed a lot of baritones
>seem to go the 'awe' or 'oo' route, but many tenors seem to go towards
>'uh.' Hmmm...
JOHN: Wiser heads than I should weigh in here, but: I would caution against
doing too many things with an open "A", though I've noticed the same
modifications in singers. Just my opinion, but: I think "Dalla sua pace" is
a tremendously hard piece for a tenor, because you have to have that sense
of tenderness, but also vulnerability - and you won't sound vulnerable if
you have
too much cover. Don Ottavio is the opposite of Don Giovanni - he actually
cares about others, and at the same time is part of, instead of apart from
his society and its mores. My own feeling is that the p dynamic really
should mean "as quiet as you can get it and still have the tenorial ring".
I don't want to sit and listen to a tenor only to hear him cover his glory
notes! Leave that to baritones!
>
>Forgive my 'imprecise terminology', but I think you will know what I'm
>talking about...
>
>thanks!
>
>(and if it's not Scottish...)
JOHN: Well, you know. john
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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