Classical Voice

[chuy67]

Im a 17 year old male looking to achieve a classical voice. The one thing that is bugging me is the vowel. Not just the the vowel,but thee vowel. How are they formed? what are they used for? I hear ringing vowels help to get a more resonant voice, which ones are they? Anything about vowels and how they work would be great. Thank you so much!

[joshual]

try to search on the forum for ' vowels' or ' vowel modifications' i'm sure Steven Fraser has already gave a lot of infos. And sure some here will help you ;-).

I took some bel canto lessons and had the same problem with the e. For me it's still a problem but i realised you've got to be careful to not push too much on this vowel and more let it go.

[MandyKate]

What kind of classical music are you singing? The preferred sound and vowel shapes change slightly depending on the style.

I'm not sure how much of this will be useful to you, since it comes from a classical choir perspective, but in case it turns out to be helpful, here goes;

I'm guessing when you say a 'ringing' vowel, you mean a 'bright' vowel sound as opposed to a 'dark' one. Brighter vowel sounds will carry better, and cut through an orchestra or choir. Dark vowel sounds are very long and open, bright ones are a little bit wider without being stretched. In a brighter vowel, the sound is a little more forward. It helps to smile just a little bit when you sing, but remember to still drop your jaw or the sound will be too compressed and lose pitch. As weird as it sounds, I find that visualising singing through my forehead helps me to keep my sound bright (As an alto, I have a tendency to want to sing with a darker sound) but that may not be useful to you, depending on your own natural tendencies.

'e' is a tough vowel because when you speak it normally, your mouth is spread very wide, and the space inside is limited and flat. Don't sing it the way you speak it. Sing a little closer to - but not quite - an 'ih' sound (again, smiling a little will help). It will produce a better quality sound, but the audience will still interpret it as an 'ee'.

[chuy67]

Im going to read this over many times to get deeper into your point thank you very much. To answer your question, Im looking for a voice that is like Andrea Bocelli. Would you classify that as dark or bright?

[Steven Fraser]

Im going to read this over many times to get deeper into your point thank you very much. To answer your question, Im looking for a voice that is like Andrea Bocelli. Would you classify that as dark or bright?

Chuy67: Bocelli's voice has both dark and bright aspects to it. I'll write a fuller response to your earlier post later today.

[Steven Fraser]

Im a 17 year old male looking to achieve a classical voice. The one thing that is bugging me is the vowel. Not just the the vowel,but thee vowel. How are they formed? what are they used for? I hear ringing vowels help to get a more resonant voice, which ones are they? Anything about vowels and how they work would be great. Thank you so much!

Chuy67: As a starting point, take a look at this article I posted on the main site:

http://www.themodernvocalist.com/profiles/blogs/a-bit-on-vowels-revisited

If you are of a technical mind, a great deal of general information on vowels can be found on the internet by doing a google search on the 'Source-Filter theory of Vowels', and 'phonetics'. There is plenty to read out there to help you get up to speed, and upon which we can build here.

[chuy67]

I have a question for you that is off the topic of vowels, but just for a bit. At times when I play harmonica or sing, I get really tense neck muscles the ones right under my ear to be exact. It is never both at the same time it is always either the left or the right muscle. If I try to stretch it out it gets worse. In the past it stopped, but just recently I have begun to work on my posture and it has come back. What could this be?

[joshual]

You're not relaxed... You doing something wrong when you're singing. When you have correct technique you don't get tension in the neck muscles or the face.

You're maybe have so ' emotional' problems when you sing, causing you those tension.

[Matt]

I get really tense neck muscles the ones right under my ear to be exact.

My guess is you're tensing your jaw, possibly connected to the muscle area around the back part of the tongue in between chin and bottom lip height. Maybe check with your thumb if youre tense in the soft flesh between the chin and where your throat joins.

[chuy67]

are you speaking of the muscles right under where your chin ends? If you go from your ear lobe down, you will feel your jaw end. If you are speaking of the muscle right under that, yes it is tight. Would your happen to be tense also? In other words is that a normal part of the body?

[chuy67]

And to Joshual, I understand I am doing something wrong, but I don't have any "emotional problems." Thank you though.

[Robert Lunte]

I dont understand your question?

[Matt]

are you speaking of the muscles right under where your chin ends? If you go from your ear lobe down, you will feel your jaw end. If you are speaking of the muscle right under that, yes it is tight. Would your happen to be tense also? In other words is that a normal part of the body?

yeah, thats around the area I mean. That shouldn't be tense. Its a very common problem though. Its the back of your tongue, those muscles tensing up. Most of us have learnt to incorrectly produce sounds by using among other things the tongue muscles. Common exercises are things like letting your tongue tip hang out over your bottom teeth and try to feel through it so its relaxed, in particular at the root where its pulling the muscles tense under your chin and going Aaaaaaaa etc. You can probably google relaxing tongue muscles under chin or something.

[chuy67]

Thank you very much Matt. I found that inhaling was a major problem too. When I inhaled, I did not have my throat open all the way. When asking a close friend, she told me it should be open and not partially closed up. I felt pretty stupid after thinking it will allow more into the lungs. Thank you once again. :cool:

[Matt]

Its not stupid, when we exhale we want to find some small resistance so we dont just let the air go Wooosh! out through the valve of the balloon, the valve being the throat and the balloon being pretty much everything back and front below the ribcage. Most of us who have learned bad habits have learned to control the airflow, resistance and flow, by tightening up the valve, the throat muscles. We want that resistance but we want it coming from the diaphragm muscles.

[chuy67]

Ok I'm back again. The strain went away for a bit but then came back. What else could I do to get the tongue out of the way and relax the neck? I checked online, but nothing is really there. Please help this is becoming a bit overwhelming.