| Subject: Re: TECHNIQUE: singing "ah" -THANKS! From: "jjh" To: Vocalist <vocalist> Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, Randy Buescher wrote:
>There is something intrinsically wrong with this. It distorts the vowel and >takes the ring out of the voice, and that's what its whole intent is. Many >choir directors will dumb down good voices (by eliminating vibrancy through >this method) rather than elevate the poor ones in an effort to create blend. >In fact, in a NATS column, Jean Westerman Greg addressing ethics in voice >teaching stated that choir directors that use the hung jaw method were >unethical because the litereature/research has pointed out the hazards of >this approach and many continue to use it despite this fact.
Randy:
In the article you refer to (Journal of Singing Vol. 54, No. 1, September/October 1997), Jean Westerman Gregg discusses several aspects of technique, under the general topic of "first do no harm." In other words, if the teacher's first responsibility is to "do no harm," (taking a quote from the medical community's Hippocratic oath), then it behooves professional teachers to know as much as they can about anatomy and physiology before beginning to teach young singers.
Mrs. Westerman Gregg's criteria for a healthy sound is "ease," which happens to be one of my favorite words in talking about technique. On page 55, she suggests that voice teachers "should have the ethical responsibility 'to do good'--to teach in such a way that a student sings with ease, and also has instilled in him or her a love of music and of singing which will last for the entire life."
Aspects of vocal technique that could potentially harm a young voice (by encouraging too much muscular tension) include a larynx that is forced into an unnaturally low position, over-work in the extreme parts of the range, and premature tracking of a young singer into a vocal classification or fach.
In one paragraph of the article (page 56), Mrs. Westerman Gregg gives one final example of a potentially harmful vocal technique: choral directors who instruct their students to "have every singer put two or three fingers vertically into the mouth, to ensure a loose jaw." She goes on to point out that "The shape of each individual palate has a distinct bearing on the amount of jaw 'drop' that is necessary to produce any given vowel as does the frequency (pitch) of the sound. The various shapes of the human palate range from a relatively flat palatal arch, some even with wide alveolar ridges, to a cathedral arch that is so high that the individual can hardly touch the top with the tongue--plus everything in between. To assume that everyone in a chorus is the same is to commit a grave error, which can result in creating a great deal of vocal tension."
Mrs. Westerman Gregg makes a very good point in that last sentence. I've been teaching Vocal Diction for 7 years now, and I like to devote a little class time to having the students experiment with vowel shapes. I ask the students to try different vowels, such as [a] and [i], and report what the shape of their vocal tracts feels/looks like (a small, hand-held mirror is a required purchase for the class). Vowel shapes always vary a little from person to person. This always surprises them a little!
We then spend some time working on vowel "blend" (singing some familiar hymn on the vowels only). The student learn that they can shape vowels "similarly" to each other, but not "the same," and still achieve a pretty nice, blended sound--with no one in the room writhing in pain. We also talk about the old saw of "two fingers' space for [a]." I have a small jaw bone and a small mouth, so for me the instruction "make room for two fingers' space on [a]" causes extreme discomfort! In order to comply with this instruction, I have to overextend my jaw and stress the jaw joint to the point of pain. Other people have larger mouths or jawbones, and can execute this with more ease.
So Randy, I would like to thank you for bringing up this article. With that said, I would also like to point out that Mrs. Westerman Gregg does not state that choral directors who use this method are unethical. In fact, she mentions voice teachers in the article, as well as choral directors. I feel the distinction is an important one to make.
Cheers!
Jana -- Jana Holzmeier Dept. of Music Nebraska Wesleyan University 5000 Saint Paul Ave. Lincoln, NE 68504 jjh-at-nebrwesleyan.edu 402-465-2284
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