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From:  mikebarb@b...
mikebarb@b...
Date:  Fri Apr 6, 2001  10:35 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Question




Lee Morgan wrote:

>
> "Ah" is the only vowel that is listed on vowel charts with both a
> forward placement and a back placement... It has been my experience... that
> if the ah vowel is placed too far back, the sound can become too heavy. I
> recently heard a fine young singer who is a student of a colleague of mine
> who has just learned to bring her ah's forward a bit, and it has
> tremendously improved her higher range. It doesn't sound like she's trying
> to lift a ton of bricks anymore.
>
> I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that you should avoid a pure ah
> to cure this, but do realize that balancing an ah vowel can be problematic.
> My favorite exercise for finding the right placement for ah...

Thanks very much for your post. You made me realize something.
[Think--lightbulb going on.] A year (or two) ago My teacher worked on getting
what he described at some occasions as more of a inner smile on my "ah" and at
other times as putting more of a "a" sound (as in cat) into my "ah." I think
that it is the same concept as what you describe as making the "ah" more
forward. He also always uses in his lessons a 5 tone descending scales
alternating between two vowels, not usually with "ah," but I think he used "ah"
in this excercise when he was working on getting me to change my "ah" a bit.
The thing is, that I didn't know why or what would be accomplished by chaing my
"ah" this way. I knew my "ah" was bad, but It was hard to do what he wanted
because to me it sounded too strident (like a bad NYC accent.)

Barbara Roberts
Miami, FL







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