Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Caio Rossi" <caiorossi@t...>
"Caio Rossi" <caiorossi@t...>
Date:  Fri Apr 13, 2001  2:24 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: THE AH VOWEL AND OPERATIC SINGING


Doris:

> Wow!! Caio, I was dealing with this very contrast yesterday with my
Korean
> ladies. Heidi (yes, that's her name!) <

Yeah, that's a typical Korean name. What's her last name? da Silva? hehe

>was pronouncing "he" and "his" with
> essentially the same vowel. When I watched her mouth as she was saying
> "his," her lips were so obviously tensed beyond what they should be, so in
> addtion to demonstrating the contrast, I told her to relax more for "his."
> This struck her funny.<

I think the problem is that she probably doesn't HEAR the difference, so
she's much likely to keep on pronouncing the same way and not transfer that
to other words.

I was wondering about that some time ago and I think there may be some good
'biofeedback' devices to practice that: softwares like ProVoice, which type
in the text as you dictate it. But as I was told they're pre-adjusted to the
speaker's voice and idiosyncratic way to pronounce phonemes in a previous
programming session, when it's instaled, maybe those that were created
especially for deaf-born people to practice speech are a better choice. And
they may help singers practicing other languages, too.

>
> My contrast / minimal pair pronunciation book (which lists every language
one
> for which each contrast is an issue) is upstairs right now. When I've the
> time, I'll check these contrasts:

Can you send me the title later?

>
> Don't you think we need a listserv for singers who are also E.S.L.
> teachers??!!

Hehe... And for students too! Haven't you ever corrected the stress of a
word and the student, instead of changing the pitch, yelled that syllable?!
hehe

bye,

Caio Rossi
Sao Paulo, Brazil


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