Dear Caio and Vocalisters
>In a message dated 4/13/01 12:09:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>caiorossi@t... wrote:
><< the vowels in
> 'beat' and 'bit'. Both of these vowels are made with the front part of the
> tongue high in the mouth. They differ in the degree of muscle tension with
> which they are produced. you should feel that your facial muscles are more
> tense in the pronunciation of 'beat' than in 'bit'. This causes a greater
> spreading of the lips in 'beat'." >>
Actually for an American the vowels in these two words are pronounced
with slightly different positions of the tongue but there is no need
to make any facial expression changes. Mouth openings are the same
for both, no spreading of the lips is necessary and, for sure, there
is no difference in any amount of spreading desired between the two
vowels.
Perhaps, for non English speakers the attempt to produce the /I/
vowel as in "bit" causes additional facial tension but this should
eventually be reduced to nothing. I frequently observe this kind of
facial tension in young singers when they are attempting to produce
their first umlaut sounds on their first German songs. However, the
facial tensions must, eventually, be removed.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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