Vocalist.org archive


From:  RALUCOB@a...
Date:  Sun Sep 24, 2000  4:17 pm
Subject:  Re: Fw: [vocalist-temporary] vibrato


linda,

your suggestion of thinking of the nasal port being opened or closed is
probably more practical than thinking of the soft palate as being lifted or
not. gillyanne kayes (a follower of jo estill) in her book 'singing and the
actor', writes of the nasal port being open, closed or half closed (i prefer
to think of it as half open). she also discusses the different muscle
groups that make up the soft palate. (so far, all i can feel is open or
closed.)

the action of opening or closing the nasal port is fairly simple and the
affect on the sound is fairly straightforward. the fascination that some
classical singers (not just them, scott walker comes to mind, but mostly
them) have with 'raising their soft palates (as if it would make a nice hat),
i think, is misguided. i think they place too much import on it (some
believe it to be a cure for a 'short' top or certain types of cancer) and it
always sounds as if they are trying to get a piece of uncooked popcorn off
the roofs of their mouths (or that hen who is always after foghorn leghorn).

richard miller is correct in saying that imagery is no substitute for
scientific understanding and implimentation. and i suspect that this
unnecessary idolatry of the soft palate is the result of accepting imagery
over the actual.

mike

btw, it sounds as if you must be one helluva 'twister' player.

emusic.com