lloyd,
by singing in the western world, i assume you mean classical singing and singing in the 'legitimate' theater. i think you'll find that nasality is used quite a bit, in varying degrees, in most other singing styles in the western world (pop, some approaches to jazz, r&b, country, etc.).
in speech, most people make use of a flexible resonating space without giving it a second thought. when it comes to singing, in an attempt to create 'a sound', these same people get stuck into a posture that they hope will bring about the desired sound. the more foreign 'the sound' is to their normal speaking voice, the more stuck they are likely to become.
i believe singing should be an extension of speech and that, if a singer can negotiate the wider range of pitches and the distortion of words caused by generally having to take longer to say them while singing than while speaking, the same expression that the singer has used his/her entire life in speaking will cross into singing. sometimes it's succesful sometimes not (it's just my ideal not a prescription for a better world).
in my experience, it is the classical aethetic that requires the greatest demands on the singer to adopt an approach most foreign to the singer's 'native' approach (i would have to say 'heavy metal' would be second but, it is probably tied with something else i'm overlooking). the attempt, in comparison to other styles, of most classical vocalists to homogenize their sounds, i believe, is responsible for frozen mouth positions and probably a lot of other problems that seem to only afflict classical vocalists.
mike
|
| |