"Lloyd W. Hanson" wrote:
> Consonants can be the vehicle that tends to break up this "vowel
> line" but if they are done correctly, they will not. But consonants
> do not make up the musical line. The musical line is produced by a
> series of connected vowels, not by a series of connected consonants,
> regardless of how liquid or phonated those consonants might be
> produced.
Any pianists out there who'd like to jump in?
As we all know, the piano cannot help but die away on every note from
the moment that note is struck. However, a good pianist will maintain
that s/he can turn out a pretty passable legato, and this is without
recourse to a single connected sound that changes pitch without letting
go of the tone. Of course, piano legato is produced by slight
overlapping of the sounds where possible, but the tones are still dying.
I think what causes consonants to break up the legato line is what
happens when singers unwittingly sing like pianos (very slightly). If
the singer momentarily drops the vowel tone to go and do another, to
wit, a consonant, this break with legato will be perceived. It's
interesting how often this happens without realising. If the singer
makes a concentrated effort to maintain the tone right up to and into
the consonant and out the other side, I see no reason why the consonant
should break up the vowel line, even when it is unvoiced and has length,
like ss or ff.
If you don't like imagery or analogy, skip the next para.
Two things that spring to mind are, first, your voice is driving through
a good broad tunnel; tucked away in the walls and floor and ceiling of
this tunnel are those mechanisms which make the various consonants - a
bit like an inside-out Swiss Army Knife :o) They aren't dangling down in
your way to impede your progress ready to be made use of when they're
needed. Come the time for the consonant, and they snap sharply in, yet
your voice carries on driving firmly through them without braking (I was
somewhat put off driving through the Mersey Tunnel after thinking of
this one!) The other analogy is that of your PC which has been set to
run one program on its own, be it some complicated mathematical working
out or perhaps Dogz, and you briefly call up your address book to make a
phone call or address and envelope: many programs will continue working
smoothly behind with scarcely a blink.
You really _can_ have a good ol' "dig in" on a consonant without
spoiling the integrity of the vowel line.
On the subject of colouring vowels, do you think this is more an
Italian/German phenomenon? With the recent death of Suzanne Danco there
have been a lot of recordings of hers played on UK radio this past two
weeks, and I was struck with how different the French sound often seems
to be, with a greater differentiation and definition of the vowels.
Lloyd, do you find the "French Way" different from the Italian, and if
so, do you think they are both suited to the performance of music from
each other's tradition?
Linda
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