Dear Mary Beth and Vocalisters:
You wrote: I believe. Now that I'm further along in my teaching and understanding of the voice, his theories (Burton Coffin) make perfect sense........i.e., matching the natural frequency of the resonator to the frequency of the vibrator......however: Honestly, his modifications were so intense that it almost became a hindrance to performing the music.............there has to be a way to simplify the theory. In essence, Speech Level does the same modifications, only simplified, yet for some students, these even seem like a stretch. Just observations....
COMMENT: Modifying the vowel to achieve maximum resonance should not have been, as you put it, "so intense that it almost became a hindrance to performing the music" In Coffin's work intensity was not a procedure that he endorsed.
But it is true that many singers found the concept of adjusting slightly the vowel pronunciation in order to achieve maximum resonance to be a most unnatureal procedure. They believed in a pure vowel. [a] is [a] and it should never change. [e] must never even slightly resemble a more open or closed form of itself such as drifting toward [I] or [E]. For these singers Coffin was nothing more than a difficulty.
I was always amused when he would record students who were singing "pure" vowels then play back the individual tones they had sung only to discover that they had sung many different variation of what they considered to be a pure vowel.
Once any vowel achieves maximum resonance it will appear to be pure because its effect on the ear is so satisfying. Thus the tenor modifying the [e] vowel in his passaggio into an [I] vowel will still sound as if he is singing an [e]. In fact, it will sound like a more pure form of the [e].
All of the above must, of course, become automatic. Until it does it will get in the way of performing just as any technique of singing will get in the way until it becomes a reflex.
Regards -- Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
|
| |