Wow, I thought you might be Scottish, both from your name and the
Canadian address. As I posted on the [U] vowel, I was actually
wondering if you might be hearing that Scottish mixed vowel. I too am
of Scottish descent, on both sides, although I grew up in the states.
Quite a coincidence. The rest of my family is in Canada, Scotland,
England, and Australia.
Anyway, enough about me...maybe the good old vowel chart will come in
handy with the 'u' vowel. I assume you're familiar with it? You can
experiment with 'in-between' sounds, until you find one that works. I
always had trouble singing a closed [e] until I realized I had to sing
practically an [I]. To me it sounds like 'pitto', but to the outside
world it's 'petto'.
Now I have a question: I have always had trouble singing an E or F in
the passaggio softly on the [a] vowel (I'm a tenor). As in :
'Je CROIS entendre encore...' 'Un' AURA amorosa' 'Dalla sua PACE'
It comes up very frequently in the literature, so I must get rid of
this achilles' heel. I feel I must 'cover' these notes a bit in order
to pull down the dynamic level (it's too perilous to sing them 'open'
and softly). How should I accomplish this? I've been trying to modify
the vowel towards 'awe' or 'uh', but it sounds TOO 'covered' for an E.
Does anybody ever modify [a] towards the front vowels? Do different
people modify in different directions? I've noticed a lot of baritones
seem to go the 'awe' or 'oo' route, but many tenors seem to go towards
'uh.' Hmmm...
Forgive my 'imprecise terminology', but I think you will know what I'm
talking about...
thanks!
(and if it's not Scottish...)
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