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CONCEPTS OF DICTION |
19S |
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b) "consonants, due to more or less closed positions and movements of the resonator which give certain characteristics to the approach to and departure from the vowel positions." [4] Webster similarly defines vowels as "the open, sonorous sounds of a language." Their distinguishing characteristics are determined by the configurations of the vocal passage that accompany phonation. That is, for each distinct vowel sound, there is a definite change in the shape of the pharyngeal and oral cavities, each change being accentuated by characteristic positions of the lips, tongue arid palate. Twenty-five authors stress the importance of the vowel as a basic tonal vehicle in singing. Their opinions are summarized in the following statements:
i. "Tone cannot sound forth until it is fixed within the limits of some vowel." [Mme. Schoen-Ren6 493]
2. Singing is an art of words and therefore an art of vowels. [Edward Johnson 306]
5. We do our singing almost entirely upon vowels. [Wodell 681]
4. The vowel is "the melodic part of each syllable." [Howe 284, p. 35]
5. You purify the tone by purifying the vowels. [Waters 641]
6. If the vowel is poor, vocal tone will be adversely affected. [Austin-Ball 31, p. 13]
7. The singing voice "must be fed with vowels and not with mere tone." [Herbert-Caesari 267]
8. "The vowel makes the tone/' [Warren 633]
9. "Voice is always vowels/* [Hemery 238, p. xii]
10. Correct vowel production is an inevitable concomitant of the correctly produced singing voice, for the perfect voice automatically provides its own perfect vehicles of utterance. [Gescheidt 200, p. 16]
Vowel characteristics. The analysis of vowel resonance has engaged the interest of vocal scientists for some time. Russell's dissertation, The Vowel presents an exhaustive study of the physiological causes of vowel quality differences. It is basically a speech, rather than a singing approach, arriving at* the conclusion that there is no standard or fixed position of tongue, mouth or other surfaces for any particular vowel sound. There Is proof of "radical difference of movement . . . not only from vowel to vowel, but from subject to subject. It is therefore not justifiable to postulate a constant position" for the velum, tongue or mouth. [712, p. 69] Russell goes on to say that a change in one part of the vocal tract "may be compensated for by another*' in some other move- |
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