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CONCEPTS OF DICTION 195
The vocal cords, during phonation, set up in the air immediately adjacent to them a complex motion which consists of a fundamental component and a large number of its overtones* This complex motion constitutes the so-called cord tone. . . . The vocal cavities, on which the cord tone acts as a force, have the properties of simple resonators and thus serve to modify the spectrum of the energy flowing from the cords. In terms of this theory, a vowel sound, as emitted from the mouth, is due to both selective generation and selective transmission . . • and it is composed mainly of a harmonic series of simple motions, each of which has a determinable magnitude. [340]
Thus it is that each vowel is endowed with its own peculiar frequencies and distinguishing characteristics by the cavity in which it is resonated, rather than by the vocal cords alone.
The importance of consonants. According to Webster, consonants are the "less sonorous" or less sonant sounds of the language. They are "never sounded alone" but always in combination with a sonant or vocal (vowel) sound. Hence the name con-sonant, which literally means "produced with a sonant." The essential feature in the production of consonant sounds is partial or complete obstruction in the voice channel, with or "without accompanying breath friction caused by these obstructions (e.g., Sj f, t). Consonants also vary in intensity, duration and sonancy. Certain consonants, because of their greater sonancy, are called semi-vowels. Like the vowels they may be musically intoned and indefinitely prolonged (e.g., I, m, n).
The fact that song is a dichotomy of "two equally collaborative elements," the tone and the word, introduces certain complications into the training of the singing voice. Both tonal excellence and verbal significance are essential to the singer. [Grove 216] But, as Graveure sees it, these two indispensable elements are diametrically opposed to each other. On the one hand, to produce voice it is necessary to free all the tone chambers from obstructions; on the other, in order to form the consonants, certain mouth closures are constantly called for. [208] "All pronunciation involves a blocking or shaping of the vocal resonators." [Westerman 651] But because the singer is trying to do these two different things simultaneously he frequently is caught in a condition of "partial incoordination which favors neither tone quality nor enunciation." [Bartholomew 39] This conflict between voice production and the enunciation of the consonant sounds calls for consummate skill and refinement in the vocal act which, according to one anonymous writer, explains the scarcity of good singers in the world today. [15] |
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