Consonants: the Key to Intonation

CONSONANTS: THE KEY TO INTONATION Jo-Michael Scheibe, DMA Professor and Chair Department of Choral and Sacred Music USC Thornton School of Music [email protected] Introduction  Basic Principles of Phonation  The Importance of Consonants  Technical Considerations for Articulating Consonants  Consonants in Music  Music in the Body

Basic Principles of Phonation  Train air to flow freely  Sound quality & longevity of voice depend more on use of voice than physical gift of singer  Good technique o What It Is Not o What It Is o Moves through time o Seems natural o Use of the [n] before all the five pure vowels  Resources  The Naked Voice, W. Stephen Smith  What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, Melissa Malde, Kurt- Alexander Zeller, & MaryJean Allen

The Importance of Consonants  Definition  Importance o Comprise 62% of all English speech sounds o 1.5 consonants occur in each syllable  Carry more “information” than vowels  Vocalization

Technical Considerations  What certain sounds do  Process o Vernacular speaking o First Invention

 Consonants grouped by airflow during phonation  Quick Tricks o Mouth, lips, tongue and jaw must be sufficiently supple to provide timing of movements for each successive sound o Dentalize consonants [d, n, t, l] . As in Italian . Helps free resonance o Allows tone to continue with “minimum interference”  Resources o http://www.seeingspeech.ac.uk/ipachart/display.php?chart=1&da tatype=1&speaker=1 o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfoRdKuPF9I o http://www.voiceinsideview.com/docs/Phonation.pdf o http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/consonants.html

Consonants in Music  Execution o Rapid movement from one vowel position, through the consonant, to the following vowel o Move rapidly within the rhythmic framework o Vowel formations and articulations of consonants improves innumerable aspects  Modification o Vowel Modification o Consonant Modification . Intentional de-emphasizing, altering or even substitution of consonants . Assist vocal production or text expression when singing . Consonant modification  Pasaggi areas  Extreme ranges  Extreme dynamics  Expressive purposes & onomatopoeia . Problematic consonants  Stop plosives and lateral [l, g, k, d, b, t], especially in higher passages . Solutions  Substitute fricative consonants  Keep consonants forward  Avoid interrupting breath stream o Pitched consonants  Precision

Music in the Body  Mythology o Things we say to improve sound, but have the opposite effect . Lifted soft Plate . Raise the eyebrows . Smile when you sing o People often do funky things with their mouths in an attempt to make their voices bigger or stronger. . This practice infuses extraneous tensions into their voice o Results . Facial tension . Stop of breath . Artificial resonating space . Vocal production in back vs. front  Importance of Flow  Healthy Singing o Singing is not staid or stiff . Let go of illusion of stability . Usually leads to stagnation and tension o Vowels and pitches ring in different, changing spaces o Body alignment . Static body = static breath = static sound . Flexible body = flexible breath = flexible sound o Most common faults . Tuck and roll . Chicken necks . Facial tension . Shoulders o Posture and “Onset” . Release abs for full, relaxed breath . Vocal line is only as good as the first note . Alignment of body when seated going to standing . Check for good onset establishment

Additional Considerations  Facilitating Consistently Accurate Intonation  Conclude each warm-up with a tuning exercise  Encourage the mental & physical engagement of the singer  Conductor’s ear & gesture are inextricably linked  Placement of singers  Beware of the perilous piano  Conductor’s understanding of various tuning systems