Do modified vowels take you out of the moment?- Page 2

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/26/12 at 11:25pm

For me, "ee" is easier than "ay." But I'm a soprano, not a belter. "Ee" gets right into that pingy head space.

ClapYo'Hands: Haha, I ALWAYS love to make fun of her "Love Never Dies." Lohhhhhveee neeeehvaaaahhh doys!"

Updated On: 7/26/12 at 11:25 PM

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 7/26/12 at 11:56pm

I think modified vowels are fine as long as the correct sound is tacked on to the end.

Two really good examples are in the following;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvwcJUhIa0U

Adam Lambert doing Is Anybody Listening from the Ten Commandments - at 3:05 he goes up to a C5 and the sentence becomes "and still my spirit flays" with the correct vowel sound tied on to the end. I've performed this song, and it's borderline impossible to hit the correct vowel and belt that note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6_tsLW3X8Y

Jeremy Jordan singing Dolgaya River on the demo recording of Brother Russia. At 2:27, he belts a Bb on the word "run" but modifies it to "rahn" so that he can hit the note.

The other thing is that composers are rarely stupid when it comes to writing in high notes. Very often the belting moment will come on an easily understood vowel or a word that's been repeated several times.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 12:02am

As a musical director, I am not a fan of vowel modification if it makes the word sound totally different. I think a tiny bit is appropriate here and there when belting a closed vowel on a high note, but for me, I make sure the actor sounds like he or she is still singing the correct word.

One that bothers me (which I don't know the right solution for) is the pronunciation of "Mormon" in "I Believe." The way it's done accentuates the "i" vowel in the second syllable harshly. I think I would tell an actor to sing in between an "i" and "eh," but it's still not satisfying to me. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast.

Updated On: 7/27/12 at 12:02 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 12:15am

It doesn't bother me except in "With One Look" when most sing the final line as, "With One Look, I'll Be MAHHHHHHHHHH!"

[Eos]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 12:56am

I'm not a singer or anything, so this discussion is fascinating to me. The only one that really drives me crazy is the "yew". Hadley Fraser comes to mind.

And Best12, I love Felicia Ricci. That was cool.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 1:02am

Guys, how have we reached so far in this post without bringing up the fact that Patti LuPone has built an entire career on modified vowels (some of which I'm convinced she created for herself)?

And I wouldn't change a one of them.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 1:47am

I despise "yew."

[bk]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 1:52am

This board takes me out of the moment :)

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 2:52am

As a singer, I must say that one thing my voice teacher has always stressed with me the helps greatly is to build the note on the word with clear, crisp consonants and vowels and the voice will work better. Diction is not just important so that the audience can understand the singer, but it helps move the line. I've heard many singers feel a need to modify a vowel, but the problem is that the singer is doing something technically wrong on the troublesome vowel. A clear, focused, and relaxed "ee" vowel can have as much strength as the "ah" vowel if the singer takes the time to fix some bad habits. In short, if you need to modify a vowel, you are doing something wrong.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 4:29am

For me, "Yewww" is natural in my accent...

One of the most annoying ones: "Let your soul take you where you long to BAAAYYYYYY."

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 7:40am

I blame ALW for that. Which therefore means we can blame him for Evita and in turn Patti Lupone. We can blame ALW for Patti's modifications.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/27/12 at 8:07am

In a truly legendary performance, Helen Morgan in SHOWBOAT (in the 1936 film, at least) sang:

When he goes a wah-hee
That's a rainy dah-hee

In this case, I'll chalk it up to the fact that in the 20's and 30's, you had to be able to project your voice in a huge theatre without microphones. Having a powerful voice was more important than having a ptretty one.

[sondhead]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 8:38pm

I mean, other than the added "Hs," those aren't modified vowels. "Way" and "Day" both have e-i diphthongs (using IPA symbols). One could argue she was placing undue stress on the second half of those diphthongs, but they're certainly not modified vowels.

"The other thing is that composers are rarely stupid when it comes to writing in high notes. Very often the belting moment will come on an easily understood vowel or a word that's been repeated several times."

That depends on the composer, and there are lots of examples that show little to no composer thought about vowels in relation to tessitura, several of which have been mentioned in this thread. Updated On: 8/2/12 at 08:38 PM

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:18am

Hmm.... I think it depends. To be honest, I had never even noticed the Astonish-ANG until you mentioned it. I think to a point, speech is always modified, just a little bit. The vowels just sound... different. I guess it's usually more enunciated while singing? But when it stops sounding like speech, and more liking singing (no offense sopranos, but a lot of those really high songs don't sound like people, the words become so distorted) is when it takes you out of the moment. And I totally agree with everyone who has complained about "yew". One word: Aida. There was SO much of that in that show! :P

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:03am

Sometimes, it's just one, big, long, vowel movement on stage.

[broadwayrob]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:00am

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

winner.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:21am

"I blame ALW for that."

I disagree, I think having the top Ab on the word "be" is very clever composing. For most male singers, that is probably the best vowel for projecting that note. I certainly can't think of a better one.

[AuntieEm22]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:56am

"One that bothers me (which I don't know the right solution for) is the pronunciation of "Mormon" in "I Believe." The way it's done accentuates the "i" vowel in the second syllable harshly. I think I would tell an actor to sing in between an "i" and "eh," but it's still not satisfying to me. Maybe it's just the nature of the beast."

Two years in a row the word "Latin" came up in my high school school play. Being from the Philly suburbs (and in a show where the director had bigger problems to deal with than the pronunciation of one word), most people said "La'in" or "La'en" which drove me crazy. But even when people did make a conscious effort to say the T, the TIN/TEN variations were really interesting (and frustrating.) Sitting here going through the different pronunciations of "Mormon" brought me right back.

[emlodik]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 9:45am

I love when most Norma Desmonds belt out "WID ONE LOOK, I'LL BAAAAAYYYY MAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!" I actually think Linda Balgord was the only singer who could do it with all the correct vowel sounds.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 12:26pm

For me, it depends on the song. The Sutton Foster examples the original poster pointed out don't bother me. Like EricMontreal22 said, pop/rock scores tend to be different.