Unison vowel production in Music Education III

Robert Shaw, the incomparable American conductor, said, “To create a smooth legato line, sing vowels only until the vowels align with the beat. Then add the consonants back in “on top” of the vowel line“.

This is a very short way of stating my earlier blog on unison vowel production and legato line; but if short and sweet works better for you, then I am happy to include his words.  I do tend to belabor a point, I have been told….

Anyway, you can hear the success of using this technique in the Robert Shaw Chorale rendition of  “Shenandoah”.  I cannot think of a lovelier example of legato singing.

Unison vowel production in Music Education

I have been through many exercises for unison vowel production, and the best I have found was taught to me by my own vocal coach, Dr.Jan E. Bickel, D.M.A at Saint Xavier University in Chicago.  She gave it to me as an excellent way to practice a smooth phrase:

Take the phrase we used last time, “In the land of the living, I will walk with God all my days.”

• Take away the consonants, and now you are left with:    “I  e  a  o  e  i  i, i  i  a  i  o  a  y  a”     (In the land of the living, I will walk with God all my days).                                                                                                 
•  Have the choir pronounce the vowel sounds as they appear in the phrase (no  diphthongs):     i      uh    a     uh        uh  i   ee,      ah    i     aw    i     o    aw    ah    A  (In thuh land uhv thuh liveeng, Ah will wawk with God awll mah daze)

OK, get ready for mutiny….this takes a little time to master; visual handouts for the choir, or even the vowel sounds written on the board are essential; but what results!

• Now have the choir sing only the vowels on their correct pitches and then have them connect the vowels to each other, sing in a very legato manner to produce a smooth phrase.
• Finally, have them put the consonants back in (they’ll be soooo relieved), but lightly!  Just touch the consonants.

This is a wonderful way to get your choir to produce a lovely, smooth, truly unison phrase.  This same exercise is helpful for unlocking the breath.

….more later!

Music Education: Now the vowels….

Now that we’ve got the choir taking breaths simultaneously and completing phrases before taking the next breath, it’s time to move on to vowels.

Forming a unison vowel sound is harder than you think; before you even attempt to ask the choir to “enunciate”, you’d do well to make sure everyone’s vowel sounds are homogenous. The world we live in today is multicultural; the days of everybody in a community producing the same accent are over….besides, any trained singer will tell you that a spoken vowel is indeed produced differently when it is sung.  This student of the voice has learned to produce vowels, and can lead their choir in simple vowel exercises.  Be sure not to skip or be slack in this…remember, unison singing is far more than just all the voices of the choir singing the same part !

 A wonderful exercise next time……