CAMPBELL’S VOWEL MOVEMENT
Dr. Don R. Campbell
GOALS FOR THE CLASS—We all tend to get into the warm-up rut. Even the best warm-ups can get old after a while. However, the problem is not necessarily boredom. The more debilitating problem is that our singers (and maybe even we) don’t know what the purpose is for each warm-up we do. We just grind through not really paying any attention to the actual sound being made. Furthermore, if we use a piano, we are 1) not really able to hear how the warm-ups really sound and 2) the singers end up mimicking the sound of the piano rather than a natural, freely-produced vocal sound. The main thrust of this session is to demonstrate a voice building process that can be done without the use of the piano. So . . . we will:
- Develop a practical rationale for warm-ups
- Define essential areas to be covered in warm-ups
- Discover practical, useful, unaccompanied warm-ups that focus on the essential areas so the conductor can listen rather than using the piano as a crutch.
Singing preparation involves many areas.
- This is the area we normally think of when we do think of warm-ups. Much is involved in the process and with the time allowed, we will do the best we can. This area includes posture (reminders about), breath management (intake and outgo), tone, vowel concepts, registers, etc.
- Vocal fold approximation. “Approximation” is how the folds come together. Complete closure is needed with freedom in the intrinsic and extrinsic neck muscles.
Resonance
Length of the tube
Good glottal closure
Appropriate space or formant in the mouth for the selected vowel
Vowel shaping and matching
How does this differ from “blend?”
I try not to use the word, “blend.”
The focus is on the vowel unity—not subjugating yourself and your sound to the whole. You are contributing to the overall sound of the group.
III. Vowel Continuum—these are not all the vowels on the continuum. However, they are the most useful in the choral settings and deal with the placement of the tongue and the lips. Above the line, the vowel is created by changes in the tongue. Below the line, the tongue is in the [a] position and the lips are the major change agent. In producing the vowels, the tip of the tongue always touches the back of the bottom front teeth.
Basic Vowels Extended Vowels
[i] [i]
[I] [I]
[ɛ] [e]
[ə] [ɛ]
[a] [ə]
———- [a]
[o] ———-
[u] [ɑ]
[o] [u]
Below is a description of how each vowel is produced. I’m describing the “Basic” list. The “Extended” list has vowels that are between the descriptions of the “Basic.”
[i] This is the “ee” sound. With the tip of the tongue touching the back of the bottom front teeth, bring the middle back of the tongue up toward the back of the hard palate. To have a good [i] it must be very high or it will sound like an [I]. If it is not high enough, it will not achieve the “singers ring” that William Vennard describes in his book, SINGING: the Mechanism and the Technic.
[I] This is the “ih” sound. Do everything in the [i] directions, but infinitesimally move the back of the tongue down. If you drop too far, it will sound too much like the [ɛ]. The sound should have a ringing quality similar to the [i]. I say there should be “ee-ness” in the “ih.”
[ɛ] This is the “eh” sound. Do everything in the [I] directions, but infinitesimally move the back of the tongue down. If you drop too far, it will sound too much like the [ᴧ]. The sound should have a ringing quality similar to the [I].
[ə] This is the “uh” sound. Do everything in the [ɛ] directions, but infinitesimally move the back of the tongue down. If you drop too far, it will sound too much like the [a]. The tongue is quite relaxed and should not be pressed down. The sound should have a ringing quality similar to the [ɛ].
[a] This is the “ah” sound. Do everything in the [ᴧ] directions, but infinitesimally move the back of the tongue down. If you drop too far, it will sound pressed and tight. Keep the sensation of ring.
[o] This is the “oh” sound. Maintain the [a] tongue placement, but bring the lips forward in a rounded way. Do not change the tongue placement. Some books say that the tongue should pull back some, but I have not found that helpful in the chorus situation because singers will invariably pull it back too far and give the tone a “swallowed” sound.
[u] This is the “oo” sound. Maintain the [a] tongue placement, but bring the lips even more forward into a pucker. Do not change the tongue placement as in the [o] for the same reason.
Vowel Unity—
- The main problem with vowel unity is four-fold. First, to combat the laziness of many amateur singers, conductors tell their singers to open their mouths. The problem is that the people-pleasers who already have their mouths too far, open them even farther. The lazy ones weren’t paying attention and don’t bother to make any changes anyway.
- Second, conductors say, “I need a pure ‘ee’ sound (or ‘ih,’ or ‘eh,’ etc.).” But they rarely ever define it and people have so many different dialects. Some of the dialects are geographical and others are generational. Remember, singing is to talking like dancing is to walking! Most speech patterns in the U.S. do not bring the tongue up high enough on [i], [I], [ɛ], and [ə] to create the ring necessary in good singing.
- We must listen to our singers. Know what sound you want and insist that everyone agree. One singer not placing the tongue correctly will destroy the sense of unity. You may have to go too far in your descriptions to get the tongue/vowel in the right place for the vowel to ring.
- Diphthongs create a whole set of problems. Because of time constraints, suffice it to say that you must determine what you want the main target vowel sound to be. That sound should come from the Basic Vowels.
In the exercises that follow, remember to listen closely to the sound you are getting. The tendency will be to allow the tongue to drop too far when moving from the [i] to any other vowel because the adjustments are very small. Remember also that with all the vowels, the tip of the tongue must remain touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
Begin with the [i]. Have the singers say [i]. They will not bring the tongue up high enough to get the ring. You may have to insist the tongue go higher. When they finally acquiesce, rejoice! Now demonstrating for them by singing the [i] (correctly!) on 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1. Have them try. Prepare for the reality that they will probably revert to an [I]. Lovingly remind of the tongue placement. Move up by half-steps.
Begin with the [i]. Go up four scale degrees on quarter notes then sing [I] on the fifth and return by scale degrees to “do.” In the initial stages, the singers will tend to drop too far on the [I]. You will be able to tell by the absence of the ring. Tell them to put more “ee” in the “ih.”
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
[i]___________[I]______________
Continue with the pattern of #3 using [ɛ], and [ᴧ]. If you don’t hear the ring in the sound, they are dropping the tongue too far. Tell them to put more “ee-ness” in the sound. By doing so, they should bring to tongue up far enough to create the ring.
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
[i]___________[ ɛ]______________
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
[i]___________[ə]______________
Continue with the pattern of #3 using [a]. With the [a], the problem with dropping the tongue too far is that because singers have been told to always open their mouths, many open too far and additionally press the tongue down creating tension that also affects the vocal folds. If the tongue would remain at the comfortable and relaxed [ᴧ] place and simply drop the jaw a little more, the proper [a] will be created.
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1
[i]___________[a]______________
Below the line (———-) in the Vowel Continuum (p. 3) are the vowels [o] and [u]. Both vowels use rounded lips to create the sounds. There is a tendency to pull the tongue back. Keep the tip of the tongue touching the back of the bottom front teeth. For the [o], bring the lips in a round shape rather than a sideways football shape. For the [u], the lips must be pursed as if preparing to kiss. You could do the exercise below at multiple pitch levels while always monitoring for a rich, ringing sound. Look for signs of tension in the singers.
1 3 5 8 5 3 1 3 5 8 5 3 1 3 5 8 5 3 1
[a]__________________[o]__________________ [u]____________________
The above exercises are the starting points for the development of a unified vowel sound. While establishing the technique, it is unwise to get too tricky with the vocalises because the singers need to focus their attention on production. As the singers progress, there are several other scales and melodies that are helpful.
Balance—Each pitch of the chord has a different function depending on whether it is a root, third, fifth, or seventh. Roots and fifths should be stronger than the thirds and sevenths. Thirds are either slightly higher or lower than equal temperament depending on whether it is in the melody driving the melody forward (higher) or part of the chord (lower). The flat seventh is slightly lower than equal temperament to allow the chord to ring.
For Mixed Voices—Start with the basses on C3, tenors on G3, the altos on C4, and the sopranos on E4. It is placed low for the women, but the purpose is balance, not range extension. You can move up or down by half steps.
Soprano MI MI FA FA MI
Alto DO DO DO TI DO
Tenor SOL TE LA SOL SOL
Bass DO SOL FA RE DO
For men’s voices—start in B flat.
For women’s voices—start anywhere from A with the lowest voices on A3 to C4.
For mixed voices—have the sopranos and sing on the treble clef but at the octave lower as noted and have the tenors and basses sing on the bass clef line.
-DRC
