THE VOICE LESSON - MEN

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The reason vowels like "oh" like "foe" and "oo" like "new", and sounds like "goog" work to get a singer from chest voice to head voice, is because of the principle of vowel narrowing. Narrowing a vowel helps the vocal cords make their proper adjustments, which in turn moves the resonance higher in the head. It does this by lightening the load of the vocal cords. Here are some examples of vowel narrowing. Let's take the vowel "ah" as in father. Sung incorrectly, on an arpeggio from B to F sharp in the middle of the first bridge, it sounds like this - play example: 13 (Real Player) Play example: 13(Mp3 format) This time, to sing it correctly, we'll narrow the vowel to "uh," like fudge - Play example: 14 (Real Player) Play example: 14 (Mp3 format) Can you hear how the narrow vowel released the singer into his head voice? Let's pretend that didn't work. We could then use the sound "oo" as in "foot" - play example: 15 (Real Player)
Play example: 15 (Mp3 format)

The vowel was narrowed from "ah" as in "father", to "uh" as in "mother", and then from" uh" as in "mother", to "oo" as in "foot". The more narrow the vowel, the easier access into the head voice. Now let's use an "a" vowel as in "faith". Sung incorrectly, it sounds like this - play example: 16 (Real Player)
Play example: 16 (Mp3 format) Again, the sound is a broad, splat vowel, which is more like a yell than singing. Virtually no dynamic control is available to the singer. This is because the strain on the vocal cords, as a result of a splat-broad vowel, prevented them from making their correct adjustments. This held the tone in the mouth, which is not the appropriate resonator for the F sharp in the middle of the first bridge. Now let's have our singer approach the "a" vowel, as in the word "faith", as if he had an Irish accent. Listen to the word "faith' spoken with an Irish accent
-play example: 17 (Real Player) Play example: 17 (Mp3 format)

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