Refining your articulation and vowel formation with Heidi Vass
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Two Week Intensive on refining your articulation and vowel formation. In the next two weeks, you will be asked to read, watch, practice and post! One of the best features of the two week intensive is your ability to get actionable feedback! As you are working your way through the course, take advantage of the interactive features of the TWI, by posting videos of yourself and asking questions in the forum. I am happy to respond with written and sometimes even filmed advice that is specific to YOU! There will also be an opportunity to hop on a ZOOM session with me on July 1st at 11am PST. I will be there to answer any questions you may have about the assignments and your vocal music journey, in general.
DAY 1: Introduction
Goal: Define and understand the terms, anatomy and process.
Watch: TWI: Introduction
Read: TWI: Refining Your Articulation and Vowel Formation Concepts
Day 2: Clarifying Vowel Sounds
Watch: TWI: Clarifying Vowel Sounds
IPA Italian Vowel Chart:
Curwen Hand Signs for Solfege (as mentioned in the video)
Practice:
Work on your formation for the [a] vowel.
Vocalize 1: 5-note pentatonic scale (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1) on the [a] vowel.
Record yourself singing the vocalize and check your work.
Post your recording to this forum for feedback!
BONUS: practice curwen hand signs for solfege
Day 3: The Closed Tongue Position [i] vowel
Watch: TWI: a-i
Practice:
Work on your formation for the [i] vowel.
Vocalize 1: 5-note pentatonic scale (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1) on the [i] vowel.
Vocalize 2: Double 5-note pentatonic scale (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1) on the [i] vowel first, then on the [a] vowel
note: you can take a breath between vowels or challenge yourself to do the entire thing in one breath.
To make the exercise more challenging slow it down.
Vocalize 3: 1-2-3-2-1 with an [a-i] vowel switch on each pitch
note: concentrate on keeping the vowels pure and distinct from one another.
Record yourself singing the vocalizes and check your work.
Post your recording to this forum for personalized feedback!
Day 4: PRACTICE
Take time today to review the shifts between the [a] and the [i] vowel.
Sing the exercises from day 3 and add the following:
Vocalize 4: Sing each vowel on a sustained tone in your middle voice (choose a pitch that is comfortable)
Alternate between the [a] and [i] vowels on your sustained notes.
Record yourself
Listen back and see if you maintained the same vowel.
TIP! as you are singing your sustained tone, rethink the vowel over and over again - mentally restating the vowel as you "hold" "grow", "engage," "develop..." the note.
Day 5: The Intermediary Vowel [e]
Watch: TWI: The Intermediary Vowel
Practice:
Review vocalizes 1-4
Move the tongue through the [i-e-a], [a-e-i] positions.
Vocalize 5: Sing the descending pentatonic scale (5-4-3-2-1) three times singing through the [i], then [e], then[a] positions.
note: if you are an advanced singer, you can multi-task with this exercise and add a challenge for the breath by including appoggio work (keep the rib cage out the whole time and only release through the abs for the breaths in between the vowels). We will cover this in the live ZOOM session.
Day 6: Practice
Take time today to review the shifts between the [a], [e] and [i] vowels.
Sing Vocalizes 1-5
Record yourself singing the vocalizes and check your work.
Post your recording to this forum for personalized feedback!
Day 7: The Lip Vowels
Watch: TWI: Lip Vowels
Practice:
Move the Lips through the [u- o- Ɔ], [Ɔ -o- u] positions.
Vocalize 6: Sing the descending pentatonic scale (5-4-3-2-1) three times singing through the [u], then [o], then [Ɔ] positions.
Vocalize 7: Octave leaps (1-8-1) [u-Ɔ-u]
Experiment with the closed-open-closed lip and tongue vowel movements
Day 8: Practice
Take time today to review the shifts between the tongue [i,e,a] and lip [u- o- Ɔ] vowels.
Sing Vocalizes 1-7
Record yourself singing the vocalizes and check your work.
Post your recording to this forum for personalized feedback!
Day 9: Mixing Vowels
Watch: TWI: Mixing Vowels
Practice:
Review vocalizes 1-7
Vocalize 8: sing the following pattern 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, 4-2, 1 on [i- e- a- o- u]
TIP! As with the Basic Vowel Switches, this exercise works best in the middle-range.
Day 10: Practice
Find a piece in Italian that you want to work on for the application
Take time today to review the shifts between the tongue [i,e,a] and lip [u- o- Ɔ] vowels.
Sing Vocalizes 1-8
Record yourself singing the vocalizes and check your work.
Post your recording to this forum for personalized feedback!
Day 11: ZOOM CHECK IN!!
Hop into the zoom call at 11amPST to go through a live demonstration and group diction workout. Be prepared with any questions you may have!
Topic: TWI: Refining your articulation and vowel formation with Heidi Vass Check-In Time: Jul 1, 2024 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89709667959
Meeting ID: 897 0966 7959
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Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kzbICWNf5
Day 12: Application
Watch: TWI: Application
P
Practice:
1. Choose a piece of music in Italian.
2. Write in the IPA for the vowels
3. sing vowel-to-vowel on each phrase (omitting the consonants)
Day 13: Record and Post
Record a sample of your technical work on your application piece (like "Amarilli" in the application video)
Post it to the forum
Compliment your colleagues on the wonderful work they are doing in this course!!
Day 14: Tips for Training
Watch: TWI: Tips for Training
In our last day of this challenge, learn how vowels and vowel-consonant combinations can help you define your resonance space and train your intonation.
Congratulations on completing this Two Week Intensive. I hope you have enjoyed the process and learned about the formation and importance of pure vowels. As always, if you have any questions or are looking for direct feedback on your work, do not hesitate to post questions or videos and in the practice diary or general questions of the forum. I am always here to help and encourage you on your musical journey. Happy Singing!
- Heidi
113 replies
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DAY 4 Vocalise
Just seeing the previous days' comments as I record this video.
Here are the things I am going to add extra attention to:
-Singing through until past the end of the phrase
-Pure vowels at the top.
Today I decided for consistency's sake to try to stay true to doing the exercise in the middle of my range. I decided to practice from D4 to D5.
I am sitting down for this- Because it made me be able to reach the keyboard notes better. I was getting a bit distracted searching for the same one each time.
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Hi everyone! Here is My day 5 Vocalise 5.
Ok sorry if my face looks a bit creepy LOL , But after I saw one of 's comments yesterday about keeping the face uplifted, I wanted to try this or "energize the cheeks" as I read in a technique book the other day. I did notice that this helped my tongue stay higher so it made it easier to have more clearly defined vowels especially [ e and 3 ] which I tend to muddle in general. I did notice that in a few of the scales my e tended towards 3 and vice versa.
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Here is my Day 6. I originally filmed more vocalises but I decided to just post a video of the vowels that I am focusing more on ( e and 3) I do notice that my jaw was feeling a bit tighter during these when I was focusing on the vowel sound and shape.
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Hi Everyone! Here are my day 7 videos. In vocalise 6, after practicing a bit, I decided to record my middle down to lower voice, because I recorded during morning-ish and as a soprano, my low voice was feeling pretty open today :D
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Day 7:
I've been recording [u, o, É”], and find myself getting hung up on the [o]; I keep hearing it obscured. Here's my best take so far:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jp6sPl9RKxhY9BNRSlImxRY9IZOb-1ac/view?usp=sharing
I'm looking into a mirror while singing, trying to ensure proper vowel formation.
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And here I am on the [u] to [É”] octave leap,
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aMJVy954Sfpx5U9rKZOc1kH--AHSHdVU/view?usp=sharing
Breaking into falsetto got my smile muscles involved!
Heidi, watching the Bel Canto laryngeal registration videos has me wondering: if sopranos sing mostly in head voice and hence have to train and strengthen it, using the edges of the vocal chords, why shouldn't men do the same? Why should sopranos and countertenors have all the fun? I would love to extend my range up, and I've spent years singing falsetto as a first tenor in choirs, but so far my voice teachers have told me to only sing in falsetto as an exercise rather than using it in solo repertoire, and I'm back to singing baritone in choir and for solo rep; Derrick Goff seems to imply the same thing in his part of the laryngeal registration lesson.
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Happy Friday my singing friends!
Here is just a small clip of my Vocalise Revision Today.
I did think about these three things from 's Comments (Thank you so much, these helped a lot)
- Keeping breath underneath
-More vertical orientation of mouth
- Relaxed inhalation
I felt today I was truly able to be a bit more aware of my tongue, and made a lot of improvements in the lip not being triggered to move by each lip vowel. In other words was feeling greater independence of lips and tongue today.
I also felt more of the concept of the "morphing vowel" as I think I heard about in the Beau Soir video by Heidi and Cheryl. Before I was thinking about this in the context of tongue vowels, but today I definitely felt it on the spectrum of lip vowels as well.
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Day 9, a longer take:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7qwOXqGsz7QdIxEQsrj69O9bFzC5UTW/view?usp=sharing