September 22, 2016

Davids- Ch. 5-6

I think it is very important to understand tongue placement in relation to vowel formation and this chapter does a good job of illustrating this. While jaw position is also a factor of vowel formation, I think it is important not to focus too much on the jaw, unless of course there is evident jaw issues. Jaw tension and overuse is very common, especially in untrained singers, therefore discussing how it should move in relation to each vowel can lead to unwanted tension. In other words, the jaw can get in the way of free singing. Desired jaw position is entirely dependant on the individual singer so it is difficult to say exactly how much it should or shouldn’t open. It is perhaps more productive to think of the jaw being relatively uninvolved, opening down and back, with the natural flow of the text. Any kind of extraneous movement, such as jutting the jaw forward, can cause unnecessary tension.

While Davis believes the (u) vowel is one of the most difficult vowel sounds to master, I would argue it is one of the easier vowels as its position is closed and more easily felt forward in the mouth. To inexperienced singers, this would feel more natural than open vowels like (a) or (o) which can run more of a risk of becoming swallowed and trapped too far back in the mouth. This statement, of course, is based on personal experience and could vary from singer to singer.

I think it is very important to remember when reading this text, or any text, that it is only a guideline. Applying this knowledge depends entirely on the individual voice(s) you are working with. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the scientific jargon in this text and forget that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to teaching singing.