Being a Singer

The primary (round) vowel series ( |ʊ| |ə| |ɒ| ) may be modified by the addition of a ‘third resonator’ (temporary resonator) formed by setting up a resonant cavity bounded in front by the teeth, above by the front of the hard palate, and to the rear by the tongue. The tongue is positioned with the tip behind the lower teeth, forming a hump under the arch of the hard palate, the blade of the tongue being positioned somewhat vertically. The mouth cavity is thus divided into two chambers, the rear part being contiguous with the throat and the front being a thrird resonator. .

Sound from the cords, already shaped into one of the round-vowel family by the shape of the throat, enters this forward resonator in the gap between the raised middle part of the tongue and the hard palate (i.e. over the top of the tongue.) The relatively small front cavity acts on the primary sound to produce the typical high frequency components (Reinforcing 1st and adding 2nd formant) of the 'acute' or 'front' vowel.

The position of the tongue is adjusted to accommodate the incoming primary vowel. Closer to the teeth for |i|, further away from the teeth (larger cavity) for |a|. In the middle the result sounds |e|

ʊ is modified to ì: tongue almost vertical, close to teeth, very small 3rd resonator cavity.

ə is modified to ê: tongue slightly less vertical, slightly larger 3rd resonator cavity.

ɒ is modified to â: tongue only half-humped, relatively large 3rd resonator cavity.

Here are some examples, each running down the front vowel series:

• bead, bed, bad;
• hid, head, had;
• kid, ken, can;
• in, end, and.

You need to learn move seamlessly between ì and  . Remember that singing is not language, we don't always (or even usually) follow the strict linguistic pronounciations of words. The choice you make when choosing to use an |ì| or its close sibling |ê| is almost always a sonic choice rather than a linguistic one. This is dealt with later in more detail as well as on my YouTube vowel path analysis videos.