Understanding Double Formant Vowels

The primary understanding that double formant vowels are derived from the single formant vowels is fundamental for one to achieve their successful exploitation in developing the perfect tone. An [u] is present in the [i]. This assertion that [i] and [u] are primarily the same sound is evident in French and German where this relationship is demonstrated commonly. For example the [y] sounds used in French tu, du, and the German u umlaut; English only uses this sound in the pronunciation of the letter q, and words like cute, or puke. Therefore, the use of this sound in English is fairly rare by comparison.

When we teach the [y] sound, we tell the singers to form and [u] and to say [i], juxtaposing the two sounds to create the [y]. When we tell a singer to introduce the [i], the singer will raise the tongue and excite the acoustic phenomenon of the double-formants. So, the employment of the tongue must be embraced if a singer wants to learn how to sing [i], [I], [e], [ɛ], and [æ]. The laryngeal position of the [u] must be maintained. Approaching the bright vowels in this manner will give the singer the ability to warm all bright vowels and brighten all warm vowels without disturbing the steady employment of benoulli's principle. This physical reality gives me the impression that the teacher or singer who introduced the concept of chiaro-oscuro

to the vernacular of singing was dead on. Try out these vowels if you are sure you can eliminate abdominal leverage before the tone, and know how maintain the laryngeal position of a non-lipped [u] sound ("coke bottle [u]" as Cornelius Reid has coined it).

Say these sounds in a speaking tone with quick gestures of utterance, freeze while silencing the sound before initializing the final consonant. Then, note the position of the tongue.

Keep checking the [i] to see if you can say [u] from the same laryngeal position by dropping the tongue for the [u], and visa-versa for the [i].

[i] has the highest tongue position

[ɛ] is medial

[a] is at the bottom, flat and slightly grooved

Some teachers teach the tongue to be in one position, and will argue that a flat tongue is tense because it suggests the employment of the milo-hyoid. This is wrong. The tongue has to be flat for [a].

To the contrary and perhaps more appropriately, any method that calls for the support of the tone with diaphragmatic leverage before the onset of sound will create tongue tension (milo-hyoid). It very likely will impede the development of these vowels sounds as it to some extent locks the tongue's position and introduces the detrimental gesture of stabilizing the larynx with the employment of the milo-hyoid (swallowing) muscle. Hence, support gestures impede the free movement of the tongue, making it problematic for the student to learn to sing pure vowel sounds in the middle voice. Remember Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Singers shut the door on the use of double formant vowels by assuming that common support techniques are correct and irrefutable. You can ask anybody how to sing, and they will tell you that "you have to sing from the diaphragm". If this approach to singing is correct and in that it is so well understood to so many, why are there so few "very good" singers? And why don't we have the quality singing today that was prevalent in the mid-twentieth century?

Give up support rhetoric and learn how to use the tongue like a rudder in the stream of flowing tone. Develop all of your vowels inside of this stream. This way you can teach yourself a tone that is equally responsive to warmth as it is to brightness; as the concept of effort and leverage dissolve, and acoustical realities, and vocal ease emerge.