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Question for Singers

A friend claims that when a Broadway or opera singer's last high note in a piece is "me," it's always pronounced as "ma" for some vocal reason. Is this correct?

by Anonymousreply 28September 6, 2020 12:45 AM

No, absolutely not.

by Anonymousreply 1July 3, 2015 1:45 PM

That's correct. The "e" vowel is damaging to the vocal cords. It constricts and strains the vocal cords.

by Anonymousreply 2July 3, 2015 1:46 PM

You have no idea what you're talking about r2.

by Anonymousreply 3July 3, 2015 1:48 PM

Dame Edna opened her last Bway solo show with a song called, "It's all about me!"

She clearly sang it Meeee!

by Anonymousreply 4July 3, 2015 2:00 PM

That is one technique, yes. The shape of the vowel sound in the throat has an impact on tone production and timbre, especially for notes in extremely high part of the vocal range. Restrictive, nasal vowels like "ee" are hard to sing pleasantly at extreme pitch and volume, so singers are taught to cheat the vowel sound and mix in as much of an open vowel ("ah" is a good example) as necessary to make tone production easier without it sounding ridiculous.

Rimsky-Korsakov also talks about it in his book on orchestration, even going so far as to say that lyrics should be modified so that high notes for women are sung on an "i" vowel, and men should stick to the "ah" vowel.

One notorious exception to this is Idina Menzel, who has worked with her vocal coach on a new technique that is basically speaking on pitch. She does not modulate many of her vowel sounds, if any at all. This is the reason many people from the Broadway threads will tell you that they think her voice sounds screechy. It's amazing she got through Wicked with a voice left at all, and now she's influencing (more like influenzaing) a while new generation of singers, SMDH

by Anonymousreply 5July 3, 2015 2:03 PM

Look Ma, no mes!

by Anonymousreply 6July 3, 2015 2:31 PM

For me, for me, for me. For MEEEEEEEEE!

by Anonymousreply 7July 3, 2015 2:33 PM

R2 is ABSOLUTELY correct! I've known singers whose careers have been sidelined because of an excessive ee, not to mention their health. It is extremely dangerous.

by Anonymousreply 8July 3, 2015 2:42 PM

I used to take voice lessons back in the day, and my teachers actually suggested "may" instead of, say, "me"; the posters are correct about the "e" sound not being great for the voice. I sang at a church for a couple of seasons; the very sharp 80-year old organist "doubled" as my coach, and chided me for picking the song "He"!

by Anonymousreply 9July 3, 2015 3:08 PM

[quote] and now she's influencing (more like influenzaing)

Mary!

by Anonymousreply 10July 3, 2015 3:14 PM

"With one look, I'll be MAAAAY" Glenn Close "With one look, I'll be MEEEEEEE" Patti LuPone Does that answer your question?

by Anonymousreply 11July 3, 2015 3:14 PM

It's gonna be May!

by Anonymousreply 12July 3, 2015 3:17 PM

Yes--another example is Sutton Foster pronouncing her last "Astonishing" as "astonishAng" in this song.

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by Anonymousreply 13July 3, 2015 3:40 PM

There is no one answer. Vowel modifications are usually to help power and tone. Musical Theatre doesn't always place that above understanding the world where opera usually does. With good placement and support you can get power on an ee on a high note, especially when you're young. It gets harder as you get older. DL fave Betty Buckley certainly sang " ME" in He Plays The Violin when she was young, but modified the end of With One Look.

See around 2:23

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by Anonymousreply 14July 3, 2015 3:43 PM

You also have no idea what you're talking about r8. Entire schools of teaching are based on "i" in the classical world of singing, including Italian and German. Not going to bother arguing, none of you have a clue.

by Anonymousreply 15July 3, 2015 3:46 PM

It's not true of Broadway singers, if you mean people like Ethel Merman. It's true of opera singers, but only on really high notes. At the end of an aria in Gianni Schicchi, Puccini has the tenor go up to a high B flat on the eee vowel, knowing no tenor would want to do it. You get a variety of responses. Some tenors do sing eee. Most try to effect a compromise, with something between eee and aaah. I think Puccini meant it as a joke on tenors, as the Italian public, at least, would be aware of the problem from opera singing in general.

by Anonymousreply 16July 3, 2015 3:54 PM

Depends on the style. Musical theater pinches notes for dramatic effect, it's speak-singing. I'm a classically trained opera singer and my voice teacher always told me you should hear buzzing in your head, when you've hit the note in the right place, as you've properly rolled it up and over your palette. Also, while accents tend to be lost while singing, German will sound slightly different than Italian, Latin than French or English, etc.

by Anonymousreply 17July 3, 2015 4:01 PM

R17 I meant [palate]. You should not have a pallette in your throat.

by Anonymousreply 18July 3, 2015 4:03 PM

I am a musical theater expert, and no Broadway singer in their right mind would hold a high note long "e". You might as well commit suicide on stage. Ask Patti LuPone's understudy!

by Anonymousreply 19July 3, 2015 5:43 PM

Utter nonsense r19 who seems to be a self appointed expert. Training dear, it's all down to vocal training. If you look after the way your voice is produced you'll have a long career.

by Anonymousreply 20July 3, 2015 6:10 PM

WRONG, R19. I'll give you an example. In the mid 1970's, pop singer Connie Francis was set to make a come-back starring in a stage revival of Hello dolly. She was only used to recording in a studio or on a TV set, so when she rehearsed on stage for the first time and tried to belt out a high note with a long "me" in a large theater, her vocal chords snapped! Her voice was shot and she never fully recovered. Her last charting song was in 1973. Pearl Bailey took the Hello Dolly role.

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by Anonymousreply 21July 4, 2015 5:35 PM

I sang in choirs for years and they always had us drop our jaws when singing anything that had a long 'e' sound. It becomes a mix of 'ay' and 'eh' but sounds enough like 'ee' without being pinched and unpleasant.

by Anonymousreply 22July 4, 2015 6:16 PM

It depends on the singer's training, their voice type, and how high the note is. Some voice types love the E vowel (tenors, for example, usually do very well with Es even on high notes). Some hate the E vowel (baritones never sing a pure E on a high note). Some sopranos do and some don't, depending on how much of a stickler their teacher was on pure vowels. Most singers will modify, to varying degrees, and closed vowel, such as an E, on higher notes.

by Anonymousreply 23July 4, 2015 6:27 PM

R16, it's not true of opera singers. Here's Richard Tucker, one of the great tenors, singing the example you name with no modification at all on the "ee." He sang for 30 years with almost no decline in his abilities. At 2:40:

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by Anonymousreply 24July 4, 2015 7:23 PM

I read this as "Question for Swingers".

by Anonymousreply 25July 4, 2015 8:16 PM

R5 So we have finally discovered the secret of why every May we get the "It's Gonna Be May" Nsync memes.

by Anonymousreply 26July 4, 2015 8:35 PM

NSYNC had a song "It's gonna be may" that I sing every April 30th.

by Anonymousreply 27September 6, 2020 12:11 AM

Sheena Easton has taken to singing "For your eyes onlAy."

by Anonymousreply 28September 6, 2020 12:45 AM
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