Of the Voice

Are there any tips that composers here can share for writing for the voice (choir or soloist, both OK). I'm not as concerned about ranges (low note, high note) for each, but more like things such as:

-lyric recognition towards the extremes of the range (eg: can the words be understood when that tenor's voice is a note away from cracking?)

-word sounds for held notes. ( I was just watching a program yesterday on PBS about famous songs for broadway/movies and stephen sondheim mentioned something about a *closed vowel sound sounding poor when held. Anything like that.)

-how long singers can be expected to sing continously for without rests in the music. Are short eighth rests adequate for regaining breath after a long passage (just to continue another similar one)?

-insert your question here

*im not sure that is exactly what he said but it was something similar. btw it was a discussion about "send in the clowns".

Hmm... well, I think I can answer some of your questions, though I'm not a trained vocalist.

As for myself, I can be understood fine at the top of my (very limited) bass range. It just sounds like crap. How you can be understood has more to do with how low or high the note is on the scale than the performer. If the top of the singers range is a C above high C or something, it's going to be very difficult to understand. Conversely, a bass is going to be difficult to understand a C below low C. Only very well trained singers can be expected to be expressive at such extremes. And having a duet of voices singing way up high is generally going to kill lyric recognition.

About word sounds, I don't know any hard and fast rules but in general, you aren't going to get a performer to hold a 'h' sound or something like that. It'll be mostly vowels, though z and n can be held out, but will sound nasally.

Singers can sing with no rests at all, and just breathe between measures. I don't know about individual notes.

Oh, and Sondheim is the genius of the universe.

Well, a lot of your questions truly do rely on the level of the singer.

I am a bass, and singing an octave below middle C is still very clear. I am in a barbershop quartet and a lot of the time I do have lyrics, but they can be heard perfectly. A lot of the time when a composer uses voices particularly high, they usually just use sounds instead of words e.g. Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Aria No.14 for solo soprano has a highly decorated melody that is very high, going 2 1/2 octaves above middle C. He is using a word but has just taken the "A" vowel and extended that, otherwise it would be far too difficult for any trained singer to do anything like that changing the vowel to much.

Another thing to note is that when singing high (especially for female voices) it is preferred to have a vowel sound as close to "A" as possible, "E's" are very hard to sing hhigh, and usually sound forced.

For word sounds, it will take a while to fully explain for someone to understand, so i'll give a few brief notes.

Vowels (I believe) are very important to singing. Vowels are not just controlled by your tounge, but by the position of your lips, resonating cavities and the throat muscles and area in your throat. Try now just singing an "Ah" sound, then slowly move your tounge around... you will be getting changes in timbre from different positions. One of the key things singers do is lifting their soft pallete (soft part on the roof of your mouth - slide your finger back across the roof of your mouth to feel it). When singing you get a far more resonant sound by lifting the pallete, snoring will help you lift it up.

A closed vowel for example would be the "nn" from the end of the word 'man', or "mm" from the word 'farm' and so on. An open vowel would be "ee" from the middle of 'heat' or "a" from the middle of 'part' and so on. When singing a sustained closed vowel, it sounds muffled and just not right, sing right now and you might be able to understand why. An open vowel is much more resonant and brighter.

As for breathing I think it has been adequately answered already. Singers would usually just take a breath between phrases. But sometimes composers don't want a breath to be taken and that is just marked by putting a slur between the notes. It is also good when the composers even goes through and slurs all the groups of notes he wants you to sing in a breath.

I hope this is helpfull, I might be able to make some recordings for you to give some examples of the vowels and theor sounds and effects.