How can a singer learn to pronounce T's and D's without
sounding like a snob? You may have never thought this would concern you. But
there it is -- something else for a singer to worry about! As if it wasn't
challenge enough to learn to make those perfect vowels your voice teacher has
been struggling to drill into you. Now you've got to look into your T's and D's
too?
This is one aspect of voice training where priorities differ
among the many vocal techniques I have studied. Most of the vocal techniques
I've encountered are "vowel-centric." Singing instructors tend to
concentrate on teaching perfect vowel sounds -- often to the exclusion of the
consonants.
Now, we do need the vowels to carry the tone but they tend
to get a disproportionate share of the attention. One of my many former vocal
coaches put it this way, "Serve up your vowels on a silver platter and
simply try to get through those pesky consonants until the next vowel comes
along and you can once again open up 'The Voice'.
I'm sorry to disagree, but if people didn't care about
understanding the words they wouldn't listen to songs!
Funny thing is, whenever I've encouraged my voice students
to simply enunciate more clearly, almost without exception, they target the
letters T and D to exaggerate but continue to ignore the rest of the
consonants. This, as you might imagine, makes the singing sound very contrived
-- like a faked British accent.
Our crazy mixed-up American English makes it difficult to
establish rules, especially when you take regional differences into
consideration. Therefore I've made up some of my own guidelines so we can at
least talk about them. But I cannot guarantee these recommendations I am going
to make will absolutely fit every person, every situation, and every region.
Keep an open mind and actually speak the examples aloud.
T is generally produced in two ways:
"Aspirated" T is a hissy sound made with a little
puff of air at the front of the teeth.
Use it:
1) At the start of a
phrase "Take your umbrella."
2) At the end of a
phrase preceded by a consonant or a vowel. "Make a list."
"Stopped" T sounds much like the letter D. Lightly
press your tongue against the ridges above and behind your front teeth and hold
briefly. It is the release that gives the letters their slight "pop."
Use it:
1) When T is followed
by a vowel. "I can not see."
2) When there are two
Ts together. "I won't tell."
An aspirated T in the last two examples would sound
contrived to American ears.
D is also a "stopped" consonant like the
"stopped" T described above. Its emphasis is determined by the length
of time you maintain the hold with your tongue.
Use it:
1) In the middle of a
phrase "No, I'm done here."
2) At the beginning
and end of phrases "Did you go?" "Yes, I did."
When you sing, your goal should be to make the words sound
conversational. This means a good mix of vowels and consonants. The T and D
sounds are the trickiest to generalize. Whatever you do, use caution to keep
them sounding natural. These examples don't cover all the many ways to approach
T and D in a lyric, but they are at least a start.
Nashville
vocal coach Renee Grant-Williams reveals the trade secrets that have already
helped hundreds of aspiring singers become celebrities: Tim McGraw, Martina
McBride, Dixie Chicks, Miley Cyrus, Huey Lewis, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill,
Jason Aldean, Christina Aguilera...
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