XxImmortal_MachinexX
you don't need to sing it exactly right.as long as you know what it is and it sounds good,who cares.i'm gonna be a lead singer someday,so i felt the need to say this.
and you probably shouldn't say that professional singers get their vowels "wrong".i'm sure they know much more about it than you do.
The problem is that incorrect vowels sound bad. REALLY bad. In fact, I couldn't keep listening after someone royally screwed up the vowels in "High" in the first phrase the song. Listening to a certain Valjean's "oo" vowels just makes my skin crawl. When I teach, my students will absolutely not be singing their vowels that way.
And I hate. hate. HATE the idea that JUST because they are professionals means they know everything and can do no wrong. Yes, there is a right and a wrong way to handle vowels, and while it may not be emphasised as much in rock or pop it IS important in Les Miserables. And YES professional singers royally screw vowels up.
Considering I've been singing opera for three years and vowels are one of the first things I had to learn AND that I will absolutely get slammed in an audition if I do them poorly, I'd like to think I KNOW what I'm talking about. When I go to an All Shore audition, in the quartet my vowels have to be correct. When I go to college auditions, my diction and vowels have to be as close to perfection as possible just like every other aspect of the pieces. I need to know how to handle vowel sounds.
And I know from FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE that "ee" is just naturally more difficult to sing on a higher note. So I KNOW that when a Valjean goes up into falsetto it would be easier on EVERYONE, the singer included, if he didn't close to an "ee" before the very end of the note. Because "ee" is an evil, evil vowel sound and is DEATH on high notes.
Want to know my most irritating experience with the "ee" vowel? Bohemian Rhapsody! The high B flat is on the word "Me". You know, the line, "Bealzebub has a devil put aside for me"? And since a high B flat is a fairly difficult note for me to hit, and consonants just make things get ugly, AND "ee" is death on difficult notes, that part of the song was Hell for me. There was also a song that went up to a high note on "ee", and the vowel gave me a whole lot of trouble.
So, yes, I am fairly well acquainted with that nasty little vowel and I KNOW the first vowel sound in "high" is VASTLY easier to sing. Because I can hit any note in my range on that vowel sound.
I'm a fairly intelligent vocal student, so I KNOW what I'm talking about when it comes to technique. Opera and classical is the most technical style of music a vocalist can take on. If you don't have a solid understanding of everything from breathing to vowels to support to tone quality it isn't going to sound right.
Hence, I NEED to know about vowels if I want to go to college for music. Hence, I NEED to be able to pick up on vowels that need fixing since I plan to major in music education.
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