open vowel
- noun
- Specialized
:
vocal abierta
- Ask the singers to feel and hear the difference between singing a closed vowel and an open vowel in the upper singing range.
- a more open vowel
Examples
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During the warm-up, have the choir sing a variety of closed and open vowels - u and a, for example.
Academic text (2007) -
Less-experienced singers will have greater success if high pitches are accompanied by open vowels.
Academic text (2000) -
Does the closed vowel produce more strain on the voice than the open vowel?
Academic text (2007) -
In this situation, a more open vowel would help the singers produce a better tone with less vocal strain.
Academic text (2007) -
If the closed vowel produces negative vocal results, such as a strained vocal sound, work your way toward a more open vowel.
Academic text (2007) -
Instead of using the closed ee vowel for the words thee and we, modify the vowel by using a more open vowel, such as ih 1.
Academic text (2007) -
With its ample, open vowels, Appomattox sounded Greek, as though it belonged with the legendary battlefields we read about in World History: Salamis, Marathon, Thermopylae.
Academic text (2003) -
Singers often prefer using an open vowel to create a fuller sound during performances.
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Practicing with an open vowel helps vocalists improve their pronunciation and tone quality.
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Teachers encourage students to use an open vowel to achieve better clarity in their singing.
Synonyms
A speech sound made with the tongue low in the mouth, like the 'a' in 'cat'
How Open
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'open' (not closed / with a relatively open mouth) combined with 'vowel' (a voiced speech sound) yields a vowel produced with the mouth/tongue in a more open configuration. This is a transparent, cross-linguistically common descriptive label, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The term open vowel shows a simple picture: open means the mouth is wide and vowel means a voice 'sound'. So an open vowel is a 'sound' made with the tongue low and the mouth quite open.
