Core Pronunciation: Vowel resonance

My colleague, Angelina VanDyke, a vocal music instructor and performing artist, has been helping me develop a new "resonance" protocol. Here are four random Youtube videos that illustrate the basic concepts that we are working with. (The final EHIEP protocol will probably involve all three with appropriate bridges, haptic anchoring and pedagogical movement patterns.) Each focuses pedagogically on vowel resonance, but, of course, does several other things at the same time. The first  is the lip trill or "motor boating,"  exercise. In addition to loosening up everything, it does an especially good job of anchoring vowel resonance in the front of the face. (That one really works!) This classic voice exercise, focuses on 'ng,' the velar nasal at the back of the throat, focusing on resonance back "there." The third exercise does an especially good job of promoting felt sense of upper chest resonance. This video (from an unlikely "energy" source . . . ) shows one form of simple thumping action, without singing a, low pitch, resonant vowel triad at the same time. Add that to this and you get the general idea for the third piece of the protocol . . . and even the spirit of the EHIEP logo over there on the right!

Core pronunciation: Rhythm

This is the first of three posts on the somatic (body-based) centers of HICP work. The second will be on vowel resonance; the third, on pitch or speech melody. Each post will be accompanied by a great Youtube video that you can either dance or sing along with to develop the better awareness of relevant body movement or "good vibrations" that are part of each overall pedagogical movement pattern (PMP). There is simply no better place to begin than with Latin ballroom dancing . . . (If you have a Wii or Kinect system, you probably have a few dance routines already like this one!) The basic core muscle contraction and hip movement in the video--done a little more unobtrusively, of course--is a good introduction to the felt sense of English rhythm. Most of the protocols in the training phase of EHIEP instruction include some degree of conscious attention to core and hip motion. (This exercise is for instructor training only--unless, of course, you are teaching in Brazil or thereabouts!) A couple of times through the 7-minute video and you got it. A month or so of regular practice and you are beach-enabled!

A speaking warm up (for imaginative, creative native speaking instructors with a little extra time on their hands only!)

One of the "advantages" of being a native speaker--or highly advanced level L2 speaker--is that you can benefit from warming up reading out loud decontextualized, near-nonsense sentences, focusing, for example, on vowels and consonants. It is a well-established, highly effective practice in public speaking. In Lessac's exercises he includes that type of work as well. You can quickly enhance the felt sense and resonance of the voice, along with sharpening articulation and clarity of speech, by producing dozens and dozens of words containing all the vowels and consonants of the language.

The nonnative speaker, of course, has a least a couple of problems with that approach. The sentences are often designed to be vaguely humorous but generally opaque, although the creative native speaker can probably visualize the scene or quickly come up with an imagined context for the isolated sentence. The pronunciation of some of the words may not even be obvious to the native speaker--without the presence words with similar vowels or consonants nearby--let along for the nonnative.

Clip art: Clker

That approach is doubly problematic for HICP work in that the focus is almost exclusively on language that the learner has at least some possibility of using in conversation or at least hearing it in some context. Hence the need for a very different approach in developing good warm ups and attempting to change a quite restricted set of vocabulary initially. In effect, the emphasis is on word change, not generalized vowels or consonants.  Haptic anchoring is highly effective in setting up new pronunciation of individual words, phrases and sentences. The research on haptic memory confirms that those should then become the reference points for figuring out and remembering both the meaning and pronunciation of new words as well. Without anchoring meaning, however, it is another matter.

So, for refinement of your current classroom speaking model, I might still recommend (1) get your body ready (Follow instructions in the recent post of "Perfect Form" in HICP work) and then (2) a traditional "nonsense-sentence" warm up like the one linked above for some, especially those without formal training in public speaking. Try it daily for a couple of weeks, recording it occasionally and reviewing it for clarity and dialect consistency--and to get used to monitoring your speech model a bit more dispassionately. Your voice will thank you. So will your students. 

The David Alan Stern system: A step up! (and a step down!)

I have been meaning to acknowledge the work of David Alan Stern for some time now. For several years, beginning about 25 years ago, I used aspects of his system in accent reduction work quite successfully. Were I still doing that kind of work, I'd probably still be using some of his more recent dialect materials. His novel kinaesthetic/somatic approach involves many of the same principles as HICP--without the haptic emphasis. On his FAQ page are two fascinating questions which are linked to audio recordings of his answers:

"Why muscularity and resonance before pronunciation?"

"Why melody and rhythm changes before pronunciation work?"

Muscularity (range of movement and flexibility), resonance (throughout the vocal apparatus), melody (intonation) and rhythm before pronunciation? What he means by "pronunciation" is basically sounds practiced in context, once the essential preliminaries have been taught. In EHIEP we essentially work on those four "up front" also (haptically, rather than just kinaesthetically) in almost the same order,  just reversing rhythm and intonation.  Stern's signature technique, "step up and/or down" (literally) in learning intonation contours and some expressive elements, consistently produced excellent results. Although Stern's method is not as generally "adaptable" (or as efficient in anchoring) as EHIEP it is still very good stuff--a STEP UP from most!

Your vowels are within you . . .

Clip art: 

Clker

In many religious and meditative traditions, vowels have distinct character, quality and (often incredible) impact. In spoken English vowels do retain some subtle phonaesthetic qualities, as noted in earlier posts, but nothing comparable to those that form the basis of the great chakras and chants. (Not even backward build up drill or Jazz Chants) This video provides a nice introduction to the central role of vowels in that context. (Here is a bit more "analytic" and almost entertaining presentation of some of the same concepts.)

 When we work with the concept of the "felt sense" of a sound, we are working somewhere near the other end of the intensity continuum from the settings of those vowels, but a rich experience of resonance and the momentary, conscious situating of the "feeling" of a vowel someplace in the body is essentially the same goal. Here is one case where today's (over)emphasis (in my humble opinion) on metacognition in pronunciation teaching may just be on the right track. Got a vowel problem? Try meditating on it.

To resonate or not to resonate . . .

clip art:
Clker

All  effective voice training systems are based on the concept of using body resonance for anchoring, that is the "feeling" of sounds, not simply what come back through the ears from what we speak (which is of relatively little use for the most part.) Here is the engaging website of "The Voice Guy." It does an especially good job of explaining body resonance and how to develop it in three areas: (a) general  resonance in the head and throat, (b)  chest-focus resonance and, (c) the highly concentrated "Y-buzz" (see earlier posts on Lessac's model.)

The richer and more sensual the learner's experience of the sounds being learner or "adjusted," the better. And when that felt sense is linked with haptic anchoring, as in HICP/EHIEP work, it is almost too much like fun . . .

The felt sense of a new or "replacement" vowel: Y-buzz and beyond

Clip art: 

Clker

The first phase of EHIEP training is involved with haptically anchoring the vowels of English. Even if the learner "has" a vowel already in his or her repertoire, it is essential that a new and more focused, conscious awareness of the somatic qualities of the vowel be established to facilitate later change and monitoring of spontaneous speaking.

That concept is based on Lessac's notion of the "Y-buzz" sensation. Here is a 2007 study by Barrichelo and Behlau that looked at the perceptual salience of that highly resonant sound/sensation, as opposed to "normal" production by subjects of the acoustically similar [i] sound (as in the word, "me,' for example.) The unique, therapeutically created Y-buzz vowel felt sense is the model for our work. The learner's ability to produce the Y-buzz is almost entirely body-based, not auditory. In that way, the learner can produce it without having to "go through" the possibly "defective" [i] vowel in his or her current interlanguage phonology. (See earlier post on "changing the channel.")

Need to put a little more "buzz" in your teaching?