You can use this circle diagram to practice drawing the circle of fifths. The dots around the circle indicate the places as if on a clock where you would draw each key. This is just designed to help you as you try to draw your own circle of fifths so that you don't worry too much about spacing.
If you click on the circle, it will open as its own window or tab. The right click on the circle and click "copy". You can then paste it into a word or paint program to print it out. Or you could click "save as" and save it to your computer and then open it via a word program. Good luck!
I am in love with this song! It is such a fun song and has so much about it that would make it a fun song to sing. I am also a big fan Lea Salonga. I think she has a beautiful voice.
Her vowels are always so beautiful and so fitting with each character that she "plays" while she sings this song. You can tell as you watch that she is playing each character. She isn't just singing a bunch of words. That makes this performance more powerful.
You cna also tell she has such breath energy and focus.
Unless profanity doesn't bother you, I do recommend muting the video at about 3:00 through 3:04.
Start talking guys. Tell me what you think of this performance. Talk about specific words, vowels or phrases that you feel were good/not so good.
Colbie Caillat: She has a rather smokey, gravelly quality to her voice. It is a lovely voice and very unique, which is a lot of fun. I love her oo vowels and the clarityas she sings. I don't think I love the word "girl" which is surprising since it is a word that appears so often in this song!
Ashley Tisdale: A younger sounding voice. Her words seems a bit over-exaterated and the slight "growling" is not something I'm really a fan of. The quality of the vowels could be higher with a bit more depth giving the whole song more color.
Original Disney Version: The accent of the singer makes this verion naturally higher in the vowel department. I also think there is more animation in his voice and, of course, thanks to all the back-vocals this version is more fun than the others.
Okay, students! Your turn. Tell me what you think in the comments.
This is the original vocalist on The Little Mermaid. She has a pretty good example of some nice high vowels. All of the vowels that are typically deeper, such as ah, eh, and oh, are pretty well executed. I also like that she acts with her voice. Such a speaking a line or word, having fun with her questions, etc., all help bring the song to life. Her voice does sound a bit nasally and that is, I believe, a quality that is just a part of her voice. However, because of that quality, other vowels such as ih and ae are more forward without the depth to them. But I do like her example of making even the deeper vowels sit a little higher so they have more color.
Leave comments telling me what you are hearing and noticing on particular words or phrases.
Listen to the beautiful vowels of Lou Monte singing Bella Notte. His consonants are so crisp and clear that they make his words sound beautiful and so understandable. Also, his vowels are pure and clean. He isn't fudging or altering his vowels at all, which also adds to the clean sound of the words.
He also has lovely breath control to manage the long phrases, the delicate turns and swoons he manages so effortlessly. He is not just sliding around on every whim with no direction or control. You can tell that he knows how he wants to sound and he makes that happen.
Works the plosive consonants d & b and the plosive voiced "g".
Good
Blood
Bad
Blood
Note: Tongue twisters should be practiced in their purest form, as in using good, pure vowels. It is good to practice the words slowly until they can be said extremely well and then it is recommended that practice be sped up until the words can be spoken very clearly at a quicker tempo. It is also mandatory that much laughing take place in the practice of tongue twisters. Thank you.
Works plosive vowel p, a voiceless ejective t, and the voiceless plosive "k".
Peter
Piper
Picked a
Peck
For added difficulty, add the words
"of Pickled Peppers"
to the end.
Note: Tongue twisters should be practiced in their purest form, as in using good, pure vowels. It is good to practice the words slowly until they can be said extremely well and then it is recommended that practice be sped up until the words can be spoken very clearly at a quicker tempo. It is also mandatory that much laughing take place in the practice of tongue twisters. Thank you.
Works plosive consonants b, d, and p and the voiced plosive g. Throwing in the nasal consonant m also adds a little trick.
Rubber
Baby
Buggy
Bumpers
Note: Tongue twisters should be practiced in their purest form, as in using good, pure vowels. It is good to practice the words slowly until they can be said extremely well and then it is recommended that practice be sped up until the words can be spoken very clearly at a quicker tempo. It is also mandatory that much laughing take place in the practice of tongue twisters. Thank you.
The words "days and nights" at the very beginning are very nice.
I think she does well singing "No one" as one can be a difficult word to sing because of the vowel. I also like the word "around" because the diphthong is performed so well. The second part of the vowel is right at the very end of the word, which is perfect. I also love "world" and "have". The vowels are so beautiful.
However, I don't love the way she sings "you", which is fairly often in this song. The reason I struggle is because it sounds more like she's singing "yoohhh", rather than the pure sound of "oo", which makes "you" so beautiful. You can even see her lips as she sings the word, that they are not forming an "oo" shape. This is one reason forming the right shapes with the lips is so crucial.
The words "beside" and "guide" sound as though they are only "ah" vowels, which isn't exactly the case. These arel diphthong vowels and require the second vowel to make them really pure.
I love her "oh" vowels, as in "home" and "foam".They are perfectly deep for this purpose and have some good clarity.
I don't love her last note as it sounds strained and forced and doesn't lend itself to very much color.
All in all, a quick example of some good vowels & some not so good vowels.
