Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/01 21:03Today at voice lessons, my teacher asked me if I had ever had speech therapy. I said I hadn't. She remarked that she noticed that I make some of my consonants that ought to be hard, soft. I didn't quite know what she meant by that, but another comment she made was that when I say my 's' (in words such as "stars") it sounds like I have a slight lisp. I know what's causing this, having been annoyed by my 's', too. Instead of keeping my tongue out of the way when I say words like "stars", it's almost in between my teeth. As my teacher pointed out, it makes me sound a lot younger when I sing.
So I guess what I'm asking is, how can I correct this? It's a little different because it doesn't happen when I speak, only sing. So I'm not quite sure how to go about correcting it.Auditioning for: school drama club cabaret show
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triplethreat
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/01 22:52This is 100% a question for Jessica, but I will say that I know a fellow teacher who is in her mid-thirties, and she just recently completed her speech therapy for a similar problem. (And since she teaches primary, it's important for her to model correct speech.) So even though we often think of speech therapy as being a kids thing, you can certainly take advantage of it later in life.
My thought is that the problem might still be present when you speak (we all have minor bad habits), but is much more pronounced so as to be much more noticeable when you sing. I think that's actually pretty common.
But for the longevity of your voice (not to mention career) I would definitely make an appointment with a professional. You haven't got much to lose!_____________ Kris MTA Admin
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jmslp
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/02 01:14hehe.... i love this!!! i'm getting my chance to play henry higgins!! LOL!!!
we definitely take all the work our tongue, teeth, lips etc do for granted. the tongue has got to be the strongest muscle in the body!!! seriously though, take any word. even a short one. let's take "train". break it apart. "t" "r" "ai" "n". your tongue just moved in 4-5 places (depending on the dipthong for ai). say "stop". same thing. sounds are called phonemes (grammatical parts of speech like plurals or prefixes are morphemes). each phoneme has a different placement. there are pairs (voiced and voiceless) like t/d, f/v, s/z, etc, etc. pairs are sounds that are made w/ the same tongue/teeth/lip placement (except m, n, and ng. they are nasals).... see if you can figure some out. voiced is when you have a vibration.
anyway, your tongue moves very quickly to different positions to make words, phrases, and sentences. make the s sound alone. where do you put your tongue? some people have their tongue tip behind their top teeth. some make it w/ the tongue tip down. (mine goes down. if my tongue tip goes up, i have a lisp). if your tongue pushes forward through your teeth, you have an interdental lisp. if air escapes over the sides of your tongue, you have a lateral lisp. then there is a way that the tongue makes contact w/ the hard palate in such a way that you have what is known as a palatal lisp (it's a little harder to explain that one in an e-mail, i think. if you know what stridency is, take it out and you get a palatal lisp).....
which one do you fit in? most likely, you are doing the same thing when you are singing, but as kris said, it's more pronounced/noticeable. maybe b/c we "overemphasize" when we sing. we need to figure out what you are doing "wrong" before we correct it. sometimes correcting things is just a matter of being aware of the mechanics of what the tongue does.
i will be more than happy to help, but if it's something that really bothers, find a professional in your area. or go to the SLP at school and just bounce ideas off him or her! but i am here if you need me. it's a little hard to do things via the web but the more info you give me, the better i can guide you! They call me Jessica (like: They call me lady luck... lol)
Favorite roles:
Eva Peron, Evita; Jack's Mother, Into the Woods; Sonia, Godspell; Anything Goes, Reno Sweeney; Audrey, Little Shop of Horrors; Catherine, Pippin
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Well, I just tried some of that (the people in school library probably think there's a snake slithering around, LOL.) It seems that when I pronounce words with 's', the tip of my tongue touches my bottom teeth, but the back of my tongue goes up. When I speak an 's' word, it comes right back down, but when I sing an 's' word, the back/middle part of my tongue stays on the top of my mouth, causing the slight lisp. So, close to interdental, I suppose.
I thought it was a little odd that this was the first I had heard of it. I only really notice it when I'm singing songs with a lot of 's' words in them, but at theatre school, my teacher is pretty sensitive to irregular speech, and we have one girl who really overemphasizes her 's' when she speaks. Also, my little sister attended speech therapy when she was younger.
This is quite interesting to me as well... lingusitics is what I would like to minor in.Auditioning for: school drama club cabaret show
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Well, I just tried some of that (the people in school library probably think there's a snake slithering around, LOL.) It seems that when I pronounce words with 's', the tip of my tongue touches my bottom teeth, but the back of my tongue goes up. When I speak an 's' word, it comes right back down, but when I sing an 's' word, the back/middle part of my tongue stays on the top of my mouth, causing the slight lisp. So, close to interdental, I suppose.
I thought it was a little odd that this was the first I had heard of it. I only really notice it when I'm singing songs with a lot of 's' words in them, but at theatre school, my teacher is pretty sensitive to irregular speech, and we have one girl who really overemphasizes her 's' when she speaks. Also, my little sister attended speech therapy when she was younger.
This is quite interesting to me as well... lingusitics is what I would like to minor in.Auditioning for: school drama club cabaret show
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chouettissimamaureen
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/02 20:39Just a question: do you wear a retainer? I know it's probably not that simple, but I thought it wise to ask, because I had difficulties with speech (a definite lisp) when I first got my retainer, and then when I recently got a new one.Caitlin
Credits:
Opera: Rusalka (Dancing Chorus)
Non-Musical: Pygmalion (Mrs. Pearce) Three Tales from Japan (Kimi-chan, Fish, Ogre) Keeper of the Tales (Parrot, Seema)
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jmslp
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/02 22:03caitlin, you are not far off about a retainer!! very good question/observation. maybe i can groom you to be a speech language pathologist, too!!! and there's much more to it than articulation... LOL!!
rachel, it sounds like you might have more of an lateral "lisp" than an interdental (for interdental, think winthrop in MM). when you sing, does it seem like you are pushing your tongue a little further foward almost like an effort to "over" enunciate? try singing the same way you speak it-- even if it is singing on sa, se, si, so, su; asa, ese, isi, oso, usu; and as (ace), is (ice), os (ose), us (oos). try to do it easy-- don't think about the pronunciation. just do it for tongue placement. for you, keep your tongue tip down behind the bottom teeth. feel if the sides of your tongue are making contact w/ your teeth and creating a seal. when you feel you have "mastered" this and you have the sound you want, try singing words. after you feel you are getting the right sound w/ that, try singing a song-- when you do that, you are no longer isolating the /s/ so you can see if you have "corrected" the problem.
now that you have heightened awareness of your "funny" (sibilant) /s/, see if there is evidence of a lisp in your everyday connected speech. there might be but it was never something so severe that you needed therapy b/c it didn't impact your intelligibility. since now you are aware of it, you will be able to fix it easily. please feel free to post or pm me and i will try my best to help. it is always better to see someone in person, though. virtual therapy can be difficult and confusing. but like i said, i am more than willing to do the best i can to help.They call me Jessica (like: They call me lady luck... lol)
Favorite roles:
Eva Peron, Evita; Jack's Mother, Into the Woods; Sonia, Godspell; Anything Goes, Reno Sweeney; Audrey, Little Shop of Horrors; Catherine, Pippin
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jmslp
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/02 22:04oh, and linguistics is a cool minor, if i say so myself!!!! it was mine! They call me Jessica (like: They call me lady luck... lol)
Favorite roles:
Eva Peron, Evita; Jack's Mother, Into the Woods; Sonia, Godspell; Anything Goes, Reno Sweeney; Audrey, Little Shop of Horrors; Catherine, Pippin
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Starlet_Actress21
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Re:Pronunciation Problems - 2007/02/26 19:15So the other week while I was at an acting workshop, my mom bought me some marbles! I'm hoping to try some Eliza Doolittle-ish exercises with them... except swallowing one!Auditioning for: school drama club cabaret show
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seriously though, take any word. even a short one. let's take "train". break it apart. "t" "r" "ai" "n". your tongue just moved in 4-5 places (depending on the dipthong for ai). say "stop". same thing. sounds are called phonemes (grammatical parts of speech like plurals or prefixes are morphemes). each phoneme has a different placement. there are pairs (voiced and voiceless) like t/d, f/v, s/z, etc, etc. pairs are sounds that are made w/ the same tongue/teeth/lip placement (except m, n, and ng. they are nasals).... see if you can figure some out. voiced is when you have a vibration.
