Sarah Boucher Listening Assignment #3

Listening Assignment #3

Anna Netrebko:
Anna's mouth is massive, and she opens it very wide for nearly all vowels, the only vowel I noticed it closed on was the [i] vowel. Her lips were rarely spread, most of the time they were fairly rounded and protruding. I thought her mouth opening was fairly neutral, it never took on a distinctive shape which makes me think that most of her vowel changes are occurring inside her mouth. The [a] and the [o] mouth shape were very similar. [i] was the only vowel sound that changed the shape of the mouth and she only changed it by closing it a bit. I feel like her shape didn't change much according to the pitch range. Her mouth was just always open wide no matter where she was in her range.

Simon Keenlyside:
Simon's mouth was open wider for his [a] and [o] than the brighter vowels. He really rounded his lips on [u] vowels. His lips were more spread on [i] and [e] vowels but as he got higher they became more rounded. In the higher portions of the piece the vowels all became more rounded in the mouth and he created a lot more space. His mouth shape clearly took on whatever vowel he was forming in the lower range. I think because he is Baritone his range sits lower so his vowels have to be more defined, whereas Anna and Jonas have to modify more as they get higher.

Jonas Kauffman:
Jonas' [e] was a little more open then the rest of the vowels at first. His lips were fairly far forward on all the vowels but a little less on [e]. The [o] shape was very easy to identify and as was the [i] in his mouth. His [i] was spread and the space was a lot smaller. Up high all of the vowels had more mouth space and the lips didn't round as much, it was harder to identify them from the shape of mouth. I could still aurally tell what they were butt not just by looking any more.

Cecila Bartoli: 
Cecila's lips were spread on all vowels in her lower range and her mouth was barely open. Her mouth was very closed on some of those trills...It was kind of strange, but cool! Her mouth opened a bit more for [o] and her lips weren't so spread. As she got a little higher I thought her mouth opened more but for the most part that was only on [o] and [a] all the other vowels were closed and spread. It is interesting that she closes her mouth so much more then Anna. I think that it is probably because she is a Mezzo and this song sat more in her mid range so she didn't need to open her mouth nearly as wide for the vowel to take shape and be understood.