[musictlk] question about singing in latin

Chris Nusbaum cnusbaumnfb at gmail.com
Tue Dec 30 22:10:17 UTC 2014


Kelsey,

I have sung many Latin pieces both as a choir member and as a soloist.
Although I have always been able to roll my r's fairly easily, at times it
is hard to do when the r's are coupled with certain other letters or are
sung in the higher part of my register. In these cases, I have found
coupling the r with a d sound creates the same effect. For example, if the
Latin word being sung is "corporis," I would sing it as though I were
singing "cor-po-rdees." It is important here to have a good balance between
the consinents so it doesn't sound like you are singing 2 consonants
separately when there should be only one.

With this said, I wouldn't worry too much over this. As a choir member, your
main objective is to blend with other voices to create a collective sound.
Therefore, your ability or inability to roll the r's will have little to no
effect on the choral blend. You are probably not the only person in your
choir who is experiencing these issues. I would suggest trying to combine
the r and d consonants as described above or, if that doesn't work, simply
sing the r's as you normally would and try to remain inconspicuous, which is
easy to do in a choir.

HTH,

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: musictlk [mailto:musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
Shelton via musictlk
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 10:57 AM
To: Kelsey Nicolay; Music Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [musictlk] question about singing in latin

When you flip your R, you just put your tongue on the roof of your mouth,
then bring it down quickly while you say the R.  AT least that's how I was
taught to do it, but I'll admit I didn't start seriously singing till I got
to college 2.5 years ago.  If anyone else knows how to explain this in
better pedagogical terms, please do.

On 12/30/14, Kelsey Nicolay via musictlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> Our choir is singing the Lord Nelson mass in Latin this spring.
> I've sung in Latin before and I know that the r is either flipped or 
> rolled.  Our director is very strict about this.
> Unfortunately, I can't do either.  I've tried putting my tongue at the 
> roof of the mouth like you're supposed to, but it doesn't work.  I 
> can't get a sound out.  I can't flip my r either.  The only thing I 
> can do is use the letter d as a substitute.  People have tried to 
> explain to me how to flip the r, but I still can't do it.  Does anyone 
> have any tips that have helped you with figuring out how to do this?
> Thank you,
> Kelsey Nicolay
>
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--
Kaiti

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