Dangers for English- (and German-) Speakers - The Trailing Consonant

Lamperti famously said that native English and German speakers have a tendency towards tight, stiff jaws, inconducive for good singing. One of the reasons for this tightness is the necessity to produce strong final consonants on so many words - in Italian, French and other languages frequently a final vowel is added. (Where Italian does not, is it usually a 'n', 'l' or 'r' all of which are the longer, softer consonants, rather than 't' or 'p' for instance.)

Those strong final consonants require a lot of strength in the tongue. If priority is given to this, over vowel purity, then the body can elect to use various reinforcing components to make the job easier, and the large jaw muscle is on hand for this.

For the other languages, a vowel sound often follows, and the language prioritises the sound of that final vowel, so that the last consonant must be formed with the vowel in mind. With English and German, there is no need to prepare a vowel, and strength and clarity of the consonant is prioritised.

I realised that the Italian 't' sound is very much lighter than the English or German 't' - and I found myself tensing the jaw frequently when I have a 't', even in the middle of a word, and especially when there is a cluster of consonants. So work must be done to restrengthen the tongue as an independent unit; doing so makes the feeling into one of the tongue reaching forward to touch the teeth - it feels much more vulnerable and weaker in this position, not being supported by a more closed jaw, The 's' especially. A good rolled 'r' requires this skill anyway.

Further I have noticed that the effort to produce the fricative and plosive consonants also disturbs the action of the vocalis muscle - I am sure this is habit on my part and can be re-educated, but it shows that there are many inter-complications where the voice, and changes to it, are concerned.

Happy singing, happy discoveries!