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Singing the French RDate: October 31, 2009 by Carol Zeven
 I am an American singer living in France. To improve my French singing and speaking I have started taking lessons again from a French singing teacher. We have had several discussions about the right way to sing the French 'R'. In my training and according to all the various references I have, the lightly flipped R should be used for art songs (as opposed to folksongs or popular songs). My teacher tells me that in recent years it has become widely accepted to sing an uvular R in art songs. Indeed my references, Pierre Bernac, Moriarty, and Eileen Davis, are not recent works. He feels that people will not understand the text if a flipped R is used and that it sounds too pretentious. Personally I feel an uvular R makes it more difficult to sustain the line. I really draw the line at singing 'bruit' with an uvular R on a high G where it tightens the throat and destroys the tone quality. I'd very much like to have some input both pro and con on the subject. Replies (7): Threaded | Chronological
Marjorie Drysdale on October 31, 2009 7:25am
Interesting. I, too, was taught to flip the r. But that was quite a while ago. If using the uvular R is now expected, I still think anything above a high G is an exception. Whatever makes a beautiful tone should be the criterion. After all, we have to modify our vowels up there, anyway.
on October 31, 2009 10:59am
Hi, Carol.
Please forgive the slightly negative reply, but why bother to work with a native voice teacher if your're not comfortable following his/her suggestions? Living languages do change over time, as we all know. If you already have all the answers, perhaps you don't need a coach.
But I think we're all ALSO aware that every language has subtleties and nuances that are pretty obvious to a native speaker/singer, but not at all obvious to someone with a different native language. Isn't that the kind of thing you're looking for? Just think about the subtleties that tell us, sometimes, where someone grew up, based solely on the dialect type they grew up with.
Or, as my first-year French teacher (from Brittany, I believe) told us: "Everyone says that only Parisian French is real French. That's silly. It's like New York City English!"
John
on October 31, 2009 1:44pm
An interesting development; I did not know that the uvular R was an option in art songs. It seems to me that composers would probably not have included high notes on words containing the letter if the uvular pronunciation were common practice when the piece was written, so imposing it now may run counter to what the composer had in mind. I wouldn't even consider using the uvular in a choral piece, where any interruption in the line is multiplied by the number of singers and may be exacerbated by some singers' inexperience with the language.
on November 1, 2009 4:41am
Hey Carol.
I feel ur pain, having done the same thing as you, studied in France with a French voice teacher and choral director(S). The Parisian R was everywhere - when I mentioned the flipped R, (from Bernac, et al) it was also deemed ok, but not the default. The issue here is flexibility and local color. Popular singers (Piaf, especially) loved to roll that R from her throat for days, and it's disctinct and expressive. The Germans do it to, and a German singer friend of mine would make an extended RRRR uvular sounds, and had no problem vocalizing this way. This is also the sound we hear Homer Simpson make when he likes something a lot (bacon, a broad).
Just as you vocalize on the dental r (rolling the tip on the alveolar ridge), you can do the same thing with theback of the tongue and the uvula. In fact, if you can't do this, it indicates some undesirable tension, base of the tongue. This is what Piaf was so good at. In my exp, French singers default to this, and you can either try to extinguish it, or let it be, or flaunt it. They are all choices. But I would never expect to hear the uvular R on really high or difficult passagio notes either, as Marjorie above. Remember all consonants interrupt the air flow, causing turbulence that will be potentially upsetting, as you mention. Make your diction perfect outside the passagi, and cut yourself some slack in those areas.
The preference for the purely flipped r is Italian, pure and simple, and like the Latin language, we know the Italians simply don't reflect the whole truth of language as music. (or vocal technique).
best, Paul
on November 1, 2009 12:01pm
Hello Carol,
I am Chef de Choeur in the Langeudoc. My singers, although many speak Occitan, have no problem with the uvular R even when approaching top of their range. On the contrary, when singing in Latin or Italian I have to remind them that the R should be trilled. (This is even more of a chore for them than remembering to sound the H when singing in English.)
In fact, the other morning I heard on the radio an old recording in French where the singer (a baritone) definitely did not use the uvular R. To my ear his trilled R sounded decidedly odd.
So, could the problem lie with the way you approach the uvular R? Even in speaking French? I have come across people so anxious to make what is to them an unfamiliar sound that they overdo it. Could this be the source of the tension that Paul S. Meers has mentioned above? It may be that you just need to be more relaxed about it. But certainly, on a high note, if using the uvular R causes tension, then don't use it until you have worked out how to do it with comfort.
David
on November 1, 2009 2:28pm
Thanks all for both positive and negative input. Being a fluent Dutch and Spanish speaker as well as an English speaker, I have a choice of R's at my disposal. The Dutch R is very similar to the German one. It just seemed to me that some R's are more suited to singing that others. Most of you seem to agree that going with the modern practice of the uvular R for the sake of more text clarity is a good thing, but that it should be acceptable to make other choices where the passagio or high notes are concerned. That had pretty much been my own conclusion, but it's nice to know what the wider world thinks. We live in the Auvergne, which is definitely not on the cutting edge of French cultural practices. Thanks, Adam for the idea of looking into historical practice. I will spend some time looking into what was common practice at the time the pieces were written, as it could shed some interesting light on how the text is set.
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