Maneiras de cantar o francês
CLÍNICA DA VOZ
Retrô, americano-quebequense, urbano, french variety. Quatro famílias para o estúdio.
IN THE STUDIO
Já não se sabe bem como dizer
The language has changed. The codes for singing it have changed too. When an artist arrives in the studio, it is hard to guide them on what will suit their vocal style. It has not been formalised.
Adeline Toniutti takes this from a conversation with her manager. In Anatomie du Chant she groups these ways into four families. That is the point: not “articulate French”, but choose how you sing it.
The five pivot points remain the same instrument. The family is the colour you ask for.
RETRO
O estilo retrô
Enrolam-se os «r», à maneira de Édith Piaf. Cortam-se as palavras para o silêncio viver. As vogais são puras. O vibrato é assumido.
Barbara Pravi and Zaho de Sagazan have taken up some of these codes, the rolled “r” in particular. Chimène Badi covers Piaf with her soul style, and the vibrato stays owned. It is not “doing old”. It is a French that lets silence work, that does not swallow the vowels, that is not afraid of an “r” you can hear.
AMERICAN-STYLE
O estilo americano-quebequense
É o que Adeline também chama, na sala e na televisão, «cantar à americana».
Big-voiced singers take on anglophone ways. A more nasal placement. Syllables are cut like an American diphthong. Céline Dion, Natasha St-Pier.
O twang, ensinado a partir dos cinco pontos pivô, chama-se no jargão dela «cantar à americana». Céline Dion e Diane Dufresne põem-no em francês.
The palate stays raised. This is not nasalising to “do Céline”. Nasalising the sound, palate down, larynx dropping: that is the counterfeit of twang, and it puts the folds at risk. To find the flow of that French, Adeline sometimes has people sing a French song in English “yaourt”, onomatopoeia, until the line runs. At the Star Academy château, Claudia Tagbo’s yaourt with Michèle Laroque made the whole room laugh. The exercise is there to find that cutting of syllables.
Ilustração © Emma Blanc-Tailleur, Anatomie du Chant, Adeline Toniutti
URBAN
O estilo urbano
Some sounds, in the way of pronouncing or linking, come from rap or the urban.
Vitaa: an urban musicality, and a purity of timbre that is hers. Yseult, Angèle: they personalise the vowels according to the emotion. Here French is not “less sung”. It is linked differently. The vowels move with what you feel, not only with the written vowel.
FRENCH VARIETY
O estilo french variety
Vogais puras. Vibrato ausente ou discreto. Perto do natural do texto. Mylène Farmer, Françoise Hardy.
No rolled “r” to make a period colour. No American diphthong. French stays near the spoken sentence, but it is still singing: the five pivot points hold the gesture, the vowel stays clean. The tongue between the molars, the nasals thought upward: the same pivot point 5, another dose.
Ilustrações © Emma Blanc-Tailleur, Anatomie du Chant, Adeline Toniutti
THE PALETTE
Não é um fato. É uma escolha de cor
You do not change larynx to go from Piaf to Céline. You change what you ask of the vowels, the “r”, the silence, the vibrato, the link between syllables.
Enquanto o gesto é são, tem-se toda a paleta. Quando a escolha se estreita, o gesto está menos otimizado, por vezes perigoso.
In the studio the question is therefore not “are you articulating enough?”. It is: which family are you in, today, for this song? The same artist can cross several. Chimène Badi shows it: Piaf plus soul. Céline can take the twang off. The professional is not stuck to one family.
A TIRED VOICE
Se a voz está cansada
Whispering is not advised. Adeline would rather have you speak with accents that favour a good placement, for an organic result with minimum effort: Québécois, Marseillais, or an actress like Chantal Ladesou. A technical virtue, and it loosens the room.
That meets the American-Québécois style without forcing it: the accent puts the voice where it carries, without squeezing.
IN PRACTICE
Nomear a família antes da tomada
1. One family per phrase
Retro, American-Québécois, urban, French variety. One only for the phrase you are recording. You can change on the next verse. You do not mix everything in the same vowel.
2. Check the marks
Retro: rolled “r”, held silences, pure vowels, owned vibrato. American-Québécois: syllables cut like a diphthong, more nasal placement, twang you put on and take off, palate raised. Urban: rap links and grain, vowels that follow the emotion. French variety: pure vowels, discreet vibrato, close to the text.
3. If it will not flow in American-Québécois
English yaourt on the French song, then back to the text. You look for flow, not imitation.
4. The five pivot points stay the frame
Whatever the family: posture, free larynx, held exhale, cavities, articulation.
Pathology of the folds: see a specialist.
CALYP
Trabalhar uma família no CALYP
O método está em Anatomie du Chant (Marabout, 2024). Para o trabalhar com a equipa: marque consulta.
Perguntas frequentes
Quais são as maneiras de cantar o francês segundo Anatomie du Chant?
Quatro famílias: retrô (Piaf, Pravi, Zaho), americano-quebequense ou à americana (Céline, Natasha St-Pier), urbano (Vitaa, Yseult, Angèle), french variety (Mylène Farmer, Françoise Hardy).
Cantar à americana é o twang?
Sim, no jargão de Adeline. O twang ensina-se a partir dos cinco pontos pivô. Véu levantado.
É preciso enrolar os r para cantar em francês?
Só na família retrô. Em french variety as vogais são puras e o vibrato discreto.
Pode mudar-se de família de uma canção para outra?
Sim. Um profissional não está colado a uma família. Nomeia-se a família antes da tomada.