Sinatra: Master of The Divine Couplet Of Singing Pt. 1

One of the secrets to Sinatra’s lovely singing is the way he expertly Italianized his vowels—that is, how he keeps them open and pure, and this is why he is able to move from English word to English word as though he is moving from Italian vowel to Italian vowel; the overall effect is that his singing seemed to flow along in a honey-like stream of beautifully open tones. That he could even perform his swing tunes with his Italian vowels doing all the swinging is all the more remarkable. His innovative back, down, and open vowels hold the key to this accomplishment.

The two vowels that served as the technical foundation of Sinatra’s singing, however, were none other than the divine couplet of singing. Consider the oo vowel, as in the word boot. If you listen to the final word you in the last line of Cole Porter’s I Get A Kick Out Of You, you’ll hear his signature oo sound in full operation. Another noteworthy example is in Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva, and Lew Brown’s The Birth Of The Blues; in this case, we hear Sinatra employing his oo vowel extensively throughout the whole song. The oo sound is basic to most spoken languages, although its tonal purity can vary from language to language, from region to region, and even from person to person. It’s illuminating to note that Sinatra’s oo vowel is highly Italianized in its purity, although—and compared to the typical Italian oo—it’s produced in a much deeper place in his throat. As we noted in an earlier chapter, the pure oo sound, when it’s produced back and down in the lower throat, has the physical effect of lowering the larynx and elongating the throat cavity. Concurrent with the larynx resting at a deeper position in the throat, the soft palate automatically rises. Together, these two movements create ideal conditions for producing resonant singing, and go a long way in explaining Sinatra’s lush tones and smooth, caressing vibrato. Now onto Sinatra’s ee vowel.

If the oo vowel had the effect lowering Sinatra’s larynx and making space in his lower throat for his deeply resonant vocal tones, then his ee vowel—as in the word beet—worked to move his mid throat horizontally, as it were, to widen its dimensions. The direct result of this widened, ee-based throat position is that it purified his ee vowel and gave it an extremely brilliant and piercing tonal quality. For many singers, the ee vowel is the most challenging of all sounds because of its naturally thin, nasal quality. Sinatra solved this problem ingeniously by incorporating into his ee vowel his oo vowel position and, in so doing, deepening the ee vowel in his throat, keeping it full-bodied and pure. If you listen to how Sinatra sings the word "dreams" from the line "valley of dreams" in Glen Miller and Mitchell Parish’s Moonlight Serenade, you’ll hear the Sinatra’s ee vowel in poignant display. A more conspicuous example of his wonderful down, back, and open ee vowel is in the last syllable of the word "tangerine"—the final word of Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer’s tune of the same name. Sinatra’s ee vowel was also essential to his oo vowel by giving it added breadth and brilliance. Ultimately, both vowels were perfect complements to each other: the oo vowel deepened and darkened his voice, while the ee vowel gave it energetic brilliance. By suggesting that the oo and ee vowels are the foundational vowel/throat positions, I am clearly suggesting that all of Sinatra’s vowels, literally, have the oo and ee vowel sounds—the divine couplet of singing—vibrating inside of them. This could only mean that the secret to Sinatra’s resonant voice is that it was defined—colored and textured—by these two dominant vowel sounds and their corresponding musculature, actions, positions, and configurations in the vocal structure of his throat.