Klarinet Archive - Posting 000192.txt from 2005/04

From: SDSCHWAEG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Rolling your RRRRRRRRRs
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 15:41:04 -0400

In a message dated 4/11/2005 3:10:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, GrabnerWG@-----.com writes:
>
>Irrespective of the reference to saying the Spanish "R", Lelia has  written
>the best description of learning how to roll an "R" that I have ever  seen.
>
>I recently went through this process with my son, who is taking  voice
>lessons. He COULD NOT, roll his Rs, not a bit.
>
>We used a very similar variation of the technique that Lelia wrote above.  It
>took about 6 weeks, but he was finally able to do it.

I like Lelia's description, too, and intend to try it with some of my students who insist that they absolutely cannot roll their Rs. I believe that this is a skill that can be taught, although it may take some people a lot longer than others to get the hang of it. It does not seem reasonable to me that a language, such as Spanish, would include a sound that some people are genetically incapable of producing. And if the ability to produce the sound is not controlled by genetics, then it is teachable (or, better, learnable). I'm going to check this out with a student who is a speech pathology major, and see whether I've made an incorrect assumption here.
Sue Schwaegler

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