NOTATIO

Adding to a thread from a couple of months ago (if that is allowed?), I've just found this in a piece of mine from 1993 (see screenshot). The tempo is = 60 and the hummed ‘-mm-’ doesn't seem to have been queried by singers.

The late Jane Manning, in her article on performing the three songs of which this is the middle one, didn't appear to think it was necessary to comment on the closed mouth effect, despite her detailed suggestions for the performance of some other details. https://composers-uk.com/davidward/sonnetguide.htm should link to Jane Manning's article.

other than the base issue with humming: that it does NOT project at all, there is the issue with humming that it is often used as a corrective technique for adjusting flat/sharp singing. (sorry, it's been a while. I was an accompanist and vocal coach for 10 years, but we're talking over 30 years ago.)

so any extended humming has the innate danger of off-setting the singer's pitch in any subsequent non-hummed passages (including whatever is next on the concert program.)

Choral humming is an entirely different animal.

bocca chiusa? + ------------------------------ o ?