Speaking about pronunciation is really tough.... but this is what I am mostly intrigued. So let me try!
I don't remember when.... but ever since I got interested in learning foreign languages, I've been drawn to the sound, another word, pronunciation, maybe because I'm interested in not only speaking but also singing.
After the school days, I started to learn English seriously when I was 39, in 2001. I went to Vancouver, Canada, stayed there for 4 weeks. It was my first experience going to ESL school. After a few days at the school, I asked my favorite teacher, Andrew, to tutor me, especially with my pronunciation. I practiced reading some hymn lyrics and recited before him. He corrected me, sometimes showed me the inside of his mouth. It helped me a lot. I tried very hard to copy him but at that time my ability was limited so I couldn't do it well.
But the experience certainly got me more interested in improving my pronunciation. As I remeber now, the Canadian people's pronunciation had a lot of "R", no "schwa" but everytime with "R".
After coming back to Japan, I finished an English Grammar book I bought in Canada and worked hard to make a budget to learn abroad again. I made it to NZ next year, this time for three months. It turned out I got puzzled with the people's English because it sounded completely different from Canadians' .... at least for me! At the ESL school, my teacher sometimes talked about pronunciation, like "no R after vowel even if there is R in the spelling. When you see "r" it
is a sign of "just extend the vowel longer". There were a lot of things I found different.
Sometimes I asked questions about the pronunciation differences to teachers but unfortunately I wasn't given an answer because they only knew how they were speaking and didn't have enough information about how other people were speaking.
Also for the three months, I attended the Sunday services at an Anglican Church, singing with the band as one of the three singers.
Then three years after this experience, I went to NY, in 2005, spent for three months, went to an ESL school again. This time, I saw people all over the world, not only students but also teachers
since NY is full of immigrants! I got puzzled again about which of those pronunciation I should try to copy?
In 2007-2008, I spent a year in NY again. This time I belonged to several choirs and found that even English speaking people needed much effort to sing in unison, in the same vowels, same pronunciation! It was amazing for me!
My language, Japanese, is not alphabetical language, so perhaps, I don't have any image of basic pronunciation for every alphabet. And I have Japanese accent, such a strong one!
I've been trying to copy what I hear from English speaking people, got stuck many times, and found new things and tried again, and got stuck again.....
Every time I had some new experience, I felt like "This is it! I've found the answer!" or "Oh now, I'm puzzled! I don't know how to pronounce any words!"
So now, I have come to believe, or almost certain, it's a just matter of time. I needed a certain time to know!
This time, through the Chorwork workshop and meeting people in DC, I learned a lot of new things about pronunciation, I found a lot of information to improve my pronunciation not only for speaking but also for singing in alphabetical languages!
At the Chorwork, one of the faculties, Patrick, explained about the American English vowels and how they could hinder singing smoothly, some vowels tend to be pronounced downward, like pushing strong down, then your breathing cannot move up toward your head, cannot make
smooth transition a word to another word, or a consonant to a vowel and so on. He talked about the breathing direction for each vowel.
"i" is most forward, then "e" next forward, "a" is almost upward but a little bit forward. "ae" is between "e" and "a". "o" is a bit backward up, and "u" is most backward up. As for "schwa", a blur sound, it stay in the back of your nose or above your hard pallete or somewhere, still breathing goes upward but it doesn't go through your head skull compare to other clear vowels which go through the head skull.
It was good! I was delighted that I found a good place to send my breathing for each vowel as the days passed and gradually felt more comfortable with my singing and became able to keep the sound stable.
He also talked about the support system, we should support downward as the breathing coming to the end, and when there is a high note toward the end, we should feel both breathing going upward and support going downward at the same time. His instruction helped me a lot! Also his
explanation about American English tendency gave me some information about how people pronounce American English which I could copy.... or not?
Also I had a chance to have a private lesson with another faculty, Sally. She taught me "singing economically" (legato singing) and "adding good resonant" (open the instrument wide for each vowel?). I sang English pieces by Dowland in the lesson. Just listening her pronunciation and her
singing gave me a lot. I couldn't meet her request right away but I got some good idea that I want to master from the time on.
Then, apart from the workshop, the conversation with people while staying in DC often got into about certain dialects or accents. I learned that even American English speaking people sometimes find difficult with understanding other's saying because they have a lot of
dialects from state to state. There are several different possibilities to pronounce some words.
Singing in English was difficult for me because as for English, I had many choices to choose from for every vowel or consonant from my different learning experiences.
When I see a word, say, "tought", I have two different sound in my mind, more open mouthed "a" or more close mouthed "o". When I see, say, "Lord", I would wavered if I should pronounce "r" sound before "d" or not.... Singing or reading aloud some text is better because I have some time to think about but when I speak it's more difficult. Ummm which on I'm using or I should use or I cannot produce any good one.... like that.
After coming back from DC, I started to read aloud when I read a book. Then came to think this way: I am an English learner and also a singer at the same time. I want to speak English well but also I want to sing English songs smoothly. Maybe it's about time for me to think about my favorite way to pronounce English, another word, build up my very own English!
So even when I speak, I want to pronounce words smoothly (legato), economically, perhaps not too much "r" or no "r" when it's OK, no hindering vowels (don't push downward stronly when pronouncing), keep breathing upward both when singing and speaking, feeling each vowel's
breath direction when pronouncing.... then work out well eventually... I believe! Then I can add some varieties after fixing one... maybe.
I know I have to learn much more about the Grammar and build more vocabulary.... but at least as for pronunciation, I got some good hints through this trip to DC and feel so glad with it!!! I'll keep practicing, believing my effort will be rewarded!
I hope I made some sense in my writing here!
Anyway, learning new things are always a great joy!
My first morning in DC started on the lovely deck of Ben's. His wife, Debbie, enjoys her morning coffee time as she feeds birds and animals living around the house. It turned out to be my favorite time during my stay in DC! Every morning I woke up at my room upstairs and looked out of the window seeing Debbie already started her coffee, then I would take a shower, got ready to go, went down to join her.
She taught me the names of the guests appearing on her deck, blue jays (adults if it has black necklace, juve if it hasn't), cardinals, wrens, thrashers, sparrows, chipmunks, squirrels and so on. I saw hawks flying around the sky, a red fox appearing to greet me once, and deer making a walk at the yard once.... what a life! 
At the workshop, when I had difficult time during the day, and then next morning had this coffee time with Debbie and animals, they saved me. We talked, smiled at each other, greeted each other, and I felt much better after the conversation! I definitely miss the morning coffee with them!
