The Art of Vocal Performance

- Whether it occurs in a opera house or on a rock concert stage, singing is very much an art form. -Vocal performance is a distillation of many factors that shape and refine it.

Culture Influences the Voice -Every culture has its own style of singing. -What is considered beautiful tone in some cultures might be less appealing in others. -Timbres sometimes reflect the sound of a country’s language. -some languages slide up and down -others have guttural sounds and even clicks

Vocal Timbre and Musical Style -To express a variety of emotions in music and attain maximum impact, we must choose the most suitable timbre. Bel Canto -The term that designates the operatic singing style is bel canto, which literally means “beautiful singing” -Bel canto – a style characterized by lyrical and flowing phrases, beauty and vocal color, and brilliant technique.

-helps convey the blues feeling Blues Style -Blues – a genre of African American music that often expresses frustration. -the vocal timbres from males and females from all age groups reflect a sense of sadness. -the vocal quality is most often straight forward, folk-like singing that dips and slides. -helps convey the blues feeling B.B King – Everyday I have the Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4tL-zeVRbk

-Roots lie in the heritage of African American music. -text and style originated in spirituals and work songs of enslaved African Americans. -Blues lyrics are simple and direct -express painful experiences that reveal the darker side of life. -very honest, personal expressions address basic concerns in the lives of the poor and downtrodden. -express loss and heartbreak and the reason for it. -W.C. Handy – “father of the blues”. He was the first to popularize this jazz form. -His family frowned upon music, but he worked hard to become a performer. -Eventually, he composed, arranged, and collected a large number of blues pieces, then founded a music publishing company. W.C. Handy – short documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQkLFTcdgH4

-Blues songs typically have many verses, each consisting of three lines. -line 1 – states the situation -line 2 – usually repeats line 1, making sure the listener understands/for building tension -line 3 – resolves the situation, often dashes the self-pity that was built up in the first two lines. Ex. Lyrics from “Snatch It Back Blues” by Buddy Boy Hawkins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=empu_3FLUPc Gonna lay my head right on the railroad track, If the train come ‘long, I’m gonna snatch it back.

Improvisation -Many blues songs became classics used by jazz artists as the basis for improvisation. -Remember, the term improvisation designates a type of spontaneous musical invention. -The practice has led to confusion about whether the blues is a form distinct from jazz and other types of music. -Whether it is used as the basic form for jazz, rock, or pop music, the predictable, repetitive blues chord pattern provides the structure for highly individualistic musical expression.

12-Bar Blues -Usually the blues is based on a 12-bar harmonic pattern that is repeated over and over. -This simple framework gives musicians a means of expression limited only by their imagination. -To recognize a 12-bar blues tune, you must be able to recognize the pattern of repeated harmonies that is based on 3 chords.

-The tonic or I chord is the first pitch of the scale (C). -The dominant or V chord (G7) is built on the 5th degree of the scale. -The subdominant or IV chord (F) is built on the 4th degree of the scale. -These chords are often made into dominant 7th chords (V7) by the addition above the root tone.

Blue Notes -Blues started out as a fundamentally vocal form. However, blues musicians quickly added instruments, especially the guitar. – Ex. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, etc. -Guitarists, like singers, can ‘bend’ any tone they want sliding from pitch to pitch, creating what we call “blue tonality”. -Blues singers also ‘bend’ or flatten certain notes of the scale as they sing. The notes they bend are called “blue notes”. - Blue notes – selected pitches usually on the third and seventh degrees of the scale, whose intonation is altered at the discretion of the performer.

Contrasts in Vocal Music -There recordings of voices that sound like instruments. -Sweet Honey in the Rock – female African American vocal group -have been singing together since 1973 -name comes from a biblical story – the land was so rich that when the rocks were opened, honey flowed from them -Bernice Johnson Reagon – started the group – influences by a wide range of musical styles -won a Grammy for their antiapartheid song “State of Emergency” -Apartheid was an official policy of racial segregation in South Africa until the early 1990’s. -song protested the actions of the South African government and its disregard for human rights. State of Emergency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGCAwU76XPs