1. Chapter 6
Vocal Music

2. The Uniqueness of Voice
Voice part of individual’s personality; many factors shape and refine one’s performance
timbre, register, culture, style of music
Registers – Vocal ranges
Categorized as high, low, or medium in pitch
Range – Distance between the lowest and highest pitches of the voice

3. Female Voices
Coloratura – The soprano voice that is light and flexible enough o perform rapid scales and trills
Soprano – The high female register
Mezzo-Soprano - The intermediate female voice that sings in the lower part of the soprano range
Contralto – a low female register with a full, rich, dark, and powerful quality

4. Marian Anderson Grew up in Philadelphia singing in church choirs
Legendary contralto
Studied music and achieved great renown in Europe (1920s)
Suffered from great racial prejudice back in US
Refused permission to perform at prestigious concert hall in Washington, DC
1st Lady Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for concert to be held at Lincoln Memorial

5. Male Voices
Countertenor – Highest male voice with a falsetto range and quality; register in the female alto range
Tenor – The high male range with a powerful, ringing quality
Baritone – The intermediate male voice
Bass – A lower male register with a rich, robust, resonant, and full quality

6. Luciano Pavarotti
Famous tenor, known for his energetic showmanship, helped expand the popularity of opera world wide
Started singing around age 9 with his father in a small church choir
Gave up teaching to become an operatic star and had his debut in 1961
“Nessun Dorma”

7. Register
Male
Female
Highest
Countertenor
Coloratura Soprano
High
Tenor
Soprano
Middle
Baritone
Mezzo-Soprano
Low
Bass
Contralto

8. Crossover – Opera and Pop
Trained opera singers moving into pop music market
Charlotte Church
Records sales topping 10 million albums
By age 14, had performed for many heads of state
Youngest solo artist to have a record in Top 30

9. Voices in Your School Community
Most high schools have choirs
Concert choir, show choir, jazz choir, gospel choir, etc.
Can bring school sense of pride, accomplishment, and enjoyment
Musical textures
Polyphonic – independent melodies that stand alone
Homophonic – melody supported by harmonic accompaniment
Monophonic – melody without accompaniment or harmony

10. Using Your Voice to Express Yourself
Some of humanity’s most profound thoughts expressed through music
Performing both exhilarating and demanding
Develop control and confidence
Must be certain of high level of musical quality
Great deal of practice and repetition until piece of music is mastered

11. Audiation Audiation – Capacity to think sound
Musicians audiate before performance
Hear music in your “mind’s ear”
Composers think sounds before writing them down
Internalize pitches and rhythms of a melody

12. Singing A Capella Singing without instrumental accompaniment
From Latin phrase meaning “as in the chapel”
Early days of Christian Church when no instruments allowed and singing only unaccompanied

13. The Art of Vocal Performance
Culture Influences the Voice
Each culture has own style of singing they find pleasing to the ear
Vocal timbres reflect sound of a country’s language
Bel Canto Style
Style characterized by lyrical and flowing phrases, beauty of vocal color, and brilliant technique
Operatic singing style

14. The Art of Vocal Performance (cont.)
Blues Style
Vocal timbre reflects sense of sadness
Originated in African American spirituals and work songs
Simple and direct; expression of life’s painful experiences and the reasons for them
Congress designated 2003 as “The Year of the Blues”
First popularized by WC Handy
Born in Florence, Alabama (1873)
African-American composer; hits such as “Memphis Blues”

15. 12-Bar Blues Harmonic pattern of 12 measures that repeats
Three chords based on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant
Chords numbered by the pitches of the scale using Roman numerals
chord I built on 1st pitch of scale, chord V built on 5th pitch, and so forth…
Assists improvisers since they always know what’s coming next

16. Review Registers Marian Anderson Range Luciano Pavarotti Coloratura
Audiation
Soprano
A Capella
Mezzo-Soprano
Bel Canto
Contralto
Countertenor
Tenor
Baritone
Bass