is 8 C BLACK + LONDON INNA SOTO-MORETTINI 2000 Pray 24How to listen to and analyse a singer's performance Wii arning wo pte and po te ements fee ge Chopin you exes ty ra voc ening coche wan wh ther pet the lemens togeer ju a important ae in ‘canto lead ou hough ch woos ofa br ois n leg ‘hich hope wl help to make te relatntip Bowen orate ok athe elements andthe at of combining and employing them arly 2 ie ‘lene, Inthe interests of brevity, most ofthe analyes ofthe songs covered inthe sections below ae uick ~theye meant to increate and deepen 7H knowledge of how singers have worked in various genres. Singers grow the ‘own syle best when remaining open to the widest posible range & influences, try to keep an open mind as we go throvgh even dhe ind ‘usc you think you don ike ‘Before geting to thee sections on gene, think ie important ro spend = bie of time looking in detail at one recording I wll help to consolidate leas weve covered 0 far and itt 2 good way to eablch your wesbult¥ the elements of popular syle wtile you lien. ‘Ye chosen a song by Whitney Houston to tart with ~ Saving AI My La veo rose roano ase smote rsrdanee 78 Ie prey easy for most people to get a copy ofthis eecordng, and features a good range ofthe slic elements we've been looking which are prety cleat and eaty to digas, Before al else, want est that when listening, wat you'e doing is gathering the signs 3 es you in omer to beable to aver the bigger question: "What er ying to conunanieate with this song?” ‘of cour, the question yo will always have to ask youre a5 a what am trying to do/ssy with this song? What do T want my ito think/fel when its inished? These questions lie atthe rot of inging peeformonce. Sometime a singer wants to make wt exy, oF t0 fel te depth of the pin some singers want co edcate ws oF want pat There ae times when 4 singer wants co make ws laugh oF a share thei philosophy about some part of if, and to convince Us importance. There ae singers who want to make us Believe in ng, who want suprise wingers who want to frighten us, hock Esapnor who want to laugh a ws. On singers simply want to remind ‘eve not alone ia ou prin of ino joy and wo remind dhemscves rete not alone either And some singers simply want to use a 40g 0 Bike someone els, or to impress 1 with their technical sil. The singer probably do all ofthis and more at various tages ehoughovt avers, But whatever its thatthe singer wans to communicate, it does need tobe specific in their hears sd minds bis becomes, in an actor language, the‘incention’ of song. And the way ich the singer choote to make that intention clear wil have evrything F with the syitie choices aable to her orto him, Joe every singe i aware of singing with such spciic intention ~ but fre aware of wanting fo make some Kind of statement withtheit work cute Tstening to Whitney Houston, you might try to Sure out just ies she wants todo with this song, Beeawse thee are many subjective nt in anyone’ response ta sng, 8 not important whether we agree the conclusions I aight draw in Hitening co this song. 18 simply Pane that you get used to atcubting your own views though 2 balay of voral style. need to lest 2 copy ofthis recording ~ it ealy downlondsble on hc. As you fsten to the song, follow dhe marked lyric shet, which ides a Relpil demonstration ofl the elements we've bees ltening to16 rorouesnene snd practising, but piled together inthe content ofa great Pop/lght perfocmance. Tt wil ake you a litle time to get wed tothe shorthand f the clement mn denying hee, but et sto important. you've gs ‘Srough the CD practice fom the lt chapter, you'l recite mos of ‘ements as you hear them. Because inevitably thee ae so many ching {deny in a performance this ric, I've teed jst to concentrate on the strongest sounds ~ you my heat many others if you listen closely Note attack: gio se Upmatteal 7 Sioa > Dewan bend _— ‘Newer thin — sae: = we re Vibrato compresied 34 twang O— Bloegted O— Ape asp Pallog oh te compre aed 7 cot € it ingoison A “Preston maments _Ysitve got your familar ey need you there > “Trough ve tried to res, being last on your ist * Buh ars gunn — eesinnsimn te fis ot very eying all atone + iy rds try and tel me, Sn of ay om >t Ley. tt ren B and ery > cause rater bp esting Bas == ry te for you —— gino >You used to tell me we'd run away together > Le gives you the right be 68 ——— asian Rient ue i tee jut that's just an'sid fantasy ——— guetta78 ronuas ene ‘We'll be making love the ee ight through —— & 1m svg all my tove >. yg! Sita shim oe gh sf yo trou —— lather womans gonna love you Ynare“. Seen I the night 342 Tatra right mae gm saviog all my oe — Yeoh 'm saving all myo & tiny Yes fm saving all my love for you for you— 1g withthe notes ve provided el fee to make your own notes a ren ~ you may well heat more or dient ching So what do we find Tooking at the wool choices Whitney Houston makes jn ths ng? RT-LEVEL that the ovnll perceived elirelevel is around 6/7. The verse gs havea very eay quality to them, and for the most part, you don’t {eel the effort uni she gets to chorus repeats You can ear that she's 1g hard throughout the lst eepeit, so the overall effect for me i just the middle of the sae, She utes some good, safe (not hard onthe elements to push the perceived effore-level up notably by providing strong contast between voice quate. Simply by switching quickly often benween contniting voice quite, + singer can give the jon of working hard. She alo using some heavier onsets ~ paricn- heute of rumbling onset on el fantasy and tonight ithe night. She sis some big consonant sounds in the ls verse ofthe song Jou can now heavily she emphases the"? sounds in the phuases:‘ause tonight ight / chat 'm feling sll right) ina kindof staccato pattern with asain, since she rightly senses here chat sustain would somehow exe sion of he emotion rather than ease for the istener. sy the cue effor-leel isa bit higher, perhaps 7/3~she' doing some interesting voce quality changes, and some of them are more dificult ‘hey sound. Pehaps the greats effort she'l be using wil be on the st note and athe end ofthe thir! repeated ving all my love fo you" ie list refin, She wing 2 very powetl, edgy but almost hollow ng thin-Fld, which creates rel volume but may not strike che listener reg mich effort to austin, Actually, the tone isl sn dificule for ang singers to satan, but coming off the Twangy thick-fold quality of| ing all ny love for and going into this thinfold power quality with ute accurscy ~ which she hols for avery log time without vibrato = real muele work Ifyou have any doubes about that give ica try! ICE QUALITIES goes through quite a fy but since the overlimpresion you have of song comes fons the big chorass scan fel 2 f the dominant quality ee or Twang Ie sn, though ~ she wes her newualthin-old and thick- 1 quale jos as often. As mentioned eal, c can be quite had to}OUISATIONAL PATTERNS rovisition i ight and quick and generally wed for rounding of offen no more thin moving up of down 3 tone. She uses very ide ‘vay of melodie improvisation; hi one ofthe thing tha places the tore comfortably in the Pop gence, despite its clear RAB influence. PASE WEIGHT AND PLACEMENT 1k te is very even, She i very consistent both where she starts 2 and how she disrbutesbrexth/energy Cuoughout the phrase Theres ck phrasing, nor does she ever push a phrte forwards ofthe best. This we eeates Sight lower perceived efore-lve singh exace qualities as you listen to them ~ it mach easier fe them ‘when you¥e doing them yourelf. But I think I hear some ingeretng ik changes, especially in dhe Gal phrte which goes: "Ys Um ick sig all ay Jove for (Bele Twang] you [very bright thin-fld)’The rapid change Dberween voice ualies mises the efor-leel, INFLUENCES Whieney Houston comes fiom 4 comfortable, ery musically infuenced background (her mother is RAB singer City Houston and her cousin Dionne Warwick) and you ean hea elements of Gospel, R&B, Bes, Rock and Jez inthe voice. However, the way in which she combines he element hs kind of lighenes about it ~ 10 akhough this certainly feels ike + Riiythm & Blues wack, chee} none ofthe urgency you find in the heavier RAG singers. Perhaps the singer she seminds me most of Natalie Cake — another vocalist who came fom a reltively comfortable, very msicly influenced background, who wat recording abi este. ONSET AND DECAY this song she does do very much in her note beginnings and endings that would affect the effor-Jevels. ln the lighter, thin-fold sections she wes an Aspirateonse sometimes only two ofthe times can you hear her we + ‘tip’ onset [You sid be patien, and she uses the Rumble onset ewig noted eater, Her decay Sound is dominated by the vibrato fide, which sometimes speeded up to give a Compresed release (Cate tonight i he ihe). diction it very srong in the big momen, and always clean and henible ATH acca slight breath sound on many of her eeleases; not song enough co gospel fnth, bu enough vo suggest effort ~'mild? Gospel? WHAT 1S SHE TRVING TO DO WITH THE SONG? ‘wants to tll 2 story, 90 she relly values the lytic and is carefil with Jn. Shel trying to make us undersand tha the ife ofa mises aha aid perhaps eying to convince ws not to judge 20 quickly. She does’. SUSTAIN For the mot pare she sve he big heavy sustains forthe chorus. When she hold the note, she generally dos so with an even amount of volume You'® avare of the effort it takes to sustain on sch a big sound, but becae sie ocsnt pascal build or improvise within the susan, the effor-eel it She seems to want co convince ue that forall the emotionally ped ircurstances of the song, he docs’ want her ltener think shes ridoned he logical capacity tose the ere Hiniaion of her sution and ‘own culpbiity in i Ifshe had abandoned herself to self-pity here, she Ad, thin, have sacred some of our undeesanding Because dhe teads the midale ground, we probably zepond to her both lly and emotionally She combining some beausfal sounds with a ng emotional charge, and neither the technical nor the imaginative side her work i short-changed. We ae ako probably left wondering how to doesnt sem intense. Hower, she pounds her consonant sounds que Mt in these sections, which does make the litener aware of er effort. ureRATO Generally her vibrato bas ight fel toi 1 relatively fist and ofen eld ‘off unt the very las ofthe sound — which can create high ee effort lee and arelaively low perceived effot-leve rove the song with a sense of her paia, but weke never allowed £0 ey,@ onsen ust to ano ars asners eroruace 69 cor ruthfilly Gom their heats Increasingly what we value in vocal the see that we are beng let eto the singer’ personal elm. We that in a teat delivery (Snead ©’Connen), or we may Gnd itn Paving notes (Chaka Kaba); we may Bnd it in sheer energy and Mick Jagger) ,or we may ind tin quieter, creake’ sounds Damion in wherever we find it we wil probably also ind 2 singer who i not ened with singing’ sty ae with commenscaing feel about thie woman or all her careful delineation of the situation, the ‘sino doubt where her heart relly squarely on anticipating all the joy secing this man, guy or not We daw this concasion because en th ‘omens of this anticipation in the song that Whitney Houston ups the ‘loc-leel, thereby ‘upping’ our senee of her involvement inthe moment. “This ican early recoding for Whitney Houston, and ie he ensuing yer, some crite have worried’ that she has grown more concerned wih Far lien to this track, I woulda have thought it pose chat one nding could put me in mind suongy ofboth Bob Dylan and Mick the sane ines these ati’ styles ifr widely Bu this piece by veeny Boy Wilson does just tha. A Blues legend whose career spanned my years, Wilanson displays what might be described as 2 chs male uct sound here. The dition it very loose ~ but it sn realy hard to pick pth yi Wilson was know ro have had speech impediment, which ap influenced the lose diction. As with nearly all Bes, his pefoe~ revokes 3 very spoken sound and in the middle section ofthe song he ‘bandone any pretence at singing and js speaks in time ~ you cn hea how lvl alike i spoken and sing sounds are, These really only one vocal cain throughout Se song, nesta thick- Fld sound) although YOU Gl) omy eae bit of Creak or‘eratc’ owed onto that atime. 1 Witiamson was considered one ofthe early viewoso Blues tamonica yrs and his el melodic Highs ake place in tote estrumentalslot-The ingng ha seaight felt a8 does the whol track, and he weight is panes quite evenly. He pushes the placement jot forward of the best in Trove platen which gives lite sense of forward weighting; bt forthe mort nthe over ete of evenness add othe convertion quality of his evormance. His note attack is heavily bent in dhe “devil chores and Instead of the compressed or quick il off the note tat he ses inthe verse Not Fetold ont the end of Jer? (which he alos pronosnces devin) andevils the song goer on. in woube' and tha ‘don't do that no more’ and che hapless men who are taken in by them. Hut hes noe defeated sal het ready to find another woman because he refses to travel dhis‘hig eal by himselé And you know that he finds something hfe-atming in the ‘ongoing wars Berween tien and women, “1 JUST WANT To MAKE LOVE TO You" ~ ETA RHES as60) Ie psi not suprising eat the dade bewcen th ry ny coding Ye andthe 196 og ie chang nthe mow tse Bos sy see the al efit ofmon Bie se stro could ge 4 thing) mas be one of ate nes ck Braj ches autem thaghs Ble set des dey fom De eth “xeing clo the ering the ian nse snr eee the two singers. - ts vor power snr to Be Soh, and as wailed show sound ~ pact on te vene opening She te neue te ld pay dl hgh mo oth song lon hind pte nce segs ones bot mang le You ec he te wy which good sound rearing and god microphones he feel ange aly elo the dam ge of ti cs a spt ons es oe fomastotto a wher eran ono ack He ona she ely concent efit evel cnstcing ig me ay ope Infact hw ot of Concin al he ey tungh te ange 3a gra cape oftow oe at consticed sun o wont ct You cin hear ate has ne cont of whee sd hea ihe coma eae he gity power and whe eee a mcottclve con ely ishing You cna el how mich mor street # tates n cae ad ssn tne Consrson when yo compat od Sows ery wna ins ol end dw ie ph Of This preteens yous a he nse me hs amore A sgh he won eu onus he nee showphow he eg ew ad ac aoe Oe comer in th od how ir nbc sb dog a Se nihplen athe a oa ali eth jae wire dean gurantee ee a sorouphiyayfilsong which eh yin lth sind mh of Bs proce man, pros mn ssc rambles and growk’. Eta James use pases the whole physi! cy of her ssength right a you doughout this ong. She wes a slow rd bend often in the note stack and her sustains are rare, which keeps ong fom sounding toosng’.Ae with most Blues singers, there i ile ston, and ~ with the exception of one extended phrase repetition rs the end ofthe tack and. very few alernative nots ~ she generally "othe melody here. Phe placement i prety even, but the hefty tected openings push al the phrase weight ditinay towards che fon. ' Hide sustain wed apart fom the big note bends in the fist pare of| 1 phases and most of er Snishes arenes ll compressed oiling this dso the seme ofall the weigh ofthe phrase being pled forwards. ke Bese, her overall motional effect is one of great power and pasion, perhaps becase the vocal quality changes ar itde more intriguing the ral eflect of the song i slighty more complex There a pure sexual here and her quick vocl-qulty changes ply on both female power female softness, She sings at one point about waning to bake her man ne bread bot you never get even the ightest hin of anything domestic rot Eta James. You know sek jas eying to Keep his strength up in onder match her own LITTLE RED ROOSTER’ ~ 816 MANA THORNTON (4968) fs estzoinary song that hat been conde by atts ike Sam Cooke, the ling Stones, nior Wels and How’ Wot this is 2 euly unique effort, led with an entire bard fill of rounds. Big Mama Thornton docs’ so iach sing 2s wal er way throogh this atmospheric performance. he relies, hos entely on neta hik-fld and Bele qualities and you can sene the 1 of her instrument ~paticulay in the Goal ves. wouldnt want ¢o ess exactly what voice qualities she using forthe animal eflecs! Rather mn Rumble, the uses Glotal and (boch milly and heavily) Constited ets mos quent, which eelly wp the perdived effor-eve. She does hing to ‘beat’ the sound the makes ~ there is relatively lie sense of song being ‘sng’ and it led with the clasc kindof deface that Ma Pasincy and Besie Smith were exhibiting decade eae. This song was ecorded in the 1960s and sound technology bas moved on quite 2 bic Where ese Smith's reconting fe almost distant inthe heaving, this track bas 3 ext sens of iumediacy toi ‘Big Maina Thornton does’ build to her final verse ~ she comes sight in with @ powerfal Constrction and minis high-ffort voice qualities98 ronan ssi rear spoken quality throughout most ofthe song. Although she indades much ‘more improviition than does Bea James’ song above, she saves most of he ‘novia efors for the nial andthe occa oe ey cone Wos-ye on ero el er ong Goel la ino = gd with dom icon Se Ka ra pcomen cen bt avy sig behind the et Tht ano Sle tinyrdon Brine hy nm fut reponse’ Hee he expat da fxm poly wah tel gate She hel weigh he Gr pt of er pean tougher ge cst the anal sounds athe ei of pars he Sh of he ag pls ten vo fel ight ashe compres the Eh ee a» ght sina ey et a oy nd cit an ‘erin rasp one She fis oem ori ‘by the range of sounds she can make — ples es ake pleat sd heougly iglenst— sud se ely etl theo Lie Sth Toronto 2 ump nthe bale of the sess The sg ha ste son ‘ended seal meapr about» phinrag man” nog do 6 anything bt he sound of hele ot heartbroken wan She wos oe to know tit women can and wil sve thes wanting ren, Ss big note bends up font, She eaey fll of note here, and there’ much ‘ompresion in the note Sis than we might hear inher Blues was 5 gone for softer, sighy more ‘sung’ sound ~ there 2 more ‘ed ry to the voice, and she eaes her way into the fist verse with newt ick fd sound ~ sch, deep bat not high eflor-level for he, She doesn estan, but wes simple, short vibrato fades, chen Snes the vere with big Bele sound. She ean never supees that big Det for long bi seems come so easily to her that you sil dn’ fel shel relly working wn you to end of verses The midle-8 secon i surprisingly low-key. unl she Ls igh up ito the end and improvs aa higher efforelevel But the song, ix much mote dypamie variation than any exty Divs songs did You can cl that at his point arts are geting sed tothe des of ting the micro- hone doa lot of dhe work for them, so that they can swoop off nto these gely moscut Bes and then come quickly into the microphone for the shen air vonc that simply didn’t fe salable to the early Bhs ats. Perhaps what strikes me most in listening to this 1960s coniction of viotns and piano triples is that while de song is about having Sally found vex i ute lacks the resiene, humour and immediacy ofthe old luce sounds Indeed the overall efiec is one of kind of melancholy ~ and. you didn listen to che word you probably wouldnt dingo chs fom ute 99100 raves sins 4 id oer js be my ov prs it ey prefer Eta inher harder ‘Blues mode doing jst Wan! Make Love Yn ‘econled on the se albu, suMMaRY Bes singel Memphis Mion 0 May Wiese ay gen he ener an almost voyeuritically pertnal experience ofthating the singers pain and dei limate survival It 3 fra eat really champions equality of thelows=bodmen and tern ‘won ue ih sche ‘basics’ of early Blues vocal sound include: bande 1 omni nh ey to ns de lows iBetion eneone wage ying ‘snd hatch in anh we of ek a sont Bek gut tg cen poten els ce Bly Bs singe ve eal Fe cn foe! is wal very high igs owing othe peda akan and neal hl ie ques Pot the met at thom pled ingumens whe singing ~ the eee weet {iv igh and in nore emsined cee mat oe! sce Sry most on enploed nal hilt us. The a of couse many exepion os (How Wolf eames ind 4. Ateneney ll of he note par ofthe dower fine ‘tion noted above ~ with either lite vibra m oo a ee to cy inishes to give a more ‘spoken’ sound. “= 5. Led rrr aia The pe conn nd ten nda 0 ear eyo wih he ining 1. Fg owl oat he ten sn of han nd gh ‘ready’ feel to the delivery. See 9, Te tin otis mumble eer a” PRACTICE e3e general elements of Blues syle are not as evident in tis ‘pure’ form today as they once were, but learning to work with them can help to free you as a vocalist from some ofthe limitations we thou work ealy wel forall the style exercise ane of them. Remember ~ Demo CD if yo Chari. Jace on ourselves when we're singing for someone else's approval jl ind this exercise alot more elective if you can work with @ pe recorder ~it doesit have tobe of great quali Find 2 song fat fs comfortably into your neutral thick-fold range. Ideally, you ight know a Blues song that you could use for this exercise, gh the traitonal spiritual songs Ive used in examples so far 25, s0 you might want to use you can use tracks 23 and 25 on the xa want to try this exercise with Swing Lom, Sweet 4, Sing your song through once, concentrating on wht you want to tornmonieste wth it. Dont worry about anything technical — just Concentrate on commonicating something important (perhaps justin terms of where the song fels most emotionally ‘on rected to you?! 2, Now that youve worked the song through once, try again. This time particularly in those areas ofthe song with which you fet the strongest connection ~ sea what happens if you concentrate tn using the highest effort-tevel voice quality you can. You may find it easier to Bel, ‘waif or ‘shout Ifyou move the song up & comfortable range. Resist the urge to sustain notes, Lite in you your ‘and when you come te the ends of phrases, ether compress finishes oF falloff the notes, These finishes can feel really tunnaturat if you've not used them before. Listen back to your performance = it ay not sound Uke you. but it's bound to have S ailferent sound from your fist ater. 2. there was anything you tked in that performance ~ even it only your ov bravery! ~ hang onto it and ty again. This time, rain fain thie fold quality inthe singing, but see whether you can ‘30 weight tothe beginning of phrases ~ either with hard glottal ‘sets, slighty rumbled or slightly constricted onsets, and some tend in the note attack. Let the dition slide 2 bit, especialy towards the ends of phrases. you can, ty also to keep in mind vat itwas that you made your strongest emotional connection to gil help to Keep these exercises from being to mechanics.4. Finaliy, choose a Blues artist whose style you reall ke. Spend sometime analysing thei work much in the same way that we Aid with the Whitney Houston song. Notice what they do with voice qualities, onsets, tone releases, phrase placement, dition, improv, elfor-tevls tc. Now find a gong that your artist has not recorded, and attempt to do the song ‘nthe style of your artis. This isnt a Stars in Their Eyes kind of effort - you're not trying to sound lke the ats, but rather trying out the elements of syle that yu think really mark ther performances. If some of this comes exy to you, and you liked the roughnew and dhe immediacy of your sound, you'e probably 2 Blues ‘natura! If you couldn’ realy sop ughing ~ well dont give wp. You may no ee yourself asa Blues Singer or you may find thi spe too demanding/ foreign. Ie will help you do more listening in this style Because i gives you real feedom in term of| ‘making sounds that are’ corect or beavtfil ~ and that ealls for abit of bravado on your par. The more you liten, the more you'll Ieen to appreciate the humour, srength, and generosity of Blues singing. Gospel Gospel is the geet Mother the chutch a repository of womens ‘memory murtare,iberation and eathan. fe moral codes may be ct botitisa pce where women fel afin 2 il expresion of elf When {Aretha} Frnklios ther the Reverend C.L, who inthe mid ‘50s ould command up to $4,000 fes for an appearance on the Goxpel iru, let loose his million-dollar roa, working women would surrender themselves to cestatic prayer, some having tobe erred avy by srongarmed mutes! Gospel is closely aed with Blues in the sense oft tong root in black ‘American history and experience, nd alo ints overall sound and the woe choices made by Gospel singers. There are many stylet tht seem to operite under the category of Gospel, and singers s diverse ax Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and Lous Armstrong have recorded Gospel vg o albums. 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