QUOD LIBET SOUND QULAITY HOW TO

And when vibrato is permitted, the director must ensure that the singers are not engaging in a vocal free-for-all in which individual voices may cut through the choral texture and where the presence of a wide variety of vibrato styles creates the sort of “vibrato pit” I described yesterday (read it here ). The less vibrato is present, the easier it is to match and blend. If warmer sound is called for, then the conductor may permit the controlled introduction of moderate vibrato.Īnd certainly the presence of vibrato confounds and obstructs efforts to match vowels, which is essential to achieving blend, especially in quiet or unison passages. If a cool, clear sound is desired, the conductor may ask singers to sing with little or no vibrato. Let’s also consider melismatic passages, where several notes are sung for one syllable of text, such as in this passage from the choral bass part of Bach’s Cantata BWV 11, Ascension Oratorio “Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen” (1735):ĬHORAL COLOR, TIMBRE, AND BLEND - The presence of vibrato affects the color, timbre (the quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume), and blend for the entire ensemble. Much contemporary music is also dissonant by design, and here, too, choral clarity must take precedence over individual tone. The result is blander and less interesting. Every note deserves to be heard! The use of vibrato in these passages obscures the clashing notes and eliminates the overtones which should add “zing” to the clash. In these passages, the composer wants us to hear the teeth-on-edge clang of competing tones and their harmonics (overtones). In tonal music, dissonances often occur in cadential passages or in settings of certain types of texts. Let’s consider harmonic and melodic dissonances, moments when voice parts clash closely against each other. Of all the choral repertoire, it is the polyphony of the Medieval and Renaissance periods that is most often sung without vibrato however, the same principle may be applied to polyphony of any period. Even in slow-moving passages, vibrato will obscure and muddy the textures and harmonies. In choral polyphony, clarity and precision can be attained only if vibrato is kept to a minimum or eliminated altogether. HARMONIC AND MELODIC TEXTURE – Polyphonic music - that is, music with several overlapping or intertwining melodic lines - demands clarity and precision in performance. There are many factors that the choral singer must consider when choosing whether to add, remove, or modify the vibrato, including harmonic and melodic texture, repertoire, composer’s instructions, and the taste of the choral director.

QUOD LIBET SOUND QULAITY HOW TO

) True story: One soprano I know, having been asked by the director to sing senza vibrato (that is, without vibrato), replied testily, “I worked years to learn how to sing with vibrato and I’m not going to take it out now!” (You can read my essay on this issue here. A choral rehearsal is not the time or place to show off your voice. Whether or not a singer is willing to modify the vibrato, or to sing without vibrato at all, generally has less to do with skill and more to do with ego - whether the singer is willing to leave his or her ego at the door of the rehearsal room. But does vibrato have a place in choral singing? This question has always been of interest to me, perhaps because I’ve sung so much early music where vibrato is seldom used, and because I’ve sung in choirs where vibrato ist verboten.Īnd yes, singers are able to sing with or without vibrato, and most singers can control, to some extent, the speed and amplitude of the vibrato oscillation.

Properly produced and appropriately employed, vibrato is useful as one of the many vocal ornaments in the soloist’s repertoire, and its use by the soloist is not at issue here. We’re used to hearing vibrato in trained solo singers.

Today I’ll share my thoughts about the use - and mis-use - of vibrato in choral singing.

Yesterday I wrote about how we hear vibrato in the singing voice.

Quod libet sound qulaity