This post is for the vocalists - the sopranos, altos, tenors, baritones...
Vibrato: a repeated fluctuation of pitch; the slightly wavering quality that a singer has in his voice while sustaining a tone.
One of the issues that many worship teams face is the use of vibrato - how much it should be used, whether it should be used at all and the proper way to use it. One thing I have observed since coming to Living Word is that vocalists on our team are sort of all over the map when it comes to the issue of vibrato. For some of us it is our default - we use it more than we don't use it. For others we use it sparingly, if at all. When you have two or more vocalists approaching vibrato differently there is a high probability that things will collide - and not in a good way.
So, in light of the fact that vibrato is not only an important issue but one very relevant to our team I thought it might be helpful if all of us as vocalists would revisit it in the next months. Tim Carson, a vocal coach and former staff member at Willow Creek, has an excellent training video for vocalists. We'll be scheduling a time in September where ALL of us can watch it together in a workshop format. But, since that's a couple months away I wanted to whet your appetite by having you watch the following video. Note a few key ideas - especially what Tim has to say about vibrato in ensemble settings and whether or not he ever has to encourage more vibrato on teams.
It's a fact that as vocalists we pick-up both good and bad habits as we move through the years. I hope each of us can approach this issue of vibrato with an open mind and a willingness to assess our own tendencies. Thanks for taking the time to process this with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment