Other Vocal Effects

Did I mention that this website is under construction?

There are a variety of effects that I am including under "the art" of singing. You can read about them in a piecemeal way in the web pages on various singers. This is my attempt to collect the same information in a more organized (but also more essayish) fashion.

  • Glides and Drops. Glides are the changes in pitch leading into a note and drops are the changes in pitch the end of notes.
  • Gristle, Gristle is the opposite of a clear voice and includes grit, gravel, ragged voice, sexual arousal, and the catch in the throat of grief.
  • Tense versus relaxed voice. A tense voice sounds operatic. For discussions of this, see Elvis Presley here or here, or Vanessa Carleton.
  • Interpretation. A little off topic. This discusses the issues of interpreting a song. Contains a bad interpretation of the choral song from Beethoven's 9th Sympony, and a good interpretation of "Tiptoe through the Tulips."