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Author Topic: Vibrato!!!!  (Read 749 times)

Offline inhope

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Vibrato!!!!
« on: June 27, 2008, 03:51:28 PM »
HI LGM members

Its been a long time since I visited . I hope you are all well. I love that you we are always there for each other in our times of need and if it wasnt for LGM we would be lost here in the UK. This ministry is such a bIessing to us BRits.

Now i have a real fundemental question and i really hope someone can help. We have been working on our fellowship as a choir and our relationship with God as a choir now its time to iron out some basic problems I so hope someone can help.

Just a bit of history. I set up our community choir 4 years ago and have 22 singers on average. We have been blessed to be Glorifying our Lord and all members are on fire for Him.  BUT

How can I teach them to vibrato like  American Gospel choir. Is it that you can do this naturally in your choirs or do you just pick it up when you join from others if so How, so may questions!!!.That sound and power that comes from yall  singing in  vibrato is what I would like our choir to achieve. It amazes me!!!! We have quite a few singers who can pitch but just cant vibrato. I really dont know how to teach. I this have tried getting them to copy me  (My vibrato is quite fast due to years of having to blast it out) but there must be a key to passing this knowledge on. HELP

When our members join they have never sung Gospel before there are no workshops ect we dont have Contemperary Gospel choirs here to learn  from at all!! but we want to give God Praise like you do in the USA with Power!!!! If anyone can send  me exersices audio clips or send me info on resources where i can get help on this it would be fantastic. I hope you all understand how difficult it is for us here we are very much on our own.

Here is a clip of us singing at Easter just as an example. Really looking forward to hearing form you




God Bless XXXXX
 
 

 
 
 
 

Offline seemunny

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Re: Vibrato!!!!
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2008, 02:43:09 AM »
You might wanna listen to gospel artist and/or choirs that you like, and pay attention to the speed of their vibratos.

You have to do like what vocal trainers always talk about, which is:

"sign from your diaphragm"...which is done when you add volume. That way you're not singing merely from your throat or nose or whatever. But the notes are coming from a bigger place (the diaphragm).

It's like if you were in a place where you had to be quiet, like a library, then you wanted to get the attention of the person directly in front of you, with his back turned towards you - you softly say "hey?"

Now, what imagine if you wanted to get the attention of someone, let's say - across the street (not clear down the football field! lol...just across the street), then you'd say "HEYYY!"

Notice what you had to do with your voice? That came from the diaphragm! Much different than in the library! That's the beginning, which means: "projecting".

The second part is, when you know how to project, then you can pay attention to vibrato speed. If you hear your favorites use it slow, then slow yours up while projecting. If you like it fast, either way is up to you.

But lastly, if you listen closely, you might be able to tell that the strong slow vibrato is actually "dipping" in pitch, and not just volume! But the pitch dip is so slight, that you can't tell - but ends up sounding like (volume up, down, up, down) as it vibrates.

I would say the "down part" is where the pitch relaxes every so slightly and goes down for a micro second, and on the "up part", the pitch recovers again. So when you go all out and execute it, it sounds more like volume fluctuating, when in fact, there's a slight pitch fluctuating as well.

But you have to "observe" different singers & choirs, and might pick up on that.

The slow vibrato is very rich, in that, sometimes the "slowness" of it, brings about tension! You can slow it up so much to make people ALMOST cringe, but you don't take it that far, and suddenly you've created "tension", which translates into: "people feeling it".

In the end, you have to use your ears, and observe others who are doing what you are shooting for. 8)

(By the way, i'm not a singer or anything, i'm just using a lifetime of "close-up observation")

Offline inhope

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Re: Vibrato!!!!
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2008, 08:47:15 AM »
Many thanks for this. I will take on all yu have said and try again. They are all so used to singing in a flat way that it seems alien to vibrato. I might have to individaully train them |Its gonna take time but hopefully will be worth it in the end. Its more the sops and the tenors that need the work. The Altos seem OK.
God Bless you for your time!!!!
HJelen (iNhope)

Offline seemunny

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Re: Vibrato!!!!
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2008, 12:53:46 AM »
You might wanna listen to gospel artist and/or choirs that you like, and pay attention to the speed of their vibratos.

You have to do like what vocal trainers always talk about, which is:

"sing from your diaphragm"...which is done when you add volume. That way you're not singing merely from your throat or nose or whatever. But the notes are coming from a bigger place (the diaphragm).

It's like if you were in a place where you had to be quiet, like a library, then you wanted to get the attention of the person directly in front of you, with his back turned towards you - you softly say "hey?"

Now, imagine if you wanted to get the attention of someone, let's say - across the street (not clear down the football field! lol...just across the street), then you'd say "HEYYY!"

Notice what you had to do with your voice? That came from the diaphragm! Much different than in the library! That's the beginning, which means: "projecting".

The second part is, when you know how to project, then you can pay attention to vibrato speed. If you hear your favorites use it slow, then slow yours up while projecting. If you like it fast, either way is up to you.

But lastly, if you listen closely, you might be able to tell that the strong slow vibrato is actually "dipping or changing" in pitch, and not just volume! But the pitch change can be so slight, that it's not overwhelmingly noticeable sometimes (cause sometimes it IS, lol) - but ends up sounding like (volume up, down, up, down) as it vibrates.

I would say the "down part" is where the pitch relaxes every so slightly and goes down for a micro second, and on the "up part", the pitch recovers again. Sometimes the pitch can even change upwards. And if you listen, you can hear varying degrees of "pitch change" in different peoples vibrato. Some are "wider or exaggerated, others shorter and more controlled".

So when you go all out and execute it, it sounds more like volume fluctuating, when in fact, there's a slight pitch fluctuating as well.

But you have to "observe" different singers & choirs, and you might pick up on that.

The slow vibrato is very rich, in that, sometimes the "slowness" of it, brings about tension! You can slow it up so much to make people ALMOST cringe, but you don't wanna take it that far, but suddenly you've created "tension", which translates into: "people feeling it".

In the end, you have to use your ears, and observe others who are doing what you are shooting for. And you can also keep in mind that the gospel choirs or artist that you hear using this vibrato, are basically singing with the same kind of "projection" of an Opera singer. The Opera singer and the Gospel choirs in some cases may share similar vibratos, but not in all cases. But the "projection" is more of what they both have in common..

(By the way, i'm not a singer or anything, i'm just using a lifetime of "close-up observation")


You're welcome, but i sho hate typos! lol...so i corrected some stuff, and even added a few more words.

Offline musallio

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Re: Vibrato!!!!
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2008, 06:41:48 PM »
Great advice C$$ 8)

I don't know if this thread will be useful, but it's worth reading & following up on it:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,56669.0.html  ;D

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,53187.0.html

Best wishes with your goals as a choirmaster :)
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