Same song, different vocal style...

As part of the listening exercise in the Core Training course (see previous post) I thought it was really interesting to play Lea Salonga (creator of the title role in Miss Saigon and a musical theatre singer) and Christina Aguilera (pop/R&B diva) singing the same song.

"Reflections" appears in two guises in the same film, Mulan. Lea Salonga sings it during the film itself in the character of Mulan. This is a musical theatre performance. Christina Aguilera sings the same number over the end credits, in the style of a pop ballad.

Same song, same key (mostly), same words, different vocal styles, totally different performances. One person on the Core Training course didn't even recognise that it was the same song! In this particular comparison, it is not just the choice of voice quality that is different - the beginnings and endings of notes and phrases, the emphasis on text and/or emotion, even the melody itself differed between the two performances.

Different approaches really are valid in different genres, and this was a great demonstration that musical and vocal styles are not simply about the sounds you make. In my singing coaching I work not only with different sounds, but also with different approaches to notes, more or less freedom with the written notes, changes of articulation and pronunciation, different onsets and offsets, different architectural structures and different emotional journeys.

I love my job!

8 out of 10 singers can't agree...

We recently completed the three-day intensive Vocal Process Core Training Course in London. It is fascinating to work with people from different disciplines. The course participants this time came from classical, musical theatre, rock, choral, and spoken voice backgrounds. Gillyanne and I love this type of mix - our participants bring so much with them to the course.

To break the ice at the beginning, I played several short extracts from commercial recordings of various artists and asked the participants to write down their thoughts, comments and general opinions of the singing and the singers. I included some of my personal favourites - Birgit Nilsson and Bryn Terfel singing opera, Lea Salonga and Kristin Chenoweth singing Musical Theatre, Christina Aguilera singing pop, and an Oasis track as a starter. As far as I was concerned, all the singers were singing healthily, and were very good exponents in their particular style genre.

Well, it seems that one person's vocal goddess is another's wailing shrew. The comments ranged from warm and beautiful to boring and whiny (usually referring to the same track). No-one agreed on all the tracks, and there wasn't a single track we played that everyone liked. Some participants didn't like a particular musical style, some found the voice production unnerving, but most had definite opinions on each track. Isn't it fascinating how music invokes such strong reactions?

I am a voice nerd...

To me, all singing is beautiful - if it is healthy, and if I have a sense that the motivation behind it is healthy too. I am fascinated by the range of sounds that a human voice is capable of (even though there are certain performances I don't like). We have both been saying for years that we are voice nerds, and there are advantages and disadvantages to living with someone who shares your passions. We rarely get into arguments about voice qualities (although it does happen), but singing and speaking voices are so evocative that it can be easy to become obsessed with detail. Although it does have its funny side...

We were sitting have a quick lunch in Sainsburys, when an extraordinary cover version of Didn't We Almost Have It All came on the tannoy. It sounded like an adolescent girl, belting up to high Gs and Abs - it was exciting and absurd at the same time. We were both transfixed over our pasta. So of course I had to ask the Sainsburys staff what it was. I think the catering assistant thought we were a little weird but she did go and take the cassette out of the player to bring to us. Unfortunately I'm still no wiser, as it was on a compilation cassette made especially for the store as background music, and had no label.

If anyone knows who might have recorded a high cover version of Didn't We Almost Have It All, please email me or post a comment below. I'd love to hear from you - we really want to play it on our next course!

Style Conscious 2

"We have to reproduce faithfully what's on the page in classical music".
Renee Fleming again on Desert Island Discs.

Well, yes and no - it depends. What standard musical notation doesn't show you is how to move between the notes. When singers are discovering a new musical genre, they sometimes need a little help!

I often work with classically trained singers who want to widen their choice of working styles. Working with a singer/teacher this week who has travelled from the opposite direction. She is a fairly accomplished jazz/blues singer who has just discovered a classical setup. It’s a big voice! We’re working on full lyric repertoire, and it's been interesting to note that for her, the change of vocal setup makes her feel that her voice is freer and more powerful, although the sheer size of the noise scares her a little. Ironically, when she came for the session, she was singing exactly what was on the page, moving cleanly from note to note (like a conscientious instrumentalist).

I had to explain to her that big lyric voices, particularly in operatic repertoire, tend to move between the notes in a different way to singers in other genres. So I have had her sliding between the notes, singing through phrases on a voiced fricative (vv), and generally connecting notes and pitches without the words. She certainly found it easier to sing the repertoire (Countess, Tosca, even French song).

This repertoire needs the singer to add connection between the notes, slides (supported smearing between the pitches) and linking shapes, together with a much bigger arching shape in the phrase.

Core Tone
The other thing that matters is keeping the "core tone" throughout the phrase, and not disappearing at the ends of phrases. One definition of maintaining core tone is that the sound stays focussed and alive, and remains present even when getting softer. If you're a classical singer, that's one of those "but of course" moments. But to someone new to the genre, particularly a singer who is used to creating widely differing sounds within a phrase, there's an element of "Do you mean I have to do that ALL THE TIME?"