Are you considering all the issues you need to when you write your vocal partst?
Bruce Houghton over on Hypebot has posted an artictle called Three P’s – Keys to Great Vocals.
The post is part of his Daily DIY series, and his source is the book How to Make Your Band Sound Great’ , a book mostly about recording.
This post has some ideas you could apply when thinking about composing your vocal parts.
His three P’s are:
Pitch
Under which he makes the point that as well as being in tune, a singer should give a fair approximation of the melody (gospel influenced pop singers take note).
Which, having been a musicians for my entire life and having studied to degree level, is not a musical term I have ever encountered, but which in this context apparently means fitting in with the groove and rhythm of a song and also having good articulation and dynamics.
Passion
Under which he notes that a. the singer must express the emotion of the song and b. it’s the producer’s job to facilitate this.
There are some great ideas here, and also some odd ones. Certainly, I don’t think it can be stressed enough that the gospel influenced style of singing epitomised by Beyonce Knowles is an unexpressive style, given to far too much vocal flamboyance and far too little substance, placing vocal gymnastics ahead of melody.
What is odd is the use of the term ‘pocket’ and the seperation of rhythm, articulation and dynamics from emotion. I don’t think emotion can be seperated from these seemingly unemotional tools, and I’ll explain why.
Hang on! Isn’t this really a performance issue? I’m a songwriter, not a performer!
Yes, any good singer is going to interpret your music in ways you didn’t expect, that’s one of the joys of composition. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore performance issues as a songwriter. It’s all just a matter of degree. After all, as a songwriter you could be vague about melody and rhythm, makinjg only vague suggestions as to which note fits which word. You could do that, but you recognise that melody has a vital part ot play in the song, so you give guidance.
The same could be true of dynamics, articulation etc.
Getting back to the point
I’ve written about this before: for the artist emotion/passion is a tool. A musician is like an actor- how much he feels is irrelevant, his job is to move the audience not himself.
Passion is absolutely vital for a good vocal part, but how is passion conveyed through music? Well, the most important tool for this is melody. Melody maps out the contour of highs and lows, the rhythm and pace. In fact melody is the primary means of showing meaning in vocal music. Forget the lyrics, they can’t say anything near as much emotionally as your melody can.
But once you’ve got the melody sorted, there are decisions to be made about how to convey that melody and even if you’re not a performer, you can have a say in them:
How well you articulate this melody? Is the rhythm staccato, every syllable clearly articulated?
Is it melismatic and flowing?
Lazy, calm and behind the beat?
Which vocal tone are you using? Spechlike, breathy or full voiced and soaring?
Which part of the range is this to sung in? Falsetto, full voice, or with deep, chocolate tones?
I absolutely agree that the emotional content is paramount, though I’d reject Bruce’s line about the vocal being there to convey the lyrical message of the song. Lyrics are NOT the main meaning (if they were Bob Dylan would never have got anywhere writing the nonsense lyrics he had such hits with). But it is true that using all the tools at your disposal, melody, articulation, dynamics, tone, pace, is the way to convey the emotion of the song.
So, are you considering all these issues when you write your vocal parts? There’s a hell of a lot more than just words and notes.
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