Choir, Singers, Vocal Team, Voice
Vibrato On Every Note Is Like Putting Ketchup On Everything (Show #29)
#SingTrue (Video Below) As worship singers, how do we effectively use the voice God gave us? The main key to a good vocal sound is to use it in the way God created – not something forced and not something that’s unnatural. The Lord gave you a voice to sing, so sing true and sing to Him. You’ve heard it before. The loud wailing wobbly vocal sound of vibrato.
It could have come from somewhere in the rafters of the soprano section or someone on your team. Right? Most contemporary music is moving towards a straight tone style of singing. This means little to no use of vibrato.
Vibrato is not bad, if used well and in the right place. That’s just it, vibrato is the icing on the cake and is best used as an effect, rather than a means. “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God to my last breath!” (Psalm 104:33)
What is Vibrato? A natural oscillation of the vocal cords. A slight regular fluctuation (wave) in your tone. This is caused by the natural, normal relaxation and contraction of the throat’s inner involuntary muscles. A natural vibrato can range from a 4-6 wave cycle per second. This refers to the number of waves produced from vibrato over a given sung note. But when we speak about vibrato, it is important to understand that a tremolo or wobble is not the same as a vibrato. A wobble is caused by the use of the outer muscles that force your voice to produce an unnatural bump in the tone.
What is Straight Tone? A stable natural note produced by a flow of air over the vocal cords producing a solid unwavering tone. The note is pure and consistent. Good breath control will establish this pure straight sound. It feels like gently pushing air through the vocal cords without interruption. The benefit for straight tone singing maximizes your sound and strengthens your vocal production. Vibrato tends to discolor your true voice, while straight tone singing reveals your voice’s true color and character. The more in-tune you become with your voice, the more in-tune you connect with others.
Vocal Exercise: To practice straight tone singing, try this exercise: Hold your hand out flat, at the same height as your shoulder – to the side of your face – pointing forward. Imagine your hand like an airplane. Move your hand slowly forward in a straight line, while keeping it flat. Reset your hand back into position and sing any note on an open vowel: “la,” “na,” or “li”. As you sing, move your hand slowly, keeping it flat.
You want your hand to mimic the straightness of the note as you are singing. Don’t waver and keep your tone and hand moving together in a flat line. Here, you’ll find the challenge of keeping your voice on pitch and straight. If possible, use a piano to help you also match the desired pitch. Continue this exercise over a variety of different keys, pitches and new vowels.
Next, try singing a familiar worship song or hymn. Focus on keeping the tone pure and straight. You may be surprised just how simple, yet difficult it is to maintain a pure tone and not to wobble. The more you practice straight tone singing, the better you will improve your tone. Plus, you will also improve your sense of pitch and staying in key.
Check Yourself:
see what you’ve learned about keeping your tone straight. Try a song and pick out small-short sections of the verse or chorus (3-4 words). Sing through the small passage and focus, as you did in the exercise below.
Next, try the entire verse or chorus passage. Keep the plane or hand image in your mind as you sing.
At this point, you need to develop self awareness – giving more thought to what your voice is doing as you sing. The more you become self-aware of what the muscles are doing, your breath control/larynx and pitch, the more comfortable your vocals will be.
If you stray from not wanting to understand your voice, or think it sounds bad, you will be less likely to fix it. Sing the way God made you, as opposed to sounding like somebody else. Get to know your voice, know the ability of straight tone and develop a throttle for vibrato. The Lord gave you not only a voice to sing, but a skill to invest and talent to produce fruit.
“I will lift my voice to sing Your praise – O my Strength – for you came to my defense. Oh God, You have shown me Your loving mercy.” (Psalm 59:17)
@BranonDempsey @worshiptt 
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