Contents
- 01One voice, many styles
- 02Classical: filling a hall without a microphone
- 03Pop: your conversational voice, singing
- 04Musical theater: the words come first
- 05Soul, R&B and gospel: when the ornament is the message
- 06Jazz: the voice as one more instrument
- 07Rock: lots of energy, without hurting yourself
- 08The microphone is technique too
- 09Three dials to sort it all out: vibrato, air and brightness
- 10What you can't learn from an app
- 11Exercise: one phrase, three styles
- 12What you take with you
Styles: what changes in the voice across classical, pop and musical theater
One instrument, many styles: what they all share, which dials each one turns and what you can't learn from an app alone.
What you'll learn
In this lesson you'll travel through the most common styles, from classical to rock, and discover what they share and what changes in the voice from one to the next. You'll learn to think of those differences as a few dials your own voice can turn. And you'll try them out by singing the same phrase in three different ways.
What you'll need
About 20 minutes and a place where you can sing freely. You'll use the app's Vocalization tool with the Minor wave pattern at a slow speed, to warm up lightly before trying the styles. And your phone to record yourself, because hearing yourself from the outside is the best way to notice what changed.
If you're just starting
If you've made it this far, welcome to the last lesson of Voice fundamentals: here you bring together what you've seen about air, resonance and phrasing, and take it into different musical languages. It helps you know what to listen for in each style and choose yours for what you want to say, not out of habit. Take it as a map to find your bearings, not as a course in each style. You don't need to sing in any of them already: wanting to play with your voice is enough.
Words you'll come across
- Classical singing
- The style of opera and art song, designed to fill a hall without a microphone.
- Musical theater
- Shows where the story moves forward through song; there, clear words come first.
- Vibrato
- A natural, even wave in the note when the voice is free.
- Legato
- Connected: one note joined to the next, without breaks.
- Straight tone
- Holding the note steady, without a wave, similar to how speech sounds.
- Phrasing behind the beat
- Arriving at the word just after the music's pulse, without losing time.
- Belting
- The name of a powerful, bright color in musical theater; it's learned with a teacher in person.
- Distortion
- A rough, raspy sound typical of some rock styles; it isn't learned from an app alone either.