What’s the key to a good vocal blend?
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
…particularly for an a capella group of 4-5 voices? Whose voice should we mainly listen to, to tune to?
ANSWER: You ask good questions.
Good vocal blend is achieved by a combination of factors. Each singer should be comfortable producing about the same amount of sound. The converse is to say that blend will be difficult to achieve if you have some very big heavy voices and some very light weak voices. Each and all voices should be comparatively the same in strength and intensity. If there is ever one particular voice that needs to be heard more than others, it’s the one that carries the tune, melody or theme. However, this often changes with the arrangement of the piece or even within the same piece.
Each singer needs to be able to sing perfectly in tune. When you all sing the very same pitch (not an octave apart) it should sound like a perfect unison - one unit, rather than 4 or 5 people producing something on the same pitch but sounding different. This requires that each singer listens carefully to his/her neighbor and to the entire ensemble’s sound.
Another factor is that everyone in the ensemble must pronounce every syllable - every vowel and consonant - identically. Vowels should agree. No one should “stick out” because their vowel production and pronunciation is markedly different from everyone else’s.
When harmony is tight - that is, close together, it’s often a good idea for all singers to sing “straight tone” (without vibrato) so that tuning can be exact and exciting. By the same token a quartet from the Romantic Period, say by Brahms, needs a lot of warmth and energy (vibrato). Straight-tone singing ought not to be a habit.
The last thing that will help an a cappella group sound exciting is for them to sing in absolute precision rhythmically.
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