| From: Barry Bounous Subject: Re: Chin vibrato - Observations To: VOCALIST <vocalist> Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Since this has been a recent topic I made a point of observing and listening closely during our voice major juries (end of term singing exams) to those singers who evidenced jaw movement during sustained notes and vowels. I listened to around 200 singers and about 10% had noticeable jaw movement (only 1 being male, the rest female) I noticed that they tended to fall into two catagories:
1) Those who couldn't seem to produce any vibrato without the assistance of the jaw.
2) Those who could but who periodically added jaw movement (usually on loud and/or high pitches).
In the former case, the vibrato sometimes had a 'normal' sound (when I closed my eyes) and sometimes did not. (About 50/50) In the latter case, I noticed a definite degradation in the periodicity and balance of the vibrato as the singers "added" jaw movement to "help" the vibrato or at least to help their sense of vocal freedom.
I didn't have any measuring devices so this is subjective. Hey all you pre-Thesis types out there! Anyone want to confirm (or disprove) my findings objectively? -- Dr. Barry Bounous Brigham Young University School of Music bounousb-at-itsnet.com
| |