Dave Phillips wrote:
Frank Pirrone wrote:
Where her voice naturally falls within the first two tunes, her quick
and quavery vibrato and flattish phrasing keep "Fever" from becoming
an equally strong vehicle for her talents. She's "crooning" it more
than singing it.
Yes, that's it exactly. As I wrote previously, she has done it better
live, she can connect with her audience pretty well by now.
I'd have her syncopate it more. Slow down the vibrato, or drop it at
points altogether. That's common enough for jazz singers. Sing with
a little more edge, and from the throat. Have her close her eyes and
both visualize the story of the lyrics and the expressive process of
voicing it. Have her practice some bluesy growl and timing, even to
the extent of visualizing herself as a tube of vocal music, squeezing
it out perfectly with pressure from the diaphragm. If you sing, show
her. She'll quickly get the point and emulate the difference.
These are great suggestions, Frank, thank you, and I will use them. I
haven't really approached the use of vocal effects (I'm still trying to
master Blind Wilie Johnson's growls myself).
She has trouble with the vibrato. I think perhaps her classical teacher
has failed her there, she didn't realize she had it until I pointed it
out. Sometimes it's mitigated by her comfort level, I've noticed that in
performance her first songs have more vibrato than the later selections.
She's getting more comfortable with the recording process though, and
hopefuly she'll learn how to "iron out" the vibrato and to apply it with
more control over where & when.
If she's still a teenager she has time to develop her vibrato. Any
female singer who avoids sounding like Mariah Carey et al. will get my
approval. You have to /feel/ vibrato - My favourite vibratos are Bob
Marley and Elizabeth Frazer (Cocteau Twins). It is a technique for
extending power and note duration without going badly out of tune, so
part of it is ear-training, to know when your intonation is slipping and
introduce an appropriate amount according to the feeling of the song.
As I said in my previous post. I like the unaffected style of the
performance. If she is singing slightly flat, it may be that she simply
needs a bit of a confidence boost. Pitching is 90% confidence in my
experience. There is also a greater acceptable pitch margin for lead
vocals if no-one has to harmonise with them. Some of my favourite
singers are actually quite slack in this department.
cheers,
tim
/|\
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