Belting, Riffing, and Vibrato:
Tips & Tricks
Riffing: Classical
- The proper term for a riff in music theory is ostinato
- Defined as a motif or phrase that persistently repeats
- was written into musical pieces
Belting
Vibrato
Thank You!
Riffing: Contemporary
- Often confused with chest voice
- Is in the upper middle range
- It is a combination of high larynx position, small airflow, engaged muscles in the torso, neck, and head, and a narrow 'twanger'
- to belt properly, minimize tension in the throat and bring sound forward to the hard palate
- Practice belting using scales or a melody line!
- The sound can be forced if not properly trained in retraction of ventricular folds
- Defined as a brief, relaxed phrase repeated over changing melodies
- can also be called a 'lick'
- can be written into music or improvised by the singer
- they can vary from simple to complex
- A regular, pulsating change of pitch
- Can occur spontaneously through a tremor in the diaphragm or larynx
- measured in both extent (amount of pitch change) and rate (speed with which pitch is varied)
- vibrato is measurable! (in Hz)
Healthy Vibrato
Unhealthy Vibrato
- focused tone
- breath pressure
- no pressure in the mouth or jaw
- relaxed muscles
- added pressure in the tongue, chin or jaw
- pulsating the diaphragm to create a 'false' vibrato
- lack of proper breath pressure
- lack of focus!