Step 8 Exam Name* First Last Email* HOW YOUR VOICE WORKS1. Contemporary music includes a great deal of style _____.* contrast cross-over similarity 2. Style: Vocal timbre or ___ varies dramatically from one style to the next. Adjustments in laryngeal height can make a huge difference in the __ of the tone. Vibrato is ever-present in some styles (classical) and can be non-existant in others (some rock). ___vibrato is common in theatre and jazz singing. Singers acquire style by listening to and ___ many different artists representative of each style. Diction and ___also contribute to style.* resonance, interpretation, consistent, listening, pronounciation tone color, authenticity, delayed, imitating, dialect placement, believability, faster, analyzing, pronounciation 3. For healthy singing and longevity don’t allow your students to take a pure belt sound higher than their first bridge; developing a ___ can make them sound like they are belting, but without the vocal trauma associated with a high belt. To help your student find their belt voice, vocalize on ___.* head-mix, "hey" and "yeah" light mix, y[i]and y[u] chest-mix, "hey" and "yeah" 4. In belt, the ___ is higher than the neutral, speech level position. Correct mouth position: show a few front teeth, (like biting into an apple) but don’t grimace in a wide jack-o-lantern grin; that will cause laryngeal ___.* soft palate, tension jaw, lowering larynx, hiking 5. Legit Musical Theatre Style: This is basically the same as ___ singing but less dramatic than opera. It requires a ___ larynx position than belt, a more raised velum or soft palate, more consistent vibrato, a darker tone quality, and a wider pharynx or throat space. The lips are slightly ___, and the jaw is dropped, opening more for the higher pitches. For women, classical or legit singing requires a more hooty or whoop-like vocal quality; bridging occurs much ____than it does in mixing or belting styles. The use of constant ___ is one of the most prominent features of legit singing.* jazz, higher, back, sooner, hoot classical, lower, forward, earlier, vibrato musical theatre, neutral, relaxed, vibrato 6. JAZZ STYLE: ___ ability is important, particularly in scat singing where the voice is meant to sound like an instrument while vocalizing on various syllables. Most jazz singers (other than Sarah Vaughan) use a very ___ vocal tone and model vibrato styles to imitate instruments such as the trumpet. Most jazz singers hardly ever sing right on the downbeat as rock singers tend to do, but instead use ___ (starting a phrase late) and rubato (robbing the time) as well as syncopated rhythms. ___ and stylistic interpretation make every singer’s rendition of the standards of jazz singing (the songs that everyone knows and sings) unique. The Great American Songbook and the Real Book are collections of jazz ___ every singer should know.* conversational, improvisational, downbeat, professionalism, songs improvisational, conversational, back phrasing, individualism, standards singing, resonant, interpretational, conventionalism, tunes 7. POP STYLE: Pop, short for popular, is the style of music that most of the general public tend to listen to and enjoy. It is very ___ on the lower pitches. However, the great pop singers of today also can sing high, loud, and hard with a strong ___.* powerful, lower register mix soft, head voice conversational, upper register mix 8. ROCK STYLE: To be a rock singer you need power, stamina, angst, and energy. Maintaining moderate ____, even when you are acting as if you are really ‘working it’ is the key to longevity in rock. Rock singing often includes ____ such as screams and growls.* volume and air pressure, distortion energy, air blow force, interpretations 9. In rock, ___ is often non-existent or minimal. For harder rock singing they might find the ___ muscles are working more energetically to help provide support or appoggio. If your student feels a tickle when they sing, they are blowing too much air- have them back off the ____ to get a better balance between the vocal folds and air. Keep the throat and neck muscles relaxed and maintain good posture; avoid jutting the ____ forward toward the mic when playing guitar or keyboards while singing. The ____ exercises in Step Seven are great for rock singers.* dynamics, support, microphone, chin, flexibility artistry, jaw, volume, chest, vibrato vibrato, abdominal, air pressure, head, power 10. To be a good R&B or Gospel singer your student needs to be able to execute riffs and runs rapidly and with good ____. Start by teaching your student the blues and ____ scales. Your student's style will develop out of listening to and ____ other great singers.* flexibility, 5-tone, analyzing intonation, pentatonic, imitating intentions, minor, imitating 11. COUNTRY STYLE: Country songs usually are about telling great ____, so the singing is very _______. ______ is an important element of country singing. Many country singers also emphasize the more _____ secondary vowels of a diphthong.* stories, conversational, diction, closed tales, emotional, pronounciation, high-tongue information, melismatic, emotion, important 12. Traditional country singers use more _____ in their sound, emphasize secondary ____vowels (whyeeeee-ohoooooo-whyeeeee), and never pronounce _____ G’s. Many country singers ____ their own songs. Becoming a great ______ can often be a singer/songwriter’s ticket to fame.* nasality, diphthong, final, write, songwriter squillo, closed, beginning, interpret, artist oscuro, diphthong, ending, write, artist 13. In all styles of music, having your student spend lots of time ____ artists of all eras, not just the current stars, will help them build and develop a unique vocal style of their own. Singers with solid and developed ____ a strong lower register, a strong upper register, a good connection between the registers, the ability to sustain pitch with vibrato, power, vocal flexibility, and good pitch-can imitate any artist. After developing techique, it’s a matter of ____ themselves in a particular style so much that it becomes who they are, like an actor who immerses him or herself in character.* singing along with, lower register, acquainting analyzing, style, involving listening to and imitating, vocal technique, immersing 14. Style is like a spoken ____. No two singers ever sound exactly alike; every singer uses the building blocks of riffs, runs, scales, and other style conventions in their own unique way to express ___ and to communicate with an audience.* interaction, feelings sounds, yourself language, emotion 15. You can assist your student in developing their own vocal style by encouraging them to: 1) Develop their vocal instrument to its full potential. Vocalize every day and make vocalizing on ___ a priority. 2) Listen, listen, listen to all kinds of music. Try to learn something from music that is not their current favorite. 3) ___ the greats. Imitate the phrasing, tone quality, dynamic control, riffs and runs, and consistency of the best singers. While singing along with them, ___ the practice session, and then analyze. This is how singers learn the “tools of the trade.” 4) ___ with many different styles, from jazz to R & B to country. 5) Make their own choices. Begin by identifying the ___ of the song. Create a ____ with the voice, shading with vocal colors, dynamic contrasts. 6) Don’t be afraid to sound ____.* songs, sing with, pay attention to, play, mood, emotion, good vocalises, listen to, video, experiment, feelings, intention, good exercises, imitate, record, experiment, emotion, mood, bad TOOLS FOR TRAINING VOICESBECOMING A TOTAL PERFORMER: ARTISTRY16. Audiences come to a performance or buy a song because they want to _____ something- they want to be moved. The ability to move an audience is what distinguishes an ____ from someone with a great voice who, though they may sing technically well, is not yet an artist. Artistry is the ability to always be absolutely in the ___, believing every word you are singing, with absolute control of a voice that responds readily to every emotion.* experience, beginner, song feel, artist, moment own, amateur, feeling 17. Help your student reach the level of artistry by ___ the song, to make them feel that the lyrics are coming from their heart. A great singer is also a convincing ___.Unless you can use your body, face, and gestures ___, your beautiful voice will not move the audience. Singers must learn to act convincingly, and that requires a complete commitment to the ____. An artist must give a completely original and fresh ___of the song. Copying an established artist’s choices is all right as a first step, but a singer must add their own textures and colors. Your singers’ interpretation must be ___ to them, and different from the original.* interpreting, artist, artistically, song, performance, original learning, musician, uniquely, mood, interpretation, unusual personalizing, actor, believably, text, interpretation, unique 18. CONNECTING TO THE TEXT: The first step is to separate the lyrics from the music and be able to convincingly and emotionally ___ without the help of the music, just like speaking lines in a ____.* act the text, play interpret the words, monologue both of the above 19. Preparation includes ___.* writing practicing imitation 20. ANSWERING THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE, WHY, AND HOW: If your singers don’t know the answers to these questions, their lack of preparation and connection will show up in their ___, and the audience, while they may not know why, will not be moved. Rather than guessing what the songwriter had in mind when he wrote the song, you are instead going to help your student make this song __ to them.* performance, individual result, fun eyes and face, personal 21. Have your student answer the "who, what, when, where, why" questions about the ____.* lyric melody harmony 22. Have the student speak the lyric with emotion and conviction and use _____.* audio feedback video 23. Always begin with an ___.* subjective opinion objective 24. Subtext is the underlying ____ of the text.* emotion interpretation both of the above 25. A professional ____ everything, over and over. They don’t just wing it.* thinks about ignores rehearses 26. Use the ___ concept and keep the eyes ___ .* third wall, closed fifth wall, on the ceiling fourth wall, up and out 27. There are three points of focus on the imaginary Fourth Wall: ___.* down, up, and center center, right, and left front, back, and down 28. Choreography: Use the simple ______ choreography for movement. Always remember to ____ before you walk- it should appear as if your attention has been drawn compellingly toward someone who you now feel the need to walk toward. Lead with the ___ foot if you are crossing stage right and lead with the left foot if you are crossing stage left.* back and forth, think, left zig-zag, look, right up and down, stop, outside 29. Wrapping up your performance with a professional bow will ____ the entire experience for the audience.* finalize negate enhance TEACHING THE STEP30. When you teach riffs and runs, the three most important elements are intonation, flexibility, and speed. Intonation: That means singing _____. It doesn’t matter how fast your student can riff if they are out of tune. Being ____ (under the pitch) or _____ (above the pitch), even just a little bit, is the surest way to evoke a “cringe reaction” in the listener. The best way to make intonation precise is to learn and practice riffs and runs _____, then gradually increase the speed, paying attention to _____.* effectively, sharp, flat, quickly, tempo correctly, low, high, slowly, dynamics in tune, flat, sharp, slowly, intonation 31. Flexibility requires a ___ coordination of the vocal folds and less ___. Backing off on ___ and air pressure makes riffing much easier.* abducted, volume, speed increased, air, forcefullness lighter, air pressure, volume 32. Riffing is not just about speed- it’s about speed combined with ___.* flexibiltiy agility precision 33. Chunking: If the run is long, break it down into chunks or __ and practice each segment ___, over and over. Then, gradually increase the tempo, using ___.* pieces, gradually, Garage Band sections, incessantly, repetition segments, slowly, The Amazing Slow Downer 34. If a run is complicated and hard to remember, it might help to make a ___ depiction on paper. ___ the run can help-some people use their fingers, making patterns in the air that go high or low, along with the melody. A simple program like Finale Notepad is fine for ___. The more styles of learning you combine (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) the faster and more ___ your student will learn.* auditory, analyzing, learning, quickly artistic, learning, representing, impressively visual, physicalizing, notation, effectively 35. Learning the blues scales and the pentatonic scales will give your student the musical ___ to come up with their own riffs and runs. The pentatonic scale consists of ____ notes within one octave. The pentatonic scale can be played and sung in any ___ .* skills, four, order phrases, six, manner vocabulary, five, inversion 36. The Blues Scale is similar to the minor pentatonic, with one added note- the ___. The b3, #4, and b7 are the ___ notes. Try to vary ___; don’t let your student sing everything at the same volume level. When teaching the scales, riffs, and runs that follow please remember that, as always, ___accuracy is important. Start by having the student sing each exercise very ___, then gradually work up to faster tempos.* b7, challenging, levels, speed, slowly #4, “blue”, dynamics, pitch, slowly b3, important, vibrato,note, quickly 37. Texture is many things. It can be a __ that embodies and represents a particular emotion. It can be __ a certain way. The vocal tone, subtext, timbre, volume, dynamics, and phrasing chosen should reflect the meaning and emotion assigned to the ____. Adding texture to singing creates a greater expression of ___.* phrase, improvising, words, musicality section, singing, phrase, artistry tone quality, phrasing, lyric, emotion 38. It is very effective (although vocally challenging) to be able to ____ a phrase with a breathy sound and then ____into a powerful and clear sound. This takes a lot of ____ and great vocal technique!* end, decrescendo, power start, swell, skill begin, crescendo, control 39. DYNAMICS: Vary your dynamics, creating phrases that range from very soft (____) to medium loud (____) to very loud (___) to create interest. Learn to get louder (____), get softer (___), and create a swelling effect from the softest dynamic you can sing to the loudest, and back to the softest (___).* piano, mezzo fort, fortissimo, decrescendo, crescendo, mezza di voice forte, messa forte, forte forte, crescendo, diminuendo, messa voce pp-pianissimo, mf-mezzo forte, f-forte, crescendo, decrescendo, messa di voce 40. Dramatic ____ quickly grabs our attention. Singers provide drama in performances by using contrasting _____ .* interpretation; melodies, harmonies, flexibility, onset and vibrato performances; interpretation, resonance, melody, rhythm, and vibrato contrast; dynamics, tone color, pitch, rhythm, and vibrato 41. Timbre is the ___ or quality of a musical sound.* tone color resonance placement 42. To sound authentic in contrasting styles, singers must learn to ____ vibrato.* control interpret vary 43. Higher _____ combined with increased _____ results in a stronger and more intense sound.* air pressure, closed quotient volume, energy pitches, appoggio 44. Distortion requires us to temporarily ____ the rules of good vocal technique that we have worked so hard to acquire. Before working on distortion choices, your student’s ____ should be solid. If you find that any of the distortion texture choices cause your student to become ____, this simply means they have to make different stylistic choices that don’t compromise the voice.* improve, voice, tired ignore, style, weak suspend, technique, hoarse 45. The creak encourages moderate ____. The creak is usually heard at the ___ of a phrase and indicates longing, love, sadness.* onset, ending vocal fold compression, beginning volume, beginning 46. Rasp, growls, and screams are ____ of the sound made by ___ across the back of the tongue, which is in contact with the back of the throat. The difference between growls and screams is that growls are _____ and screams are ______ in the range. Rasp is made by adding _____ to the vocal fold vibrational pattern. This results in an ____ that sounds along with the original tone.* improvements, movements, higher, lower, distortion, harmonic alterations, formations, louder, softer, creak, compressed distortions, blowing air, low, higher, turbulence, overtone 47. The growl, used in blues singing, R&B, gospel, rock, and some jazz, is made in the _____of the throat and is used to initiate a phrase or sustained pitch. The growl requires a low ____.* back, larynx soft palate, throat constriction, tongue 48. The key to teaching your students growling and screaming without tearing up their voice and going into a coughing fit is to avoid ____ too forcefully. Never let them perform the scream or the growl at ____ volumes.* inhaling air, soft pushing air, loud holding air, moderate 49. To teach the scream, have the student start with an easy ____. The vocal folds are creating a minimal amount of ____ with this exercise. Make sure they don’t add too much ____.* creak, compression, air pressure hum, force, energy glide, vibration, force 50. VARIATIONS: The four variations are: 1. Back-phrasing: instead of starting a phrase right on the ____, start it late, stay behind awhile, and then catch up. 2. Sustain: Don’t always sustain the final notes of a phrase; try cutting off the final pitch and other sustained pitches sooner. Make your delivery more _____ and less sing-y. 3. Pitch variation: After a couple of repetitions of a chorus, for example, with the same melody, try ____ a few of the important notes in the chorus to add emphasis. 4. Rhythm/Accent variation: This variation includes __ different notes or phrases.* first beat, powerful, changing, avoiding pickup, sustained, eliminating, suspending downbeat, conversational, altering, accenting 51. Changing a melody's ____ from the original rendition can give a completely fresh perspective to a lyric.* notes, downbeats and emphasis melody, approaches, and volume pitches, accents, and rhythms 52. Make sure texture choices are occasional rather than habitual. Use them as _____, rather than the main course. Keep the voice _____ most of the time, with the occasional “garnish” of texture.* embellishments, vocalized garnishes, balanced dessert, controlled 53. Texture must be chosen for a specific reason: to reflect a particular _____ in the song. To make those choices, a singer needs to know what that emotion is. Going through lyrics and notating emotional ____ choices for each phrase of the song will be invaluable here. Subtext is the intended ____ behind a spoken or sung phrase.* dynamic, meaning, emotion subtext, emotion, meaning emotion, subtext, meaning 54. TEACHING THE STEP: OBJECTIVES 1) The student will learn the basic _____ found in much of today’s contemporary music. 2) The student will learn the _____ scales and riffs associated with those scales. 3) The student will learn to use _____ choices such as Breathiness, Dynamics, Timbre, Vibrato, Compression/Press/Intensity, Distortion (creaks, Growls, Screams), Phrasing and Pitch Variations, Rhythm and Tempo Variations. 4) The student will learn to become an ____ with various acting exercises. 5) The student will learn basic stage _____ and movement.* acting exercises, flesibility and dynamics, subtext, actor, movement styles, riffs and runs, movement, subtext, actor, dance riffs and runs, blues and pentatonic, texture, acting artist, choreography 55. It doesn’t matter how fast your student can riff if they are out of tune. ____ is singing in tune. The best way to make intonation precise is to learn and practice riffs and runs _____, then gradually increase the speed, paying attention to intonation.* pitch, extensively interpretation, daily intonation, slowly 56. Flexibility is a key component of riffing. Flexibility requires lighter coordination of the vocal folds and less air pressure. Backing off on _____ makes riffing much easier.* power and energy force and power volume and air pressure 57. Speed: Not all improvisation is fast, but dazzling bursts of high-speed runs are a large component of singing today. However, riffing is not just about speed- it’s about speed combined with _____.* precision power flexibility 58. Chunking: If the run is long, break it down into chunks or _____ and practice each segment slowly, over and over. Then, gradually increase the _____, using The Amazing Slow Downer.* segments, tempo portions, power measures, speed CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Δ You can be a Successful SLaS Teacher Table of Contents