Vocal Dictionary E Through I

            Welcome to Part 2 of our Vocal Dictionary! I’ve provided, hopefully, easy-to-understand, practical definitions for as many important musical and singing terms as I could find. I hope, with all my heart, that these Vocal Dictionary entries will be VERY helpful for each of you. Enjoy!

·      Edge – This is a term for a specific vocal sound, which is reached during belting. To achieve more than a simple Chest sound; “Edge” implies a level of tension and a degree of “rasp” indicative of rock singing.

·      Emotional Expression – This describes the artistry of a singer who “tells a story” through song in a way that the audience feels as though they are experiencing the “plot”, feeling all the associated concerns, seeing everything unfold before your eyes, and ultimately, coming to the same conclusions the singer has led you to.

·      Encore – This is every singer’s dream. It is the additional song or songs a singer performs upon the audience’s request by resounding applause at the end or after the end of a concert or performance. This could also be the repetition of only a specific passage of a piece due to its uniqueness or relevance.

·      Epiglottis – This is a VERY important part of every singer’s anatomy. It’s a leaf-shaped cartilage at the top of the Larynx that divides the work of your Esophagus (pathway to the stomach) from the activities of your trachea (avenue to the lungs). In other words, this little cartilage acts as the “switching device” that sends air to the Lungs, not the Esophagus, and food to the Esophagus, not the Lungs. Occasionally, the switch doesn’t work, which results to something “going down the wrong way.”

·      Exercise: In singing, vocal exercises from a voice teacher (a note or series of notes sung in a prescribed manner with specified vowels or syllables) are used to build, condition, and strengthen your vocal muscles, and coordinate breathing, posture, acting, and performance.

·      Facial Expression – Your face can reflect EVERYTHING you feel! MANY performers miss this very real opportunity. Your face is the first thing your audience sees and therefore, a KEY element in the presentation of any song. Facial expression can easily communicate sadness, joy, confusion, surprise, or many other emotions. An honest expression helps your audience empathize, sympathize, and experience the music on a deep level. This is also the reason, however, that every singer must be totally aware that he or she is not “masking” (exhibiting a facial “tick” that can be distracting to the audience, such as “crunching” your forehead and/or eyebrows or playing with your hair).

·      Falsetto: This quite literally means “False Singing”. Most commonly, males sing in a Falsetto Register (Check out my blog post on Vocal Registers for details about the Falsetto Voice). The Falsetto voice is a high register similar to the head voice but unlike the Head voice, Falsetto voice is difficult to blend with the Chest voice.  Females can also sing in a falsetto range, though it is use less frequently. Characteristics of a Falsetto voice include thinner tone quality and more air in the sound.

·      Fermata – This is a musical symbol commonly referred to as a “Bird’s Eye”. It means “to hold.” When a singer sees a Fermata, it means that he or she can HOLD the note under or above the Fermata AS LONG OR AS LITTLE AS DESIRED. A Fermata is not conducted by a musical director; it is dictated by the singer. The symbol for the Fermata is:  U

·      Fine – This word means “the end” and when it occurs on a sheet of music, it means it’s the end of the song. œ

·      Flat:  In Music Theory, a Flat (f  ) or TO Flat a note is to lower its musical pitch by one Semitone or Half Step. A singer can be described as “Flat” if he or she is singing “under” the correct pitch in a song.   

·      Flip – This is the term used to describe the technique a singer uses to suddenly switch from his or her Chest voice to Falsetto or Head voice. This is done purposefully, not accidentally, and it can be a very effective stylistic choice. Examples of singers who have used this technique productively are John Mayer and Allison Krauss. Flipping is just another too for a singer’s toolbox.

·      Forced - “Forced” singing is a TERRIBLE thing. This means vocal production is pushed and strained, and sounds that way. Many singers think it’s okay to force their voices if it means they are able to hit notes they couldn’t otherwise. What they DON’T realize is that audiences often notice that “something” is wrong, even if they don’t know exactly what. Audiences are not as dumb as we singers might hope. Sadly, forced or strained singing is telegraphed in many ways such as veins bulging from the singer’s neck, extreme tension throughout a singer’s body, or a bright, red face. All of this AND it can do physical harm to your voice. Voice lessons and consistent vocal exercise practice can easily prevent forced production.

·      Forte:  In Italian, Forte means “strong”. The symbol for Forte is f and it indicates areas within a song or piece of music, which are to be played and/or sung more loudly. ff  means to sing or play the passage even louder; fff  tells you to sing the notes the loudest you possibly can.

·      Full Voice -  This is the term used to describe when a singer sings with power and strength with proper breath support and no Vocal Fold stress. This is a very “balanced” tone with resonance and healthy placement.

·      Glissando – This term derives from the French word meaning “to glide”, glisser. When you see the term “glissando”, you are being asked to glide, slide, and/or move from one pitch up or down to another pitch. A true Glissando doesn’t “slide” between pitches, as in sliding over or simply glancing at a pitch. Performing a Glissando correctly is accurately singing each pitch but in a rapid, lyrical, clean way, moving seamlessly through each, individual note as if they are all connected and related to one another.

·      Grand Staff:  The “Grand Staff” is when two staves of music are connected by a Brace, or multiple staves set up for different instruments and a singer or singers, but all of which are played simultaneously. When it is the two staves, usually the top stave uses the Treble Clef, and the bottom stave is for the Bass Clef.   

·      Hard Palate: The hard area of the roof of your mouth, just behind your teeth.

·      Harmony – This is a KEY term to understand for Music Theory. Many will recognize the word as those notes, other than the melody, which complement the melody, and have a pleasing musical effect. Technically, each song is based on a Major or Minor Scale, and Harmony is the process by which chords and chord progressions are built to augment and embellish the song. Many people believe that a melody is the “horizontal” representation of a song, and the Harmony is its “vertical” expression.  This Vertical aspect is frequently built with notes that are a Third (4 Half Steps or Semitones) or a Fifth (7 Half Steps or Semitones) above the Melody Note. When Harmony notes are sung, they should be carefully blended so that the Melody note is still heard most prominently.

·      Head Voice: This is the term for the singing in the upper part of a singer’s range. It is also called your Head Register. For detailed information about this register, please read my blog posts from October 17, 2016 on each of the Vocal Registers. Production of the Head Voice causes the Vocal Folds to thin. The Head Voice is usually lighter in tone quality than the Chest Voice but there are instances of more covered, darker head tones in Dramatic Tenors or Dramatic Sopranos. 

·      Imagery: This term refers, quite literally, to those “images” the singer pictures in his or head mind as they sing, so that the emotion they portray is real, not only to you as a singer, but to the audience who is experiencing the song and emotions with you. Discovering strong imagery for a song can actually enhance vocal technique as it provides reasons for deeper breathing, for physical movements, and for exaggerated features. A singer should keep a catalog of many and varied imagery so that all their songs can be powerful experiences for everyone.

·      Improvisation – This is a term most people associate with jazz music. However, for singers, improvisation is an opportunity to contribute, musical creativity in the moment. This can also be an effective way to cover or recover from a mistake made in the music or a dropped lyric.

·      Inflection – This is also called Vocal Shading. Inflections are subtle emphases or alterations in pitch used to convey different types of emotion, thought, or sentiments. A voice with NO inflection is terribly boring and uninteresting. An upward moving inflection indicates a question or doubt; it might even communicate an unfinished or open-ended thought. If the inflection moves down, it sounds as if a thought is completed. A competent, impressive, persuasive voice uses inflection as a crucial tool to communicate, not only, emotion, but attitudes and impressions or beliefs.

·      Interval – This is the term that indicates the distance measured between any 2 notes. It is of paramount importance for a singer to understand and be able to identify and sing all intervals in order to assure strong pitch.

·      Intonation: Intonation is a musician’s (including singers) recognition of pitch accuracy and the precision of the pitches in relation to one another. When we speak on a singer’s “intonation”, we are usually talking about whether the singer sings accurately on pitch or is “Flat” or “Sharp” of certain pitches. Because higher pitches require more breath support, they tend to fall prey to a greater risk of poor intonation. 

·      Inversion – This term speaks to the arrangement of the notes in a chord. The original arrangement of a chord has the root or tonic on the bottom of the chord, then, the 3^rd, and then, the 5^th. However, any chord is STILL a chord no matter what order the note are in. Think of it like furniture in a room. If you’ve been to my studio, you know there is a couch, a loveseat, two wooden chairs, a large double bookcase, a keyboard, storage drawers, a printer and printer cabinet, a floor plant and smaller plant, piano bench, a storage bin, a file cabinet, and lots of “accessories”. We could change all that “stuff” around, put things on top of each other, stand them on their side, ANYTHING you want to do, as long as you don’t remove anything, the studio is still the studio. A Chord Inversion is exactly the same situation. If you are trying to create a “C” Major Chord, you must have a “C”, an “E”, and a “G”. They can be played in that order or ANY OTHER ORDER. As long as you play one “C”, one “E”, and one “G”, you are playing a “C” chord. Generally speaking, however, a TRADITIONAL Inversion would move the Root, first, to the middle position in the Chord, and next, move the Root to the top position of the chord, while continuing to play all three notes.

Hurray! You’ve made it through entries for letters E through I. Thanks so much for reading. Hopefully, these resources will be of GREAT value to each of you. If you think of ANY other terms you’d like definitions for, PLEASE send the requests directly to me or leave them in the comments below. I always appreciate and applaud your thoughtfulness, comments, and questions. If you have any questions about my lessons or me, please check out my website at www.SingitForward.net.  Thanks again for reading the blog!  Sing it Forward!