Date sent: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 21:19:04 EST
Subject: Re: The "HOOK"?
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

In a message dated 01/29/2000 8:11:39 PM Central Standard Time,
DANIaka007-at-aol.com writes:

<< Hook is like...in a song, when there is one part to it (probably like
2-3
sentences)
there's this one part that sounds different from the rest of the song (it's
pretty unique from the rest of the song) but it's got still the same
message,
just differs in malody..you know what i mean? And then it's usually, MOSTLY,
repeted throughout the whole song.......>>


That's true in a different context, but not in this case. This was a
technical term for a vocal quality found in the upper registers of male
singers. I personally don't know how to describe and the only text in which
I could find a reference was William D. Leyerle's Vocal Development Through
Organic Imagery (1986), in which he discusses covering the tone, and says:

"When it is used artistically, the singer is unaware when the singer arrives
at his cover point. When it is clumsily done, the audience is painfully
aware. This point of cover is referred to as a 'hook' when it is clumsy and
noticeable. Some misguided singers actually cultivate the sound of 'hooking
the voice in.' This is a sign that the transition from heavy mechanism to
light mechanism is erratic and uneven, or - in a word - unbalanced." (p. 93)

Chris Thomas
Mezzo-Soprano
Wauwatosa, WI

"I love to sing-a, about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a"