"j. linville" <jaylinville@e...>
> I am an 18 year old lyric baritone, and our All-State chorus is coming up.
One of the pieces is arranged by Paul Rardin, "Walk in Jerusalem." In
it is
a solo, and in the conductor's notes, he says that preference wiill be
given
to a "gospel" sound. Can anyone help me out with some characteristics
of
the gospel solo voice?
Dear Jameson,
I'm no expert, but I did sing in a gospel choir... My impressions:
- The vibrato fades into long tones.
- The vibrato may be emphasized by a "jaw" vibrato.
- A hard mix, starting a little higher than opera
singing is generally called for, but lighter registration
and falsetto is allowed for effect.
- If you can convincingly do the coloratura associated
with gospel, do it. If you can't, it is fine not to.
Basically, there are a lot of stylistic things like the gospel
coloraturae and portamento that are difficult to do unless you've done
it for years. If you're not sure about those, it is *far* better to
simply avoid them, or it will sound ridiculous to anyone who knows the
genre. There are plenty of perfectly honorable, restrained gospel
singers who don't always use those effects in every song. The main thing
to embody is the conviction of purpose that gospel singers have, IMO.
HTH
Tako
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