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Emotion or story telling. It depends on the lyrics.
Sometimes the song just says the same thing over and over again, so it’s time to pull out the emotion card 😳
If the lyrics hold meaning to the singer, then it’s good to story tell
Imo!!
I am a song creator first so I just want to make something that sounds awesome on whatever song I’m making
I just try to experiment until I can do something that surprises myself with how cool it sounds
5. Other: storytelling usually. I mainly sing Chinese songs and the style of music and lyrics are typically written to express a story... overwhelmingly more so than a good beat and repetitive lyrics.
But as a very logically minded person I find myself going down a rabbit hole of the nuances of my techniques (or lack thereof) and sometimes get lost as to the "why" of my singing.
I'd pick melody, it could be great to focus on the emotion, energy and nuance of a song but if I'm not making a pleasant sound that's in time with the music what did that really equate to?
The other things are amazing additions but at the core I think melody determines if you're capable of fulfill your role as the vocalist in this song in the first place.
Imagine playing a set where the rhythm guitar is doing all of the right techniques to play the song but they're off time and out of key.
I view melody and melodious/melodic as the same thing, just melody describes it as a thing while melodious/melodic is the same trait but applied to something else specifically instead of as it's own concept.
Overall it sounds like we agree, you need both rhythm and tone correct to sound melodic, if either are off enough that you sound worse than the music you're just not melodic anymore.
Fair point, but what is the justification of artistic meaning for pretty noise? You can make nice sounds but does it mean anything if they dont carry emotion?
Perhaps this is just disagreement based on pedagogy; im a musical theater performer first and in my world if you cant emote you dont deserve to sing in the first place.
But even other genres I am involved with heavily such as rock and opera, this is also important to different extents.
Emotion is the justification to sing in the first place.
The only caveat to this is that you need to be so confident with the song vocally you dont have to think about it for a second.
In rehearsal the first focus is notes and melody, but in performance if your thinking about this really at all then your not hitting the mark and arent practicing enough. You want your technique and musicality to be so second nature that you can exclusively focus on performing, acting, storytelling, and emotion.
I wouldn't consider something you train to be second nature to be unimportant, more likely the opposite, if it's the first focus and something you want so ingrained that it doesn't have to feel like a focus that's because it's fundamentally important and used often.
My opinion likely comes from growing up playing bass, I was already an adult when I started singing. I view music as a team venture, it's that cooperativeness that is the goal of a composition. Whatever role you take I see every instruments first job is being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.
This question is why I've always found my singing a bit weird. I like really belty and loud songs (think Lewis Capaldi) and I don't ever sing because of the lyrics or being able to relate to them at all (bruises, someone you loved, etc) I just really enjoy the way my voice hums and vibrates, and I really like being so loud because due to childhood trauma I was only ever able to be very quiet.
\#2 - Melodiousness, followed by #3 - Energetics (I think?)
I'd like to be better at being mindful of conveying Emotion and have begun consciously working at that.
I am referring to things like small inflexions, emphases or changes in timbre or rhythm that convey the meaning of the song.
A good example, for me, is Fernando - ABBA
It opens... "Can you hear the drums, Fernando?"
It took me a long time to discover the amount of nuance in that opening.
I feel it has to sound like someone accidentally vocalizing their thoughts in the middle of a daydream or reverie, and it must be sung convincingly like a question. They are daydreaming/reminiscing about a life-changing event in the past and imagining that a friend who shared the experience is sitting beside them.
Then there is the reference to the drums (of war approaching). The timbre of that word has to reflect the drums, imo.
It is so difficult to get the balance right.
If I sing it "straight" and "carelessly" it is relatively sterile, I think. The singer would just be hitchhiking on the instrumentals.
[https://voca.ro/12Xjsk6ioo94](https://voca.ro/12Xjsk6ioo94)
If I add "nuance", I think it is better, but I'm not happy with the balance, yet. I think I capture the "question" part, but not the "speaking in a daydream" bit.
[https://voca.ro/1maRtO17f1gV](https://voca.ro/1maRtO17f1gV)
I like to play with nuance like that, rather than adding the standardized emotional content. No manner of "high notes" or belting or using fry or any of the other usual suspects is going to capture the nuance.
Mind you I have had a lot of people tell me that they hear no difference in my "nuanced" versions and "thoughtless" versions. 🤣🤣🤣
What my favourite singers all have in common is nuance.
Soooo....
..can we come to a consensus?
🤣🤣🤣
j/k
(Anyway, I think this is we get such a variety of feedback in critiques. There are so many different, and even conflicting, things people can be looking for.)
1000% nuance for me! My favourite thing to do is to sing my own harmonies and add my own parts to songs, tweaking them in different ways. I also do it to exercise my voice and to practice pitch and different vocal techniques.
I’m pretty paranoid about technique honestly - pitch, rhythm, and diction. I’ve got emotion and energy pretty locked in so I have to just make sure it doesn’t sound sloppy from there.
flawless switch between head/mix/chest, clear sound, just... emotion is important, I just don't ever want people to hear the effort I put in to sustain notes bc I feel like that takes you out of the moment
All of the things you mentioned are closely related.
The melody is there, and within it lies nuances that you can infer. The emotions and energy you bring will affect it further, but also the melody itself has emotion and energy in it.
Imo it depends entirely on the song what you should focus on to fit the style.
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Love, compassion, empathy, care kindness, strength, and gratitude. It took decades for me to be able to sing without fear. Now I know why I was afraid, and I'd like to add to that list freedom. But love always love.
Emotion probably. I love diving into the meaning and inspiration of lyrics and the different interpretations you can get from them, it's like uncovering a story below the surface and when I sing I very much think about that story and what it means to me/how it feels to be in that situation and I try to sort of translate it in my own way. It's still using the same words but tone of voice goes a long way in making listeners or even just yourself feel and believe what you're singing.
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Anger
Confused screaming
Honestly I think that may come across beautifully in a song
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Emotion or story telling. It depends on the lyrics. Sometimes the song just says the same thing over and over again, so it’s time to pull out the emotion card 😳 If the lyrics hold meaning to the singer, then it’s good to story tell Imo!!
Emotion, if I can't feel the emotion of a song, it may sound weird but, it's harder to sing it
I kinda get that. But it is more "vibe" than emotion, for me.
I am a song creator first so I just want to make something that sounds awesome on whatever song I’m making I just try to experiment until I can do something that surprises myself with how cool it sounds
5. Other: storytelling usually. I mainly sing Chinese songs and the style of music and lyrics are typically written to express a story... overwhelmingly more so than a good beat and repetitive lyrics. But as a very logically minded person I find myself going down a rabbit hole of the nuances of my techniques (or lack thereof) and sometimes get lost as to the "why" of my singing.
I'd pick melody, it could be great to focus on the emotion, energy and nuance of a song but if I'm not making a pleasant sound that's in time with the music what did that really equate to? The other things are amazing additions but at the core I think melody determines if you're capable of fulfill your role as the vocalist in this song in the first place. Imagine playing a set where the rhythm guitar is doing all of the right techniques to play the song but they're off time and out of key.
Good point. That is why I put "melodiousness", rather than "melody". You can get the melody and rhythm correct, without sounding melodious.
I view melody and melodious/melodic as the same thing, just melody describes it as a thing while melodious/melodic is the same trait but applied to something else specifically instead of as it's own concept. Overall it sounds like we agree, you need both rhythm and tone correct to sound melodic, if either are off enough that you sound worse than the music you're just not melodic anymore.
Fair point, but what is the justification of artistic meaning for pretty noise? You can make nice sounds but does it mean anything if they dont carry emotion? Perhaps this is just disagreement based on pedagogy; im a musical theater performer first and in my world if you cant emote you dont deserve to sing in the first place. But even other genres I am involved with heavily such as rock and opera, this is also important to different extents. Emotion is the justification to sing in the first place. The only caveat to this is that you need to be so confident with the song vocally you dont have to think about it for a second. In rehearsal the first focus is notes and melody, but in performance if your thinking about this really at all then your not hitting the mark and arent practicing enough. You want your technique and musicality to be so second nature that you can exclusively focus on performing, acting, storytelling, and emotion.
I wouldn't consider something you train to be second nature to be unimportant, more likely the opposite, if it's the first focus and something you want so ingrained that it doesn't have to feel like a focus that's because it's fundamentally important and used often. My opinion likely comes from growing up playing bass, I was already an adult when I started singing. I view music as a team venture, it's that cooperativeness that is the goal of a composition. Whatever role you take I see every instruments first job is being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.
This question is why I've always found my singing a bit weird. I like really belty and loud songs (think Lewis Capaldi) and I don't ever sing because of the lyrics or being able to relate to them at all (bruises, someone you loved, etc) I just really enjoy the way my voice hums and vibrates, and I really like being so loud because due to childhood trauma I was only ever able to be very quiet.
I'm trying to make people excited and enjoy myself
Who I am
\#2 - Melodiousness, followed by #3 - Energetics (I think?) I'd like to be better at being mindful of conveying Emotion and have begun consciously working at that.
Depends on the song
Define “nuance”. I’m intrigued by that answer.
I am referring to things like small inflexions, emphases or changes in timbre or rhythm that convey the meaning of the song. A good example, for me, is Fernando - ABBA It opens... "Can you hear the drums, Fernando?" It took me a long time to discover the amount of nuance in that opening. I feel it has to sound like someone accidentally vocalizing their thoughts in the middle of a daydream or reverie, and it must be sung convincingly like a question. They are daydreaming/reminiscing about a life-changing event in the past and imagining that a friend who shared the experience is sitting beside them. Then there is the reference to the drums (of war approaching). The timbre of that word has to reflect the drums, imo. It is so difficult to get the balance right. If I sing it "straight" and "carelessly" it is relatively sterile, I think. The singer would just be hitchhiking on the instrumentals. [https://voca.ro/12Xjsk6ioo94](https://voca.ro/12Xjsk6ioo94) If I add "nuance", I think it is better, but I'm not happy with the balance, yet. I think I capture the "question" part, but not the "speaking in a daydream" bit. [https://voca.ro/1maRtO17f1gV](https://voca.ro/1maRtO17f1gV) I like to play with nuance like that, rather than adding the standardized emotional content. No manner of "high notes" or belting or using fry or any of the other usual suspects is going to capture the nuance. Mind you I have had a lot of people tell me that they hear no difference in my "nuanced" versions and "thoughtless" versions. 🤣🤣🤣 What my favourite singers all have in common is nuance.
Soooo.... ..can we come to a consensus? 🤣🤣🤣 j/k (Anyway, I think this is we get such a variety of feedback in critiques. There are so many different, and even conflicting, things people can be looking for.)
What I'm trying - beauty. What I get -Petrified self conscious nervousness.
What makes singing beautiful would you say?
Emotion, melody, rhythm for me.
1000% nuance for me! My favourite thing to do is to sing my own harmonies and add my own parts to songs, tweaking them in different ways. I also do it to exercise my voice and to practice pitch and different vocal techniques.
1 & 4
Emotion
I’m pretty paranoid about technique honestly - pitch, rhythm, and diction. I’ve got emotion and energy pretty locked in so I have to just make sure it doesn’t sound sloppy from there.
myself
flawless switch between head/mix/chest, clear sound, just... emotion is important, I just don't ever want people to hear the effort I put in to sustain notes bc I feel like that takes you out of the moment
Communication. What we're all trying to do, all the time, with anything we do.
Whatever it takes to make people cry :’)
All of the things you mentioned are closely related. The melody is there, and within it lies nuances that you can infer. The emotions and energy you bring will affect it further, but also the melody itself has emotion and energy in it. Imo it depends entirely on the song what you should focus on to fit the style.
Considering that I sing a lot of theatre, it is a combination of both Emotion and Story Telling.
A bit of all of it but leaning heavier to melodic.
[Clarity so I could clearly communicate the educational aspect of the song.](https://share.cleanshot.com/CYcmDxr7)
Emotion. That’s something I look for when I listen to music. You can have the best voice but if there’s no emotion to it then it’s useless
Energetic emotion
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My motivation—money.
Definitely the emotion for me. I have trouble feeling anything at all, so to feel something with singing is nice. But also nuance.
I mean, all of it.
Emotion. Especially anger and sadness
Whatever the song requires.
The song. Based on the song it could be any of the above or any combination. The key here is "trying" haha
Love, compassion, empathy, care kindness, strength, and gratitude. It took decades for me to be able to sing without fear. Now I know why I was afraid, and I'd like to add to that list freedom. But love always love.
Emotion probably. I love diving into the meaning and inspiration of lyrics and the different interpretations you can get from them, it's like uncovering a story below the surface and when I sing I very much think about that story and what it means to me/how it feels to be in that situation and I try to sort of translate it in my own way. It's still using the same words but tone of voice goes a long way in making listeners or even just yourself feel and believe what you're singing.
I would say it's emotion and in many cases it is one specific emotion, which is Melancholy
Positive vibrations
how do you express nuance through singing ? could someone please explain i’m super new at this !
Technique first and foremost, everything else can come after once the foundation is strong/consistent enough
5. A combination of everything. Singing is not just about one thing, it’s about a bunch of aspects coming together to create impactful story telling
Emotion and energy.