She's spot on about ululating cats. My ancient three (all about 19) ululate in various ways for which I'm compelled to take immediate correction, and THEN I have to go to church and deal with human ululators in the y'all come ensemble who figure it's all good if theyre ululating for GOD!
Can one utter "ululating" too much? Thanks, Sr. Jean.

U-lu-la-ting the shelter of the warb, who abide in the shadows of pitch-
Sing ye with ears more than larynx, and relieve us all from fits.
And you shall raise the tone a quarter's worth
Give all song a second birth
Make you to ululate in tune
And hold pitch center from first note, through and through!

I hated vibrato as a high school student. As an undergrad music student I was exposed to what a good healthy vibrato is, and that doesn't bother me anymore. Now I'll agree that too much is too much, but I once heard a cantor who tried very hard to sound like a boy soprano, and that was weirdly annoying also.

I quite agree that a SUBTLE use of vibrato is fine, however...it is also rare, even among those who have vocal training. It is definitely a case in which "less is more" should be uppermost in the singer's mind. And fake boy soprano coming out of an adult would be VERY weird sounding. Of course, when working with volunteers it's best to be gentle in correction and encouraging whenever possible...as I keep reminding myself. :)

Fascinating advice @ children's theatrics, Adam! For several years, my children have been involved in performing Shakespeare plays with our homeschooling group. There are children as young as 4 and 5 involved, and it's been my observation that it's of great benefit in helping them develop a facile memory, excellent reading comprehension and literary analysis skills.

However, whether it has made them great actors is another very good question. There are one or two children who are very talented and natural performers, but with the rest it's the same struggle every year to engage them in their character, project their voice, etc. However, all in all, there is no doubt that it's worth all the difficulties (and the late nights sewing costumes, etc.!)

My son Peter as Sir Toby in Twelfth Night:

or (and I really mean this) just pretending and playing by themselves. (A treehouse and a bicycle will help a kid grow up to be a good actor more than any drama camp or community theatrical.)

YES, YES and YES! Using their imaginations and creativity without adult interference (and without batteries or technology.)

Back to vibrato. I have an aging choir where some are in their 80s, while my youngest member is 16. That's quite an age range. Things happen to voices as they age, and I don't exclude myself from that. Sometimes that vibrato almost seems to turn into a yodel. I decided I could either spend much time and worry trying to fix an unfixable problem, or I could learn to live with it. These folks are all volunteers and not professionals.

True healthy vibrato is indicative of a healthy voice with a healthy sound and an open, relaxed throat.

Straight-tone singing (no vibrato) is "extremely unhealthy for the voice." Wobble (a too-slow vibrato) or tremolo (a too-fast vibrato) are usually what people refer to when they say they "don't like vibrato." Wobble and tremolo are vocal problems indicative of unhealthy singing.

If someone has a naturally healthy vibrato, by no means should that be discouraged!
http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~jones/Shirlee/vibrato.html

"Things happen to voices as they age"

As an outstanding soprano section leader explained to me, things happen to UN-MAINTAINED voices as they age. Which... you can't really blame a church choir alto for not abstaining from alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, shouting, excessive laughter, cold weather, wool fabrics, and mammals for 80 years. But it should at least be pointed out that these sorts of changes are not a necessary component of aging.

As for myself, I'm starting to already notice a lot of swooping, wiggling, and wobbling in the voice. God help me when I'm 80!

Then you have the situation of monstrous acoustical spaces where choirs deliberately cultivated vibrato to be heard better. I am thinking of the Basilica S. Pietro in Vaticano...

There is a big difference between vibrato, a natural process of healthy singing, and warble. "Straight-tone" singing is usually a manufactured sound that can very hard on the voice and requires great skill to pull off. It can be mesmerizing, particularly in choral music of great harmonic complexity. Anyone who heard the Shrine choir at NPM can attest to that! For the most part, however, that choir's vocal production is not without vibrato. They can minimize it, though, with great effect. Too often with most choirs that try this technique, though, it sounds like someone put a tourniquet around the singers' throats. Let women sound like women, for goodness sake! If more singers would learn proper placement and to sing on the breath, warble wouldn't be such an issue.

How do we know the Italians sing in the "wrong" vocal style.

You just listen to it.

As an aside, I wonder for how many centuries the consensus has been that the Sistine Chapel Choir stinks? ;-)

At least since Felix Mendelssohn. In the notes for a recording of the Allegri and Bai Misereres by the Westminster Abbey Choir, there is an excerpt from a letter home from Mendelssohn describing Tenebrae; he laments that the 'papal singers are old' and that there are pitch problems and that 'one sometimes hears the most shocking dissonances.'

And if you have a sexy organist, that is even more atypical.

Verily, francis, thou hast seen through me. The fact that my user name has no photo attached, has less to do with privacy concerns, than it does with cosmetic ones. When seated at the organ console, however, I adopt a different persona, exercising bench power through loudness: loud organ and loud voice, with maximum ululation.

I should like to hear more about the 'perils of cultivating straight tone'.

The peril is getting fussed at by faculty in the opera department.

I think MOST choirs throughout history were "average".

But mine doesn't have to be one of them, if I can help it.

Exactly.

---

Historically-informed performance practice can either be a tool for making the best possible sound today, or it can be a bludgeon used by a tool who wants to feel superior to other people.

Of course most performances throughout history were average. Actually- half of them were BELOW average!

Historically-informed performance practice can either be a tool for making the best possible sound today, or it can be a bludgeon used by a tool who wants to feel superior to other people.

Well said, Adam.

On a related note, I read an interesting article by Sarah MacDonald, DM at Selwyn College in Cambridge, England in The American Organist a few months ago. She talked about what most Americans believe to be a pervasive English choral ethic is not so common outside the major cathedral and college choirs in England. It certainly does not extend to most mixed choirs. It was surprising to read this, yet it does make sense.

The literature we're speaking of was written for boy trebles and male counter-tenors. While certainly this type of sound can be replicated in mixed choirs and is done so in many venues, one must be very, very careful. I dislike the term "straight-tone" because it goes against what is a natural process in adult voices-vibrato. Vibrato does not mean warble. Again, it's really about a forward placement and proper singing on the breath. There is a fine line between clear, forward, supportive singing that uses minimal vibrato and a constricted, neutered sound that frequently encounters pitch problems because it is the result of poor technique with too much of the vocal process emanating from the throat and not from the breath.

I have enjoyed working with professional and semi-professional groups with well-trained singers that can pull this off. I've also worked with younger adult volunteer choirs that with proper guidance can also achieve the desired clear, light sound, but I've had to be MUCH more careful. You cannot just walk into the rehearsal room and say, "give me straight-tone, no vibrato." You're asking for long-term vocal problems unless you instill a healthy technique. You are rarely, if ever, going to get this sound from a group of older singers, of which most church choirs have a healthy number. This does not mean you can't get a pleasant and clear sound, it's just that they are probably not going to sound like the Tallis Scholars.