Singers with Wobbly Vibrato- Can they hear what they sound like?
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 668
    I was at Mass tonight for Ash Wednesday and was struggling to understand what was being sung because one of the persons singing had really wide wobbly vibrato and that’s all I could hear.

    I don’t mean to be mean, but do people who sing like that know they sing like that, know it doesn’t sound good, and actively work to try to fix it?
  • probe
    Posts: 100
    Is this article by Shirlee Emmons Vibrato, Wobble, Tremolo, and Bleat a help?
    Also see a discussion here on straight tone.
    As to your specific question "do people who sing like that know they sing like that" my working assumption is that people sing the way they think they should, more or less following their understanding of what the conductor has asked the choir to do, overlaid by their opinion of what they think the choir needs. They may have a self-image of being a leader. The only way to answer that is to ask them, but I don't think that gets you or them anywhere. IMO the only way to actively work to fix it is for someone experienced in vocal technique to listen and propose changes to fix it. I'm an amateur conductor so don't have in-depth experience to call upon. That's one of the reasons I have asked an experienced chant leader to take us in an afternoon workshop next month.

    Does the conductor / music director have the kind of relationship that allows asking the singer to come to rehearsal a half hour early to work through 'techniques of choir blend and balance' privately or for 15 minutes before the others arrive?

  • francis
    Posts: 11,268
    In my career it seems this pedagogy arises as a distortion that comes from the world of opera buffs. My personal take is that it represents ego. Not that ego is bad… it has its place… but that place is NOT sacred music. Another term closely associated to it is “diva”.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 469
    A colleague calls them "friendly voices" because they wave at you from across the room ;)
    Thanked by 4ServiamScores CHGiffen canadash Charles_Weaver
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 3,224
    Fssp that gave me a deep hearty chuckle this morning. That’s a keeper.
    Thanked by 1FSSPmusic
  • davido
    Posts: 1,174
    The answer to the OP is no, they don’t know, and they probably aren’t working to fix it. They probably had just enough voice lessons years ago to make them dangerous, but not enough to work out their vocal faults. They probably do not listen to recordings of their own singing and try to self diagnose vocal faults.
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