How to Be An Amazing Singer- Timbre (Tone Color)

TIMBRE

pronounced t [æ ]m b[ɝ]

Timbre is the tone color or quality of a musical sound. This is created with alterations of the resonating chambers of the pharynx and mouth, including alterations of laryngeal height.

Experiment with various laryngeal, soft palate, and mouth positions to find sounds that best exemplify the emotion you are expressing; color a phrase by adjusting the laryngeal height, the soft palate, and the tongue to create darker or brighter sounds.

A lower larynx combined with a slightly higher soft palate creates a darker tone color such as that used by Rick Astley, Michael McDonald, and Anita Baker. Adding “UH” has the effect of lowering the larynx, creating more depth.

Brighter, edgier sounds can be made with a higher larynx, relaxed, soft palate, and with the tongue in a higher, more forward position.

A lowered soft palate and raised tongue give you a more nasalized sound. Fran Drescher’s tv character The Nanny and the character Adelaide’s in Guys and Dolls require this nasal vocal quality.

If you want to sound authentically rock, pop, or country, your vocal tone color should be brighter and edgier.

If you want to be a jazz singer, consider using a darker sound if you want to sound like Sarah Vaughan or Nina Simone, or a brighter, more brassy, trumpet-like sound if you prefer Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holliday.

If you want to sound more legit, lowering the larynx and lifting the soft palate creates a more classical sound.

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