As Clear as Day

Posted by on Jun 2, 2012

As Clear as Day

The opposite of night is day. The opposite of dark is light. The opposite of Dark Timbre is Clear Timbre.

Clear Timbre is on display in all four videos I put in “Great Singing”. Clear Timbre is a tool that adjusts whatever “original timbre” the larynx produces. It is a simple label for a very complicated process, and the most important part of the discussion is really about what you hear. Dark and Clear are really good modifiers for the word timbre. They are opposites, binary if you will accept my way of thinking. However, in the case of timbres, hearing is a lot more important than thinking. As a first offering I suggest you listen to Ms. Callas sing in the clip that you can also find in “Great Singing”:

 

Now I want to point out the timbre application in this extract:

At the words: “refuser. Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière,” Maria makes a quick move from Dark Timber to Super Clear Timber during the transition between the words “refuser” and “Rien” with a grand portamento that includes not only the color change, but also pitch change of an octave and a striking diminuendo. She proceeds to moderate the extreme Clear Timbre of “Rien” as she moves down the scale. This is a great display of virtuosity.

When I chose to offer the Firestone Library clips of Leonard Warren as examples of “Great Singing”, my intent was not to bring them up in this Clear Timbre blog, but that NEC blessing on my inclusion now has a double benefit. It occurred to me that one might be tempted to call these clips great examples for demonstrating the sonic difference between Clear and Dark Timbre. That would be wrong, even though I was the first to be tempted to do so. They demonstrate the difference between Complete and Incomplete Glottal Closure. Mr. Warren sang both songs with a majority of clear timbre application. “A little bit of Heaven” represents Complete Glottal Closure and “None but the lonely heart” is sung with Incomplete Glottal Closure. Have a look in the drawer labeled “Glottal Closure” in “Garcia’s Tool Box”. There is also more on the subject in “Royal Registers”.

Another one of my favorite examples of Clear Timbre use happens to be what Kristin Chenoweth does to her “original timbre” to make her voice sound about 5 years old.

Now this is Great Clear timbre work. Hers is no doubt a coloratura voice which is light in character in the first place, but the effects this little woman achieves with her voice are great. I can recommend that you listen to her for the fun of it, and then ask yourself: What is she actually doing with her voice?

Some other fun examples of extreme clear timbre use that I can recommend for fun listening is on Manhattan Transfer recordings.  The first one would be “Swing”.  Have a listen to the solo riff sung by Cheryl Bentyne on cut #1 “Stomp of King Porter”. Cheryl B. has another go at the clear high stuff in “The Manhattan Transfer Live” on cut #3 “Meet Benny Bailey”. By the way, that was one great group of singers. I didn’t say “group of voices”. The gifts in the throat were limited but they knew how to sing. Limitations are always present for all singers. They made up for their organic limitations by force of intelligence and musicianship. You could say I hold these singers up as examples of “Greatness”. Style of music has nothing to do with “Greatness”, and Opera is not the exclusive home of “Great Singing”.