Hey there this is John Henny and today I want to talk about The Vocal Style Trick You Want To Avoid.
One common stylistic trick I see amateur singers use is something called portmanteau, which is the sliding between notes and it really is a hallmark of lazy singing, the way our vocal cords work is they actually pull and stretch for pitch like a rubber band. So there is naturally a bit of sliding as you move from note to note, but it’s usually imperceptible, it’s so quick and in faint, you don’t hear it. But singers that aren’t aware of this, and I’ll call a bit lazy, stylistically, will overuse this device.
They’ll use it to avoid sustained sustains, they’ll fall off of notes all the time, or they’ll glide between this note in this note, and they think it sounds cool and jazzy and I’m telling you even singers that use this, use it very sparingly. When used correctly, portmanteau can be quite effective, it can be quite beautiful, it can create tension, but when it’s used in a haphazard, non thinking sloppy way, it just becomes dull and predictable and kind of hallmark of bad singing.
Hey, if you want more vocal tips, go to my website johnhenny.com and be sure to subscribe to my podcast The Intelligent Vocalist. Thank you