What's the key to a good vocal blend?

Question:particularly for an capella group of 4-5 voices.
whose voice should we mainly listen to, to tune to?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: particularly for an capella group of 4-5 voices.
whose voice should we mainly listen to, to tune to?

Hello i?sf:

You ask a good question.

Good vocal blend is achieved by a combination of factors. Each singer should be comfortable producing about the same amount of sound. The converse is to say that blend will be difficult to achieve if you have some very big heavy voices and some very light weak voices. Each and all voices should be comparatively the same in strength and intensity. If there is ever one particular voice that needs to be heard more than others, it's the one that carries the tune or melody. This often changes with the arrangement of the piece.

Each singer needs to be able to sing perfectly in tune. When you all sing the very same pitch (not an octave apart) it should sound like a perfect unison - one unit, rather than 4 or 5 people producing something on the same pitch but sounding different. This requires that each singer listen carefully to his/her neighbor and to the entire ensemble sound.

Another factor is that everyone in the ensemble must pronounce every syllable - every vowel and consonant - identically. Vowels should agree. No one should "stick out" because their vowel production and pronunciation is markedly different from everyone else's.

When harmony is tight - that is, close together, it's often a good idea for all singers to sing "straight tone" (without vibrato) so that tuning can be exact and exciting. By the same token a quartet from the Romantic Period, say by Brahms, needs a lot of warmth and energy (vibrato).

The last thing that will help an a cappella group sound exciting is for them to sing in absolute precision rhythmically.

To achieve all of this takes a good deal of practice - and maybe even a coach to listen and critique.

I hope this has been helpful.

Best wishes.

i have no idea what a capella is, btu a good vocal is one not too whiney, but not too low and monotone and boring. an impressive vocal band i like to listen to is All Time Low. The album So Wrong Its Right is very impressive.

There is always a lead voice. That's the highest voice (the soprano). That note is the melody normally. When I sing, though, I listen to the bass note, it helps me stay in tune and intonate correctly. Good bass is the key!! Without a strong bass, chaos. It's opposite in things like big band, the horns intonate to the highest player.

It's not about matching to one individual person's voice, but finding the tonal center of all of your voices.

Try doing some "tone matching" exercises. Here's one that my group uses: Stand in a circle. One person sings a note with a specific pitch and timbre (i.e. nasal, round tone, glottal, etc.). Each person around the circle matches both. Everybody starts one.

Then go around again, matching timbre but singing harmony.

Then another round, with each person singing a musical figure, again with a specific kind of timbre.

As you get used to listening and matching tone and tonality, it'll get easier to find it when you're doing songs.

the best answer is tonepoet's answer. I was just gonna say that then they said it.

:)