♬
Hey Singers!
I’m Justin Stoney the Founder of New York Vocal Coaching
welcoming you to episode five of Voice Lessons Online.
The show where passionate Voice Teachers from all over the world
help us learn from some of the greatest singers of all time.
Today we’re studying a singer who will...
who will…
ROCK YOU!
♪
♪ Buddy, you're a young man, hard man Shouting in the street ♪
♪ Gonna take on the world someday ♪
♪ You got blood on your face, you big disgrace ♪
♪ Waving your banner all over the place ♪
♪ Mamo Ooooo ♪
♪ Didn’t mean to make you cry ♪
♪ Havin’ a good time ♪
♪ I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity ♪
♪ I'm a racing car ♪
Fair-oak Bull-sar-a was the original lead singer of the rock band Queen.
He was known for his massive vocal range,
playful theatricality, and unending creativity.
Interesting that he chose the stage name “Freddie Mercury”,
because “mercurial” or “mercury” means “sudden or unpredictable changes of mood
or mind”.
And one thing’s for sure, Freddie was the epitome of unpredictable.
Let’s hear more about Freddie’s genius from our team of experts.
First, David McCall is here to tell us about
“Compression Power & The Illusion of Thickness”.
♪
Thanks Justin! David here.
Freddie Mercury’s voice is a powerhouse of explosive strength and stamina.
How did he do it?
Freddie uses compression power to create the illusion of vocal thickness.
And when I say thickness I mean a thick sound,
dragging the speaking voice higher into what would be a lighter register.
A.K.A., belting!
It’s like a yell, you drag a register up to give yourself a power boost.
But it can start to feel heavy, too thick, and tough to tune after a little while.
Luckily for us there is another way to gain power
And Freddie is a top notch example of creating the illusion of thickness.
It’s not coming from dragging his chest voice up all the way, no,
he’s using compression power to produce the illusion.
Now compression is the degree to which we press our vocal folds together.
We can have minimal, loose compression,
tight compression, and anything in between.
The combination of compression power on long, leaner vocal folds
can produce a sound so similar to a chesty belt
that we could easily mistake the two- and that’s the idea.
♪ I've made a few ♪
♪ I've had my share of sand kicked in my face ♪
♪ But I've come through ♪
♪
♪ We are the champions my friends ♪
♪ We’ll keep on fighting ’til the end ♪
Can you hear it?
That’s some serious compression power coming from lean vocal folds.
His voice is ringing and the volume is consistent.
If he was using a big, thick belt the volume would spike
And he’d be pulling far, far away from the microphone.
So there you go! Use more compression power
instead of a heavy belt.
Back to you Justin!
Awesome Good Sir!
Next, Julie Reumert has some fascinating insights on Freddie’s Vibrato.
♪
My name is Julie Reumert and today we will be talking about “a force of nature!”
“The most animated singer of the 20th century.”
“Non human”, “The Beast of Rock!”
“The greatest genius!”
All names that today’s singer have been named while alive
and even after his death.
Freddie Mercury-
Known all over the world for his unique sound,
incredible vocal range and acoustic features beyond belief!
We are so lucky to have had his voice.
In fact it was so special that many science studies have been made
to determine just how special his sound was.
What the scientists found when looking into this acoustic wonder
was a physical phenomenon called subharmonics.
This is seen in a more extreme way in Tuvan throat singing,
where it is not just the vocal folds that vibrate,
but also the little pair of tissue called ventricular folds or false folds.
We normally do not use the ventricular folds when we speak
but they are often used by singers for rasp and distortion.
An analysis of 240 sustained notes from 21 a-cappella recordings with Freddie Mercury,
revealed a surprisingly high fundamental frequency modulation rate- vibrato- of 7.0
Hz,
reaching the range of vocal tremor due to the involvement of the false folds.
Most pop/rock singers maintain a regular vibrato,
whilst his was more irregular and unusually fast.
Which explains why the modulation rate was so fast.
He created a very special acoustic singing fingerprint.
Let’s hear an example of the ventricular folds with this fast vibrato.
♪ I have no heart, I am cold inside I have no real intent ♪
Unbelievable! Don’t you think?
I work with a lot of my students to find their unique sound,
their special vocal fingerprint.
And I hope you will enjoy listening to Freddie Mercury’s remarkable voice,
while finding your own.
Amazing Julie!
Zac Bradford, what about Freddie’s Belting?
♪
Hi I’m Zac!
And I am excited to be speaking to you about Freddie Mercury
and his use of resonance in belting.
I want to break down two examples from the song “Somebody To Love”
where Freddie masterfully uses resonance strategies
to achieve power and vocal freedom on his money notes.
For more info on what we will be discussing,
I highly recommend checking out episode 117 of
Before we break it down, let’s listen to the clip.
♪ I work hard (he works hard) ♪
♪ Every day of my life ♪
♪ I work ’til I ache in my bones ♪
♪ At the end (at the end of the day) ♪
♪ I take home my hard earned pay All on my own (all on his own) ♪
♪ I get down (down) on my knees (knees) and I start to pray ♪
♪ 'Til the tears run down from my eyes ♪
♪ Lord, somebody (somebody), ooh somebody (please) ♪
♪ Can anybody find me somebody to love ♪
The first example of a resonance strategy occurs on the lyric “All”.
The note is Bb4.
♪ I work hard ♪
♪ Every day of my life ♪
♪ I work ’til I ache in my bones ♪
♪ At the end ♪
♪ I take home my hard earned pay All on my own ♪
As we can see the 3rd Harmonic that is the most prominent in the sound spectrum
While Freddie is sining the word “all”.
So we can make an educated guess that it is the second formant
giving rise to the third harmonic in this instance.
The next example of a resonance strategy occurs on the word “Love”.
♪ I get down on my knees and I start to pray ♪
♪ 'Til the tears run down from my eyes ♪
♪ Lord, somebody, ooh somebody ♪
♪ Can anybody find me somebody to love ♪
On the first part of the word “love” Freddie sustains an Ab4 on an “AH” vowel.
At this point the second and third harmonic are about equal in energy,
so there’s no clear resonance strategy.
However, as he slides up to the Bb4 on the same lyric
he modifies the “AH” vowel by brightening it.
This facilitates a clear boost of the second harmonic in the sound spectrum.
So we can make another educated guess that at this point
Freddie’s first formant is giving rise to his second harmonic.
♪ I get down on my knees and I start to pray ♪
♪ 'Til the tears run down from my eyes ♪
♪ Lord, somebody, ooh somebody ♪
♪ Can anybody find me somebody to love ♪
So what can we learn from this?
Perhaps this highlights the fact that there is more than one way to belt,
and that belting need not be effortful-
particularly if we take advantage of resonance.
I suggest watching and listening to your favorite belters.
Pay attention to how they shape and color their vowels
to achieve free and powerful money notes.
Awesome!
Now, Kristy Bissell tell us about Freddie’s Dynamics.
♪
Let’s talk dynamics.
You’ve probably seen it in your sheet music- crescendos, decrescendos.
Maybe you’ve studied music your whole life
and you’ve always been told that dynamics are very important.
Or maybe you just love music, you don’t know all the technical stuff
but you know that you feel things when you listen to it.
And I certainly feel things when I listen to Freddie sing love of my life.
But why? Why do I feel things when I listen to the song?
Why do you feel things when you’re listening to a singer sing something?
I think that one of the biggest contributions of this is dynamics.
So let’s listen together to Freddie sing “Love Of My Life”.
♪ Love of my life don’t leave me ♪
♪ You’ve stolen my love and now desert me ♪
♪ Love of my life can't you see ♪
♪ Bring it back bring it back ♪
♪ Don't take it away from me because ♪
♪ You don't know what it means to me ♪
Alright, so, not only is this impressive, very cool to listen to,
but he’s furthering the story, the love story that he’s telling.
And it’s not just any story this is the love of his life.
He’s talking about all these emotions,
and we’re getting that not just by the lyrics but the sound.
And I do believe that the lyrics are giving that information
of where the dynamics should be.
So the first bit of advice is to pick the lyrics that stand out to you,
the one’s you think “Yes, that’s important”.
Maybe use dynamics on that. Also, you can use Messa Di Voce.
♪ AH ♪
Or opposite…
♪ AH ♪
Or, do the first line of the chorus…
♪ Love of my life ♪
It is so fun to do!
You have to try it.
And it doesn’t have to be with this song,
it can be with any song.
But see if it helps you to tell the story more.
Thanks Kristy. And thanks to all our experts!
I’m going to share what I’ve learned from Freddie in a moment,
but first here are ways to add a little rhapsody to your Vocal Journey.
To get to know our team of experts,
visit us at VoiceLessonsOnline.com.
Sing Like Never Before is the new book by Justin Stoney.
Get ready for a singing book that is truly like no other.
For more information visit SingLikeNeverBefore.com.
If you'd like a vocal course that you can do at home,
check out the Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course.
This 12 part program takes you on a singing journey
from beginner to master level vocal exercises.
You can find it at VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
Or if you'd like free vocal tips sent to you each day,
sign up at DailyVocalTips.com.
You want to know something that almost nobody likes?
Being PIGEONHOLED.
♪
You know the feeling, right?
When people say:
“Aha! I’ve got you figured out! You’re a musical theatre singer - you can’t
sing rock.”
Or, “You’re a pop singer, you can’t sing opera.”
Have you ever been pigeonholed like that?
Well, then Freddie can help you.
He’ll show you how to look at the haters, the doubters,
and the close minded and say…
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Sing it! Another one bites the dust ♪
♪ Another one bites the dust ♪
♪ And another one gone, and another one gone ♪
♪ Another one bites the dust ♪
After all, can a Rock Singer be as theatrical as a musical theatre performer? Freddie?
♪ So touch my tears with your lips ♪
♪ Touch my world with your fingertips ♪
♪ And we can have forever ♪
Can classical and operatic elements be added to a rock style? Hmmm….
♪ Mama, ooh ♪
♪ I don't want to die ♪
♪ I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all ♪
And really, aren’t we free to do anything the Spirit leads us to do?
Aaaaaaaaayo! [Freddie]
Aaaaaaaaayo! [Audience]
Ayo! [Freddie]
Ayo! [Audience]
Ayo! [Freddie]
Ayo! [Audience]
♪ Dedo dedo dedo ♪ [Freddie]
♪ Dedo dedo dedo ♪ [Audience]
Dedo [Freddie]
Dedo [Audience]
Dedo [Freddie]
Dedo [Audience]
Alright! [Freddie]
Alright! [Audience]
Freddie Mercury defied expectations by NOT having a signature sound,
but instead by inhabiting each song as though it was its own visceral human experience.
Freddie once said:
“I love the fact that I can make people happy - in any form.
Even if it’s just for an hour of their lives.
If I can make them lucky. Or make them feel good.
Or bring a smile to a sour face. That to me is worthwhile.”
Yes it is Freddie. And you are the champion my friend.
We’ll see you next time for more Voice Lessons Online.
♬