Singing with Speed

[chamcham]

There are always many questions about singing with good tone and high/low pitch.

But what about tempo?

 

Is there any advice for singing at a fast tempo?

 

I'm not necessarily talking about hip hop, but any kind of upbeat song with fast tempos and a lot of words coming out at a rapid fire pace.

 

My throat just can't produce the sounds fast enough. Moreover, the words become muddled and hard for people to understand.

 

For example, try johnny b good and sing it at 150-170 bpm.

[ido1957]

I have to admit that some of those rappers can spit those vocals really fast. Take a deep breath and concentrate.....

[EightString]

When doing rapid-fire lyrics, your throat should not really involved with the words much at all. In your Johnny B Goode example, Chuck Berry doesn't grunt every syllable from his throat. He is singing in a sustained manner and letting his mouth do all the work.

 

[video=youtube;I8JULmUlGDA]

 

I have a little informal video about articulation and diction in singing that might help. In it, I talk about separating what you do with your throat from what you do with your words.

 

[video=youtube;WrigZyydOds]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrigZyydOds

[DukeOfBoom]

 

There are always many questions about singing with good tone and high/low pitch. But what about tempo? Is there any advice for singing at a fast tempo? I'm not necessarily talking about hip hop, but any kind of upbeat song with fast tempos and a lot of words coming out at a rapid fire pace. My throat just can't produce the sounds fast enough. Moreover, the words become muddled and hard for people to understand. For example, try johnny b good and sing it at 150-170 bpm.

 

 

this is a good question. i have trouble maintaining pitch at the higher speed stuff.

 

i sing scales at quarter notes at 60bpm. then i do it at 120bpm, even if its not too good. i found after a few days of exceeding the limits of my comfort zone incrementally it has helped a lot.

[davie]

If its diction/words that you're having trouble with then you need work on maintaining a constant stream of air, while the only things that you actually need to adjust are your lips and tongue. But if its difficult moving from one pitch to another then you need to work on 'thinning out' your vocal cords. Staccato exercises should help with that. Agility is especially difficult if the notes are around the upper limit of your range, if it is then I would transpose the music down a bit at first until you are more comfortable. Another crucial aspect I noticed is that the better your 'legato singing' is, the better your overall vocal agility.

[Squeakbox]

If you're singing with speed with your "throat", that requires a lot of throat-pulsing(or "jumping"), which can strain your neck muscles, unless you jump your breath, which would require using your diaphragm in a jerky/jumpy manner.

 

However, not a lot of songs do that, more like what davie said about maintaining a long breath. However, good diaphragm "pauses" can help maintain a longer breath, if that's what you're aiming for by taking a split-second stop between each word you sing out, which requires practice, and can wear you out the first time, however mastering that technique will make it easier to do rapid notes in a song. Especially to maintain a longer rapid-fire line in a song.