Where does YOUR singing style come from?

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: MMario
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 10:21 AM

I haven't the foggiest idea where my singing style comes from - - mainly my belly I think.

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 10:19 AM

I am trying to find my voice after 25 years away from it. When I get there I'll let ya know.

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:46 AM

Sounds like you're on the right track, Baz. For all of us, (esepcially when we start singing in front of an audience) we are driven far too much by what others are going to think about us. I did that for years. We consciously (or subconsciously) measure ourselves against other singers we like, or admire.

Every once in awhile someone in my gospel quartet loses their way and starts to get neurotic about what someone is going to think about them. Or they say, I can't sound like Sam Cooke, or Claude Jeter. I have two responses to that. Firstly, Sam Cooke or Claude Jeter (fantastic lead singer for the Swan Silvertones) could never sound like you. No one can sound like you. You have a unique gift and you should become the best singer you can become without comparing yourself to anyone else. Secondly, I ask, "Who are you singing for?" That's a universal question, not limited to gospel music. Of course, we all sing for others, but your first loyalty should be to the song and yourself. If you do that, people will enjoy you. Some may not, but there's no accounting for taste.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:35 AM

In my case no-one has been able to figure it out!
I like to think Howlin' Wolf and Fred McDowell. Other have said it's more like Virginia Woolf and Andie McDowell.
I was the original protest singer-whenever I sing, people protest.
(I've got a million of 'em, unfortunately *BG*)

RtS
(aka The Croakin'Bullfrog aka Blind Jelly Donut)

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: gnu
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:28 AM

Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers. Yes, all four, depending on the song.... if I could still sing worth a pinch of tobacco. "Hearty and Hellish" was the first album I ever heard on a record player.

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Ross
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:26 AM

Desperation

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:04 AM

I was first made aware of folksongs by Burl Ives.

Then along came (not in order) Josh White (Sr.), PETE SEEGER!!, and Richard Dyer-Bennet. And Woodie Guthrie.

I guess I'd say Ives, Seeger, and Dyer-Bennet form a sort of triangular target, toward which I shoot the arrow of my singing style. And to a degree White and Guthrie have an influence.

Forgive the tortured metaphor, please. It's the best way I can think of to describe how I come to sing the way I do.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: GUEST,BazT
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 09:03 AM

As someone who is just "learning" to sing at the moment, I thought your post was really interesting Jerry. I have been experimenting with all sorts of voices over the past few months, trying to find one that I can use across as wide a range as possible. However, the problem is, the voice I use for "Blackwaterside", for instance, doesn't seem to work too well for "Bye Bye Baby Blues", and vice versa. And I'm beginning to think that the reason for this is that neither of those voices are "mine" - they're imitations of other singers. I'm also coming to realise that worrying relentlessly about the mechanics of singing (am I gonna hit that note at the end of this line? Do I sound too nasal? Do I sound too throaty? Is my volume right?) is preventing me from DELIVERING the song - from giving it life. Does that make sense?

I really liked the part of your post where you say "he let the song sing him." If I can work on THAT, then when someone posts a similar thread to this one sometime in the future saying "Where does your singing style come from?" I'll be able to say "From the songs....but Jerry helped."

Cheers,
Baz.

Subject: Where does YOUR singing style come from?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 08:41 AM

Most singers learn to sing by imitating other singers, as another thread points out. As time goes by, they blend the style of others into something that becomes their own style.

Any idea where yours comes from?

I think that the greatest influences on my singing were jazz and rhythm and blues singers. Being playful with phrasing and melody comes from jazz and feeling the rhythm in a song comes from rhythm and blues. There were several singers whose records I sang along with for so many years that I know they have a lot to do with my style. Before I heard much rhythm and blues, Frank Sinatra was the singer I was probably most influenced by. When the first rhythm and blues recordings became popular, from the groups to Fats Domino, Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry, I sang along with those records for countless hours, and the phrasing became part of my singing. Because I came to folk music even later, I think that it had the least influence on my singing (other than blues and black gospel, which just built on rhythm and blues influences.) When I first heard traditional folk music, I tried my hardest to shed all traces of vibrato and inflection. I wanted to sound 70 years old and toothless. Time took care of the 70 years old part (and I still have my teeth.) Gumming songs sounded sooo authentic to me.)

Finally, I left that southern mountain, nasal style of singing behind and all the rhythm and blues influences became a natural part of how I sing.

All this said, the one singer who probably influenced me more than anyone was Clancy Hayes, who sang traditional jazz with Bob Scobey.
Clancy sang a lot of songs that cross over into the edges of folk music, like Long Gone, and Sailing Down to Chesapeake Bay, but the lasting influence in his singing was that he just had such a Hell of a good time singing. He let the song sing him, let the rhythm take him where it wanted to go and savored the words.

And eventually, we all end up sounding like ourselves.

Jerry