Rearticulations: The Oldest Style Trick in the Book
A lot of the focus in singing lessons goes to technique. It goes without saying that the most important thing is to know how to sing in a way that doesn’t damage your voice. But I admit it, the technical stuff can be boring. The technical stuff doesn’t have heart or passion. I have heard a lot of singers go through vocal training and become technically proficient singers with pleasant, good voices, yet they lack the emotional connection to the song, that extra layer of glossiness and memorability - style! Style means so many things - how dynamically you sing, how you begin or come off notes, how much vibrato you use, how much you embellish the melody, when and how much you improvise, etc.
Most of us develop vocal style by consciously or subconsciously mimicking the style techniques of the artists we listen to and love. It is a nerdy singing passion of mine to analyze and define these style techniques to make them easier for students to experiment with so that they have the tools to sing in a more emotional, unique, and memorable style. So today we are focusing on what I call “The Classic Rearticulation” (as opposed to “modified rearticulations,” such as the one with the “upward connector” that I highlight in this free video). Full disclosure, I have yet to discover it if there is a “real name” for these vocal motifs. I discussed this in a professional singers forum I participate in, and “rearticulation” was the term that came up that made the most sense to me.
So let’s commit to this term, the rearticulation, and move on to what the heck it is! The rearticulation is the building block of riffs, runs, and licks. What are riffs, runs, and licks? They are a series of quick notes, often improvised, that embellish what would otherwise be a held note or space in the music. Think Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Christina Aguilera, Usher, or Bryan McKnight. Or check out this video, “The Most Impressive Runs & Riffs.” Now that you can picture these highly complex musical passages, don’t run away! The Rearticulation is easy! In its essence, it is simply a repeated note. You can repeat it once, twice, three times, as many times as you want to. And all you need to do to connect this repeated note to the previous note, is come down a half step in pitch for a brief moment, and return back to the repeat note.
Watch the video below to learn and practice rearticulations with songs from as far back as the 60s (The Monkees) to what’s hot on the radio today (Silk Sonic).
Did you get the hang of it? Let me know in the comments!