Brian May and Roger Taylor

This chapter analyses the vocal techniques of Brian May and Roger Taylor in their limited roles as lead singers of Queen. May’s distinct techniques revolve around imprecise pitching inflections, variable vibrato, and a thinner tone in the upper register, all of which connote a sense of untrained naturalness. Taylor’s singing is marked by a wide vibrato, frequent use of vocal distortion, and rhythmic delivery that does not conform to the metrical grid. His singing style is one that connotes improvisation and performance freedom. It is argued that the two singers’ approaches align well with strands of rock authenticity as established by Allan Moore—May with folk-rock singers, such as Dylan or Springsteen; Taylor with hard rock and blues-derived singers, such as Plant or Hendrix.

Vestiges of Virtuosity

The specificity of late coloratura’s function in arias has its roots in operatic writing before mid-century. Examining the role pairings in Meyerbeer’s popular nineteenth-century repertory opera, Les Huguenots, serves as a starting point for understanding the transition from coloratura as a normative singing style to one that functions as an uncommon and conspicuous gesture in operas like Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Delibes’ Lakmé, and Massenet’s Manon. The soprano roles in these operas hark back to the zenith of coloratura singing at mid-century, when high notes and melismas were an aural analogue to the ornamental decadence of Second Empire Paris. Coloratura arias in these operas are the late-century exceptions that prove the rule; they are echoes of the virtuosic vocality of the mid-century examples explored in the book. And they help codify the establishment of the modern French coloratura soprano.

AN INTERPRETING ANALYSIS OF IU’S HIT SONGS THAT ACHIEVE PERFECT ALL-KILL

Nowadays, all about K-Pop (Korean Pop) widely known in the world, South Korea’s music industry is known to have a music chart system that is very influential on the career and achievement of a singer. The system is to measure the success of a group or solo singer when they release a song. Some of the terms that are known by most K-Pop fans are real-time all-kill (RAK) certificates, certified all-kill (CAK), and perfect all-kill (PAK). Songs that receive RAK, CAK, or PAK certificates, can be interpreted as best-selling songs played on digital music services in Korea. This is an interpreting analysis of IU’s hit songs taken from 2011 until 2020, aimed to see what linguistic factors that makes them hit and achieve PAK. This research used a qualitative method. This research concluded 8 from 15 of IU songs make it achieve PAK because of numerous factors such as: the music, the instrument, the singing style, and the lyric with figurative languages. In academic environments, teacher may teach the students how to analyze song lyric because it is useful to teach vocabulary, idiom, and also elements of poetry. Keywords: Analysis, Interpreting, Music, IU

Vocal instrumentality as the ethno-cultural feature of V. Martyniuk's composer style (the case of compositions for wind instruments)

The article discloses the instrumental language nature of Dnipro composer Valentina Martyniuk from the perspective of the ethno-cultural features for master's author style. The investigation is being carried out on the basis of compositions for wind instruments, namely "Interview on a given topic" for clarinet solo, Vocalize for flute and piano, as well as Melody for horn (or flute) and piano. The investigation has established the defining foundation of the vocal of the composer's instrumental language to be the phenomenon of folk singing style of artistic instrumental creations. This phenomenon is born on the productive basis of national genre, namely Ukrainian solo singing. V. Martyniuk realizes artistic creative potential in the singing expressive melody, improvisation, priority of solo representation of musical compositions, the composer removes the assignment of a certain instrument for a specific musical composition, creates the priority for secondo-third interval connections. The author of the article affirms the contemporary conception of Ukrainian instrumental solo singing in the academic instrumental music.

In the direction of Schubert: the structure and the symbolism of the vocal cycle of L. Berger “The Beautiful Miller Maid”

The author considers L. Berger’s vocal cycle “The Beautiful Miller Maid” in the connection with the latest composition by Schubert, determined by the usage of poetic texts of W. Müller. The research subject is the system of internal linkages both in poetic texts and the music of songs of the vocal cycle: the tone logic and thematic and genre design. The author takes into account the new features of the genre Lied in Berlin singing style, which is the point of contact between a folklore song and an author’s work. The intensification of the author’s element leads to the emergence of a dialogue tensity in a text simulating a “Lied im Volkston”. In the cycle, symphonic and structure linkages become apparent  bringing it closer to the type of a vocal cycle as a diary that would be typical for the works of F. Schubert and R. Schumann. Such a design is based on the organization of the cycle around the figure of a Miller as a central character and a defining role in the cycle of images of Müller’s poetry. The analysis of the cycle allows concluding that the vocal cycle by L. Berger develops this genre in the direction of Schubert’s masterpieces far more so than Beethoven’s cycle “To the distant beloved”. The key idea of the research is as follows: the initial linkage to the play (Liederspiel) is overcome in the design of Müller and Berger, and the decisive role in this concept  is the one of the composer.   

Variabilità fonetico-sintattica nella Commercial Contemporary Music come oggetto di studio per le classi avanzate di inglese come L2

The aim of this research is to set up a consistent theorical arrangement concerning the socio-linguistic and socio-phonetic aspects of contemporary commercial music (CCM), which appears to be more and more uneven and manifold, also taking into account the previous research by Trudgill (1983), Simpson (1999) and others. The massive use of phonetic variation and style switching in contemporary Western singing style is here analyzed mainly focussing on its phonetic, cognitive and semantic relevance. Some examples of metric, socio-linguistic and stylistic variation are provided afterwards, so that a global diagram of linguistic habits might be traced. Other collateral aspects are recollected, mostly concerning the effects of CCM experience on L2 users.

Prosody

Prosody, the pacing and flow of delivery, comprises five constituent components—phrasing, metric placement, motility, embellishment, and consonantal articulation. The synthesis of these components works on at least three different levels of specificity: at the broadest level, distinctive prosodic profiles may align with larger genre or style categories; at a middle level, prosodic profiles may distinguish an artist’s general prosodic style of delivery; and at a local level, prosodic profiles may be associated with an artist’s singing style specific to a single recording or passage within a song. The chapter examines each prosodic component in analyses of four versions of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”: Timberlake’s original studio recording (2002), Glen Hansard’s acoustic folk-rock cover (2003), Ten Masked Men’s death metal cover (2003), and the Cliks’ indie rock cover (2006). The chapter also considers the ranging dimensionality among prosodic elements.

Effects of Maternal Singing Style on Mother–Infant Arousal and Behavior

Mothers around the world sing to infants, presumably to regulate their mood and arousal. Lullabies and playsongs differ stylistically and have distinctive goals. Mothers sing lullabies to soothe and calm infants and playsongs to engage and excite infants. In this study, mothers repeatedly sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to their infants ( n = 30 dyads), alternating between soothing and playful renditions. Infant attention and mother–infant arousal (i.e., skin conductivity) were recorded continuously. During soothing renditions, mother and infant arousal decreased below initial levels as the singing progressed. During playful renditions, maternal and infant arousal remained stable. Moreover, infants exhibited greater attention to mother during playful renditions than during soothing renditions. Mothers' playful renditions were faster, higher in pitch, louder, and characterized by greater pulse clarity than their soothing renditions. Mothers also produced more energetic rhythmic movements during their playful renditions. These findings highlight the contrastive nature and consequences of lullabies and playsongs.