Incredible breath support, showing no signs of fatigue, and carrying extensive legato passages with ease. Incredible utilization of dynamics, using all volumes from fortissimo to pianissimo and everything in between to craft incredible phrases. Because of her natural sense of rhythm, she would also play with rhythmic figures to create cadences and other musical effects with her voice.
Thanks to gospel vocal training at a young age, Houston captured and developed her vocal potential at a young age, beginning solo performances at just That gospel training helped develop her breath support, coordination, and agility, as well as dynamic range.
Although largely underutilized largely due to her Gospel training which emphasizes the middle and upper registers, her lower register, like the rest of her voice, was well supported, dark, and full. She maintained fluidity and ease all the way down below C3. However, it was when she ascended that her voice began to display its most impressive qualities. Some of her songs spanned quite a bit of vocal territory, from alto to the highest soprano.
What was remarkable is that she hardly ever "bailed out" by flipping into a falsetto voice -- you know, that head-buzzing sound that men emit when they're doing bad imitations of female opera singers. Houston seemingly had no natural break between the high and low registers of her instrument. This unique quality was highlighted because when she did flip into the "head voice," it was employed as a subtle garnish, a precious design element in a phrase.
Her impeccable intonation -- just one of the reasons her "Star-Spangled Banner" has become iconic -- instilled a "trust" in her listeners. When every note is perfectly in tune, as they were in a classic Houston performance, we relaxed and gave in to the sheer beauty of music.
Beyond the gift of her instrument, Houston's musicianship comprised an uncanny way of handling the material she was given with such expertise and attention to detail that the songs became hers and hers alone. Jackson: 'We feel such awesome pain' Her sense of musical balance allowed her "crowd" the cadences of a song's key passages with "just enough" sonic information before landing coyly in the next structural part of the song.
Although her work grew more melismatic as her career progressed, she never overused this technique like some of her myriad imitators. She mostly executed them in clever twists at the ends of phrases or tossed them off with stunning ease between plainly rendered melodic statements. See more Latest Music News. Tina Turner. Elton John. The time Whitney Houston effortlessly sang 7 notes in under 1 second 7 January , Updated: 8 January , Home energy upgrades are now more important than ever. Covid Lives Lost The rich, full and cherished lives of the people behind the numbers.
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