Glossary Of Musical Terminology

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There are currently 10 names in this directory beginning with the letter V.
Verse
Section of a song usually at the start, leading to the chorus or pre chorus.

Vibrato
A rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during a sustained note, to give a richer and more varied sound.A natural wavering pulsating change of pitch to accent expression in a piece while singing a note. It is usually inadvertent as opposed to a trill. The voice is alternating subtly and very quickly between two different pitches that are very close together. The larynx and diaphragm both play a part in contributing to the vibrations. The best singers have full control over their vibrato and use it to accent certain words or phrases for dramatic or emotional effect.

Virtuoso
A person with notable technical skill in the performance of music.

Vivace
Direction to performer to play a composition in a brisk, lively, and spirited manner.

Vocal Coloring
Painting the tones of your voice with emotion including bright and dark tone.

Vocal Cords
Also known as vocal folds.  Elastic bands of muscles found inside the larynx (or voice box), which sits within the windpipe.  They are fixed at one end and open and close due to adjustments in tension. As air passes through, it causes them to vibrate producing sound.  The change of closure and vibrating length affects the pitch and intensity of your tone.

Vocal Fry
A low creaky vibration caused by fluttering vocal cords or informally known as the ‘Husky Voice’.

Voce
Italian for voice.

Voice
One of 2 or more parts in polyphonic music. Voice refers to instrument parts as well as singing voice parts.Voices can sound distinguishable, even when singing the same pitches. This is down to timbre. You may have a very resonant and deep sounding voice, or a crystal clear and bright voice. Different types of timbres are suitable for different genres of music. While all singers have a different natural timbre, creating new timbres with the help of different registers help give a much bigger variety to a singer’s sound.

Vowel
A specific resonance structure through which a tone is sustained. Produced primarily by altering the size and shape of the mouth cavity and changing the position of the tongue, which determines how the resonance cavities will reinforce certain frequencies of the initial cord tone. The result of each alteration is a recognizable sound – Ah, Aye, Oh Eh Ee Oo.


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