THE "TREMOLO" VOICE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1912, Page 6

THE "TREMOLO" VOICE.

5 One hears from time to time of j vocalists who talk of possessing a ■ "natural tremolo." They speak of j it as if it were quite a virtuous pos- \ session, a something to cherish and; display. A natural tremolo—that is, j natural in the sense in which these • folk speak, meaning uncontrolled or j unconsciously produced—is, says Mr \- George Dodds, in The Choir, quite! possible, though it is not natural, but j • habitual, and should be classed with ) ' 'natural breathiness'' and ' 'natural | throatiness," or a hundred other j i things which are often termed \ natural, but which are indeed only bad habits, unconsciously formed, and anything but the products of much- j abused Dame Nature. ■< The singer with this type of tremolo j possesses only a fault which he neither j ! controls nor. endeavors to eradicate,: i nothing more. Let him then, adds j { the writer, most emphatically say j [ that, from a voice-production stand- f | point, all tremolo and all vibrato are ; I wrong and bad. They disturb vocal, } poise, breath control, throat comfort, ! | tone quality, pitch certainty, and : flexibility (for a singer with a wobble never sings a run ; and, ; therefore, to the voice student, should be anathema. • . j j- I know many of my brother-choir- j ■ masters will agree with me that a ; wobbly-voiced chorister is a perfect nuisance. Often have I heard the blend and balance of a good choir completely upset and the fineness of effect all lost by one voice bleating \ above th«s rest. They cannot blend, j these folk ; they are . a continuous i anxiety to. a conductor, and as., aids \ to flatness they are about on a par ' with the throaty tenor and the \ scooping soprano. What a choir composed of such voices would sound like . I tremble to think. The effect would ! probably be past hearing. Imagine ■, j .Sullivan's "O Gladsome Light," sung > ■by such a choir. If any reader has i ! one of these "natural"'(?) tremolos, ! let him pause and think over these < few facts, and then say whether it is j j quite such a natural or commendable i possession as he thought.