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Since you people have decided to have arguments about which people are better singers, let me teach you a thing or two of what I know makes a good vocalist. A thread.
There are tons of techniques that one employs while singing, and your ability to even do them in the first place and then choose the right moments to employ them is what makes you an excellent vocalist.
Examples of these are tone, range, vocal dexterity/agility/flexibility, control, pitch accuracy and awareness, dynamics, to name a few. I will try to break each of these down with some demonstrations by popular artists.
Tone: This is simply your unique voice sound. It’s what makes you able to identify your favourite artist just by hearing their voice without seeing that it’s them. It’s what you think of when you classify someone’s voice as raspy, smooth, etc affected by many different factors.
Range: 1/A lot of people only classify great singing by this category. It’s basically the array of highs and lows you can hit. Notes are grouped in things called octaves (high and low) and the more octaves you can sing in the wider your range. Singing high is a very difficult...
2/...skill and is commendable but isn’t all there is to singing. To give a clearer picture the average voice is about 2 octaves wide. Mariah Carey is known for her range because hers spans 5 octaves, leaning into the whistle register which is the highest to sing in. Here’s a demo
Dexterity: This is basically the acrobatics of singing. It’s your ability to produce interesting sounds by flitting between notes, scales and registers. This is demonstrated in riffs and runs, trills, scatting, etc. and is classic in gospel music. Here’s Kim Burrell killing it
Control: It’s your ability to, well, control the different elements that produce sound in your voice. It is greatly hinged on your breathing skills (yes breathing is a big deal in singing) and affects pitch, dynamics, sustainability etc. Whitney Houston is an excellent example
Pitch Accuracy: This is your ability to stay in key and sing the right notes that blend with the music you’re singing along to. This is complemented by a good ear. It can get tough when you get distracted by other activities such as dancing. Beyoncé however does this very well
Dynamics: This is your ability to use your agility to control your voice volumes to know when to belt out (sing at full volume) and when to pull in. This adds colour to your singing. Jessie J demonstrates this among other techniques quite well here
These are but a few of the many vocal skills there are. Will add some more maybe later, but I just wanted to demonstrate that when you want to compare singers for their vocals it’s not about hits but about what they can do with their voice. Sorry for only using female singers
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If you’ve got any questions or additions feel free to post them. Will use male singers next if y’all are interested. RT if you learned a thinghttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😁" title="Grinning face with smiling eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Grinning face with smiling eyes">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😁" title="Grinning face with smiling eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Grinning face with smiling eyes">
