Methoden zur Analyse der vokalen Gestaltung populärer Musik

Abstract

Although voice and singing play a crucial role in many genres of popular music, to date there are only few approaches to an in-depth exploration of vocal expression. The paper aims at presenting new ways for describing, analysing and visualizing several aspects of singing using computer-based tools. After outlining a theoretical framework for the study of voice and singing in popular music, some of those tools are introduced and exemplified by vocal recordings from various genres (blues, gospel music, country music, jazz). Firstly, pitch gliding (slurs, slides, bends, melismas) and vibrato are discussed referring to a computer-based visualization of pitch contour. Secondly, vocal timbre and phonation (e.g. vocal roughness) are explored and visualized using spectrograms.