No matter what genre you sing or what language you speak, it's important to know the Italian musical crossover words. From the book Vocal Vibrance*, here are a few to get you going: A tempo: The direction to return to the original tempo. Con brio: Sing it with fire. Doloroso: Sung sadly, as if grieving. Mezza voce: Sung with half your regular voice. Save the full voice for the gig. Segue: Continuing with no pause. Sotto voce: Softly. In a low voice. Tessitura: The predominant pitch-range of the piece. If most of the song stays in the high part of your singing range, you can tell people the tessitura is high. Any vocal part can have a high or a low tessitura. A soprano, for example, may sing a song with a low tessitura. Tutti (tutta, tutte): Everyone. If your choral score is marked "tutti," that means the whole chorus sings - as opposed to just the soloist singing, for example, or just the tenors. * Vocal Vibrance is © 2008 by Suzann Kale. All rights reserved. May not be reprinted without written permission. |
