Extended vocal technique

Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera. Particularly famous examples of extended vocal technique can be found in the music of Luciano Berio, John Cage, George Crumb, Peter Maxwell Davies, Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti, Demetrio Stratos, Meredith Monk, Giacinto Scelsi, Arnold Schoenberg, Salvatore Sciarrino, , Avi Kaplan, and Trevor Wishart.

Spoken text is frequently employed. The term “parlando” is a similar direction which is somewhat out of date.

Sprechgesang is a combination singing and speaking. It is usually heavily associated with Arnold Schoenberg (particularly his Pierrot Lunaire which uses sprechgesang for its entire duration) and the Second Viennese School. Schoenberg notated sprechgesang by placing a small cross through the stem of a note which indicates approximate pitch. In more modern music “sprechgesang” is frequently simply written over a passage of music.

A vocal technique allowing the singer to sing notes higher than their modal vocal range.

A vocal tremolo is performed by rapidly pulsing the air expelled from the singer’s lungs while singing a pitch. These pulses usually occur from 4-8 times per second.

A vocal trill is performed by adding singing vibrato while performing a vocal tremolo.

Vocal sounds or even words can be produced while a singer is inhaling. This can create a strained or even humorous effect.

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Wikipedia