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A Closer
Look:
The
Vocal
Styling
of
Aretha
Franklin
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels
Tell Us
USA News
Network
DETROIT
- As
musical
tributes
stream
the
airwaves
and in
depth
articles
cover
her
lifetime,
Tell Us
Detroit
invites
fans to
pause
and
reflect
on the
vocal
origins
of our
“Queen
of Soul”
who
passed
away
Thursday
August
16, 2018
from
pancreatic
cancer
at the
age of
76.
So
what is
it about
Aretha
Franklin’s
distinctive
blend of
gospel
and
secular
music
that
entices
people
to
listen?
From
the very
beginning
the
vocal
stylings
of
Aretha
Franklin
were
rooted
in the
gospel
preaching
tradition
of the
black
church
pastors.
At the
age of
14
Franklin
sang
“Precious
Lord”
before
the
congregation
of New
Bethel
Baptist
church
where
her
father,
C.L.
Franklin,
was the
church
pastor
who was
renowned
for his
oratorical
skills;
his
Sunday
sermons
were
broadcast
nationwide.
To
examine
the
linkage
of the
singer
and
preacher
delivery
style
that
engages
we turn
to
ethnomusicologists,
the
academics
who
study
music
from the
musician’s
cultural
and
social
perspective.
“Aretha’s
musical
delivery
reflects
the
dramatic
performance
style of
Black
preachers,
who
employ a
range of
improvisatory
devices
– vocal
inflections,
varying
timbres,
word
repetition,
and
phrase
ending
punctuated
by
‘grunts,’
‘shouts,’
and
moans to
gradually
build
the
intensity
to a
level
that
transforms
the
sermon
into
quasi-song”
according
to Dr.
Portia
Maultsby,
retired
Indiana
University
professor
of
Folklore
and
Ethnomusicology.
Listen
for the
improvisational
technique
as the
teenage
Franklin
sings
“Precious
Lord”
and hear
the
church
answer
the
young
singer’s
delivery
with
shouts
of
testimony
and her
amazing
vocal
style.
The
call-response
delivery
style is
familiar
to black
church
goers
and has
influenced
generations
of
artists.
In 1967
Aretha
Franklin
recorded
“Respect”
for
Atlantic
Records,
just as
the
demand
for
justice
and
equality
by the
civil
rights
movement
was
reaching
a
crescendo.
The
swelling
sounds
of a
preacher
can be
heard in
Aretha’s
speechifying,
spelling
to
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out
what it
means to
me.’’
The song
has a
strong
vibrato,
or
tremor
produced
by the
vocal
cords
that
cause
the
voice’s
frequency
to go
vary up
and down
– A
common
feature
of
gospel
vocals.
Originally
sung by
Otis
Redding,
“Respect”
was
re-interrupted
by
Franklin
as
testimony
for man
to
respect
a woman
equally
to men.
The
intertwining
of
gospel
sounds
with
secular
would
also
bring in
the
sociopolitical
timbre
of the
times,
making
“Respect”
an
anthem
of the
civil
rights
movement.
“Respect”
was
natural
evolution
for
Aretha,
her
father
Rev.
C.L.
Franklin
was a
friend
of
Martin
Luther
King Jr.
who was
a
frequent
guest in
their
home and
she
would go
on tour
with
King as
he
preached
his
message
of
nonviolence
and
equal
justice
Another
quality
of
Franklin’s
voiced
analyzed
by
ethnologists,
is her
ability
to
sustain
a note
with
“pearl-like
clarity,
fluidity
and
agility”
according
to a in
Critic
of Music
that
goes on
to
explain
that
Aretha’s
“Great
articulation
and
diction
that
allowed
for
scatting
and
color
experimentation.
A
flawlessly
balanced
voice
within
every
part of
the
scale.”
Aretha’s
amazing
vocal
range,
from
contralto
to mezzo
soprano,
was
showcased
during
the 1998
Grammy
Awards
broadcast
when she
filled
in for
opera
superstar
Luciano
Pavarotti
at the
last
minute.
Listen
to the
Queen of
Soul
sing
“Nessun
Dorma,”
an aria
from
Puccini’s
“Turandot.”
While
many
younger
artists
from
Beyoncé
to
Rhianna
are
influenced
by
Aretha
few are
able
match
her
vocal
range,
delivery
style
and
heartfelt
emotion,
her
musical
legacy
will
live on
for
generations
to come.
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