Melisma (Greek: μέλισμα, melisma, song, air, melody; from μέλος, melos, song, melody), plural melismata, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, in which each syllable of text is matched to a single note.
Some sound clips follow, in no particular developmental order.
- AFRICAN-AMERICAN
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRS2grauL4I Kim Chandler, http://www.kimchandler.com, creator of the Funky n Fun http://www.funkynfun.com vocal training series, reveals the meaning, origins and relevance of "melismatic" singing.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3RPE54-K-o Bruce A. Henry sings and explains melisma to Robbinsdale Middle School Students.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkbeNVVu7q4 "Angels In Heaven Done Signed My Name," sung by the St. James Missionary Baptist Church congregation; led by Kay Flemings. Shot by Alan Lomax, Worth Long, and John Bishop, Canton, Mississippi, August 1978.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPJwt14d5E&list=PL7E44622E11A03C54 Belton Sutherland sings a brief holler at Clyde "Judas" Maxwell's farm in Madison County, Mississippi. Shot by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long, September 3, 1978.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccn6_60NhJI&list=PL7E44622E11A03C54 Belton Sutherland (vocal and guitar) performs an improvised blues on Clyde Maxwell's porch. Shot by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long at Maxwell's farm near Canton, Mississippi,
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhF2Vl8Vts0 "Come Out the Wildnerness," performed by Boyd Rivers and his wife Ruth May. Preceded by introduction of themselves and their music. Shot by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long, August 30, 1978, at the Rivers' home in Canton, Mississippi. (Song begins at 2:05)
- APPALACHIA -- REFORMED PSALMODY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGQ5iCKdTeI Ralph Stanley - Angel Band. Roanoke Rapids Theatre, Roanoke Rapids, N.C., 5-30-08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MzZgPBL3Q Gaelic psalms at Back Free Church, Isle Of Lewis- 20/21/oct/2003.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrDLj_dmugE The lined-out singing of "I'm Going Home" at the Thornton Old Regular Baptist church in Mayking, Kentucky. Shot by Alan Lomax and crew, July 24, 1983.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aULiwXAdo Coal miner, union activist, and singer Nimrod Workman sings "Gabriel's Trumpet," also known as "I Want To Go Where Things Are Beautiful." Shot by Alan Lomax and crew at Nimrod and Molly Workman's home in Mascot, Tennessee, July 26, 1983.
- NORWAY
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNzSCnT1WiU Sondre Bratland & Kirsten Bråten Berg - Stev. From a Norwegian TV show. A "stev" is a very old four-line folk song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DedJ1PSiqYY Sondre Bratland & Nils Petter Molvær - Se, vi går opp til Jerusalem. Norwegian psalm ("Behold, we walk up to Jerusalem") to a traditional tune. Trumpet: Nils Petter Molvær. From a TV documetary on Sondre Bratland, 2005.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8q1jAkIX1I Bukkene Bruse - Eit barn er født i Betlehem. Moen Bergset (vocal, hardingfele / Hardanger fiddle, fiddle/violin), Annbjørg Lien (hardingfele / Hardanger fiddle, nyckelharpa), Steinar Ofsdal (flutes), and Bjørn Ole Rasch (keyboards). Recorded in Hakadal church, north of Oslo.
- IRELAND -- SEAN NOS
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JEiuM_eHuw LCaoineadh na dTrí Muire - Iarla Ó Lionáird - Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire. (The Lament of the Three Marys) From the Highland Sessions.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ojy1W6r8L0 My Dashing Darling (Mo Ghile Mear) - Mary Black, iarla O Lionaird, Mary Ann Kennedy, Karen Matheson, Karan Casey, Allan MacDonald
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouf2brXEsiM Liam Ó Maonlaí performs Lakes of Pontchartrain at the second week of the Ruby Sessions 10 Year Anniversary Sessions. He pauses in the middle as there is someone behind the curtain talking on a phone and then gets caught out when his own rings during the performance. The Ruby Sessions is an acoustic club held weekly every Tuesday night in the intimate setting of Doyle's (across from the gates of Trinity college) of College Street,
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