Shop Merch Add a Show Listing

Home For You Chat My Shows Register/Login Games Grosses

Riffs

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

Email

#1

Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:57pm

So are these buggers just something you're born with? XD Because dangit I listen to all the cool rifts everyone does (NOT Mariah Carey, who sings like if she doesn't get 50 rifts in every breath she'll DIE, or something =P) and I can't do it.

Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde.

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 07:57 PM

#2

re: Rifts

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:05pm

Are you saying that you can't make up your own or you can't imitate others?

#3

re: Rifts

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:05pm

They're called riffs, and you have to go on your own voice, not someone else's.

Me, I like to live.
Me, I like to laugh.
Me, I like to love.

#4

re: Rifts

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:09pm

Most people start out imitating others, mastering them and getting them set in your voice and then from there, once they have a whole repertoire of them, they can spontaneously pick and choose which ones they want to do in performance. Eventually, if they're very good, they'll develop their own.

Jennifer Holliday has talked about imitating Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight and Barbara Streisand when she was a little girl in her bedroom listening to their records. Over the course of time (and many years soloing in the gospel church) she didn't need to imitate anyone anymore and after she became famous, people started imitating her.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#5

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 9:15pm

Good riffing comes from within, so to speak. You don't typically say to yourself, "Okay, let's riff like this right here." If you're really getting into it, the riffing will come naturally.

And it is riff, not rift.

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 09:15 PM

#6

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:00pm

R&B music all about riffing. I think riffing can be irritating in Broadway music - where it dosen't call for riffing. But R&B music without riffing - wouldn't be right.

#7

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:07pm

Ahhh, riffing. As long as the song doesn't turn in to "every single sustained note becomes a fluctuation", I'm cool with it. Seriously, some singers are so in to riffing that they seem to have forgotten what a plain ol' note sounds like, held out.

*~* Every time you double-post, God kills a kitten. *~*

Kay, the Thread-Jacking Jedi
Quando omni flunkus moritati (When all else fails, play dead...)

"... chasin' the music. Trying to get home."

Peter Gregus: "Where are my house right ladies?!"
(love you, girls! - 6/13/06)

#8

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:33pm

i find riffing to be a very touchy subject. i can see people getting very angry and uptight over this discussion on riffing. either way, some people have it and other just dont. if you dont have it...well...work on it. lol. anyway, at one point i didnt even know what it was until my friend kontrell taught me about it. in fact he was a very gifted and skilled riffer! woo that boy could sing his butt off! incredible talent. anyway, we actually used to study beyonce because she is a damn good riffer. then you get even crazier when you listen to gospel music and come across incredible riffers like tonex or the clark sisters. anyway, i love riffing on broadway because its natural for those that do it. people get so uptight about it but there are people like lillias white and billy porter who just know when and how to deliver it. riff on! i do!

#9

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:46pm

I agree that when a singer can't sustain a note with riffing or running on it - I get PISSED.

Hell, I heard Matt Morrison riff once or twice in PIAZZA, and it was perfect - not overdone at all. Very subtle riffs.

#10

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:47pm

Passeggiaaaa-ta-A-a~

Beautiful.

This is my signature.

#11

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:32pm

Matthew Morrison does not riff. There is no riffing in classical or classical-esque music, a la Piazza. It's simply a modulation. Actually, in this case, I would assume that Guettel wrote that note in. Definitely not a riff. Good try though.

#12

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:36pm

I haven't seen the music...so I'm guessing it's just a grace note. It was a very minor and small riff, if any.

This is my signature.

#13

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:37pm

Well, there's no RIFFING in classical music but there are runs that can be somewhat improvised (they aren't always written out in stone) and little affectations -and the Passeggiata thing is a little trill, and trills are done differently by every singer :0)

-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?

"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????

#14

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:38pm

Trill. That's the word I was looking for!

Thank you, Ping!

#15

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:41pm

HAHA, anytime :0)

-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?

"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????

#16

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:42pm

I dunno. Too short to be a trill? Maybe more like an ornament, or grace note thing. Bah, whatever. Useless to argue over. It's very very pretty. Anyhoo.

This is my signature.

#17

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:43pm

Yes, yes it is :0)

-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?

"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????

#18

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:47pm

How can there be a thread about riffs and Ms. Shoshana Bean not be mentioned yet?! She is the queen of riffs, hers are BRILLIANT.

#19

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:49pm

I love the riffs of Miss Bean very much.

#20

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:50pm

Miss Bean is certainly the Queen of Riffs as far as performers currently on broadway go.

#21

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:27am

Seriously, Shoshana is the Goddess of Riffing. It's amazing the riffs that she comes up with! Love 'em!

#22

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:29am

I think Sara Ramirez gives Shoshana a sprinting run for her money, if you want to talk about riffing. Both are just...jawdropeyespopbrilliant.

This is my signature.

#23

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:35am

I think Bean's riffs can, at times be gratuitous. She can do so much as far as riffs go, but it always doesn't add to the actual point of the song. It's almost rare that she holds out a straight note.

Menzel is amazing with riffs. Never gratuitous.

#24

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:37am

Opinions entirely. We're all right, actually. There's no set criteria for what qualities the "best" riffer on broadway must possess.

#25

re: Riffs

Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:45am

Yeah, I was actually listening to Miss Shoshana sing the Wizard and I. And I was inspired to start this thread. At the end I pretty much die when she goes "the wizard and iiiIIIIIiiiiIIIIIIII."

Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde.

← Back to Message Board

View all Videos

Ticket Central

Ticket Central

Hot Show

Tickets From $59

Hot Show

Tickets From $70

Hot Show

Tickets From $59

Hot Show

Tickets From $101