melisma
Americannoun
-
melismas,
plural
-
melismata
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of melisma
First recorded in 1605–15, melisma is from the Greek word mélisma “song, tune”; see melody, -ism
Explanation
Melisma is a musical term used to describe the technique of singing a single text syllable — like "love" — while moving between several different notes in succession. Melisma, often referred to as "riffing," is a common technique in rhythm and blues. You'll hear it in other types of music, too, including pop, opera, and gospel music. Melisma is often used to showcase a singer's agility and range, or to add flair to a song. You'll sometimes hear singers using melisma on words like "brave" and "free" when singing the U.S. national anthem. The opposite of melisma is syllabic singing, where each syllable of a word gets just one note — think "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He asked permission to try it out in front of the London audience, before drifting into a wordless, intimate melisma.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2024
As an example, he cites her vocal melisma on the flamenco track, “Bulerías” — “nobody else in pop can touch that,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
The “Memoriam” section of the “Confitebor,” celebrating the Lord’s miraculous works, begins with a rugged, minor-mode instrumental unison, followed by an ethereal melisma on the word “memoriam”: a suggestion of dark earth against luminous sky.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 11, 2019
Her use of melisma was impeccably tasteful — always just enough, never too much.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 16, 2018
The closing words of each Psalm are chanted more 171 slowly and impressively, a long "triad" being substituted for the "melisma," sung piano.
From Letters of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from Italy and Switzerland by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
After filming in July, he went into the studio with Hadyn to work on the score, collecting trilling melismas from musical artists Moses Sumney, Diana Gordon and Nadiah Adu-Gyamfi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2022
For LeRoy, this idea resonates with the concept of melismas, or a group of notes sung at one syllable that often express a feeling without words, that is also often used in gospel music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2022
Her phrases swell, tremble and spill over into melismas, and her verses crest with two different peaks.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
At many moments he surprised me, despite my repeat viewings, with new melismas and spins on lyrics that sharpened the story to a slightly different point.
From New York Times ● May 23, 2019
She can belt and she can tease; she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, scalloping melismas.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2018
On her debut EP, “Finding Foundations, Vol. 1,” Ms. McFerrin shows wonderful vocal dexterity, deftly swerving from sharp, clearly enunciated staccato bursts to fluttery, free-form melismata.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2017
If the repetitions and melismata of his English-text setting owes much to Britte, the level of dissonance in his more static accompaniments is much higher.
From The Guardian ● May 17, 2012
This orchestral treatment was well adapted to music full of cadenzas, vocalises, and melismata of all kinds, and in which tutti were the exception.
From An Autobiography by Igor Stravinsky
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
