Vocal music
Music performed with singing voices.
What it means
Vocal music is music performed by singing voices, with or without instruments. Its counterpart is instrumental music. The span reaches from the monophonic chant through song, madrigal, and motet to opera, oratorio, and symphonic choral work. Common to it is that a text is communicated — from this result structure, rhythm, pitch range, and expression to a far greater degree than in instrumental music.
Musical use
For a long time, vocal music was the main form of transmitted music; instrumental music only gradually became independent and at first took over ways of writing and forms from singing. This continues to have an effect: concepts such as cantilena, phrase, and breath stem from singing and are transferred to instruments. For shaping vocal music it holds that textual intelligibility, declamation, and speech stress stand in first place; where music contradicts the text, that is mostly intentional and part of the interpretation. The question of scoring — solo or choral, with or without instruments — is often open with older music and must be decided.
Performance practice
Begin with the text: read it aloud, clarify meaning and stress, and get a literal translation for foreign languages. Fix pronunciation and syllable distribution bindingly within the group. Plan breathing points musically and agree on staggered breathing for long lines. Watch for uniform vowel colours, because blend and intelligibility depend on it. Warm up the voices thoroughly and do not load them beyond their own limit. Also check whether an edition has added the text underlay, because it is often not unambiguously documented with older music.