Singing Guide: Cleavant Derricks

Singing Guide: Cleavant Derricks

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

Are you a beginner or advanced singer?

Cleavant Derricks is an American actor, singer, and Tony Award-winning Broadway performer. He is best known for his unique vocal style that merges elements of gospel, blues, and R & B.

Derricks is known for his dynamic and powerful voice which can range from raspy growls to smooth melodic lines.

One of the key elements of Derricks' vocal technique is his use of vibrato. Vibrato is a technique that creates a slight oscillation or wavering of pitch in a sung or played note. It adds warmth and dimension to the sound and is a fantastic tool for expressing emotion in a song. To learn how to sing with vibrato, Singing Carrots offers a helpful tutorial video, "Singing with Vibrato," which provides tips, examples and non-avoidable exercises that can improve your vocal technique and performance.

Another key element of Derricks' vocal technique is his use of a vocal fry register. A vocal fry is a creaky sound produced by a low or loose vocal fold closure. It is often used for stylistic effect but can also be utilized for vocal training and voice modulation. Singing Carrots provides many helpful resources for developing a vocal fry, including the Pitch training tool and great articles about vocal registers and the Vocal break.

To sing like Cleavant Derricks, singers can start by practicing in his vocal range by taking the Vocal range test and find songs that suit them with Song search.

In conclusion, Cleavant Derricks has a distinctive vocal style that blends musical genres. To learn how to sing like him, it's important to focus on developing vibrato and utilizing a vocal fry register. Singing Carrots offers many helpful resources for singers who want to improve their technique and explore different styles.

Learn more about this artist vocal range, voice type and repertoire.