How to learn to sing like The Four Freshman

The Four Freshman is an American Jazz vocal group that gained popularity in the 1950s. With an innovative sound, intricate harmonies, and jazzy vocal arrangements, The Four Freshman are widely regarded as one of the most influential vocal groups in the history of American music. In this article, we will explain how you can learn to sing like The Four Freshman.

Breathing and Warm-ups

Breathing is essential in any style of singing, but it is particularly important in jazz singing. The Four Freshman's unique sound comes from their finely-attuned harmonies, and this requires a lot of control in your breathing.

As such, it is important to begin with breathing exercises, such as the Farinelli Breathing exercise, which we discussed in detail in one of our previous articles.

Once you have warmed up your breathing, you can then move onto vocal warm-ups. Humming exercises, such as the ones demonstrated by Singing Carrots in this video, are particularly effective when trying to achieve The Four Freshman's sound. Their distinctive harmonies are a result of their excellent control over their voices.

Techniques

One of the Four Freshman's signature techniques is a close-harmony vocal arrangement. This vocal arrangement involves singing in close proximity to one another while harmonizing to produce a unison sound. To achieve this, it is important to work on blending your voices together.

The four freshman use a lot of open-throat techniques to produce a very muted sound, so it’s important to practice opening your mouth and throat while singing, as we describe in this article.

The group also uses a lot of vibrato in their singing, which can be an effective way to add a jazzy, soulful feel to your vocal performance. To learn how to use vibrato like The Four Freshman, check out Singing Carrots’ exercise on singing with Vibrato.

Songs to learn

Finally, to learn to sing like The Four Freshmen, you need to learn some of their songs. Some of their popular songs include "The Day Isn't Long Enough", "Route 66", and "Moon River". You can use Singing Carrots’ Song search function to find songs that match your vocal range, difficulty, and genre preference and explore the vocal ranges of over 5000 famous singers including The Four Freshmen’s members.

Conclusion

With practice and following the guidance in this article, you can learn to sing like The Four Freshmen. Remember to focus on breathing, blending your voices together, and opening your throat while singing. Lastly, focus on the songs and be sure to listen to a lot of The Four Freshmen's music to absorb their style. Good luck!