melisma means A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
melisma is pronounced /məˈlɪzmə/.
Why “melisma” is a great word
A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text, or the style of singing that employs such passages. From Ancient Greek μέλισμα (mélisma, "song, tune"), from μελίζω (melízō, "to sing, to modulate"), from μέλος (mélos, "song, melody"). First recorded in English use 1605–15, borrowed via German *Melisma* in the 1880s. Unlike syllabic setting, which tethers one note to each syllable, or a general ornament, which can be any decorative flourish, melisma is the deliberate, luxurious unraveling of a single vowel into a filament of sound. It is the ecstatic spiral of a gospel singer’s "ah," the ancient, quivering elaboration of a Gregorian chant, or the crystalline run of a coloratura aria holding a single word aloft on a current of air—the voice momentarily escaping the prison of language to become pure, wordless feeling.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μέλισμα (mélisma, “song”), from μελίζω (melízō, “(I) sing, modulate; (I) celebrate in song”), from μέλος (mélos, “song, tune, melody; limb, part; member”).
noun
- A passage of several notes sung to one syllable of text.“A choir sang one of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The mournful melisma accompanied the slow procession to the palace built by Herod the Great, at present untenanted.”
- The use of such passages.“A subsequent generation of singers, including Ms. Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé, built their careers around melisma.”
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