Short answer: the human voice is the most expressive instrument in the world.
I have been making music since childhood, and I play a lot of instruments myself, each one with its own expressive capabilities and overall tone and character.
But I still find that the human voice has the most emotional and expressive power of all instruments. And this is even without singing lyrics, just treating it as an instrument by humming, or singing nonsense like random fake latin. Why is this? Let’s find out!
1. Greatest Dynamics
There is no instrument that comes anywhere near the human voice in dynamic range. You can sing from the lowest faint whisper volume, to loud like an opera singer. And in music, dynamic variation and shaping the expression curve over time, is one of the fundamental ways to add emotion into any performance.
2. Full Range Legato
Playing notes legato means that you smoothly connect them. Basically a legato is “gliding” between the notes. Let’s call it Note 1 to Note 2. With your voice you can control the time of the legato transition, you can shape the curve of the transition, you can even wiggle the pitch on the way between the notes. And the human voice can glide the pitch over the full range, not only for example the range of one violin string.
3. Most Expressive Vibrato
Doing a vibrato when holding a note, is one of the most emotional and expressive techniques in music. And the human voice is capable of the most expressive vibrato of all instruments. Why? Because you have a huge range in intensity of the vibrato you can do with your voice, as well as very fine control over the pulse speed of the vibrato. But more importantly, you still have great control over the dynamics and legato transitions that you can perform at the same time as you do the vibrato.
Your Voice is Your Super Power
The human voice is a super power within the world of music. Even if you make instrumental music like I do as a music composer, the voice is capable of adding so much emotion and expression as legato humming, background choirs, droning effects and so much more. It truly is the most emotional and expressive instrument of all time!