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as a well trained bel canto singer, I walk out of stores playing today's pop singing. it is truly as the caller referred to some vibrato, "aural torture". The more important issue is not about vibrato but the open throat, which allows the air to pass through the instrument that is the open human body, the open spaces, without being blocked by muscle tension. All attempts to control the singing voice with muscle action, be it vibrato or throwing the voice, or other "artistic" manipulation, blocks the natural sound as it blocks the air. This is the art of singing that requires coaching even for experienced singers, in contrast to musicians who no longer need to "take lessons" to play well, once playing professionally, it on a regular basis. We need coaching because we do not hear in our heads what you hear listening to us, and more importantly because to release all muscle tension in the shoulders and neck and jaw is so deeply tied into our emotions, we need "coaching". Those who think they don't, end up distorting their voices and many end up damaging their cords. Much professional singing today, especially pop, is ghastly. Give me a Joni Mitchell, (when she was young), or the open sound of the opera greats - they are few and far between - the cultural taste of our youth and Americans in general today is tragic, replacing art with emoting. Technology, big music business, and the loss of support of the arts in public schools, has made a cultural wasteland of American musical taste - apart from the lucky few whose families have managed to carry on quality musical education. Singing is where the pain of loss is most evident - why that should be so, is a mystery. But the beauty of ugliness of vibrato in singing misses the point of the beauty of a well controlled instrument in the human body versus the manipulated distortions in the name of gut feelings. Who will save us from this distortion in the listening ears of our time?

I have to disagree with Antonio at comment 6. It may be that straight tone never occurred to the original composers of Renaissance music, but I know the difference in harmony that it makes. A chord sung in straight tone can sound like it has more parts than are actually sung, because of the way the harmonics combine (especially when sung in a properly "live" space like a period church). With vibrato the chords sound weak and lifeless.

The same is true in barbershop music, where the whole structure is built on making four guys (or four women, today) sound like eight or more. I've heard doo-wop singers (a vibrato style) sing barbershop songs, and it doesn't work. It's not because I don't like their voices, because I do; they just can't make the harmonies work at all, because they can't or won't sing straight tone, as all barbershop groups do.

A good musician--vocalist, wind/brass player, string player--allows vibrato to enter on a sustained tone as a way to make the single pitch more interesting. Imagine a long sustained straight tone; without the inflection of vibrato it can easily become dull or awkward-sounding. Letting a vibrato "bloom" from a sustained pitch can be breath-taking.

Jose Carreras is what is WRONG with vibrato!

Vibrato by sopranos is horribly overused in classical music. The worst abuses are in the big requiems, eg Berlioz, with tremendously rich orchestration. These works should be voiced as purely and simply as possible.

And don't even get me started when a soprano is accompanied by another singer; vibrato just makes it sound out of tune.

In the baroque period, vibrato was considered an ornament, so we know that it wasn't done without thought.
I agree with your guests that excessive vibrato, even in jazz and more contemporary is, well, too much!!

I think that Richard Taruskin is correct that in the "early music movement" the hooty, super-straight tone is really a modern ideal imposed on an older music. Vibrato for a long time had a reputation in rock/pop as an evil thing associated with "elitist" classical music. Similar issues pertain to the current absence of portamento in classical music.
Ms. Morano's recording was interesting for another stylistic element. She sings with an accent other than the one with which she speaks.
The American Idol phenomenon has brought ornamentation back BIG TIME. Is pop music in our tie a baroque period?

Vibrato can be a great tool when used properly. Many young musicians will tend to over use vibrato, or may even use it as a crutch. Vibrato is most effective when it follows proper intonation, as opposed to covering up improper intonation.

In singing harmonies, vibrato is out unless you can weave the notes together.

my teenage son plays 'melodic heavy metal' music with an electronic sound-altering technique called'distortion', creating a 'throbbing' sound. This seems to be similar to the role of vibratto, in the arena of electronic amplified music.
In my opinion, distortion detracts from the complexity of the music. He says it makes it more 'exciting'.
Does 'distortion' have any classical roots in vibratto?

vibrato, like a sweet syrup, should be used sparingly and in the appropriate place and time. done well it can enhance, overdone it become cloying or used to hide imperfections.

Vibrato is fine but what one hears these days on American Idol is over the top. But what I hear that described as is "melisma". What's the difference?