melisma

plural melismas · plural melismata · alternative melism

1. countableentertainmentA 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.

   1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked

   1 more example

   At the top of the hill in the archway of the main house, an eyeless old man sat on a bucket, scratching at a two-stringed gourd, warbling weird melismas on a madman's text.

   2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 38

2. uncountableentertainmentThe use of such passages.

   A subsequent generation of singers, including Ms. Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé, built their careers around melisma.

   2010 December 24, David Browne, “Trilling Songbirds Clip Their Wings”, in The New York Times, →ISSN