Extended vocal technique

Last updated

Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera. Particularly famous examples of extended vocal technique can be found in the music of Luciano Berio, John Cage, George Crumb, Peter Maxwell Davies, Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti, Demetrio Stratos, Meredith Monk, Giacinto Scelsi, Arnold Schoenberg, Salvatore Sciarrino, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tim Foust, Avi Kaplan, and Trevor Wishart.

Contents

Timbral techniques

Phrasing

Spoken

Spoken text is frequently employed. The Italian term "parlando" has a similar meaning.

Rapping

Sprechgesang

Sprechgesang is a combination singing and speaking. It is usually heavily associated with Arnold Schoenberg (particularly his Pierrot Lunaire which uses sprechgesang for its entire duration) and the Second Viennese School. Schoenberg notated sprechgesang by placing a small cross through the stem of a note which indicates approximate pitch. In more modern music “sprechgesang” is frequently simply written over a passage of music.

Inhaling

Singing is produced while a singer is inhaling. This technique combined with exhaling and other techniques can produce a continuous stream of voice that is widely used in extreme metal styles like death metal, it is also employed in other styles to create a strained or even humorous effect.[ citation needed ]

Pitch

Falsetto

A vocal technique allowing the singer to sing notes higher than their modal vocal range.

Glottal sounds

A "frying"-type sound may be produced by means of the glottis. This technique has been frequently used by Meredith Monk.

Yodelling

Yodelling is performed by rapidly alternating between a singer's chest and head voice.

Ululation

A long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality. It is produced by emitting a high-pitched loud voice accompanied with a rapid back-and-forth movement of the tongue and the uvula. Ululation is practiced in certain styles of singing, as well as in communal ritual events, used to express strong emotion.

Reverberation

Vocal tremolo

A vocal tremolo is performed by rapidly pulsing the air expelled from the singer's lungs while singing a pitch. These pulses usually occur from 4–8 times per second.[ citation needed ]

Vocal trill

A vocal trill is performed by adding singing vibrato while performing a vocal tremolo.[ clarification needed ]

Rekuhkara

Harmonics

Overtones

By manipulating the vocal cavity, overtones may be produced. [1] Although used in the traditional music of Mongolia, Tuva, and Tibet, overtones have also been used in the contemporary compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen ( Stimmung ), [2] as well as in the work of David Hykes. [3]

Undertones

By carefully controlling the configurations of the vocal cords, a singer may obtain "undertones" which may produce period doubling, tripling or a higher degree of multiplication;[ citation needed ] this may give rise to tones that fairly coincide with those of an inverse harmonic series. Although the octave below is the most frequently used undertone, a twelfth below and other lower undertones are also possible. This technique has been used most notably by Joan La Barbara..However, undertones may be generated by processes that include more than the vocal folds.[ citation needed ] For instance, the ventricular folds (also called the false vocal folds) may be recruited, probably by solely aerodynamic forces, and made to vibrate with the vocal folds, generating undertones, like those found, for instance, in Tibetan low-pitched chant.[ citation needed ]

Multiphonics

By overstressing or by asymmetrically contracting the laryngeal muscles, a multiphonic or chord may be produced.[ citation needed ] This technique features in the 1968 composition Versuch über Schweine by the German composer Hans Werner Henze. In voice pathology, there are various descriptions of somewhat similar effects, such as those found in patients with diplophonia, a condition that produces a "double voice", i.e., two or even more simultaneous pitches.[ citation needed ]

Distortion

Screaming

Growling

Buccal speech

A form of alaryngeal speech that has a high pitch that can be used for speaking and singing. It is most familiar as the voice of Donald Duck.

Non-vocal sounds

Besides producing sounds with the mouth, singers can be required to clap or snap their fingers, shuffle their feet, or slap their body. This is usually notated by writing the appropriate word over a note. These gestures are sometimes written on a separate one-line staff as well.[ citation needed ]

Artificial timbral changes

Inhalation of gases

Inhaled helium is occasionally used to drastically change the timbre of the voice. When inhaled, helium changes the resonant properties of the human vocal track resulting in a very high squeaky voice. In Salvatore Martirano's composition L’s GA the singer is required to inhale from a helium mask.

Conversely, an unnaturally low voice may be achieved by asking the singer to inhale sulfur hexafluoride. This technique is less popular than helium inhalation, in part because of the inherent risk of the gas displacing oxygen in the lungs. [4] [ failed verification ]

Artificial vocal enhancement

Amplification, such as microphone or even megaphone, possibly with electronic distortion of the voice, is frequently used in contemporary composition. Through the use of various electronic distortion techniques, vocal enhancement possibilities are nearly unlimited. A good example of this technique can be found in much of the music written and performed by Laurie Anderson.

Singing into the piano

There are a number of pieces which require a singer to lean over a (sometimes amplified) piano and sing directly into the strings. If the strings are not damped, the effect is to start audible sympathetic vibrations in the piano. By far the most famous piece to use this technique is Ancient Voices of Children by George Crumb.[ citation needed ]

Notable performers using extended vocal techniques

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overtone</span> Tone with a frequency higher than the frequency of the reference tone

An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental is the lowest pitch. While the fundamental is usually heard most prominently, overtones are actually present in any pitch except a true sine wave. The relative volume or amplitude of various overtone partials is one of the key identifying features of timbre, or the individual characteristic of a sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overtone singing</span> Style of singing multiple notes at once

Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, polyphonic overtone singing, or diphonic singing, is a set of singing techniques in which the vocalist manipulates the resonances of the vocal tract to arouse the perception of additional separate notes beyond the fundamental frequency that is being produced.

Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterized in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied.

In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as a form of post-tonal thinking. Twelve-tone technique orders the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, forming a row or series and providing a unifying basis for a composition's melody, harmony, structural progressions, and variations. Other types of serialism also work with sets, collections of objects, but not necessarily with fixed-order series, and extend the technique to other musical dimensions, such as duration, dynamics, and timbre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singing</span> Act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person whose profession is singing is called a singer, artist or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music, Greek music, Japanese music, and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal, and popular music styles such as pop, rock, and electronic dance music.

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.

Sprechgesang and Sprechstimme, sometimes known as speak-singing in English, are expressionist musical vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, Sprechgesang is directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing, whereas Sprechstimme is closer to speech itself.

<i>Pierrot lunaire</i> Musical setting by Arnold Schoenberg of 21 selected poems by Albert Giraud

Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire", commonly known simply as Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21, is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg. It is a setting of 21 selected poems from Albert Giraud's cycle of the same name as translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben. The work is written for reciter who delivers the poems in the Sprechstimme style accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble. Schoenberg had previously used a combination of spoken text with instrumental accompaniment, called "melodrama", in the summer-wind narrative of the Gurre-Lieder, which was a fashionable musical style popular at the end of the nineteenth century. Though the music is atonal, it does not employ Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, which he did not use until 1921.

In music theory, a ninth chord is a chord that encompasses the interval of a ninth when arranged in close position with the root in the bass.

The ninth chord and its inversions exist today, or at least they can exist. The pupil will easily find examples in the literature [such as Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and Strauss's opera Salome]. It is not necessary to set up special laws for its treatment. If one wants to be careful, one will be able to use the laws that pertain to the seventh chords: that is, dissonances resolve by step downward, the root leaps a fourth upward.

Head voice is a term used within vocal music. The use of this term varies widely within vocal pedagogical circles and there is currently no one consistent opinion among vocal music professionals in regard to this term. Head voice can be used in relation to the following:

<i>Stimmung</i>

Stimmung, for six vocalists and six microphones, is a piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1968 and commissioned by the City of Cologne for the Collegium Vocale Köln. Its average length is seventy-four minutes, and it bears the work number 24 in the composer's catalog.

Belting is a specific technique of singing by which a singer carries their chest voice above their break or passaggio with a proportion of head voice. Belting is sometimes described as "high chest voice" or "mixed voice", although if this is done incorrectly it can potentially be damaging for the voice. It is often described as a vocal register, although this is also technically incorrect; it is rather a descriptive term for the use of a register. Singers can use belting to convey heightened existential states.

Bel canto —with several similar constructions —is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.

Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures worldwide. The most distinctive feature of such vocal practices is to be associated to some type of guttural voice that contrasts with the most common types of voices employed in singing, which are usually represented by chest (modal) and head registers. Throat singing is often described as producing the sensation of more than one pitch at a time, i.e., the listener perceives two or more distinct musical notes while the singer is producing a single vocalisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screaming (music)</span> Vocal technique used in music

Screaming is an extended vocal technique that is popular in "aggressive" music genres such as heavy metal, punk rock, and noise music and others. It is common in the more extreme subgenres of heavy metal, such as death and black metal as well as many other subgenres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuvan throat singing</span> Style of overtone singing

Mongol-Tuvan throat singing, the main technique of which is known as khoomei, is a style of singing practiced by people in Tuva and Mongolia. It is noted for including overtone singing. In 2009, it was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. The term hömey / kömey means throat and larynx in different Turkic languages. That could be borrowed from Mongolian khooloi, which means throat as well, driven from Proto-Mongolian word *koɣul-aj.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocal pedagogy</span> Study of the art and science of voice instruction

Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how proper singing technique is accomplished.

The vocal fry register is the lowest vocal register and is produced through a loose glottal closure that permits air to bubble through slowly with a popping or rattling sound of a very low frequency. During this phonation, the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together, which causes the vocal folds to compress rather tightly and become relatively slack and compact. This process forms a large and irregularly vibrating mass within the vocal folds that produces the characteristic low popping or rattling sound when air passes through the glottal closure. The register can extend far below the modal voice register, in some cases up to 8 octaves lower, such as in the case of Tim Storms who holds the world record for lowest frequency note ever produced by a human, a G−7, which is only 0.189 Hz, inaudible to the human ear.

Modal voice is the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing in most languages. It is also the term used in linguistics for the most common phonation of vowels. The term "modal" refers to the resonant mode of vocal folds; that is, the optimal combination of airflow and glottal tension that yields maximum vibration.

Roy Hart was a South African actor and vocalist noted for his highly flexible voice and extensive vocal range that resulted from training in the extended vocal technique developed and taught by the German singing teacher Alfred Wolfsohn at the Alfred Wolfsohn Voice Research Centre in London between 1943 and 1962.

References

  1. David Pariser and Enid Zimmerman, "Learning in the Visual Arts: Characteristics of Gifted and Talented Individuals," in Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education, edited by Elliot W. Eisner and Michael D. Day (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004): 388. ISBN   978-0-8058-4972-1.
  2. Gregory Rose and Simon Emmerson, "Stockhausen 1: Stimmung". Contact, no. 20 (Autumn 1979): 20–25, citation on 20.
  3. Charles Madden, Fractals in Music: Introductory Mathematics for Musical Analysis, InMusic (Salt Lake City, Utah), no. 1 (Salt Lake City: High Art Press, 1999): 85–89, 95. ISBN   978-0-9671727-5-0.
  4. "Sulfur Hexafluoride". Hazardous Substances Data Bank. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 26 March 2013.

Listening