DIY singing experiment, almost Dec2023 ; Voice as an instrument

 DIY singing experiment, almost Dec2023
Voice as an instrument

https://www.musical-u.com/modules/singing/vocal-control/

So i understand - from a teacher - that my voice has a stunning large range.  Her words, and these words made me want to do something about it.   In the back of my mind, beyond music and all the rest of the things you do in life, how much do you actually use yourself?  Someone said we only use less than 10 percent of our capacities.  If that is the case, we could use a little bit of that reserve of capacities for new things that we are interested.  Its like owning millions and you could buy that little house with a big park that you liked.

My voice covers the v low and v high and in between, of course it is not yet an instrument that i could use v fluidly. I only made a discovery. 

So I pick songs that has this full range in it. I was quite interested in the "Help" Tina Turner version. I listened to it many times, all 8 versions including the original Beatles version and the developments - I could see where it is going more or less. Polishing the liaison between high and low, putting more air in certain phrasing, stronger, smoother transitions, all this need practice. Then, I remove the original template singing/voice and sing the whole song solo by myself and see the effects etc. All this takes quite a lot of time which would be a pleasure. I could see now this is very different from practicing basics from the beginning for example for bel canto singers. All singers have a body of work, and they dont really swerve from their centre much.  If a person is interested in big band cooners sounds, even at 21, I saw one singer, on a singing contest, he already sings marvellously the all time number one crooner tunes. I could not believe that he was only 21.  He looked much older, even though his skin, face upclose is that of a 21 year old.  But his mannerisms, style is of a much older man.  Then there are the retro jazz singers, brilliant etc. Melancholic beautiful voiced ones, we have a life time to play with our gifts. And each tentative has unending follow ups. Each interest unfolds into bodies of knowledge and worlds.  I listen to my own singing, so much work ahead to do. I listen to the teachers, various types of bel canto, opera, pop. Some w very beautiful voices naturally, and others so good, all so good.  

It also made me think, why are so many super talented, super stars all terminated at around 50?  Of course there are exceptional ones too.  Thats really beautiful to look at.

Below, 

is a project that uses "Fly me to the Moon" as sound track to cycles of digital guqin music, and pop music. This is almost 20 years ago. Its a 24/7 record of guqin music, as the computer chooses random samplings and combines them into a song of around 3mn. based on musical structures of standard guqin forms by two guqin masters: Teo Kheng Chong for "Pale Ink" a digital guqin instrument, and  Wang Duo for "Zebrafish" a digital guqin jukebox.  And Etienne Durand as software engineer.  Me, the overall conception designer, creator of the Digital Guqin work.   There is a standard piece "Flowing Water" which shows a set of regular rules in classical guqin music.  Then I select and intercut with various versions of "Fly me to the Moon", and other less well known pop sounds from the 50s.  

There is an upcoming phase of the Digital Guqin projects - which involves singing.  

Now, I found out more about how to sing "Fly me to the Moon" and the various versions that I had used, that now, I am learning to sing properly using my own voice, as an instrument. 

Notes.

Two sketches of "Help" Tina Turner version. Tried yesterday. Stay tuned! 

First song of the diy singing experiment Qiu Yi Nong, will be reviewed. It is not perfect yet. I see how i could do more. Stay tuned!

MobileMusic 100 percent, (a tiny mobile house for music listening) maybe named "House of Clouds - sound clouds" (maybe, a friend called my cluster of cubes, a huge sound cloud, so its kind of true)

Meanwhile, I am building the physical house of cubes.  The virtual model could be visited in the Virtual World of Secondlife.

Maria from Vienna, Lief from Danemark, Sandra from Toronto, last but not least Etienne Durand and many many others from the virtual world have contributed to the raw material for the building of the house.  I am very grateful for their kind support.

 

https://www.musical-u.com/modules/singing/vocal-control/

Vocal control is powered by breathing. To be able to reliably and easily produce strong, clear, well-pitched notes, it is essential that your body is providing enough air to the voice and in the right way: the speed and concentration of how air is released through the mouth and nose. Higher voices tend to use a mixture of chest, nose and head depending on the range, while lower voices use the chest a lot more. Get a good grasp of your vocal range and work out which parts of your body you are using to create the sound.

Even if a particular song doesn’t require it, breathe deeply and fairly slowly so you have a good oxygen supply for each phrase of the song. The more air you have in your lungs, the stronger a foundation you have for a good sound. Over time and practising this technique, you will learn how to breathe more deeply at a quicker rate in a useful way.

The voicebox and throat should also be opened up to allow more air to go through the trachea at a slower rate, which is key to control. If you are struggling to open your throat, make sure your neck and shoulders are relaxed, and that your head is in a natural in-lined position. You can also use the artificial yawning trick: as you breathe in, pull your tongue back. You should feel a cold sensation on the back of your throat which is identical to what it feels like before you yawn!

A big secret is that singing quietly requires just as much air as singing loudly. Singing quietly is also a lot harder to sustain than singing loudly, because for loud sounds you can use projection to make your voice carry. With singing quietly, you have to sustain your voice with breathing and air supply rather than projection. So during a quiet passage, or in a more tender song like a ballad, make sure you remember to breathe!

More air passing your throat at a slower, more consistent rate is better for vocal control than less air passing through faster and more abruptly. If you think of a sneeze, you tend to breathe quite slowly, but then the nose and mouth causes the air to come out extremely quickly. Your lungs/diaphragm and nose/mouth work differently, so make sure you don’t force the sound out through your nose and mouth too quickly. This can happen even when you breathe in slowly and with control.

Practise singing wordless notes, going firstly from soft to loud. Try to grow the sound as slowly and consistently as possible. Then do it again but the other way around, loud to soft. Try to get as quiet as possible without losing the sound. Do it in different parts of your vocal range, as some will be stronger and more comfortable than others.

Developing Vocal Control

All of these principles are things to keep in mind each time you sing. Over time they will become second nature. At first just try them one at a time, and combine them with the specific vocal control exercises in this module. You will gradually train your voice to automatically do the right things any time you open your mouth to sing. Once you have mastered the vocal control exercises which follow, they will continue to be useful to “warm up” your voice, which means getting it ready to sing with easy and gentle exercises before really putting it to use – similar to stretching before you do exercise. By internalising the techniques above and using the following vocal control exercises as part of your warmup, you will continue to develop and refine your vocal control.