|
|
| (One intermediate revision by the same user not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| This entry is concerned with the possible development
| |
| of Improvised Voice Instrumental Music.
| |
| Essentially, it involves the use of the human
| |
| voice to imitate musical instruments realistically but
| |
| at the same time producing new compositions
| |
| spontaneously (ie. improvised, impromptu/on the spot
| |
| pieces). This latter feature distinguishes it from
| |
| ordinary melodious, and "non-melodious" Voice
| |
| Instrumental Music, and is an area which can
| |
| be deemed as being mainly terra incognito as far as
| |
| "mainstream" music is concerned.
| |
|
| |
|
| To many ordinary music lovers, musicians, and
| |
| composers the above will at first appear to be
| |
| outlandish. Evidence though clearly indicates though
| |
| that the human voice can be trained to imitate the
| |
| sounds of musical instruments very effectively.
| |
| Certain performances by a capella groups such as the
| |
| Swingle Singers,the House Jacks(American) and Vocal
| |
| Sampling (Cuban)are good examples of this. Indeed,
| |
| there have been some "experimental" uses of it (of
| |
| varying quality) via "mainstream" pop (eg. Bobby
| |
| McFerrin), and classical music (eg. Gorecki who used a
| |
| form of "chanting"in his famous Symphony No.
| |
| 3.).
| |
|
| |
| Infact, the voice has not only been utilised to
| |
| produce musical sounds effectively but also a whole
| |
| variety of other "noises" too. The Hollywood Film
| |
| Chorale Sounds Effects Choir springs to mind
| |
| especially their Honda advert which involved the
| |
| sounds of what a car can make in certain situations,
| |
| and climes. This ofcourse was undertaken by the human
| |
| voice.
| |
|
| |
| Before going into more detail about Improvised
| |
| Voice Instrumental Music it is arguably necessary
| |
| for us to get some further insight on ordinary
| |
| Voice Instrumental Music itself.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| A.Basic Answers to Objections concerning ordinary
| |
| Voice Instrumental Music.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| Some people may think that effective vocalisations, or
| |
| improvisations of musical instruments as being
| |
| something "mad", or "too avant-garde". Au contraire, it
| |
| is "natural", and challenging but has yet to
| |
| attain a high degree of mainstream musical
| |
| respectability.
| |
|
| |
| Others might think of the whole subject as being
| |
| something puerile. Again, it is not if the vocalisers
| |
| concerned can create mature, and interesting sounds.
| |
|
| |
| Along with good whistling (which if performed well can
| |
| sound just like an instrument being played)ordinary
| |
| melodious, and "non-melodious" Voice Instrumental Music
| |
| is seen by some as being something which is common,
| |
| and cannot be taken too seriously as a genuine art-form.
| |
| Ofcourse, people do hum (which can give an illusion of
| |
| hearing many instruments at once in a band, or an orchestra
| |
| even)their favourite tunes at times. This is quite
| |
| "common" but it is never really developed into
| |
| something better, and more artistic when perhaps it
| |
| aught.This infact requires skill, and practice, and is
| |
| not as easy as it might look.
| |
|
| |
| Furthermore, if most, or indeed, perhaps all the
| |
| sounds of all musical instruments can be imitated then
| |
| it raises the question of their necessity! Naturally,
| |
| such a claim is absurd to a certain extent. Voice Instrumental
| |
| Music should be seen as just another way of performing music which
| |
| is both entertaining, and interesting.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| B. The Emergence of Improvised Voice Instrumental
| |
| Music. Basic Theory, and Practice.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| Now, we shall have a somewhat brief look at melodious
| |
| Improvised Voice Instrumental Music. This goes
| |
| beyond Voice Instrumental Music as already indicated, and is more
| |
| important. It is something which could be seriously
| |
| developed. It could have important commercial
| |
| implications if a cappella performers could be trained
| |
| to do it successfully.
| |
|
| |
| In many respects, it could represent a "revolutionary"
| |
| step in the world of music because it involves Musical
| |
| Intelligence, or MI to a very profound degree. It is
| |
| spontaneous," free-form", impromptu/on the spot
| |
| performances of new music which can be based on any
| |
| musical style (eg. pop, baroque, jazz, renaissance,
| |
| medieval, et al). It is a theory yet to be made
| |
| provable by expert performers who would appear live on
| |
| the public stage, on the radio, on the internet, and
| |
| on television. Each performance would produce new high
| |
| quality music by means of the human voice. It would be
| |
| recorded for prosperity (if it is of a high
| |
| professional quality), and/or even be transcribed into
| |
| musical score if desired by means of specially
| |
| programmed computers.
| |
|
| |
| One performer could produce a simple tune be it
| |
| string-like (eg.lute, guitar) piano-like,
| |
| woodwind-like (eg. recorder, flute), and so on. The
| |
| aim of Improvised Voice Instrumental Music is not necessarily
| |
| to get an exact replication of an instrument (though purists may
| |
| insist!). Rather it is the desire to create greater,
| |
| and greater musical diversity by means of the voice.
| |
| Some of this may not even have any obvious comparison
| |
| to any known musical instrument.
| |
|
| |
| How could the above be undertaken? As soon as one
| |
| performer starts the others could with expert
| |
| listening imitate the spontaneous melodious notes
| |
| using distinct different instrumental-like vocal
| |
| sounds in the most harmonious way possible. This for
| |
| an amateur would be difficult in extremis. It would
| |
| require some practice.
| |
|
| |
| Another approach could involve the "opening" performer
| |
| to stop after a few minutes, and one, or more person
| |
| could carry on . Yet, they would produce a new
| |
| "free-form" composition spontaneously. Other ideas could
| |
| be introduced.
| |
|
| |
| Ofcourse, it must be said that Improvised Voice Insrumental Music is not exactly the
| |
| same as the Jewish Nigunin of the Kabbalah tradition,
| |
| Tuva Singing, Scat Singing in Jazz, Buddhist/Tibetan
| |
| Chanting, Puirt a Beul(or Celtic Mouth Music, or
| |
| "diddling"),Beatboxing,and other throat, or overtone
| |
| singing. These vocal expressions are fine to a point
| |
| but are not necessarily "melodious". Yet,
| |
| Improvised Voice Instrumental Music is in
| |
| essence more "refined", and artistic par excellence.
| |
| This is the point to grasp.
| |
|
| |
| Naturally enough, it can challenge orthodox musical
| |
| thinking, and if successfully performed could open up
| |
| new areas of music.It could even have esoteric, or
| |
| spiritual implications too. It could be used as a form
| |
| of creative concentration, and meditation. The scope
| |
| is infact vast as well as the possible introduction of
| |
| new spontaneous styles done in a mature manner.....
| |
|
| |
| Yet, how could one learn to do ir? The most obvious
| |
| way for a beginner is to listen to music in general,
| |
| and to instruments individually. Then, one simply
| |
| tries to imitate the sound, and record them at home to
| |
| see how realistic, and three dimensional they may
| |
| appear. It is necessary to be a firm task master as on
| |
| all this to ensure that quality sounds are produced.
| |
| Such sessions should be short to avoid tiring out the
| |
| vocal cords.
| |
|
| |
| Onomatopeia is one method which could be used as a
| |
| teaching aid for melodious Improvised Voice Instrumental Music.
| |
| In music it can involve words that sound like the actual sound so to
| |
| speak! For example, "boom" of a drum acts as a
| |
| verbalisation of a musical sound. Another instance, is
| |
| the "twang" of a guitar. In other words, verbal Voice Instrumental,
| |
| Music and to a certain extent a non-verbal Improvised Voice Instrumental Music
| |
| can be created all at once.The Swingle Singers have done
| |
| notable examples of this but like Scat Singing seem to
| |
| notably use non-sense words in the process (eg Bah,
| |
| Bah, La, La, Na, Na, etc).In Improvour concern is the
| |
| spontaneous creation of non-verbal music. However,
| |
| verbal VIM can be used to attain this if necessary as
| |
| an aid for training purposes.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| C. Possible Internet Resources .
| |
|
| |
| There are a number of internet resources available for
| |
| Voice Instrumental Music (as opposed to
| |
| its more improvised form). They
| |
| demonstrate quite clearly that the human voice can
| |
| imitate musical instruments. For those who are
| |
| interested a number of useful search words are.
| |
| included........
| |
|
| |
| You Tube is an obvious stopping place, and has
| |
| excellent resources of melodious, and arguably
| |
| "non-melodious" Voice Instrumental Music. Useful search words for
| |
| audio/visual materials are as follows i) Swingle
| |
| Singers (clips notably include the 1812 overture, and
| |
| the theme music of Mission Impossible all performed by
| |
| means of the mouth!).ii) Beatboxing video clips.iii)
| |
| House Jacks (clips notably include the theme music of
| |
| James Bond!}.iv) Vocal Sampling.....
| |
|
| |
| Ofcourse, there are a number of societies, and a
| |
| cappella group websites that are easily traceable via
| |
| simple word searches. Samples of their work can
| |
| usually be downloaded
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| "Vocalised Dance Music is suprisingly widespread...."
| |
|
| |
| David Munrow (1942-1976).
| |