The Composer's View: Extended Vocal Technique

Author(s): Trevor Wishart

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 121, No. 1647 (May, 1980), pp. 313-314
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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THE COMPOSER'S VIEW Trevor Wishart
Extended Voc al
Tec hnique
For the
past
four
years
I have been resear-
c hing
new voc al sounds with the inten-
tion of
c omposing
a
piec e.
In 1979 the
promise
of a c ommission from the
group
Singc irc l e spurred
me on to draw these
researc hes
together
in a
bookl et,
The
Book
of
Lost
Voic es,
from whic h the
fol l owing
notes are abstrac ted.'
As a
c omposer, my
motivation for
researc hing
extended voc al
tec hniques
was a desire to be abl e to transform
sounds of
total l y
different timbre and
pitc h-c ontent
into one another in a c on-
tinuous
proc ess.
Conventional music al
instruments,
c onstruc ted on the
assump-
tion that timbre shoul d be hel d
(rel ative-
l y) c onstant,
are unsuited to this aim. The
human
voic e, however,
is
partic ul arl y
suitabl e as an 'instrument' both bec ause
of its
amazing fl exibil ity
and
variety
of
sound
generation
and its direc t ac -
c essibil ity (c ompared,
for
exampl e,
with
c omputer synthesis).
As a
c omposer,
therefore,
I was c onc erned to
expl ore
and
c ategorize
the
range
of sounds the voic e
c an
produc e, regardl ess
of
any
traditional
assumptions
about what is and what is
not 'music al '.
Pursuing my
researc h has
l ed me to re-examine traditional
assump-
tions about the
'parameters'
or 'internal
arc hitec ture' of sounds. In
partic ul ar
I
have had to revise notions of
pitc h
and of
the l imits of a sound-Gestal t
(e.g.
c oherent
sound-objec t
with unstabl e c om-
ponents).
It
may
first be useful to
c l arify
some
terms. 'Inhal ed/exhal ed' - a number of
voc al
sound-types
c an be
produc ed onl y
on the inhal ed breath. 'Voic ed/unvoic ed'
- the usual distinc tion between
(for
ex-
ampl e) whispered
and voic ed
speec h,
not
to be c onfused with
'l unged/unl unged'.
Various
phonetic
c l ic ks
(e.g. 'Tut!')
are
produc ed by suddenl y drawing
air into a
vac uum c reated behind the
tongue;
with
these sounds one c an c ontinue to breathe
in and out
normal l y
whil e
produc ing
them,
and
they
are therefore
'unl unged'.
Other sounds
appear
to
expel
al most no
air from the
l ungs,
but
require
a
high
air-
pressure
behind the
gl ottis, tongue, teeth,
l ips etc ; breathing
in and out is
impossi-
bl e whil e
produc ing
suc h sounds
('pseudo-unl unged').
An initial
(though inadequate) thought-
model for
desc ribing
the human voic e
may
be based on the c l assic al el ec tronic
synthesizer.
We
may
desc ribe c ertain
osc il l ators, noise-generators
and fil ters
and treatments of these. The
princ ipal
osc il l ators are:
(1) l arynx
- normal
sung
tones,
exhal ed and inhal ed
mul tiphonic s,
subharmonic s
etc ; (2) tongue
- vibrated
against
the roof of the
mouth,
for
Engl ish
rol l ed-R, uvul ar-R, Z-c ol oured-R, pitc h-
ed sound from X
(c h,
as in Sc ottish
l oc h);
(3) l ips
and c heek
(referred
to as
'Lipfarts', 'Fl abberl ip'
etc
bel ow)
-
l ip
(empl oyed by
brass
pl ayers), c heek,
and
tongue/c heek
vibrations c an be
c l earl y
pitc hed
over a wide
range,
and
fil tered,
using
hands to tension
l ips
and
c heeks;
and
(4) whistl ing
- with
tongue
and
l ips
in normal
position,
in s-formation or in
sh-formation.
(Either
of the l atter
may
be
c ombined with the
former, enabl ing
a
sol oist to whistl e in
paral l el 6ths,
tritones
etc .)
Sub-audio
(c l ic k-l ike)
osc il l ations
may
be
produc ed
in at l east five distinc t
ways.
Sounds in the c ol oratura
soprano range
c an be
produc ed by
the mal e
voic e,
whil e
the femal e voic e wil l reac h
up beyond
the
range
of
audibil ity.
The
noise-generators
of the voic e are
manifest in the c onsonants
S, H,
F
etc ,
whic h stress different formants
(frequen-
c y bands)
in the
voic e, c hanging
the 'c ol -
our' of the noise. A vast
range
of
possibil ities
is
opened up by 'c ombining'
c onsonants, spec ifying
mouth vowel -
shape,
and
by using fil tering.
Al l the sounds above
(and bel ow) may
be fil tered
by varying
the size and/or
shape
of the mouth
c avity,
or
by projec -
ting
sound into the nasal
c avities,
enabl -
ing
us to stress
partic ul ar
harmonic s
(as
in
Stimmung)
or define and
vary
a
pitc h-
band. An additional variabl e fil ter is
pro-
vided
by pl ac ing
the
c upped
hands over
the mouth.
Fil tering
is
partic ul arl y
useful
where
appl ied
to sounds of indefinite
pitc h.
Distinc t
c omponents
of a
c ompl ex
sound
may
be sel ec ted
(often produc ing
markedl y
different resul tant
sounds).
In-
trinsic al l y pitc hl ess
sounds
may
be
given
a
fil ter-pitc h.
The
simpl est
kind of treatment of these
sounds is 'intermodul ation'. A
normal ,
sung,
rol l ed-R is in fac t a
sung
note
being
ampl itude-modul ated by
the vibration of
the
tongue.
In
mid-register
this
pro-
c edure c an be used to
produc e
the effec t
of two
pitc hes,
about a 3rd
apart, being
sung by
a sol o voic e.
Simil arl y
'Fl ab-
berl ip'
wil l modul ate
S-whistl ing
to
pro-
duc e a sound l ike a referee's
whistl e; sing-
ing
wil l modul ate normal
whistl ing
to
produc e
bel l -l ike
c hords,
or
'Lipfarts'
to
produc e surprising mul tiphonic s;
and so
on.
Beyond
this
point many
traditional
c onc epts begin
to break down. First of al l
the idea of
pitc h
as a
singl e,
definabl e
qual ity
of
every
sound
begins
to dissol ve.
Instead we have to differentiate between
fundamental -pitc h,
the
pitc h
of the fun-
damental or most
prominent pitc h-
c onstituent of a
sound,
and
fil ter-pitc h,
whic h is the
pitc h given
to a sound-
c ompl ex (whic h
itsel f c ontains a wide
range
of
pitc h
el ements or
bands) by
a
fil ter whic h foc usses down
upon
a narrow
pitc h-range.
If we
c hange
the funda-
mental -pitc h
of a
c ompl ex sound,
the
rel ationships
between the c onstituents
are
preserved
whil e the c onstituents are
transposed. If, however,
we
vary
the
fil ter-pitc h,
the
rel ationships
are
preserv-
ed,
but the c onstituents are not
transpos-
ed. Some voc al sounds c an be
pitc h-
c hanged
in both
ways simul taneousl y.
Sec ondl y,
there are whol e c l asses of
sound whic h do not fal l under the
c ategories
used above. The c l ic ks on a
sc ratc hed
gramophone rec ord,
of in-
definite
fundamental -pitc h, may
be im-
agined
amassed into a dense texture
whic h woul d
not, however,
sound l ike
c onventional white or c ol oured noise.
Sounds of this
type
we wil l c al l
'grit'.
The sound 'x' (see above)
with
pl enty
of
water
(sal iva)
in it is a
'grit'
sourc e and
313
publ ished by
the author,
1979
(from Phil ip
Mar-
tin Music Books,
22
Huntington Road, York Y03
7RL).
The music of
TREVOR WISHART
may
be obtained from his
agents
PHILIP MARTIN
MUSIC BOOKS
Spec ial ists
in
20th-c entury
music al
l iterature
and sc ores
22
Huntington Road,
York Y03 7 RL
Tel : York 36111
has a vast
array
of
possibl e
forms
(a high-
frequenc y pitc h-c ompl ex;
a c rac k-l ike
sound; 'roc ket-roar';
c hil drens'
gun-
imitation; c l earl y pitc hed high-frequenc y
band;
and so
on)
al l of whic h
may
be
varied and extended.
Thirdl y,
there are numerous sounds
with
pitc h-c ontent
but where no sound
stands out as
c l earl y prominent (various
types
of
mul tiphonic s,
whic h are not
mere
'c hords')
or where
pitc h-
c onstituents are unstabl e
(pitc h-
c ompl exes).
Some
exampl es
are 'throat-
roar'
(or 'gl ottal overpressure');
inhal ed
sound-c ompl exes
and
mul tiphonic s;
'teeth-wind-tones'
produc ed by forc ing
air out between the
teeth;
and so on.
Al l these varieties of sounds
may
be
further
c ompl ic ated by proc esses
of 'ar-
tic ul ation' and
'mul tipl exing'.
Artic ul a-
tions are additional
manipul ations
of the
air-fl ow
(or
c heek-tension
etc )
invol ved in
making
a
sound, produc ed by rapid
tongue movements, tril l ing
or
ul ul ation,
or various manual
interferenc es, e.g.
at
the
diaphragm. Mul tipl exing (a
term
from
tel ephone transmission)
is used to
refer to a
proc ess
of
rapid juxtaposition
of
given,
different sound-el ements
(too
fast
for c onventional
notation-reading) pro-
duc ed
by
a sol o
performer. (I
have used
mul tipl exes extensivel y
in
my
Tuba
mirum,
for sol o tuba and visual
theatre.)
Final l y,
there is the
spec ial
c ase of
very
short sounds. These c an c onsist al most
entirel y
of inharmonic
transients,
and a
great variety
of suc h
essential l y pitc hl ess
sounds
may
be
produc ed by
the voic e.
They c an,
of
c ourse,
often be
given
a
fil ter-pitc h using
the
(variabl e)
resonanc e
of the mouth
c avity.
To
produc e
sounds
of
suffic ientl y
short duration
requires
muc h
prac tic e
and the use of
'stops'
suc h
as the
gl ottal stop
found in some urban
ac c ents
(e.g.
in
'spo'id',
=
'spotted').
Other
stops, essential l y
sudden
stoppages
of the airfl ow
by tongue
or
l ips,
c an be
rel ated to the c onsonants
P, T,
and K.
Cl assifying
these short sounds is a smal l
nightmare
and
requires very
c areful aural
perc eption;
I have c l assified more than
nine distinc t
sound-types
from the c onso-
nant P al one!
Apart
from
c atal oguing
individual
sounds,
I have al so been c onc erned to ex-
pl ore
to what extent and in what
ways
eac h sound c an be varied
(in pitc h, pitc h-
c ontent, fil ter-settings,
noise-c ontent
etc )
and in
partic ul ar
how -
physic al l y speak-
ing
- sounds c an be transformed into
one
another in l ive
performanc e.
In this
way
one defines a
'c ompositional spac e'
dependent
on the c harac teristic s of the
sounds and the 'instrument'
(the
human
voic e)
rather than on an a
priori theory
of
music al
organization (suc h
as
serial ism,
whic h I have berated
el sewhere).2
This
approac h
is
very
c l ose to one
way
of
working
in free
improvisation,
and im-
provisatory expl oration
has been an im-
portant
el ement in
my
researc h.
A
major probl em
in the
c ompositional
use of these new sound resourc es has
been to
devel op
a notation whic h is both
suffic ientl y
detail ed
(requiring
l ots of in-
formation about timbre and about modes
of
produc tion, normal l y
taken for
granted
in a c onventional
notation)
and
yet
suffi-
c ientl y
c l ear to be read in
performanc e
(requiring
as l ittl e information as
possi-
bl e!).
If one al so wishes to be abl e to
notate c ontinuous transformations bet-
ween
sounds,
the
probl ems
are c om-
pounded.
In
Antic redos3
I have
devel oped
a three-l evel notation
giving
duration and
l oudness on the
top l evel ; pitc h, general
timbral information and transformational
data on the middl e
l evel ;
and
very spec ific
timbral information on the l owest l evel .
After the initial
shoc k,
the
performers
seem to have found this
approac h very
c l ear. I have al so
produc ed
a studio ver-
sion of the entire
piec e, singing
al l six
voic es on to a mul ti-trac k
tape-rec order
-
not l east to demonstrate that the
piec e
is
possibl e
to
perform
with the voic e al one
- in order to define
c l earl y
the sounds re-
quired.
As suc h new timbral areas are
opened up
the use of
tape
in this
way,
as a
notation
proc edure,
wil l
undoubtedl y
bec ome
inc reasingl y important.
2
see 'Music al Writing/Music al Speaking'
in Whose
Music ? A
Soc iol ogy of
Music al
Languages publ ished
by Transac tion Books Inc . (USA, 1980).
3
This c ommissioned work was performed at St
John's,
Smith
Square,
on 27
April ,
and wil l be
publ ished
l ater this
year.
Engl ish
Parish Churc h Music
Watkins Shaw
The c l aim that Nic hol as
Temperl ey's
re-
c ent
l arge
work on the music of the
Engl ish parish
c hurc h*
represents
the
first treatment of the
subjec t
as a whol e is
in no fear of c ontradic tion. One wonders
why
this shoul d be so. It
might
have been
possibl e
to tac kl e it in a
straightforward
way simpl y
as a c ritic al ac c ount of the
music in
c hronol ogic al sequenc e.
Possi-
bl e: but not at al l
easy,
for
l arge parts
of
the
repertory
of suc h music c onstitute
hitherto
unexpl ored
trac ts.
Furthermore,
adequate
historic al c ritic ism of it invol ves
a more
c ompl ex bac kground
than
does,
say,
c athedral
music ,
in whic h there has
been an
underl ying unity
of aim and
prac tic e throughout, irrespec tive
of
l oc al ity, standards, c hurc hmanship,
and
repertory.
But extensive differenc es
woul d mask the
unity suppl ied by
a c om-
mon
l iturgy
were we to
c ompare
the wor-
ship
of Puddl etown Parish
Churc h,
Dorset,
in 1830 with that of Leeds Parish
Churc h at the same
time, where,
before
Vic ar Hook and S. S.
Wesl ey,
a
profes-
sional
surpl ic ed
c hoir
sang.
And what of
*
The Music
of
the
Engl ish
Parish Churc h, Cambridge
University
Press
(Cambridge, 1979): i, xxiv, 447pp.,
?30; ii, v, 213
pp., ?15
314