From: spike66 (spike66@ATTBI.com)
Date: Sun Apr 07 2002 - 23:17:59 MDT
Emlyn O'regan wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I had some wild'n'crazy ideas over the weekend about some modifications
>specifically for singing. Here they are in all their glory.
>
>-----
>1 - Visual cue to pitch
>-----
>Now, I came across an intriguing contraption recently online, the MidiVox...
>
>http://www.healingmusic.net/MidiVoxFrame1Source1.htm
>
>...I think that if you trained with something like that
>for a few weeks, you'd achieve perfect pitch.
>
Emlyn it takes years to develop perfect pitch, if ever. This device
might help, but a few weeks is surely a stretch.
>-----
>2 - Voice mod drugs
>-----
>
>More interestly, near the end of the period, the top of my range came back,
>albeit a bit wobbly, and the new bottom stayed. It's gone now that the
>cold's cleared up, but for a few days I had almost 2 and a half octaves of
>usable range, including the ability to reach to a full basses' range.
>
We already know that breathing helium makes ones voice sound funny.
I was at a band concert and wondered what would happen if one were
to breathe helium and play a saxophone. Any guesses what happened?
It made the sax high pitched. {8-]
>-----
>3 - External lung
>-----
>
>This is my craziest idea, in my opinion. I've been thinking about the need
>for singers to breathe. While breath is one of my personal strengths, I
>nevertheless look at the ability of other wind instrument players to perform
>tricks such as circular breathing, and think "why can't we do that"?
>
The reason singers cant do that is that circular breathing on a sax
requires one to puff ones cheeks, close the throat and inhale quickly
through the nose while keeping the tone playing by collapsing the
cheeks. Does not apply to singers.
>This leads me to the idea that creating another path into the lungs, into
>which air could be pumped, would be an excellent modification for a singer.
>
OK tenors, line up here, have a hose punched into your bronchial tube.
Tenors?...
{8-] Emlyn I have toyed with the idea of having an air tube in
the corner of the mouth while playing the sax, but the problem
is a good player controls the tone by shaping of the resonance
chamber, which is the back of the throat, and controls the pitch
to a certain extent by the pressure of the air column, which is
driven by the diaphragm. I setting my air compressor regulator
down low enough to be sure I wouldn't give myself air embolism,
then tried breathing the air from the compressor. I learned the
air in the compressor tank has an oily taste. {8-P
I didn't get as far as trying it with the sax.
This might be a fun experiment, one which I would repeat if
someone could suggest a way to get clean air and a reliable
method of controlling the pressure without risking blowing
a hole in my lungs. {8-]
spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:19 MST