Cla Vocal
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Our producer Martin Austwick is also a talented musician. So when he suggested that we make an episode about the extraordinary range of the human voice, it seemed like the perfect chance to give this topic the attention it deserves.
Martin: My love of audio all started out with my love of singing. I've been a singer songwriter for probably about 20 years, but I've never formally studied singing, so I don't really understand how people make these incredible sounds with their voices.
Matt: And the resonation system is everything that's on top of the vocal cords, from the throat, to your cheeks, to your lips, tongue, and teeth. All of these things are creating resonance and kind of shaping the sound of the vocal cords.
Matt: And that just comes from the opposite vocal cord configuration. So in chest voice, the vocal cords are kind of thick and slack, but as you stretch them, it's going to vibrate faster, creating higher notes.
Matt: It just doesn't get any better than that. He's just screaming it out basically. The legend goes that this was at the very, very end of their recording day and John's voice was already shot, which is why there's so much kind of a rough quality, which we all love about this recording.
Matt: What scientists think is creating that is rather than the entire length of vocal cords vibrating together, they think it's just maybe the very, very front portion. And since it's just a very, very small portion of vibrating mass, the frequencies that you get off of that are incredibly high.
Matt: Whistle seems to be a bit easier for children. Part of that may be a cultural thing, that as kids, we're encouraged to kind of play with our voices a whole lot, and we just go and explore all the lengths of the human range.
Mariah Carey: And when I would wake up, I would always be like, "I couldn't speak, I would sound like this." And then I would also be like, "But I can talk nah nah nah nah." And I was in that range. And my mother was like, "Why are you talking like that? Like what are you doing?" And I was like, "I don't know."
Martin: The whistle register takes us to the upper limit of the human voice. Brazilian Singer Georgia Brown holds the Guinness Record for the greatest vocal range by a female. Here she is demonstrating her incredible upper range. If you have dogs in the house, maybe cover their ears.
Martin: Using vocal fry, some singers can reach incredibly low notes. Vocalist Tim Storms holds the Guinness Record for the lowest note produced by a human being, as well as the widest overall vocal range. Here's a bit of that unbelievable low end.
But of course, there's more to vocal technique than just hitting high notes and low notes. Singing is also about conveying mood, tone, and emotion. And certain styles of singing were developed to convey extreme emotions like anger and despair.
Matt: So outside of your pair of true vocal cords, there are a couple of muscles. And when you get those guys involved, you get a little bit of that "Ooh," where it sounds a little bit thicker, a little bit gruffer, tends to be used a whole lot more in metal music.
Now, when you combine a wide range of very precise vocal techniques into a single performance, you can get some truly mind blowing results. Here's a piece called Sing a Little Harmony, by the beatboxer D-low.
Matt: So in this specific performance , I think what would be super cool is if we could just see almost like an MRI [fx: servo + wider music] of all of the things that his throat, his mouth, his tongue, his teeth, everything is doing. And what you would see is an absolute insane view of the crazy machinery that makes up the voice in general.
Martin: But for me, there's one singing technique I've been fascinated with since I first heard it over 20 years ago. It's called throat singing or overtone singing. And perhaps the most famous tradition in the world is from Tuva, a republic of Russia that borders Mongolia.
Martin: In the Soviet Union, Tuvan culture was basically ignored. The Tuvan language wasn't typically taught in school. And when Albert studied music in college, he learned about classical music from Europe and Russia...
Martin: Since the fall of the Soviet Union, it's become much easier for people in Tuva to learn these traditions. Throat singing is now taught at music schools for children, and in music colleges. In 2003, the Tuvan National Orchestra was founded. Their performances often include multiple throat singers singing in unison.
Martin: Northern Canada has a very different style of throat singing, practiced as a kind of competitive game between women as part of the Inuit culture. This tradition often involves making sound with the inhalations as well as the exhalations. Here's a demonstration by Inuk performer Tanya Tagaq.
Martin: Albert Kuvezin and Tanya Tagaq aren't the only ones pushing throat singing in interesting new directions. For example, a Mongolian band called The Hu created a song for the game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, in which they sung in a fictional alien language.
Martin: There are so many ways that people use their voices to make music and express themselves. But how difficult are these techniques for people with very little vocal training? Well, we decided to put our money where our mouth is, quite literally, and let vocal coach Matt Ramsey put us through our paces.
Matt: Right! Now the reason that you had a break there was because you were starting in falsetto where those vocal cords really weren't closing all that much. And then when you came back to your chest voice at the very end, (claps) they snapped together again. And in fact, the break is actually a good thing. It means that you're actually going between the different registers in your voice. But of course, we don't want to stop there. We want to continue to train it until it's almost indistinguishable.
Matt: Well, let's finish our tour of the different vocal ranges at the very, very top, whistle register. Now, this may be very well, something that you do or don't have. Some days I have it, some days I don't, we'll see what happens today,
Martin: Okay, so Dallas and I, we probably won't be covering Adam Lopez anytime soon. But while people like him and Tim Storms and Mariah Carey may seem to have an almost superhuman range, it's really important to remember how many hugely influential singers there are whose range is much, much smaller.
Matt: There is kind of an obsession with expanding vocal range. And I just want to make it very clear that that is not the point of vocal training. The point of vocal training is to sing songs better.
In fact, there are times when quote unquote "bad" singing might be the perfect way to express the emotions you're going for. Over the years, there have been plenty of famous singers who have pretty terrible, traditional vocal technique. But that doesn't make the music they create any less powerful.
Matt: I define good singing as people that make me feel something. And whenever I listen to Bob Dylan sing, I feel something, even if it's not great technique. So there's a difference between good technique vocalists, and great singers.
Thanks to our guests, Matt Ramsey and Albert Kuvezin. You can find Matt's online vocal lessons on his YouTube channel, which is Ramsey Voice Studio. And you can hear Albert's band Yat-Kha wherever you listen to music. You can find links to both in the show notes.
After watching 4 thyroid nodules grow for the last 5 years, 2 are now each the size of ping-pong balls, and the other two are each the size of large marbles. Had an ultrasound and CT. The nodules are substernal and obstructing my trachea, so I'm scheduled for a TT on December 9th. My general surgeon brought in an ENT who told me that my thyroid is wrapped around one of my vocal nerves. It will like removing concrete from around a spaghetti noodle without compressing, stretching or god forbid severing the noodle. Ugh. As a professor, I talk for a living. I am not a singer, but my job requires me to give 2 hour lectures 4-5 times a week.\n
I didn't have wrapping of any kind, but I had laryngeal nerve bleeding in my TT and neck dissection in October. I lost my voice for about three weeks, but it is mostly back now. It came back very quickly.
I highly recommend you grill your ent surgeon about the kinds of surgeries he or she does. Make sure he or she performs about 200 or more TTs and/or neck dissections a year. Look for a total number of at least 3k of the surgeries. You need experienced hands in there. Do NOT worry about hurting the ego of the surgeon if you decide to go elsewhere. The outcome for you is far important than a surgeon's ego.
Since yours has higher risk of vocal cord nerve complication, I'd seek the very best surgeon you can, one with extensive thyroidectomy experience including complex and invasive cases. An experienced endo can be a good source of surgeon referrals, and the ThyCa support group in your area could be too. Doctor shopping is not always easy but the surgeon's well-honed expertise is key in a complex case. All the best on the path ahead.
My thyroid wasn't wrapped around the vocal chord nerve, but my ENT said that my surgery was the most complicated he had ever preformed (out over around 800) due to the fact that my thyroid was so fused to my nerves. He expected me to have a hard time talking and sent a speech therapist to my hospital room, but other than I raspy voice for a few days I have had no problems, so miracles do happen. Best of luck to you!
I agree, the surgeon's experience and skill in navigating the TT and nerve is extremely important - I would also advise you look for a surgeon with the most experience in your area. There are also fellowships for endocrine surgery, so surgeons who have taken this fellowship typically have more of this type of experience as well...
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