(SPEAKERS HUM)
LINDA: Music is this amazing cocktail of emotion and science.
DAN: We've been using it to connect with each other
for thousands of years.
How does music work its magic on us?
Why does it affect us with such intensity?
Hey, I'm Linda Marigliano. And I'm Dan Golding.
And this is What Is Music?
A show about how music works, how it's made and how it affects us.
In this series we're gonna be looking at a whole heap of questions
that you might have about music from why do humans like a good beat,
to how do you write a hit song.
In this first episode we're getting back to the basics -
to the voice, to the original instrument to make music.
Because, "We're the voice, try and understand it.
"Make a noise and make it clear."
Later on in the show I'm gonna be chatting to some professional singers
about how they shape their voices to suit their different styles.
But first, how do we actually sing?
I'm here at the University of Sydney's Voice Lab
and they're gonna test me like a guinea pig
for a whole bunch of things like how much air I use when singing
and how efficient I am with my voice.
WOMAN: Take a deep, deep breath for us.
Pee, pee, pee, pee, pee.
Science is weird.
Good. And now can you sing for us.
# There's a bear in there
# And a chair as well... #
Voice lab director Cate Madill is one of the driving forces
in the study of how and why we sing.
To make voice we actually need our three elements.
There's the power, which is the lungs that we get the air into.
So, we've got the air now coming up through the windpipe.
We hit what we call the larynx, or the voice box.
And inside we've got two strips of muscle.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY)
So, if I re-create that vocal cord
I'll have a firm base and a floppy edge.
Now, if I put an airstream over it... (BLOWS)
..it will flutter and make sound.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY)
Once we've made the sound, it's gotta come out.
# Ah. #
This is a tube that it's coming out of.
(PITCH OF RECORDING CHANGES)
The sound of the voice can actually change
depending on the shape of the tube.
# I really came up from the bottom... #
# The captain, he swore... #
(SCREAMS)
# It's Play School. #
We can actually see that you have too much air when you're singing
and you have to get rid of it.
Right.
See these big... (EXHALES HEAVILY) ..peaks here?
They're actually at the ends of your phrases.
You went... (INHALES SHARPLY) # There's a bear in there... #
(EXHALES) "There's too much air." Yeah. Yeah.
BOTH: # Fall in your ways... #
So, in fact, singing is a very athletic, extreme form of speaking.
That we can change the tone through multiple ways in the instrument,
which is why of course we are so impressed with very good singing.
It represents an enormous achievement in control of the human body.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY)
Luckily we have opera veteran Jermaine on hand
to show us how a real professional uses their voice.
(SINGS) # Baa, baa, baa, baa. #
(SPEAKS GRUFFLY) Baa, baa, baa, baa.
It's still pretty weird.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY) # Stories to tell
# Open wide, come inside
# It's Play School. #
When Jermaine is singing, she's taking much bigger deep breaths,
expanding both her rib cage and her abdomen.
And when she's using her voice,
she's actually keeping her abdomen extended
as a way of managing and controlling the air.
Whereas when Dan was singing,
he would just let his abdomen collapse really quickly.
OK, I get it, my abdomen sucks.
But we couldn't leave without one more extremely invasive test.
So, we're about to see a slow-motion view of my vocal cords.
A camera's going in my mouth, which is going to be interesting and fun.
I hope.
Well done, Dan. Nobody thinks you're afraid.
Tongue out, yeah? Mm-hm.
And deep breath for me. Deep breath for me.
Ah...
Gross.
(HOLDS NOTE) # Ah... #
Deep breath, deep breath.
That is disgusting. Let's see it in slow-mo.
(DISTORTED NOTE)
This deeply disturbing image is my vocal folds
filmed at 4,000 frames a second.
But, hey, we've all got 'em.
I think one of the most common misconceptions
is that you can only sing if you've had training.
Anybody can sing.
The judgement that we might put on ourselves about that
is often the limiting factor, not anything to do with the voice itself.
(CROWD SINGS INDISTINCTLY)
Singing is essentially a joyous way
of expressing who you are and how you feel.
And whether you're on pitch or not,
whether you're singing the right words or not
and whether you're singing in the right rhythm or not
doesn't change that.
Well, in that case I guess this one goes out to me.
# Eeee... #
(GASPS)
Dan, your flaps! They're really out there!
Yeah, for the whole world to see. I love them.
I feel a little exposed, yeah. Be proud.
Free the flaps, man. (LAUGHS)
Look, now that we know the physical side of singing,
it is time to take it to the next step.
So, I sat down with three people
at polar opposites of the music spectrum - a soul singer...
# I just try some more... #
..a metal singer...
# Tell me why I didn't die in that swimming pool... #
..and an opera singer...
(JERMAINE SINGS OPERATICALLY)
..to discover how differently they manipulate their voices.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY)
(SINGS BREATHILY)
You have such different styles,
and there are so many other styles of singing as well.
But how did you each find what you do specifically?
I just have always loved singing low,
and so I always kind of thought it was like my rebel voice.
(ALL LAUGH) Your alter ego.
Yeah, so when I discovered jazz I just got really obsessed.
The different tones people can access, it's just kind of limitless.
# Now they're, now they're knee-deep
# Mad for my vices
# Loved up and knee-deep
# Mad for my vices... #
You're supposed to be able to find a fingerprint of your voice,
like, and that's what you're working towards, almost.
How do you sound different to everyone else?
I think I heard, like, a lot of other bands doing it,
obviously liked that kind of genre of music,
so I was like, "I want to do this."
And there's not really any, like, lessons
or anything you can do to kind of work it out.
Are you imitating?
Like, are you trying to hear somebody else sing and re-create it?
Yeah, exactly. That's kind of how it started, I guess.
Like, to imitate what they were doing.
But, then, even that's kind of, like, really strange
because you don't know exactly what they're doing.
They're literally screaming.
(ALL LAUGH)
# I owe to you and all your guidance
# I've finally
# Made room to grow... #
To start off with I just kind of, like,
had to wait till all my housemates left and scream,
literally scream in my room
and then just hope I don't get institutionalised for it.
I do a lot of word painting.
So, you kind of, like, try and, like, get inside a word
and, like, figure out what way to lean.
Like, if there's, like, a little bit of a smile in what you're doing.
(SINGS SOULFULLY)
Like, that's kind of, like, you're kind of, you're smiling
while you're singing.
Or you could go, like, the same line...
(SINGS STRAIGHT-AHEAD
I kind of think about it really...
It's quite psychological for me,
less about the actual mechanics of it.
We also challenged our trio to have a go at singing in the other styles.
So, yeah, so I guess kind of like letting a lot of breath out
and trying to make it quite rhythmic.
ALL: # Ooh, baby, give me one more chance
# To show you that I love you
# Won't you please let me
# Back in your heart? #
People are always quite excited when we do start to sing
and they're like, "Oh, that's interesting."
They're like, "Oh, my gosh, how do they make that sound?"
# Love is like a defiant bird
# That none can catch and none can tame... #
What's, like, the hardest thing that you need to nail technique-wise?
Movement. Like, before when I was singing the run... The runs.
It's the runs that I find really difficult.
(SINGS SCALE RUNS)
(CONTINUES SINGING)
Something like that!
Wow. Oh, my God, amazing.
It's like, "Ah..." And then you go, "Where am I going?"
But then you're just like, "Don't think about it too much."
Because if you think about it too much it gets stodgy.
If you're singing the scale and you're not emphasising every note,
your ears fill in the notes that I haven't emphasised.
And so it's almost an illusion, like, in your ear.
Right. Kind of like reading? Yeah! Yeah!
You can see, like, certain letters and it's like,
"Oh, yeah, cool, it's that word."
If you run your tongue from your teeth to back,
it's hard until this back bit.
That's your soft palate.
(WITH TONGUE IN SOFT PALATE) So, what does that...
Wait. So, what, I'm singing into that or...
You're singing into that, but that needs to be arched.
# Oh, oh... #
Is that it?
It needs to be up, that's all.
You don't need to sing into it, it needs to just be up.
I think I'm an opera singer now. (LAUGHS)
Because opera's often in Italian, we often sing with quite round vowels.
# Oh, oh, baby
# Oh, baby, baby... #
ALL: # Oh, baby, give me one more chance
# Won't you please let me
# Back in your heart? #
(LAUGHS) That was good.
I feel like it's this general perception that opera singers sing
so, so loud, like, that it was gonna break, shatter some glass.
Which is probably the stupidest thing to say to you.
(SINGS OPERATICALLY)
But actually it was John that was ridiculously loud.
# Oh, baby, give me one more chance... #
It didn't? Did it peak?
But how does it work, in terms of volume?
Like, are you thinking about how loud you need to be?
For opera singing, it's more about cut.
It's that you actually have to sing within a certain frequency
so that every other instrument in the orchestra
isn't singing at your frequency.
And so that's what people hear out there.
It's like you're aiming for a target
rather than trying to sing as loud as you can.
I'm interested about, like, John,
when you sing because you do this amazing thing where you go
from screaming to, like, melodic singing and then back to screaming,
and then two seconds later back into melody.
# I made it out And I'm happy now
# I'm your friend, I'm your brother, I'm your lover
# I'm your son... #
Mm. What is going on?
How does that work? I don't know.
Do you know how I got that sound was because I couldn't sing high enough,
so I just screamed it instead,
'cause it was kinda easier to scream.
# Some of my friends sell drugs
# But I just sell sad songs... #
It surprised me how resonant the screaming was.
Like, it had tone to it. Yeah, yeah.
You can change pitch within itself.
Yeah, you can kind of eventually control it.
# Oh, baby, give me one more chance
# Won't you please let me
# Back in your heart? #
Well done. It's there.
Yeah, well, right, so to do that you just gotta scream.
(ALL LAUGH)
Do you take higher breaths?
No, no, I, like, fill my tummy up and then just kind of, like, push it
until it kind of crackles.
Some really topnotch music theory for you.
(LAUGHS) The crackle.
The crackle. You've gotta get that crackle.
YEAH! Like that.
WOMEN: YEAH! (ALL LAUGH)
You nailed it! I'm like, "Imitate now!"
One, two, three, four.
ALL: # Oh, baby, give me one more chance...
(ALL LAUGH)
WOMEN: # Won't you please let me
# Back in your heart? #
(ALL LAUGH) You're just singing loud.
Well, thank you. Thank you.
What I loved about that is that they all had so much in common,
but that they all really wanted to get better as well.
I know. They were so curious about each other's styles,
even though they were so different.
Like, Jermaine was even saying at the end that she wanted to incorporate
metal screamo into her opera singing in the future, which I just loved.
Yeah, I mean, people think of singing as, like,
a gift that you're born with, but that's not actually true at all.
Yeah, exactly. It's a tool for communication.
You can always improve on it, so basically
if you want to sing, Dan, you should sing.
I think I will.
And if I wanna sing or if you wanna sing, you definitely should.
And in fact here are some top tips.
Posture's really important,
so it's a good idea to keep everything as upright as you can.
So, relax your shoulders, lift your body up from your chest.
Support.
Put your hands on your rib cage, breathe in and then breathe out.
Feel these muscles around here?
Make sure these are engaged while you're singing.
Remember to relax.
Your mouth doesn't need to be wide enough to fit a fist in it,
but keep your jaw relaxed.
# Ah! #
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