Help: Why a finger in the ear?

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:22 PM

I go along with the cupped hand over the ear, if you try it, your voice can be positively deafening if you sing loud enough!

Personally I think that if you waxing lyrical you need your finger in your ear to stop the wax coming out!!

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: InOBU
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:38 PM

I thing the cupped hand is older. I learned it as a child and still do it, and the real trick is when I have to switch back to the pipes or whistle and have to drop the hand at the last messure to grab the pipes, and the change in tone hits me. It takes practice to not be thrown by that, but one can be much more carefully on pitch especially if one is singing with harmonies... or you are doing the harmony. Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: GUEST,NERD (cookieless computer)
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:33 PM

I agree with JudeL; environments with polyphonic singing (like rounds, part singing, etc) make it very difficult to remain in your own part unless you are experienced. FIE helps a lot. As for being unsanitary, even people who do the real FIE rather than the cup-behind-the-ear are not necessarily doing anything unsanitary; your ear has a little flap in front of the earhole and when you put your finger "in" your ear you are really pushing on that flap so it closes your earhole. Your finger does not really go "in" your ear, but someone looking from even a slight distance would not be able to tell this.

I rarely if ever use FIE these days, but when I used to attend round singing groups I would absolutely have to use it or I could not stay together with my part. It's true that it's fairly ridiculous to use it when singing unaccompanied and alone unless there is a lot of noise or the acoustics are really bad. But I wouldn't presume to accuse anyone of using this just for show. Certainly if you know Martin Carthy you know he wouldn't do something like this just to imitate Ewan MacColl; it must be helping him or he'd lump it. That said, I'm sure SOME poseurs do use it for the wrong reasons.

As for singing with one finger up your ass, I guess it might help you hit the high notes ;-)

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:32 PM

I agree with McGrath and Dave Bryant - I don't stick a finger in my ear but I do press on the outside to block out external noise and hear what I'm singing - and, since we used to have 4 of the people Dave mentioned as members of Herga, it is a jolly useful technique for checking whether what you're singing fits with what you're hearing in your other ear. Only works if you're sober, though. (I thought I should point that out before anyone else does on my behalf.)

Kitty

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: breezy
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:27 PM

I stick me finger in me ear to dig out the wax while I'm singing, then I stick both fingers in me ears when dave Bryant is on cos he's so bloody loud!
a sea shell would work just as well or a pewter tankard angled forward or two tankards, one for each ear,"st-ear-i-o" with or without beer ,now that is the question.A beer sleeve would do the job but it doesn't have the same stage cred.
"And we'll stick one of our fingers in our ears," x 3
and we'll all sing out of tune
Make up your own verses to "roll the old chariot a shore"
Off now to clean me nails, then the keyboard, and then the mouse.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:54 PM

And you'll note in the last picture up there he appears to have the thumb up behind the ear as I mentioned. The man knew what he was doing.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Noreen
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:39 PM

Hmmmm:

Ewan Maccoll

with finger

and ear.

What d'you think?

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:12 PM

Dominic Behan said the reason he put his finger in one ear was because he didn't like half the songs he was singing.

But it does help you hear yourself, especially in a noisy environment - more so if you stick the thumb behind the ear and press it to close down the earhole. It means, I suppose, that you get the sound coming round inside the head instead of taking the route round the outside.

Meself, I think it's an affectation not to do it, rather than the other way round. I'd rarely consciously choose to do it, but at times I've consciously chosen not to, what with the FIE jokes.

If you're playing an instrument of course you have to do without the technique - but then you've got the instrument to help you keep in tune.

And then of course some of us are getting a bit hard of hearing these days, and that's always been a reason for the hand cupped to the ear, for traditional singers and all.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 09:53 AM

Thanks, folks, for all your explanations, but I am still somewhat dissatisfied.

If I needed to block out external noise for any reason, I'd probably place the palm of my hand over my ear. It's more comfortable, more sanitary, less disgusting to onlookers, probably more effective (though I haven't done a lot of tests), and would serve as a signal to the noisemakers to "pipe down!" (Where does that expression come from, by the way?) In fact, this method seems so natural to me that it would never occur to me to use any other.

As for the radio announcer technique – this must date back to the days before radio announcers wore earphones. I can't remember where I learned it, but I thought it worked like this: Place the finger tips gently on the outer edge of the ear, bend the ear forward so as to extend it outward from the head to the maximum extent, and hold the fingers palm of the hand parallel to the cheek an inch or two away from it, with the heel of the hand near the mouth. This will form a channel that conducts sound from one's own mouth to one's ear. (Dave Bryant: Is this what you mean by "foldback?") I see the benefit of doing this, BUT – it seems to me that if you did it enough while practicing at home, you wouldn't NEED to do it in public. You'd already know what your voice sounds like. Anyway, it's not the same as sticking your finger in your ear, and not likely to be confused with it.

Several people have stressed that there are good, practical reasons for the FIE. If so, why is the technique so often mentioned with scorn (as in the quotes in my first post)?

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: JudeL
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 09:20 AM

Having in noisy (usually multi-harmonied) environments occasionally resorted to using the finger in the ear to keep myself from sliding into copying the loudest person next to me. The finger in the ear method, I find tends to help more than cupping of ear in these places as the sound seems to reverb around your skull and is therefore more easily distingished from the confusion around you. However I have seen both methods used where it seemed to be more affectation than need.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 09:07 AM

As Micca says, this seems to have started with Ewan MacColl, who learned it as an actor and used it -and taught it- as an aid to voice production; it is not a technique that was ever used by traditional singers, being associated only with the revival of the 1950s and later.

As Dave points out, the finger is not usually put in the ear, but the hand cupped slightly behind it; perhaps some people who had only seen the operation from a distance misunderstood what was being done and copied it.  Lightly closing the ear with one finger (no insertion is required) also reduces extraneous sound but is less effective, being mainly useful for making phone calls in noisy places.

Martin Carthy has been known to use the cupped hand method and I've seen others doing it from time to time in folk clubs (and in rock concerts, for that matter), but never, so far as I remember, anybody with a finger in their ear.  Though I don't doubt that there are people out there doing it, sometimes for the wrong reasons, I suspect that the stereotype is usually just a straw man, invented so that it can be more easily knocked down than the real thing.  Constructive criticism is so much harder, after all.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:49 AM

Unfortunately both methods are very difficult when you're trying to play an instrument with two hands.

Of course if you are not singing and playing an instrument at the same time, you have nowhere to stick your lighted ciggarette and may actually have to smoke it.

I am a singer who may sound better with one finger in my ear but like thousands of other 'singers with guitar' and singers in many other types of music have never felt the need to try it.

I am sorry I just don't buy it.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:21 AM

I always thought that FIE was making fun of the "hand cupped between mouth and ear" method that Dave described above. It really is useful, sometimes.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 06:51 AM

One of the reasons that some people have a problem pitching notes is that their ears are slightly "out of tune" with each other. Try listening to note with one ear and then the other - you might find that one way round the note seems sharper/flatter. The FIE technique can help with pitching in this case. The technique is also useful when you're singing a tight harmony with someone and want to block out other sounds (ie an audience member who is well out of key in choruses).

However I usually find that the "Hand cupped between mouth and ear" method is usually the best way of providing personal unaccompanied "Foldback". It is especially useful in packed singarounds where everyone is trying to pop different harmonies in (the sort with Johnny Collins, Jim Magean, Tom & Barara Brown, Dave & Annie etc.). It was this method, rather than FIE that Ewan McColl made famous - I always recall him sitting the wrong way round a chair resting his elbow on the back with his hand between mouth and ear.

Unfortunately both methods are very difficult when you're trying to play an instrument with two hands. Perhaps some musical accessory manufacturer will come out with a clip on device (worked by a pedal) to overcome this.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 05:47 AM

The "FIE" is a legitimate practice, that can be a help in certain situations. While primarily useful as a "training tool," to help in learning a desired projection of the voice, there are circumstances where its use in performance may help the performer to do a better job.

Anyone who does it in performance just "because it makes me look like a folk singer" is certainly to be pitied.

If a performer uses the technique because it helps the quality of their performance, then it would seem appropriate to applaud their knowledge of what makes their own performance the best they can do.

To a certain extent, it is the mark of an inexperienced perfromer, but folk is where we accept and applaud the tradition that is presented/preserved first, and the performance as a secondary element.

Judging too harshly may mark the "judge" as "not quite into" the folk element.

I guess it would depend a lot on whether we are expecting a professional PERFORMANCE or whether were sharing someones appreciation of a song.

Try it sometime, and see if it helps (in a private practice session - of course).

John

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 05:09 AM

What ever the (slight) practical advantages, I would still come down on the side of ridicle, in the context of the practice whilst singing in folk clubs.

'Go-faster' stripes, alloy wheels and spoilers on one's saloon car may give some slight aerodynamic advantage, but that is not the real reason for their popularity.

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: JudeL
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:56 AM

If you can't hear what you are singing it's very difficult to adjust the note you are singing to what you believe you should be singing. Ever notice people who have walkmans and personal cassette players who have them turned up loud, when they sing they are almost invariably badly off key, even people that would normally be able to at least sing along matching an instrument. This is partly what they are hearing is the note being produced by the recorded artist and not the one they are singing. Putting your finger in your ear seems to help you hear what you are singing and distingish it from other sounds around you. Unfortunately like everything else anything mildly different from the standardised, homogenised, media-fed/dictated idea of normal is immediately identified used as a stereotype and ridiculed. Jude

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:51 AM

I suspect (if my memory serves) that this is another part of the legacy of Ewan Mc Coll....

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:50 AM

'Way back in the stone age, when I was a mere highschool puppy, my "Public Speech" class instructor informed us that the "finger in the ear" was a technique used by many radio announcers. We did practical exercises - with lots of discussion, although I never did get to stick my finger in "Tanny's" ear.

Most people are rather astonished at the result the first few times they hear a recording of their own voice played back. Truth is - what you hear "from the inside" is generally quite a lot different than what comes out.

Blocking the feedback from outside with a finger in one ear allows you to hear and control "which voice" you are using.

Most people's conversational speaking voice is rather thin, but with practice one can learn to use a "more resonant" voice. It is easy, however, when using one voicing, to slip back into another. The finger in the ear allows you to assure that you maintian "your radio sound," particularly if you are "projecting" something that is learned rather than run-of-mill-everyday-yellin'-at-the-kids noise.

Some voice teachers will teach the use of the "FIE" to help students learn aspects of voice control. Using mouth shape, vocal chord tension, open or constricted larynx, and emphasising "chest resonance" are all part of learning "taught" singing.

It's also handy if your duet partner is a little off pitch.

John

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: AliUK
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 04:41 AM

I always thought that it was so that their brains wouldnt run out as they cocked their heads to hear the whispered prompts from someone in the audience. But then again what do I know?

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: mooman
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:49 AM

The good thing about watching an unaccompanied English ballad group is that they can always stick their fingers in each others' ears!

(8>)

mooman

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: paddymac
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:03 AM

Jim - I've seen it commonly enough on the american scene as well. It's normally done to block external noise (especially somebody singing in your ear off-key) and help you focus on the note you are producing (or trying to produce anyway).

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:51 AM

I'm not a "practitioner", but with one finger in your ear, you can hear yourself singing, even if you're a mere foot from a great muckle speaker; try it!

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:43 AM

It simply seems to concentrate the sound in your head - so when you're searching for the note, you've got a better chance of finding it. I occasionally do it (briefly, so nobody notices) in church.

But of course, as Shambles rightly points out, in folk clubs one scores points for intensity, and there's even a way of tuning up which can have the audience listening respectfully... so I guess people overdid the ear thing to win some kind of credibility.

Damn... got my finger stuck again....

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:29 AM

I suspect it was done because people saw other performers do this and assumed that in order to be taken seriously as a 'traditional' singer, and felt they had to follow suit and trust that there was some good reason for it.

A bit like placing a lighted cigarette in the headboard of one's guitar, which seem to make you a better and more earnest blues player.

It would be interesting to establish the history of these practices. Who were the people setting the example?

In truth, I do not seem to see it done much now. If it is done now at all, it tends to be reifly and not done throughout the song. Which lends me to believe that it was always more fashion than passion.

Or possibly a signal, in a noisy place that someone was trying to sing? You could stick the finger in another orifice but it may give an entirely differnt signal?

Subject: RE: Help: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Anahootz
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:04 AM

This might be completely wrong, but in noisy situations, sticking a finger in your ear (or otherwise blocking noise) is a way to tell what you sound like. I have seen singers do this when monitors go out for no apparent reason, and it sems to work. As for doing it while not singing, or with "one finger in his ear and another in his ass", well, maybe he can't tell the difference.

Subject: Why a finger in the ear?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 01:50 AM

As an American who has been fascinated by all things British for several years now, I admit there is one expression that I keep seeing over and over again in various postings by our British friends that has me totally baffled.

Alex: "I'd rather spend an evening with the Corries than sit in an English folk club listening to some conceited bore with one finger in his ear and the other up his ass…"

Ian Kirk: "Usually bearded blokes who run folk clubs that are soooo traditional that unless your floor spot is a turgid ballad with 93 verses sung ala Ewan MacColl with your eyes shut and your finger in your ear you get frowned at and ignored for the rest of the evening and not asked to sing again."

Mick Lowe: "Apart from the Spinners, you can also blame Aran Jumpers, people singing whilst sticking their fingers in their ears and singing unaccompanied... if you want to be superficial that is."

Susanne (skw): "If a paper like The Observer can define a folk festival as 'drinking your beer with one finger in your ear' (May '99 - as a joke, but still), what do you expect?"

Gervase: "I've lost count of the number of Aran jersey/beard/finger-in-ear/pewter tankard taunts I've heard, and what really hurts is that so many of them are true."

Someone please enlighten me: What is the significance of the finger in the ear? Does anybody really do this? Who? Why? (I've never seen such a thing in the US, and I presume it is/was only done in the UK.)