Mouth cavity music

Subject: Mouth cavity music
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:58 AM

I was over in Dieppe for the weekend, when my electric toothbrush - obviously overwhelmed by the combined effects of Amandes farcies au beurre d'escargots, Marmite Dieppoise, Tarte de pomme, wine, coffee and Calvados - gave up the ghost in despair.

I bought a new one on Monday morning and I've been pleasantly surprised by the humming tone it emits which, when varied by changing the mouth shape, produces some nice overtones. Very like a jew's harp, and I recall a similar sound on a BBC Sound Archive compilation by John Peel, where one of the tracks was a recording of a Borneo native holding a large buzzing insect close to his mouth.

I've also occasionally played "Dixie" and the "Marseillaise" using two pencils - one placed on the lower lip and the other used to tap it. The notes sound quite clearly when the mouth shape is changed. As you can see, late idiocy is setting in in our house. (There was also another idiot, on TV many years ago, who made 'music' by bashing a tin tray on his head...)

Any other uses of the mouth cavity to make similar note changes - excluding raspberries, of course?

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: David C. Carter
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:06 AM

Our math teacher at school used to tap out"William Tell" on his pipe.

Usually to a round of applause from the crowd in the sand pit.

Did you really have to come to France to come up with that Will!
Nice one

David(not in Dieppe)

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:10 AM

And there I am keeping that one to myself in ase they lock me up!

As an Astha sufferer I amuse myself during attacks my harmonising my wheezing in such a way; already a multiphonic legion, I fancy such inner voices gave rise to notions of spirit possession in the days before Ventolin.

Ever played a pine cone like a Jew's Harp? The large ones work a treat.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: mikesamwild
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:16 AM

I've just been playing a great Cd by some Mongolian throat singers. My son bought it off them in the sqare in Barcelona. So it travels.


The sounds and stringed instruments sound universally traditional.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:29 AM

Suibhne - ever used Seratide? I was reliant on Ventolin for many years but got steadily needing more and more. Since a daily dose of Seratide (a mix of steroid and Salbutamol, I think), the asthma has virtually disappeared.

Just a thought... :-)

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 08:09 AM

Cheers, Will - I'm due a review so I'll bring it up. It's mostly a seasonal thing with me anyway - kicked off by early autumn damp and leaf-mould (and a fondness for fine cheeses...) but generally I've got it under control with Ventolin. Oddly enough it cleared up completely when I was clearing & rebuilding old chimneys (Jackdaw's nests a speciality!) and started up with a vengeance when I gave up smoking...

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: gnomad
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 10:50 AM

Try tapping your lower front teeth with a thumbnail, you can make a tune or two that way. For some reason mine is always the Yellow Rose of Texas, a song I perpetrate only in the privacy of the bathroom.

I tried William Tell, but it was just beyond my range.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:00 PM

some indigenous tribes (and others) use a mouth bow...
some may have heard it first by Buffy St. Marie
http://www.mouthbow.org/bow.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krx2MoTaAVo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q79HFjhBg
Mouth music is featured in an "album" dancing with your shadow..
by bay area musician (wife of mudcatter Dave Swan) Pam Swan
http://www.pamswan.com
http://www.pamswan.com/Dance%20To%20Your%20Shadow%20CD.htm

one cut features Paul Pen~a, bay area blues man who mastered
tuvan throat singing...this may have been the last recording
he made.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:01 PM

"Thrummming" the outside of the cheek with four fingers (impressive on a microphone in the middle of a monologe.)

Rubber band stretched across a wide grin.

Both work well with young-teen Christian large (500 plus) audiences.

Tommy-Knocking the top of the skull with the knuckles. (See old Three Stooges USA (Curly) for examples.

And do not neglect the universal tongue click of the eight month old infant. Phillipines, France, USA, or Russia - the "clip-clop" appears whether horses are present in the culture or not.

NOW - is there a punk/funk/junk group anywhere using this medium? I don't know Joe ... but this might be the road to headbanging headlines.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Thrumming three fingers over the front teeth - works well - universal appeal except for teens with braces and the aged with gums.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 07:21 PM

Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Stimmung" took that idea to an epic scale. It's on Spotify, I think.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: olddude
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 08:24 PM

Spaw once farted the Star Spangled Banner !

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 11:07 PM

here is how to make a cool water drop sound by flicking your cheek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIdHLnU2XMY

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 11:15 PM

.. and not forgetting the popular 1970's MOR chart guitarist's novelty craze
for electric amplified 'mouth tube / talk boxes'..

..an ingenious method for destroying your ear drums
with excessive volume
from the inside of your own head...

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 11:17 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_box

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:40 AM

speaking of sounds inside your head, i just remembered a contraption
we played with in the 70's , too.

it was a length of very thick wire (brass or bronze, i think)
which was suspended from a circle of mono-filiment (like fishing line)

i will try to describe this....the wire was long..probably over 3 feet
but it was bent to be compact...only a few inches wide, deep & high.
it was bent so it did not touch itself anywhere...there was fishing line tied to the top and this you held against your front teeth while bending over, and then the string ran around your (little) fingers, which you put in your ears...

then someone would tap or strike the wire (like a bell) and the sound would travel in to your skull via your teeth and ears, and the vibrations would be ever so intense...well i wish i had a picture...it was an amazing phenomenon..

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 07:05 AM

I remember someone 'very' many years ago in a folk club in Loughborough in the Volunteer Arms who tapped a pencil held between the teeth and the cheek and manage some quite musical sounds from it by varying the mouth shape
chris

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: paula t
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 03:08 PM

I went on a primary music conference last week, and found myself taking part in a "beat boxing" workshop. Great fun! My personal ambition is now to make the sound of a kick drum and a bass guitar at the same time.(Not to be attempted when suffering from a cold!)

On a more serious note ... I thought it might be useful to try with the children because there are a few who find it hard to make certain sounds ("ck" and "t" most commonly) because they don't put their tongues in the right place in their mouths to make the sounds. This might help them because they will need to think about such sounds and how they are made and then repeat the same sounds over and over again. It's worth a try and should be fun!all I need to do now is dig out the old microphones as an extra incentive!

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Fred-in-the-Green
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 05:01 PM

http://www.soundtransformations.co.uk/ Michael Ormiston & Candida Valentino take workshops in Mongolian throat-singing.

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Lox
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 05:33 PM

I accidentally stumbled upon singing two notes simultaneously whilst in the shower once.

I am now able to sing a single note, and by expanding and contracting my mouth cavity in a controlled way, I am able to create a standing wave in my mouth that produces partials (harmonics) just as you would find on a guitar if you gently touch the string halfway along, or a third of the way, or a quarter etc etc.

The more I meddle with it the better I get, and I can choose which partial (harmonic) I want pretty much at will now.

I recommend it!

Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 07:17 PM

The youngsters round our way use a Mike, and call it 'Beatboxing'. Sonny Terry did something similar while plating the harmonica....currently, Phil Henry is a master of the art.