Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range

Subject: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 08:36 PM

This thread was inspired by a thought I had while involved in

One-Chord Songs

Snuffy said "Da-doo-ron-ron only has three notes in the melody"

If there are previous threads, I couldn't find them easily, so you are welcome to add references here.

Robin

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Amos
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 09:12 PM

I believe the whole of "The Auctioneer" is on three--maybe four--notes.

A

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 10:33 PM

But what are those notes? If they went high & low enough, the range could be as bad as the U.S. national anthem's.

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Snuffy
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 08:29 AM

Da-doo-ron-ron in G has G, A & B - total range a major third

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:05 AM

Of course there's various Talking Blues, where notes don't really come into it too much.

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:29 AM

They say......in the movie of "My Fair Lady," that Rex Harrison really couldn't carry a tune, so "I've Grown Accustomed to her Face" was written to be "talked."

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:33 AM

Anything recorded by Nancy Sinatra or Lee Hazelwood should qualify.

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 09:42 AM

How about 'One Note Sambe"? Should qualify

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 10:05 AM

OK,
for the purposes of this discussion,

I won't discount Joe F's comment.

But I had meant a fifth or less. But in a gapped scale, the range could be an octave with only a few notes. Something like taps on a bugle would be a special case - I was thinking of generic folksongs...

Robin

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 12:06 PM

I don't have an instrument handy to check, but if memory serves, "Bad Moon Rising" only uses the first four notes of the scale. It's still a heck of a good song, though.

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: fogie
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 12:20 PM

brimful of Asha on 45 ....cornershop- I dont think dyed in the wool folkies have caught up with this quite yet! or what about 2 4 6 8 motorway , or most Lou Reed??

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Marje
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 02:51 PM

The main melody in Beethoven's 9th only uses the notes from the first to the fifth of the scale, expect for one low note.

Err... I haven't quite got the point, have I? Unless you know of any folk songs based on that tune.

But there's always "Go tell Aunt Rhody" and all its variants.

And "Da do ron-ron" will only work for you if you get your backing group to sing the bits that go "da-doo ron-ron-ron", which go down below the three notes of the main tune. Maybe that's the answer - assing the difficult note to a backing group?

But seriously (I suppose someone ought to say this): you almost certainly have the ability to sing a greater range than you have managed so far. Some voice lessons or workshops would very likely extend your range either up or down, so you could have a bigger choice of songs.

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 03:15 PM

Even the verse to "One Note Samba" has more than one note to it, and the bridge has many, many different notes--the title is metaphorical--at least that's the only reason I can figure for it!

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 03:54 PM

When the Saints go Marching in - 5 notes

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: GUEST,Frankham
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 06:57 PM

I've Grown Accustomed to her Face has a rather sophisticated melody which is played behind Rex Harrison's intoning.

Micheal Row the Boat Ashore has an outlying interval of a major 6th.
It's Me, It's Me Oh Lord, Standin' In the Need of Prayer has a three note chorus.

Frank

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 07:57 PM

Well Marje:

what you say is true. I'm a bit out of it at the moment, having got some viral muscle thingie that they are not sure what it is, so I'm not singing as well as I used to...

But on a good night I could get 3 octaves, sometimes nearly 3 1/2, thus I could do my own bass and tenor lines (a bit hard at the same time). I never tried to sing falsetto - I had from birth some slight micromotor problems and I never could get falsetto to work properly to hold a note straight.

I just used chest/throat/head and worked to smooth out the transitions.

I could only get the big range shifts to work in a song properly if it was in a very limited range of keys (a few semitones from the median key).

Betthoven's 9th is OK for this list.

Robin

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: GUEST,Hal Davis
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 08:21 PM

I can't sing and don't read music, but I was surprised to find, while plunking on the piano, that "500 Miles" seems to be built around three adjacent keys.

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Sep 03 - 08:46 PM

Oh dear, I think I started a monster...
~~~~~~


I would like to point out that it took me nearly 40 years of "working at it" to achieve the range. I took great care not to force the voice. I read a book by - I think it was Seth Riggs? (another one that has disappeared from my collection!) about relaxing the throat and "keeping the vocal cords centered" ... my capabilities increased massively once I started to "stop straining"   - he is the voice coach who sometimes coaches well known singers over the phone while waiting to go on for a concert... no kidding!

He was not allowed membership in the American Association of Singing Teachers, or whatever, because he would not abide by their methods   :-)

Robin

Subject: RE: Discussion: Songs with Minimal Range
From: sian, west wales
Date: 11 Sep 03 - 05:20 AM

Took me a while to find it, but I've dug out an article by Phyllis Kinney (1986): "One of the most striking aspects of Welsh traditional tunes is the large number of melodies which lie within a narrow compass of between three and seven notes. Of the 852 traditional Welsh songs in print, 189 (22+%) are within this range: 3-note compass = 1; 4-note = 1; 5-note = 60; 6-note = 80; 7-note = 47." Later in the article: "The fact that 22% of Welsh tunes in print are in narrow compass ... compared to about 4% of English tunes is surprising enough but that nearly one-third of the Welsh narrow-compass tunes should be pentachords is remarkable."

She later lists all the pentachords, and the more well-known are Titrwm Tatrwm , Oes Gafr Eto (along with several other Goat Counting Songs), and Ar Lan y Mor . Also, Ar Fore Dydd Nadolig which Mudcat's Mary Humphreys does so well.

Looks like compass is a cultural thing ...

sian