Mouth cavity music

24 Nov 10 - 06:58 AM (#3039379)
Subject: Mouth cavity music
From: Will Fly

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?

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24 Nov 10 - 07:06 AM (#3039386)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: David C. Carter

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)

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24 Nov 10 - 07:10 AM (#3039391)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray

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.

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24 Nov 10 - 07:16 AM (#3039395)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: mikesamwild

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.

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24 Nov 10 - 07:29 AM (#3039407)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Will Fly

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... :-)

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24 Nov 10 - 08:09 AM (#3039437)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray

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...

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24 Nov 10 - 10:50 AM (#3039533)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: gnomad

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.

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24 Nov 10 - 07:00 PM (#3039911)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike

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.

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24 Nov 10 - 07:21 PM (#3039933)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Jack Campin

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

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24 Nov 10 - 08:24 PM (#3039965)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: olddude

Spaw once farted the Star Spangled Banner !

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24 Nov 10 - 11:07 PM (#3040002)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike

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

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24 Nov 10 - 11:15 PM (#3040003)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

.. 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...

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24 Nov 10 - 11:17 PM (#3040004)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker

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

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25 Nov 10 - 12:40 AM (#3040022)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: open mike

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..

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25 Nov 10 - 07:05 AM (#3040156)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,chris

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

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25 Nov 10 - 03:08 PM (#3040434)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: paula t

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!

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25 Nov 10 - 05:01 PM (#3040509)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST,Fred-in-the-Green

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

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25 Nov 10 - 05:33 PM (#3040523)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: Lox

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!

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25 Nov 10 - 07:17 PM (#3040557)
Subject: RE: Mouth cavity music
From: GUEST

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.

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