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BS: Does altitude affect singing
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BS: Does altitude affect singing |
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Subject: Does altitude affect singing From: Ned Ludd Date: 28 Mar 02 - 04:51 PM I was musing with a friend, listening to 'Mountain music' and we remarked how different it was to Delta blues. Wegot to thinking is there a trend? Does this explain shanties? What about Andean music? Comments please. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: gnu Date: 28 Mar 02 - 04:54 PM When I get really high, I can't sing worth a darn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Ned Ludd Date: 28 Mar 02 - 05:02 PM But can you play andean flute? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Mark Ross Date: 28 Mar 02 - 05:56 PM I lived in Butte, Montana for 12 years, at 57oo feet it had a definite effect on my singing. MArk Ross |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 28 Mar 02 - 06:19 PM Up the mountain you are singing high, down in the valley you are singing low. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: paddymac Date: 28 Mar 02 - 06:29 PM I may be the only fool to take your question seriously, but, what the heck. Because sound waves propagate differently through media at different densities, and because there are differences in the densities of the atmosphere at various altitudes, it could be that the voice sounds different to a listener at different altitudes. But I doubt that the variation is of sufficient magnitude to be perceived by the average mere mortal. Having thus purged myself of my daily quota of profundity, I shall now return to the bar for more productive endeavors. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: gnu Date: 28 Mar 02 - 06:35 PM Well, I always liked John Denevr, but some of my buddies said he sounded too (Rocky Monutain) high. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Ned Ludd Date: 28 Mar 02 - 08:02 PM John Denver- exactly my point. I couldn't see him singing heavy blues, and he was sort of a mountain type. (guess surf music goes against my theory though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: greg stephens Date: 28 Mar 02 - 09:02 PM Anybody done a comparative study of Pigmy and Masai music? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: sophocleese Date: 28 Mar 02 - 09:41 PM I remember hearing an interview one radio once with an opera singer. She did a tour in some mountainous area and found at really high altitudes she needed to take breaths a lot more frequently. O. Henry has a story called "A Matter of Mean Elevation" about a singer kidnapped by natives in Venezuela. Altitude certainly plays a part in how the singer is perceived in the story. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: GUEST,East Tex Date: 28 Mar 02 - 11:15 PM You might check fiddler on the roof. He sang pretty low, even at that altitude. The Swiss yodelers do get pretty high, altitude that is. You might try flying on an SST, cross your legs real tight and see how high you sing, especially when the fasten your seatbelt sign comes on during mid-flight. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Bert Date: 28 Mar 02 - 11:22 PM Not once you are acclimatized. When I lived at 9200 feet in Colorado it took me two weeks before I was able to catch my breath. After that everything was fine. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 28 Mar 02 - 11:43 PM I'm with Bert. I perform each year at the Longs Peak Highland Games and Irish Festival in September (7,000 odd feet), and I get there 3 days early to acclimate myself to the altitude. It's hard to catch a breath for a day or two, and singing songs like the Rattling Bog or the Barley Mow is a killer! All the best. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: SeanM Date: 29 Mar 02 - 04:41 AM Yup. For actual singing, altitude can be a killer. Difference between doing a show in San Bernardino (maybe 1000 ft up or so) and not too long after doing a show up in the Sierras (I think we were 6000 ft) is VERY noticeable. Those hold notes just don't hold as long as they would at sea level unless you get acclimation time. As to the effect on the form of music... I'd almost say this would be more of an ecological sociology question - different cultures evolve in different conditions. A hunter gatherer society that moves with herd migrations around the plains is NOT going to develop the same society as a primitive hill society dependant on fishing. Song forms are pretty well accepted to be affected by the type of society around them - nonviolent societies aren't going to get much in the way of battle songs, ag communities aren't likely to be as much in for the hunting sagas, etc - and societies are in a way affected by altitude as to how they develop (resources just aren't the same at lower elevations and higher). Singing style is normally a function of culture. So yes, alititude probably affects singing style. I won't say definitely because this is ALL barroom science on my point, and could be complete BS. M |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Mark Ross Date: 29 Mar 02 - 12:07 PM Check out Alan Lomax's work on cantometrics. He figures that you can tell where amusic is from by certain standards he figured out scientifically. I don't know that I understand it myself. Mark Ross |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Ebbie Date: 29 Mar 02 - 07:27 PM Yes, attitude affects singing. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Mr Red Date: 30 Mar 02 - 06:00 AM Of course it does! Actors call it method acting, motivation. I am ever mindful that the shanties I sing are work songs and I wanna know what that work was. Being a pedant about "South Australia" being a Downton Pump shanty allows me to visualise the work and set the tempo and the rhythm - it gives me a reason to sing it. The almost unique Heave AND Haul in the same chorus is the give-away. Well known shanty groups that sing so fast they themselves can't get the words out are something of a bette noir of mine. "Cabaret" would sum their attitude! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: GUEST,Rex on the work 'puter Date: 01 Apr 02 - 08:14 AM Sometimes I'm out in South Park where it's 10,000ft. and if I start into Rattlin' Bog and the crowd starts clapping to keep me on the same cadence it gets to be a bit of a strain. Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: John J Date: 02 Apr 02 - 05:06 AM I usually sing better sitting rather than standing...does that count? John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Does altitude affect singing From: Ned Ludd Date: 02 Apr 02 - 07:31 AM Yep, that's how our original coversation went. Initial reaction was to take the mick, then we started to find some truth in it. |