Gospel singing

IN this post, I am going to be speaking on Gospel singing. In the name, gospel music is in Christian music genre, and was established around the 17th century by African Americans.

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You will have noticed by listening to gospel music, that there is a lot of repetition in lyrics, melodies, harmonies, clapping and foot stomping. The reason behind this is the fact that before the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans didn't get an education so in that case they couldn't read an awful lot. Gospel music was then starting to take a toll, as it didn't require too much of reading old church hymns but instead just repeating words to give praise to God.


In 1874, Philip Bliss released the first gospel songbook known as Gospel Songs. A choice collection of hymns and tunes. This was then the gospel revival movement started to take place along with
 Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey who also started the Pentecostal movement. The lyrics didn't require too much lyrics involved which then lead to bringing a new genre of music to many different cities across America.


There are two different types of gospel music, Christian country, and British Black gospel music which was founded in the UK by Africans as a street culture way of singing Christian music.




sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_music#Roots_and_background

Traditional Irish singing

For this post, I decided to take a piece from my own homeland and to talk about traditional Irish singing! The word in the Irish lanuage used to describe an Irish song is called a Sean-nós which means ''Old style''. This kind of Irish muisc is unaccompaied and is described by Tomás Ó Canainn as

''...a rather complex way of singing in Gaelic, confined mainly to some areas in the west and south of the country''

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Most Sean-nós songs can be quite simple or others can be very long with different classic with different harmomic melodies. These songs were written to describe and document the labor inside and outside the working home, to display certain feelings, and to record historic events in time or to remember lost family members. In order to sing sean-nós songs, you have to have a deep level of emotion and connection with the audience in order for the song to be convinced. There is also a type of traditional Irish dancing which is also known as ''sean-nós''.

The earliest found script for a sean-nós song was recorded from the 16th century. Elizabeth I had an English copy of sean nós music and soon then were recorded and written down close to the 18th century.

sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean-n%C3%B3s_song

Opera

Opera is one of my favourite types of singing and is an art that is so beautiful and expressive. Opera not only requires singing but most of the time it requires the telling of a story to tell which is sometimes shown on stage, involving spoken acting scenes, costume design and dance. Mainly Opera's are accompanied by a full orchestra ensemble and since the early 19th century there is now usually a conductor involved.

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The origins of Opera first came from the Italian word 'work' (around 1639) in a sense of the time and hours it took to produce the stage production and also the end result by showing the play. An Opera called Dafne by Jacopa Peri was on of the world's first composers in the 'Opera world' and was produced in 1597. He composed this piece by gathering a small group of humanists from Florentine and their aim was to bring back 'Greek drama' and they used very similar Renaissance style poetry and music.


There are many types of voice ranges in Opera singing such as soprano and alto (women) and for the men, they usually sing bass, tenor or baritone. Young boys are often trained at a small age to be able to sing soprano or alto until they reach an age where their voice can't reach high notes.

sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera

Yodeling

There has been some controversy on the origin of yodeling. Some people say yodeling originally began in Switzerland, some people say Austria and then some people say Germany! The word 'yodel' comes from the German word jodeln, which gives us some insight into where the origin of yodeling actually comes from. The first 'yodellers' were around in the 1500's, and it was a form of communication for farmers in the Alps to bring in the cattle in the evening.

 From the earliest 'yodellers', yodelling requires on knowing where your voice 'breaks' or in other words, where your voice goes from your chest voice, to your head voice. This then creates different pitches and sounds which goes over and under each other, both high and low. It takes awhile to get the right technique suited for your voice.


In group yodelling, solo singers often start off by singing quite low and relatively slow, then on top of this, the other people in the group start humming around the solo singer and is even sometimes improvised. This is known as 'natural yodel singing'. Songs that include 'natural yodel singing' are "Zäuerli'' and "Ruggusserli'' which are sang in the Muoto Valley along with another song called "Jüüzli'' which is sang with a bigger group of people.





In the video above, there is a group of people singing the Swiss song, Zäuerli.


sources: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/yodeling-it-s-all-in-the-voice.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Yodel
Youtube.com

Throat Singing

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The first type of singing I am going to talk about is a unique vocal sound called 'throat singing'. I am going to be sharing with you, 3 different types of throat singing using distinctive techniques from 3 different cultures, Tuva in Mongolia, Inuit in Canada and Xhosa in South Africa.


People in the Tuvan culture call throat singing, Khöömei. Throat singing is mostly sang by men as it is to believed by an old legend that women who practice throat singing are then infertile and is taught right from childhood. In places like schools, children are taught certain techniques like 'circular breathing', which helps the singer to hold long lasting notes. The Tuvan's are taught to engage with nature and landscapes when singing as they also believe that they are imitating the sounds of the earth like rivers, mountains and seas while performing this impressive form of music.
Throat singing in Inuit is different to the Tuvan style of singing. It is mainly practiced by women in groups of 2-3 people. Throat singing in Inuit is sang using fine and smaller breathing methods than other throat singing cultures. Over 100 years ago, Inuit priests prohibited throat singing for some unknown reason, but in recent times, throat singing is making a great come-back as the younger generation are learning from older family members.




In Xhosa, the throat singing here is known for it's deep and richer tones, which is called eefing. Here, the way throat singing is produced is a different technique than other throat singing cultures. They sing 2 notes, 1 tone separated, while creating other higher sounds above everything else- all at the same time. This is called an overtone.








sources: http://www.folkways.si.edu/throat-singing-unique-vocalization-three-cultures/world/music/article/Smithsonian


Youtube.com

Introduction

Hi there, my name is Jody and this is my blog about the Geography of Singing. I have been singing since I was about 10. I only got a couple of voice  lessons from a teacher but then went on to self training my voice by using YouTube and being involved in 5 different choirs in 5 years in school  has definitely boosted my confidence in performing. I am also self taught in guitar, piano and my little ukulele! So writing this blog about singing seemed like the perfect choice for me!

On this blog, I will be mainly be talking about different kinds of singing, from classical to pop to country etc, how professional singers train their voices and maybe perhaps a small history lesson about the world's earliest singers around.

I hope you enjoy and learn something new!

Jody