Acoustic study of flageolet endings in singing: several Ukrainian and Byelorussian examples

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Humanities and Arts, University of Technology

Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in

Faculty of Social Sciences

Department of Ethnomusicology

Acoustic study of flageolet endings in singing: several Ukrainian and Byelorussian examples

Ambrazevicius R., Professor,

Doctor of Humanities (Musicology)

Vilnius, Kaunas, Lithuania

Annotation

The purpose of this presented scientific article is to introduce the possibilities of acoustic analysis in the interpretation of the flageoletic sound endings of Ukrainian and Belarusian traditional singing. The central relevance of this investigative study is the insights into this traditional singing phenomenon under consideration a namely several Ukrainian and Belorussian singing examples, which have to help to more clearly and accurately identify its traditional characteristics and typology of individual cases.

The main method of this investigative study is acoustic analysis; specifically, analysis of the change in pitch and timbre (which is, in the actual case, determined mostly by the sound spectrum).

The scientific novelty of the submitted particular research paper lies in the fact that for the first time in East-Slavonian ethnomusicology the phenomenon of the flageolet sound endings is examined by acoustic methods; this allows for a more accurate disclosure of the phenomenon under consideration.

Conclusions. The traditional vocal „jumps” to the high register are of various types. This has basically already been observed in previous studies.

However, acoustic analysis makes it possible to clearly differentiate these types and to visualize their subtle differences which are not discerned by hearing. The prospects of this analytical investigation is implementation of contemporary research works (especially those using acoustic and perceptual methods) on questions about flageolet techniques, to better understand this phenomenon and the practical aspects of traditional vocal performance in the modern musical art.

The key words: acoustic analysis, intonogram, spectrogram, spectrum, folk songs, yodeling, гукання.

Анотація

Акустичне дослідження флажолетних закінчень у співі: декілька українських та білоруських прикладів

Амбразявічюс Р., доктор гуманітарних наук (музикознавство), професор кафедри етномузикології Академії музики і театру Литви, м. Вільнюс; професор Факультету соціальних, гуманітарних наук і мистецтв Каунаського технологічного університету, м. Каунас (Литва)

Метою статті є ознайомлення з можливостями акустичного аналізу в інтерпретації флажолетних звукових закінчень українського та білоруського традиційного співу. Магістральним питанням актуальності презентованого наукового дослідження є максимальність аналітичного розгляду традиційного співацького феномену, а саме - деяких українських та білоруських співацьких прикладів, що повинні допомогти в більш інтонаційно чистій і точній ідентифікації такого роду співацьких традиційних характеристик, а також типологізації індивідуальних рис традиційного співу. Основним методом цього дослідження є акустичний аналіз; зокрема, аналіз зміни висоти та тембру (який, у фактичному випадку, визначається здебільшого звуковим спектром).

Наукова новизна роботи полягає в тому, що вперше в східнослов'янській етномузикології досліджено акустичними методами феномен флажолетних звукових закінчень; це дозволяє точніше розкрити явище, що розглядається.

Висновки. Традиційні вокальні «стрибки» у високий регістр бувають різних типів. Цей вокальний прийом вже спостерігався у попередніх дослідженнях колег. Однак саме акустичний аналіз дозволяє чітко диференціювати ці типи і візуалізувати їх тонкі відмінності, які не помітні на слух. Перспективою презентованого наукового дослідження є імплементація сучасних наукових праць (особливо тих, що використовують акустичний та приналежний до сприйняття наукові методи дослідження) на питання стосовно флажолетних технік, з метою покращення усвідомлення цього феномену, а також еволюціонування практичного аспекту традиційного вокального виконавства у сучасному музичному мистецтві.

Ключові слова: акустичний аналіз, інтонограма, спектрограма, спектр, народні пісні, йодлювання, гукання.

Introduction

Statement of the sceantifical problem concerning this investigative article. What characteristics of the phenomenon as touching the flageoletic endings in Ukrainian and Belarusian singing can be revealed based on acoustic analysis? This type the questions are indicated by professional musicians to address of many folk-vocalists a namely contemporary traditional singers.

The relevance of this study is the insights into the phenomenon under consideration, which help to more clearly and accurately identify its characteristics and typology of individual cases.

Literature review. The article begins with an overview of yodeling research [1-5; 7]. It is emphasized that this phenomenon is found in various musical cultures, including both traditional singing and new types of vocal performance. Attention is drawn to a specific case of this phenomenon - the yodel-type sound endings in traditional Eastern Slavic singing. This is typical of the songs of the spring cycle in general [8-10; 12; 13]. Spectral differences between the low and high register are mentioned [6]; this helps to better identify flageoletic sounds in acoustic graphs.

The purpose of the article is present the idea that different types of the phenomenon under study can be more clearly discriminated using acoustic analysis methods.

The object of study there are the flageoletic endings in Ukrainian and Belarusian singing. The subject - particular examples of the traditional singing.

Presenting main material

Overview of yodeling phenomena. Yodeling - singing in alternating low and high registers - is best known to us from Alpine musical cultures. However, examples of yodeling can be found virtually all over the world; by the way, both in traditional and new music [4; 5].

Although there is quite a lot of research on yodeling, yet there are not many studies on their acoustic properties; acoustic methods are rarely used in the studies. Franz Fodermayr and Werner A. Deutsch [2] analyzed three examples of yodeling; from Solomon Islands, Switzerland, and popular 32 music (J. Rodgers). The occurrence of chest and falsetto voice, the quality of falsetto, the change of register, vowels, and melody contour have been evaluated. The same scholars studied a specific example of yodeling, singing of Bangombe pygmy women characteristic of very intense 2nd (octave) harmonic [1]. „Whenever the fundamental frequency is significantly weaker as the 2nd harmonic, spectral pitch can be perceived by the analytic type of listeners.” The researchers studied the effects of melody perception resulting from such a phenomenon. Walter Graf [3] analyzed interplay of vocal spectra partials and formants, and proposed a method of graphical representation of the spectra. Yannick Wey [7, 190-195] discussed possibility of application of the spectra for transcription of yodeling.

East Slavic yodel-type singing

Perhaps less well known are the vocal techniques in which the jump to the high register is only episodic, usually at the end of musical phrases, but not uncommonly more often. Such vocal maneuvers are also quite often found in traditional musicAnd not only in traditional music. An imposing example is the soloist Niall Quinn of the Irish rock group The Cranberries. The song Zombie in particular is full of such vocal maneuvers, and they also occur episodically in other songs (e.g. Dreams or When You're Gone). Whitney Houston can also be mentioned (soundtrack of The Bodyguard), and many others.. Such phenomena are also characteristic of the traditional singing of Eastern SlavsIt should be noted that such vocal maneuvers are also characteristic of the singing style of one Lithuanian ethnomusical region - Dzukija (southeastern Lithuania). In this respect, the Dzukai are close to the Eastern Slavs, only such ornaments in the performances of the Eastern Slavs are more frequent and more diverse.Again, we must emphasize that in other musical cultures such vocal maneuvers are characteristic of other genres as well. For example, in the Lithuanian tradition, there are no corresponding genres of "calling for spring", but the vocal phenomena in question are found primarily in the rye harvesting songs, as well as a little elsewhere, including even war-historical songs (Ambrazevicius, in press). In addition, it is worth noting that in Eastern Slavic singing, prolonged sounds in cadences end not only with "jumps" to the high register, but also with downward glides (cf. [10, 64]). We will not consider such cases here.. This is called гукання (in Ukrainian), гуканне (in Belarusian); it is mostly found in spring genres (загукання весни (Ukr.) 'гуканне вясны (Bel.), kind of “spring invitation”) and beyond (for Ukrainian studies, cf. [8-10; 12; 13]3. In this paper we will look at some examples of Ukrainian and Belarusian traditional singing. This is not a comprehensive study of all the manifestations of this phenomenon; I just want to show what are the possibilities of acoustic analysis in studying this type of phenomena.

Solo singing; short flageolet and its spectral specificity

Figure 1 depicts the embellishment in the end of the final sound of Belarusian melody. The leap up is approximately within the interval of sixthГончаренко [10, P. 64] finds such “jumps” in Ukrainian singing as the “jumps” in the intervals of seventh, octave, ninth or eleventh up. I'm not sure, I'm not an expert in this field. But after listening to a number of audio recordings, I get the impression that the interval is quite flexible, undefined (see also [13, P. 174]), and, in general, "untempered". It probably depends on the specific pitch or even on the phonetics.. The spectra of the structural sounds and the flageolets that complete them are presented (Figure 2). We can see that the fundamental is enhanced in the flageolet sound (see the most intense peak in Figure 2, bottom)The reader should not be confused by the fact that additional noise is visible in the spectrum plot. This is because, firstly, the jump to a higher register is accompanied by noises, and secondly, the short window of the Fourier transform includes adjacent sounds., and the overtones are less intense. As we know, this is to be expected, and these are the signs of a high register (cf. [6]). By the way, in the modal (low) register voice, there is not only an octave overtone (2; Figure 2, top), but also an overtone three times higher in frequency (3) than the fundamental (1) is quite intense. This causes a kind of octave „overtone” in the perception of the vocal pitch.

Figure 1. Intonogram of an excerpt from the song “Йа і пойду я, куда век не ходзіла” (1 st melostrophe)

Figure 2. Top: spectrum of the structural pitch (Figure 1; from appr. 0 s to 2.0 s). Bottom: spectrum of the “wag” (jump to high register; Figure 1; at appr. 2.1-2.3 s)

Group; only one of the voices with short flageolet

Figure 3 shows an example from Polesse. Here almost all the voices continue the long last sound, only one voice jumps into the high register; this is the case in all melostrophes.

Solo singing; additional flageolets

Figure 4 shows another example from Polesse, with a bit different shape of the flageolet ending (at 5 s). Figure 5 presents another segment from the same song. There is an interesting change in vocal registers here (this is also found elsewhere in the performance of this singer, Ganna Yevsovych). First (and usually) she sings in the low (modal) register (number 1 in Figure 5; a few overtones are stronger than the fundamental tone). Next, the melody contour jumps and the fundamental tone dominates (number 2); it is a sign of jumping up to the high or mixed register. Then a lower prolonged pitch follows, again in the modal register (number 3). And it ends with a short jump to the flageolet sound (number 4).

flagolet sound traditional ukrainian belarusian singing

Figure 3. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “За річкою, за бистрею цигани стояли” (3rd melostrophe). The arrow indicates flageolet ending

Figure 4. Intonogram of an excerpt from the song “Да жито жала, снопікі в'язала” (3rd melostrophe)

Figure 5. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Да жито жала, снопікі в'язала” (see Figure 4; 3rd melostrophe)

For the numbers (1, 2, 3, 4), see the body text.

Two voices; only one of them with (long) flageolet. Figure 7 presents a slightly different case of flageolet ending. (see the transcription in Figure 6). Here, the flageolet sound is not a minimal short jump to the high register, but a longer “singing” in the high register.

Figure 6. Transcription of the first melostrophe of the song “Я в бору жито жала”

Figure 7. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Я в бору жито жала” (see Figure 6; 1st melostrophe)

Group; additional flageolets. Figure 8 presents the case where a sequence of several intermediate melody sounds is decorated with flageolets (instead of the last long sounds; the sequence of the three descending sounds is depicted here; the first two of which are decorated with flageolets).

Figure 8. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Ой лісу, лісу, чому не зельоний”¹⁰ (3rd melostrophe). The arrows indicate flageolet sounds

Group; synchronous and asynchronous long flageolets. The other three figures (9-11) show more sophisticated and refined ending flageolets. We see the singers ending the prolonged final sound with slightly different lines of flageolets. Again, those lines are not short (technical) flageolet shouts, they are actually sung. These can be actually synchronous shouts, only of different amplitudes (Figure 9). Flageolet shouts can also be asynchronous (Figure 10). However, in other melostrophes (2nd-4th) of the same song, these maneuvers are more synchronous (Figure 11).

Figure 9. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Проведу-проведу свою русалочку до бору”¹¹ (4th melostrophe). The arrows indicate two versions of flageolet endings

Figure 10. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Ой оддає мене мамочка й од сєбе” (1st melostrophe)

Figure 11. Spectrogram of an excerpt from the song “Ой оддає менє мамочка й од сєбе” (see Figure 10; 3rd melostrophe)

[I Will Take My Mermaid to the Pine Forest]. Group from Dibrova, Poliske Dst., Kyiv Oblast [11, N5].

The grey bars after these sounds are the result of reverberation.

[Ah, My Mother Gives Me Away]. Group from Konotop, Horodnya Dst., Chernihiv Oblast [11, N13].

The prospects of this investigation is implementation of contemporary research works (especially those using acoustic and perceptual methods) on questions about flageolet techniques, to better understand this phenomenon and the practical aspects of vocal performance.

References

1. Deutsch, W.A.; Fodermayr, F. (2004). Visualization of Multi-Part Music (Acoustics and Perception).

2. Fodermayr F.; Deutsch W. A. (1994). Analytische Grundlagen zu einer Typologie des Jodelns. SystematischeMusikwissenschaft, 2, 255-272 [in German].

3. Graf W. (1964). Naturwissenschaftliche Gedanken uber das Jodeln. Die phonetische Bedeutung der Jodelsilben. Schriften des Vereins zur Verbreitung naturwissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse in Wien, 105, 2-25 [in German].

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