The human voice was the first musical instrument. Making music with the human voice is called singing. A person who sings is known as a singer or vocalist.
Ancient Roots
The practice of singing predates recorded history, and, after untold millennia, is as popular as ever. Before the advent of written language, many societies preserved their lore through song. The combination of words and music made the contents more memorable than words alone.
Based on vocal behavior of young children and relatives in the animal kingdom, scholars have hypothesized that singing predates spoken language. Indeed, there is evidence for the idea that humans developed music first, thus providing the foundation for development of spoken language (Moore, Kimberly Sena. "Which Came First: Music or Language?" Psychology Today, Sept. 20, 2012).
Vocal Anatomy
Singing depends on four coordinated groups of organs:
Lungs, acting as an air supply.
Larynx, functioning as a reed.
Chest and head cavities, serving as resonating chambers.
Mouth, forming and articulating consonants and vowels.
Pitch Control
Production and control of pitch are fundamental attributes of singing. Vocalists produce musical tones by directing air from the lungs through the larynx, causing the vocal chords to vibrate. Vocal chords, used to produce speech and musical sounds, are twin infoldings of mucous membranes stretched horizontally across the larynx. Vocal chords are similar in function to a clarinet reed: as vocal chords vibrate, they modulate airflow from the lungs for sound production. Vibrations resonate in the chest and head cavities. As one sings, the size of these cavities are controlled by muscles according to desired pitch, timbre and syllables sung.
Vocal Chords | Laryngeal functions of a vocalist (2:51)
The voice is intimately tied to the rhythms and abilities of our bodies. Indeed, the genesis of musical phrasing—the length and grouping of musical ideas—rose from the idiosyncrasies of breath control. The voice is also connected to our verbal centers and singing has the distinction of fusing both music and words.
Timbre
Singers use their diaphragm, throat, mouth and nose to control timbre and articulation of vocalizations. Vocal timbres vary depending on abilities, taste, gender, register and style of the singer. Vocal timbres of Beijing opera and rhythm and blues are extremely different but use the same instrument, the human voice!
A trained singer has about a two-octave range of pitches. Thus, most Western songs fit within a two-octave range. The low and high points of range vary according to gender, training and physical endowments.
The song, Diva Dance, is from the movie soundtrack for The Fifth Element. The first half (classical style) is "Il dolce suono" from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. The second half, with pop rhythm section and written by Eric Serra, was supposedly composed beyond the range and ability of humans to sing. Hence the impossible was "sung" by a four-armed space alien in the movie.
For the soundtrack recording, Eric Serra hired opera singer Maria Callas to sing each note separately (not as a flowing phrase), and audio engineers assembled those individual notes in an audio editing program, resulting in a flowing whole. However, a few singers can reach considerably more notes than the normal two-octave range. In the video below, Jane Zhang proved them wrong and sang the unsingable live on stage. At 3:20 in thevideo, Jane Zhang ventures beyond the normal soprano range and performs elaborate instrumental-like ornamentation of the melody, a technique known as coloratura.
Jane Zhang: Diva Dance | Soprano aria with coloratura vocalization | This song is from the Fifth Element soundtrack (4:46)
Vocal Classifications
Voices are classified into four basic pitch ranges: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Collectively these ranges are often referred to as SATB. A SATB choir is a vocal ensemble consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass singers. Soprano and alto ranges are typically sung by women, albeit boys can cover these ranges. Tenor and bass are normally the domain of male singers. Additional vocal ranges exist between alto and soprano—mezzo soprano—and bass and tenor—baritone.
Voice
Register
Soprano
Highest
Mezzo-Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
Lowest
Castrati
Adult male alto and sopranos, called castrati, first appeared in Catholic Church choirs to sing mass. Women, considered "unclean" by the Catholic Church, were forbidden to sing Mass, so prepubescent boys and castrati men sang soprano and alto in Catholic choirs until the twentieth century. Adult males can maintain a natural soprano or alto range if castrated before puberty, hence the name castrato (plural, castrati). The cringe worthy practice of castration for vocal enhancement was banned by the Catholic Church in1903. The last known castrati Catholic Church musician, Alessandro Moreschi, music director of the Sistine Chapel, passed away in 1922 at the age of sixty-six.
Because women were allowed to sing in Protestant churches—thank you Martin Luther—castrati were not normally used in Protestant worship services.
Choral Singing
A choir, also called a chorale or chorus, is an ensemble of singers. Homer's Iliad (850 BCE) mentions choral singing so it's been around for at least 3000 years. Indeed, the chorus was an integral part of Greek religious festivals and dramatic productions. European choral singing likely descended from Greek prototypes.
Adult men can also sing in the soprano and alto range by using falsetto (head voice). Falsetto is lighter in timbre and less full sounding than castrati vocals, but doesn't require painful surgery or loss of family privileges. This video of Mille Regrets is a SATB setting with male singers, the upper voices sung falsetto:
Mille Regretz | Josquin des Prez, c. 1450-1521 (2:26)
Overtone Singing
Although most vocal traditions revolve around singing one note at a time, some vocalists are able to sing two pitches simultaneously, achieving an effect similar to singing melody with harmony. This technique is called overtone singing or throat singing and involves singing a fundamental and selected overtone. The vocalist learns to selectively amplify vocal overtones by changing the shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth, larynx, and pharynx. While the explanation is simple, the actual technique of overtone or throat singing is extremely challenging. Often these overtones are considerably higher in pitch than used by Western vocalists, sounding far above the standard two-octave Western vocal range.
Mongolian Khöömii
Overtone singing originated in southwestern Mongolia, where it is known as Khöömii. Although Mongolia is the epicenter of overtone singing, regional styles also exist in Inner Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia.
Mongolia| Mongolia was the seat of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history. | Wikimedia Commons
Mongolian and Tuvan throat singers like to perform in dramatic natural environments, e.g., steppes of mountains, believing their song is spiritual and directly connected to nature.
Mongolian throat singing | Batzorig Vaanchig accompanying himself on an ikili, a bowed chordophone similar to the rebab (3:53).
Altaydyn Alkyzhy | The Bai Terek Ensemble perform Altai (Siberia) throat singing with accompaniment on tovshuur (two-string lute) and frame drum (3:39).
Mongolian throat singing is a surprisingly good fit with certain progressive rock and metal styles:
The Hu, Wolf Totem | The HU's "Wolf Totem" (6:36).
Overtone Singing Goes West
Overtone or throat singing eventually spread to the West and was adapted to popular styles:
German Overtone Singing Demo | Anna-Maria Hefele (4:58)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow | Anna-Maria Hefele (3:11)
Ancient Roots
Vocal Anatomy
Pitch Control
Timbre
Vocal Range
Vocal Classifications
Overtone SingingMongolian Khöömii
Overtone Singing Goes West
