CHAPTER 3 - Multiple Sounds

Multiphonics with Voice

A final division of multiple sounds to be described here involves a simultaneous use of the voice with the production of a clarinet tone. In general, it is difficult to achieve a balance in volume between the two; the clarinet is usually louder. For the male voice, the following register for singing (notated at sounding pitch) is usually safe, although checking with a specific performer is advisable.

Example #85

As one sings higher in this range, vocal production becomes much more difficult. Singing, or humming, on the phoneme "ah" or "oo" is most effective and controllable.

Eve de Castro Robinson also employs vocal portamento in her Undercurrents for solo clarinet. In the example below, the player hums above and below the established sung/played unison, creating acoustic beating.

Example #90 (click music for mp3)

This idea returns at the end of the work, where the phrase ends with an ascending shriek in the voice.

Example #91 (click music for mp3)

Seiji Yokokawa asks the clarinetist to sing a three note phrase with portamenti while playing a sustained E2 (Un miroir casse ).

Example #92 (click music for mp3)

Later in the work, the sung part is reduced to a single held pitch.

Example #93 (click on music for mp3)

Gerald Farmer has presented exercises for the clarinetist to increase his abilities to sing and play.26 However, these have not been placed in a graded order of difficulty that will accustom one to the sensation or improve one's auditory image.

The following exercises should serve as merely suggestions; the interested clarinetist should design and practice his own. However, the basic principle of imitating with the voice what one plays seems to be a sensible starting point. Four approaches appear below:

1) sing a drone pitch - play a pattern above this drone - begin in unison (Example 94a)

2) play a drone - sing the same pattern that was played in #1 (Example 94b)

3) sing and play in parallel 3rds (Example 94c)

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