Conlang: Re: Tonal Songs and glossalalia (Dan Sulani, Apr 13 '99, 15:39)

Re: Tonal Songs and glossalalia

From:	Dan Sulani <dnsulani@...>
Date:	Tuesday, April 13, 1999, 15:39

From:

Dan Sulani <dnsulani@...>

Date:

Tuesday, April 13, 1999, 15:39

--------------F512B24A48244BF1F54B5D67 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sally Caves wrote:

> Are there any musical experts on this list? What does anyone > know about "tonal songs" -- songs that are sung with meaningless > words? Bobby McFerrin has come out with a FABULOUS new CD > called "Circle Songs" (anybody familiar with it) where he and > famous singers like Nick Bearde, Paul Hillier, and Janis Siegal > get together and produce entirely vocal "orchestras" of meaningless > words. There is one song on there, just called "Circle Song Six," > that is completely haunting. While the rest have a kind of jazzy > African or Haitian quality to them, this one is hauntingly Middle > Eastern, and it fooled me into thinking that the man was singing > a real language. Is this how glossalalia works? The copy on the > CD speaks of it almost in those terms: "No words are necessary, and, > in fact, words only get in the way of the interaction between the > singer and the Divine. Words can create separation between listeners > due to language limitations. Tonal songs are universal in their > appeal and feeling. Such sacred sounds can be understood and > appreciated > by all, regardless of their culture, tradition, or background." > Jonathan > Goldman. > > How "universal" is the tradition of tonal singing? What is its > relationship to invented languages? I ask this, because Yaguello > and Schnapp sometimes seem to confuse this kind of language invention > with the stuff that we are doing. (Schnapp's remark about "infantile" > syllables, "open vowels" etc.; he means "open syllables" Matt told > me). >

What McFerrin is doing, I think, is called "scat". I've heard about the CD, but haven't had the chance to hear it. According to the story I'm familiar with, scat was started by the great (IMHO) trumpet player Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong. It seems that he was playing and singing at a concert during the early decades of the century (during the 20's, I think) when, in the middle of a song, he couldn't remember the lyrics. So he "faked it" and began singing nonsense-syllables. The audience thought that he'd done it on purpose and they loved it, so he continued to do it at other concerts. The practice caught on and it became known as "scat". For a more recent example of scat, there's the CD called "Scatman's World" by John Larkin a.k.a. "The Scatman". I love it. BTW, Larkin stutters when he talks, but never when he scats. As for "orchestration", what about the Swingle Singers? I've got a couple of their CDs too. They use scat to simulate various instruments, creating, totally "a capella", an orchestra. (Admittedly, they also use other verbal effects besides scat). You should hear how they reproduce Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, cannons, bells and all! :-o Dan Sulani -- likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a. A word is an awesome thing. --------------F512B24A48244BF1F54B5D67 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html>   Sally Caves wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE><tt>Are there any musical experts on this list?  What does anyone</tt> <tt>know about "tonal songs" -- songs that are sung with meaningless</tt> <tt>words?  Bobby McFerrin has come out with a FABULOUS new CD</tt> <tt>called "Circle Songs" (anybody familiar with it) where he and</tt> <tt>famous singers like Nick Bearde, Paul Hillier, and Janis Siegal</tt> <tt>get together and produce entirely vocal "orchestras" of meaningless</tt> <tt>words.  There is one song on there, just called "Circle Song Six,"</tt> <tt>that is completely haunting.  While the rest have a kind of jazzy</tt> <tt>African or Haitian quality to them, this one is hauntingly Middle</tt> <tt>Eastern, and it fooled me into thinking that the man was singing</tt> <tt>a real language.  Is this how glossalalia works?  The copy on the</tt> <tt>CD speaks of it almost in those terms: "No words are necessary, and,</tt> <tt>in fact, words only get in the way of the interaction between the</tt> <tt>singer and the Divine.  Words can create separation between listeners</tt> <tt>due to language limitations. Tonal songs are universal in their</tt> <tt>appeal and feeling. Such sacred sounds can be understood and appreciated</tt> <tt>by all, regardless of their culture, tradition, or background."  Jonathan</tt> <tt>Goldman.</tt> <tt>How "universal" is the tradition of tonal singing?  What is its</tt> <tt>relationship to invented languages?  I ask this, because Yaguello</tt> <tt>and Schnapp sometimes seem to confuse this kind of language invention</tt> <tt>with the stuff that we are doing. (Schnapp's remark about "infantile"</tt> <tt>syllables, "open vowels" etc.; he means "open syllables" Matt told me).</tt>  </blockquote> What McFerrin is doing, I think, is  called "scat". I've heard  about the CD, but haven't had the chance to hear it. According to the story I'm familiar with,  scat was started by the great (IMHO) trumpet player Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong. It seems that he was playing and singing at a concert during the early decades of the century (during the 20's, I think) when, in the middle of a song, he couldn't remember the lyrics. So he "faked it" and began singing nonsense-syllables. The audience thought that he'd done it on purpose and they loved it, so he continued to do it at other concerts. The practice caught on and it became known as "scat".     For a more recent example of scat, there's the CD called "Scatman's World" by John Larkin a.k.a.  "The Scatman". I love it. BTW, Larkin stutters when he talks, but never when he scats.     As for "orchestration", what about the Swingle Singers? I've got a couple of their CDs too. They use scat to simulate various instruments, creating, totally "a capella", an orchestra. (Admittedly, they also use other verbal effects besides scat). You should hear how they reproduce Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, cannons, bells and all!  :-o Dan Sulani --  likehsna  rtem  zuv  tikuhnuh  auag  inuvuz  vaka'a.  A  word  is  an  awesome  thing.  </html> --------------F512B24A48244BF1F54B5D67--