Good Vibrations: The Physics of Music

12. The Most Versatile Instrument: The Singing Voice

12 The Most Versatile Instrument The Singing Voice On September 9, 1956, he stepped onto the stage of the Ed Sullivan Show in New York. Within minutes the young girls in the audience were screaming, and they continued screaming until he left. And with the largest TV audience up to that time—estimated to be over 60 million—there no doubt was some screaming in front of TV sets as well. Who was the big attraction? Figure 101 gives it away: Elvis Presley, a singer who had been an unknown only a few months earlier . He was already on his way to stardom, but with that show he was soon a national phenomenon. Girls screamed at all his shows, and at many of the shows there were riots. His accompanist, Scotty Moore, said, “He’d start out with ‘You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog’ and the fans would go to pieces. It happened every time.” At the time Elvis had had few voice lessons—his family was so poor they couldn’t afford to pay for any—but he had been singing for a number of years. He had received a guitar for his eleventh birthday and practiced it religiously in his basement laundry room, but the only place he got noticed was in his 1952 high school variety show. He won first place. After graduation he began working as a truck driver. In 1953, curious to hear what his voice sounded like on a recording , he went to the Sun Records Company to make a recording. He sang “My Happiness” for one side and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” for the flip side. He gave the record to his mother as a birthday present. A few months later, in January 1954, he went back to Sun Records to record two more songs, and these came to the attention of Sam Phillips, owner of the company, who was also a talent scout. A few months later while Phillips was in Nashville, he acquired a demo record of the song “Without Love” and decided to record it at his studio . He couldn’t locate the artist who had sung the demo, however, and wasn’t sure what to do. His assistant suggested that they use the “truck driver” who had recorded some songs earlier, and he agreed. She phoned Elvis and he came in and recorded the song. While Phillips was not impressed with his rendition of it, he nevertheless asked him if he knew any other songs. Elvis decided to sing a blues song entitled “That’s All Right.” This time Phillips was impressed; he recorded it and took it to the DJ at the local radio station. It quickly became a local hit. Within a short time Phillips had over 5,000 orders for the record. And as the saying goes, “the rest is history.” I never heard Elvis in person, although he did perform in the city where I was living shortly after he became famous. I delayed and 190 Musical Instruments Fig. 101. Elvis Presley. couldn’t get tickets, but he was certainly the talk of the town at the time. I have, however, heard many other singers over the years and have enjoyed all of them. Lately, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in the singers on TV’s American Idol. I’ll have to admit I’m a fan of the show. It’s interesting to listen to the singers and compare all the different voices, and of course, make a guess at who is likely to win. What is it that makes one voice stand out above others? What makes a voice pleasing to listen to? What was it about Elvis’s voice that made him such a success? Why were so many people attracted to Frank Sinatra’s voice? And why have opera fans been so enchanted with Luciano Pavarotti’s and Plácido Domingo’s voices? In this chapter we’ll look at how the singing voice is created and why some are more pleasant to listen to than others. It’s still a mystery why some singers with rather average voices become instant celebrities, while others with good voices get nowhere. No doubt many things are involved in musical success, but a relatively good singing voice is still essential. No one will argue about that. Singing through History Singing is the oldest form of...