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The 21St Century Voice Contemporary and Traditional Extra Normal Voice 2Nd Edition Michael Edward Edgerton Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
The 21St Century Voice Contemporary and Traditional Extra Normal Voice 2Nd Edition Michael Edward Edgerton Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
The 21St Century Voice Contemporary and Traditional Extra Normal Voice 2Nd Edition Michael Edward Edgerton Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
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The 21st-Century Voice
The 21st-Century Voice
Contemporary and Traditional Extra-Normal Voice
Second Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xvii
List of Recordings xix
Permissions xxiii
Preface to the First Edition xxvii
Preface to the Second Edition xxix
Introduction xxxi
PART I: AIRFLOW
1 Airflow 3
vii
Figures
ix
x Figures
4.8 Nasal filter with glottal stops in alternation with normal tones begins to feature pitch separation
38
4.9 Changing pitch contours while decoupling nasal production from glottal stops
39
4.10 Japan: Satsuma Biwa
39
4.11 Dharmoo: Vaai Irandu
40
4.12 Rodriguez: Voix
40
4.13 Edgerton: Cataphora
42
4.14 Oscillation within and between registers
42
4.15 Transition from harmonic voice to rough voice
43
5.1 Khubeev: Noir
47
5.2 Harizanos: The Bells
47
5.3 Holmqvist: Liquid Structures
48
5.4 Dharmoo: Vaai Irandu
48
5.5 Elements of the IPA vowel pronunciation guide
48
5.6 Suprasegmentals and tones and word accents
49
5.7 Diacritical markings
49
5.8 Transcription of English text
49
5.9 Phonetic representation of a specific culture’s style of speech
50
5.10 Brooks: Madrigals, No. 4, Nellie Was a Lady, measures 19–27
50
5.11 Location of articulatory regions on upper palate and location of articulatory regions on lower palate
52
5.12 Location of articulatory regions in pharynx and notation for tongue regions and manners of filter
articulation
52
5.13 Vowel-to-vowel filter and Wishart, complex filters from On Sonic Art
53
5.14 Brooks: Tracce
53
5.15 Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice
53
5.16 Aperture shape to inner vowel
54
5.17 Rounded, lateral, and superior-inferior apertures can be combined with changing vowel
54
5.18 Protruded, intruded, lips to left, lips to right, and opposing orientations can be combined
54
5.19 Holmqvist: Liquid Structures
54
5.20 Tongue tip placement with rounded aperture and superior-to-inferior orientation
55
5.21 Tongue tip placements with lateral aperture
55
5.22 Edgerton: aka Taffy Twisters
55
5.23 Dental placement and jaw protrusion/retraction
55
5.24 Combined dental position, pitch/rhythm, text, tongue region, palatal placement, and manner
56
5.25 Price: A Play on Words
56
5.26 Example of three-part filter
56
5.27 Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice
57
xii Figures
7.12 Biphonation featuring contrary motion: Upper pitch moves up then down, while lower pitch moves
down then up
103
7.13 Biphonation: Upper pitch remains the same, while lower pitch moves down
103
7.14 Hadzajlic: Freezing Moon
104
7.15 Simple combination of sustained unvoiced sounds with voiced sounds
104
7.16 Contrapuntal ability of voice and lip buzz
105
7.17 Edgerton: Cataphora
105
7.18 Glottal pitch with whistle features significant contrapuntal independence
106
7.19 Edgerton: A Marriage of Shadows
106
7.20 Regions of pharyngeal frications
106
7.21 Potential air characteristics combined with salival deposits
107
7.22 Glottal pitch with perceptible air sonority—each identified with separate dynamic markings
108
7.23 Voice with air sounds
108
7.24 Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice
108
7.25 Holmqvist: Liquid Structures
108
7.26 Glottal pitch with tongue flutter
109
7.27 Tongue-teeth slaps from London’s Psalm of These Days II
109
7.28 Velar articulation
110
7.29 Glottal pitch with uvular trill
110
7.30 Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice
111
7.31 Holmqvist: Liquid Structures
111
7.32 Notation for oral and pharyngeal frication
112
7.33 Holmqvist: Liquid Structures
112
7.34 Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice
112
7.35 Notation for whistle with sustained oral cavity articulation
113
7.36 Notation for whistle with pharyngeal articulation
113
7.37 Edgerton: Anaphora
114
7.38 Notation for combining whistle with egressive nasal fricatives
114
7.39 Double tongue vibration (front, mid, and rear identified separately)
115
7.40 Tongue with lip flutter, featuring both coarse and fine behaviors
115
7.41 Salival-dental articulation with air, place, velocity, and volume
116
7.42 Edgerton: Anaphora
116
7.43 Notation for salival cheek fricative with indications for airflow
117
7.44 Edgerton: Anaphora
117
7.45 Salival frication with bilabial flutter, including airflow and manner
117
7.46 Nasal fricative with bidental stops, identifying left, mid, and right regions
118
Figures xv
xvii
Recordings
In this revised edition, audio samples identified in each chapter can be found at the publisher’s website: https://rowman.
com/ISBN/9780810888401, under the “Features” tab.
xix
xx Recordings
SCORES
IMAGES
Figures 3.4a and 3.4b. The pictures titled Esophageal Speech on an Outgoing Stream of Air and Speech Using an Artificial Larynx
courtesy of InHealth Technologies (http://www.inhealth.com).
Figures 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7. “The International Phonetic Alphabet (2005)” licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPA_chart_2005_png.svg#mediaviewer/File:IPA_
chart_2005_png.svg.
Figures 5.13b and 5.13c. Complex Filters from On Sonic Art by Trevor Wishart, 1984.
xxiii
xxiv Permissions
Figure 5.37. Videofluroscopic images titled Method One, Low Harmonic and High Harmonic and Method Two, Low Harmonic and
High Harmonic; subject, Bernard Dubreuil; radiologist, Margaret Fagerholm; principle investigator, Michael Edward Edgerton.
Figure 5.38a. Videofluroscopic image titled Method Three, Low Harmonic and High Harmonic; subject, Rollin Rachele; radiologist,
Margaret Fagerholm; principle investigator, Michael Edward Edgerton.
Figure 5.38b. Videofluroscopic image titled Method Four, Low Harmonic and High Harmonic; subject, David Hykes; radiologist,
Margaret Fagerholm; principle investigator, Michael Edward Edgerton.
Figures 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5. “The International Phonetic Alphabet (2005)” licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPA_chart_2005_png.svg#mediaviewer/File:IPA_
chart_2005_png.svg.
Figure 7.7. Views of Double Source Featuring Asymmetrical Vocal Fold Oscillation from “Sketches of vocal folds during their sub-
harmonic vibratory cycle. Sketches 22–28 show the creation of the ‘ripple’ in the second open phase” from Jan G. Švec’s “On Vi-
bration Properties of Human Vocal Folds: Voice Registers, Bifurcations, Resonance Characteristics, Development and Application
of Videokymography,” thesis at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, © 2000 Jan Švec, Olomouc, the Czech Republic.
Figures A.17, A.18, and A.19. The spectrograms Period Doubling Attractor or Subharmonics; Biphonation, or Two Independent
Frequencies; Sequence Featuring Limit Cycle Followed by Chaos, Then Period Doubling, Chaos, Limit Cycle, Chaos, Period
Doubling and Chaos from M. E. Edgerton, J. Neubauer, and H. Herzel, “Nonlinear Phenomena in Contemporary Musical Com-
position and Performance,” Perspectives of New Music 41, no. 2 (2003): 30–65.
Original material (artwork, line art, spectrograms, etc.) in figures 1.6, 1.25, 2.4, 2.11, 2.13, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.22, 3.1, 4.2, 4.4,
4.10, 4.14, 4.15, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13a, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18, 5.20, 5.21, 5.23, 5.29, 5.30, 5.34, 5.35, 5.36, 6.8, 6.12, 6.14, 6.16, 6.18, 6.19,
6.20, 6.25, 6.27, 6.29, 6.31, 6.32, 6.33, 6.35, 6.36, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.11, 7.12, 7.13, 7.21, 7.30, 7.31, 9.6, A.11, A.12, A.14,
and A.16 by the author.
Newly composed musical material in figures 1.7, 1.8, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.16, 1.17, 1.20, 1.21, 1.22, 1.23, 1.24, 1.26, 2.9, 2.12, 4.3,
4.8, 4.9, 5.19, 5.24, 5.26, 5.32, 5.39, 6.9, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.15, 7.16, 7.18, 7.22, 7.23, 7.24, 7.25, 7.26, 7.28, 7.37, 7.38, 7.40,
7.41, 7.42, 7.43, 7.45, 7.47, 7.48, 7.49, 7.50, 7.51, 7.52, 7.53, 7.54, 7.55, 7.57, 7.58, 7.59, 7.60, 7.61, 7.62, and A.8 by the author.
Adapted by the author from other sources in figures 4.6, 5.8, 7.4, 7.27, A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4, A.5, A.6, A.7, A.9, A.10, A.13, and A.15.
RECORDINGS
Anonymous. Esophageal Speech, sample provided by Philip C. Doyle, PhD, Voice Production and Perception Laboratory, School of
Communication Sciences and Disorders, the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Bijma, Greetje. Why? Bye! Performed by Greetje Bijme, Intakt.
Blonk, Jaap. Facial: Sabb. Performed by Jaap Blonk, Staalplaat.
———. Geen Krimp II. Performed by Jaap Blonk, Staalplaat.
———. Geen Krimp IV. Performed by Jaap Blonk, Staalplaat.
———. Kolokol Uma. Performed by Jaap Blonk, Staalplaat.
———. Lautgedicht. Performed by Jaap Blonk, Staalplaat.
Brooks, William. Madrigals. Performed by Electric Phoenix, Wergo Records.
Christi, Ellen. Passage to Womanhood. Performed by Ellen Christi, Network Records.
Dharmoo, Gabriel. Vaai Irandu. Performed by Michèle Motard, self-published recording.
Dutton, Paul. Ummm. Performed by Paul Dutton, unpublished recording.
Edgerton, Michael Edward. Anaphora. Performed by Almut Kuehne, self-published recording.
———. Anaphora. Performed by Rebekka Uhlig, self-published recording.
———. Cataphora. Performed by Jan Heinke, self-published recording.
———. Friedrich’s Comma. Performed by Angela Rademacher and Hanno Koloska, self-published recording.
———. The Hidden Thunder of Screaming Souls. Performed by Patricia Repar and Claudia Watson, self-published recording.
———. Keltainen huone. Performed by Merle Noir, self-published recording.
———. A Marriage of Shadows. Performed by Angela Rademacher-Wingerath and ensemble Ars Nova.
———.prāna. Performed by Liina Ockenström, Marjo Pääkkönen, Teija Kormilainen, Salla Seppä, unpublished recording.
———. Taffy Twisters (a.k.a., Cantor’s Dust). Performed by Rebekka Uhlig, SPHN Galerie.
Geyer, Leo. Sedna. Performed by Manchester University Vocal Trio, self-published recording.
Globokar, Vinko. Airs de voyage vers l’intérieur. Performed by Atelier Schola Cantorum Stuttgart (director Clytus Gottwald), Bayer
Records.
Green, Anthony. B A 4. Performed by Bly and Lisbeth Sonne, self-published recording.
Hadzajlic, Hanan. Freezing Moon.
Halvorsen, Arne. Unvoiced and Unvoiced Multiphonic (track 7.28). Performed by Arne Halvorsen, self-published recording.
Harizanos, Nickos. The Bells. Performed by Elisabeth Kaiser, self-published recording.
Permissions xxv
A historical presentation of extra-normal voice is exceedingly complicated and lengthy, for it would not only include
western experimental processes, beginning mainly in the mid-1950s (although at various times the Sumerian hymn
[–800 B.C.], Grecian odes [600 B.C.], Judaic responsorial and antiphonal psalms [+500 B.C.], Christian plainchant
[A.D.], organum [9th century], Ars Nova [14th century], and later the nuove musiche of the baroque would have been
thought to be radical developments in their own day), but also nonwestern music and nonlinguistic verbal utterance. To
be clear, a historical examination is neither my specialty nor a particularly strong interest. Rather my interests are with
composition, and therefore this book is designed to serve creative, explorative activity that is nonetheless historically
and globally aware. As a result, this book presents a framework for further vocal sound exploration and not a retelling
of the distant or near past.
Beginning in the late 1950s, such composers as Dieter Schnebel, Luciano Berio, John Eaton, Giacinto Scelsi, Gyorgy
Ligeti, Kenneth Gaburo, Pauline Oliveros, Sylvano Bussotti, Robert Erickson, and Mauricio Kagel began to explore
the production and organization of nonstandard vocal music. Perhaps because much of this new art represented attacks
on the forms and concepts of modernism through the emphasis of antinarrative, isolation, incoherency, and the physi-
cal body as theatrical marker, most of this work did not attempt to utilize extensions of technique systematically. This
is completely understandable, for unlike instruments the human voice cannot very easily be taken apart and put back
together. Because of the lack of standardized fingering charts for vocal sound production within the larynx, most com-
posers attempted to explore performance technique and expression through phonetically based articulatory procedures
or, to a far lesser degree, through the combination of multiple vocal sound sources, combining primarily harmonic with
inharmonic input, or less with special phenomenon, such as subharmonics or overtone singing. For many, these results
were thrilling and fine, but as such, they often resembled a series of nonscalable novelties that often found little percep-
tual density necessary to experience the multiple layers during repeated hearings of interesting work. As a result, the era
of extended vocal techniques came to a screeching end sometime during the late 1970s or so.
Today, in the early twenty-first century, this book proposes to lay out the structural foundations that underlay de-
coupled and scaled multidimensional phase spaces of voice. It is this author’s contention that continued artistic explora-
tion could be achieved by decoupling select robust parameters involved in the production of sound. This is a demanding
conception that has its basis in the nonlinear dynamical world of many, if not all, natural phenomena. A simplified way
to conceive of nonlinearities in a system is that, under certain conditions, a small change of one parameter may produce
large changes in the output (i.e., a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil causes the ice storm in Berlin), while conversely
a large parameter change may produce small or no changes to the output of a system. For performers, this may mean
having to relearn their instruments. At output, these methods often produce extra-complex sonorities (nonlinear and
transient phenomena) that incidentally offer the possibility of increasing redundancy across the multidimensional phase
space of sound production. Then, depending upon the density of redundancy, a more tightly knit structure may be per-
ceived as a positive value.
Several publications have documented the extended technique movement in different ways and include On Sonic Art
by Trevor Wishart (1984) and Alternative Voices by Istvan Anhalt (1984). Further literature includes master’s or doctoral
theses “Writing for Singers in the Sixties” by R. M. Newell at the University of California–San Diego (1970), “Aspects
of Vocal Multiphonics” by Bonnie Barnett at the University of California–San Diego (1972), “Aspects Involving the
Performance of Contemporary Vocal Music” by A. M. Chase at the University of California–San Diego (1975), “An
xxvii
xxviii Preface to the First Edition
Introduction to Extended Vocal Techniques: Some Compositional Aspects and Performance Problems” by Deborah
Kavasch at the University of California–San Diego (1980), and “Emphasizing the Articulatory and Timbral Aspects of
Vocal Production in Vocal Composition” by E. M. Clark at the University of Illinois (1985). Last, a recent introductory
book to extended vocal techniques is titled Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music: A Practical Guide to Innovations
in Performance and Repertoire by Sharon Mabry.
This book is the result of an invitation I received in 1995 from Barney Childs and Phillip Rehfeldt to contribute a
text discussing voice for the New Instrumentation series, then at the University of California Press. Immediately, it was
clear that the voice as an instrument with no buttons, levers, or keys presents particular difficulties when discussing
extra-normal behaviors that are not based upon loosely fitting metaphor. As a result a decision was made to organize the
presentation within a bioacoustical framework that would attempt to communicate quantifiable information to a large
readership with diverse interests. As might be expected, such an approach is necessarily interdisciplinary and requires
information to be drawn from music, acoustics, voice science, linguistics, ethnography, engineering, and physics.
I am especially indebted to Dr. William Brooks for his sustained encouragement and support, beginning well before
this project and continuing through today. In 1995, I was living in Redlands, California, and had already begun to
work with voices in a manner that was influenced by voice physiology and acoustics. To my benefit, the editors of the
University of California Press, New Instrumentation series, were looking to complete the series, and it was at this time
that they saw my work with voice and invited me to contribute this book on voice. Therefore, to Barney Childs, Phillip
Rehfeldt, and Bert Turetzky I am especially indebted. Much of the scientific framework upon which this book rests was
gathered during a three-year postdoctoral fellowship with the National Center for Voice and Speech, Ingo Titze, director.
My postdoctoral mentor was Dr. Diane Bless, an otolaryngologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics,
Waisman Center, who fully supported financially and intellectually the interdisciplinary nature of voice research. To
both Dr. Bless and Dr. Titze I am especially indebted. In 1984, Trevor Wishart self-published On Sonic Art, in my view
the most relevant text preceding The 21st-Century Voice, and until now it is the only systematic treatment that presents
acoustical and physiological information in the service of a presentation designed to offer a pragmatic approach to ex-
plorative vocal artistic practice. In this way, I am especially indebted to Trevor Wishart.
Numerous scholars and artists from different descriptions have encouraged this project and offered helpful sug-
gestions. Others have suggested areas of exploration or have offered materials supporting the examination of poten-
tials. In particular I would like to thank Hanna Auerbacher, Bonnie Barnett, David Berry, Jaap Blonk, Paul Dutton,
Margaret Fagerholm, Clytus Gottwald, Ed Harkins, Folkmar Hein, Hanspeter Herzel, Deborah Kavasch, Ray Kent,
Aliaa Khidr, Phil Larson, Ted Levin, Ewald Liska, Paul Malenkovich, Roger Marsh, Phil Minton, Meredith Monk,
David Moss, Juergen Neubauer, Carol Plantamura, Martin Riches, Xavier Rodet, Owe Ronstrom, Nelson Roy, Dieter
Schnebel, Gerhard Stäbler, Brad Story, Johann Sundberg, Jan Švec, Steve Tasko, Tran Quang Hai, Susan Thibeault,
Rebekka Uhlig, and Gary Weismer.
Next, I would like to acknowledge those who have provided critical advice or assistance with other matters supple-
mental to this book, without whom the text could not have been written. They include Ramon Anthin, Herbert Brün,
Bruce Campbell, Kristy Cheadle, Jesper Elen, Joel Eriksson, Tecumseh Fitch, John Fonville, Kenneth Gaburo, Carol
Hobson, Jere Hutcheson, Jarmo Kähkönen, Cheong-Mook Kim, Helmut Lachenmann, George Lewis, Ed London,
Frank Mueller, Jae-Sung Park, Morgan Powell, Miller Puckett, Greg Smith, Keychun Song, Mark Sullivan, Gary
Verkade, and August Wegner.
Finally, thanks to Bruce Philips, Nicole Carty, Sam Grammer, Melissa Ray, and Jeff Wolf at Scarecrow Press for their
roles in helping to complete this project. Naturally, all mistakes and misunderstandings are my own.
Preface to the Second Edition
The year 2014 is a hopeful time for new vocal music. A fragmented cultural economy and the decline in importance
of massive score and recording publishers are forcing creative artists to turn to less established ways to promote their
work. In turn, without the controlling hand of dominant cultural authorities, large segments of artists are beginning to
push boundaries in ways that resemble a time past in which experimentation was seen as a natural course of events in a
healthy cultural landscape. This seems especially true in large cities, where small venues of experimentation operate for
a few weeks and then disappear. The idea, of course, is not to sell to the masses or even to the small market of classical
music consumers but simply to continue the time-mandated inquiry into “What’s next?”
These experiments of course are multifaceted, but one development seems to stand apart from the others. Based on
increasing technical sophistication, this trend involves an increasing microscopic investigation of sound. For example,
in the composition Voice-Off by Dmitri Kourliandski, mostly unvoiced sounds produced within the oral cavity are made
not only audible but also prominent through the use of close microphone placement. Such techniques enhance source
production within the vocal tract so dental stops, salival fricatives, and air timbres become prominent; they also project
and make audible the resonant environment inside the mouth.
Another trend is the exploration of vocal fold asymmetries by various vocalists. Vocal improvisers dominate these
explorations, although a growing number of new music vocalists are becoming acquainted with such aesthetics and
techniques. In my composition Anaphora, I ask the vocalist to produce the illusive glottal whistle (M4). To my knowl-
edge, this technique (seen only in the domain of vocal improvisers) consists of a whistle-like sound produced deep in the
throat, and its profile often consists of two or more time-varying frequency contours in a single face. Since performances
of Anaphora by Rebekka Uhlig, Angela Rademacher-Wingerath, and Almut Kühne, I have begun to notice more singers
using this fascinating and strange sonority.
Chapter 9 presents the issues of multidimensionality via desynchronized and scaled networks. For me, this is less an
issue of compositional complexity and more designed to explore the dynamical basis of sound production based on the
intended use of bifurcations between different sound classes. The contexts this applies to are many and do not presume
any sort of aesthetic preference. Examples of this type of multiparametric decoupling can be heard in limited guises in
pop and jazz, as well as in serious, new music.
Since the first edition of this book, I’ve continued to explore voice throughout Europe with dedicated professional
vocalists as well as amateur singers and children. Then in 2012, this study continued with a major change of venue
when I accepted the position of associate professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, where I have been
conducting Merle Noir, a vocal group focused on contemporary voice. For this second edition, I thank Bennett Graff
and Monica Savaglia at Rowman & Littlefield for their roles in helping to complete this project. Naturally, all mistakes
and misunderstandings are my own.
In this second edition, audio samples identified in each chapter can be found at the publisher’s website, https://
rowman.com/ISBN/9780810888401, under the “Features” tab. Additionally, videos associated with each chapter can
be found on a YouTube channel titled “The 21st-Century Voice,” under the “Playlists” tab, at http://www.youtube
.com/channel/UCff1EskPTb_leIh7slQrIAQ/playlists.
xxix
Introduction
This second edition continues the exploration of voice within an anatomical and acoustical framework. The new book
retains the same fundamental structure as the first but adds new methods for training the extra-normal voice. Addition-
ally, I improved the musical examples with the intention of fleshing out and adding perspective to the composition and
performance of the 21st-century voice. The book no longer includes a CD; instead, audio samples are available on the
Rowman & Littlefield website at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810888401, under the “Features” tab. These examples
are supplemented by an expanding list of videos at the YouTube channel “The 21st-Century Voice,” under the “Playlist”
tab, at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCff1EskPTb_leIh7slQrIAQ/playlists.
I have replaced chapters 9 (interface) and 10 (context) from the first edition with a discussion of multidimensional
voice that focuses on the possibility of unlocking dynamical bifurcations among sound categories rather than any specific
aesthetic intent.
FOUNDATIONS
The classical acoustic theory of speech production is an appropriate framework to discuss contemporary vocal tech-
niques. This theory suggests that voiced sounds are produced by a wavelike motion of the vocal folds that chops up a
mostly outgoing airstream, resulting in a series of air pulsations. These pulses carry an acoustically complex tone with
a fundamental frequency and associated harmonic spectrum.
This disturbance to the airflow is known as a sound source, which passes through the upper vocal tract to be shaped
by the properties of the resonant environment. Associated with the resonant properties of the vocal tract is articulation,
or the movement of the lips, jaw, tongue, velum, and so on. The movement of the articulators acts as a filter on the out-
ward (or inward) airflow, which imposes a passive filter, and features dominant regions of resonant energy separated by
low-amplitude valleys between the peaks. Normally in speech and song, the first three or four formants are considered
perceptually relevant.
AIR
Air pressure is the driving force of speech and song. For egressive (outward) phonation, the volume of the air in the
lungs is slightly decreased as air is sent upward into the subglottal, glottal, and supraglottal regions. In the subglottal
region, an excess of air is built up in order to send a stream of air through the glottis. Typical subglottal air pressure
varies a moderate amount for speech, while during singing the variation can be extensive. During speech, the variation
is so small that it is considered to be negligible, while during singing the pressure variation can affect pitch and dynamic
articulation, resulting in an error of fundamental frequency (singing out of tune) or inaccurate pressure pulsation during
staccato or marcato passages.
In chapter 1, the property of air as an explicitly emphasized perceptual component is discussed in the following ways:
(1) direction of airflow, (2) lunged or unlunged airflow, and (3) air as prominent inharmonic sonority.
xxxi
xxxii Introduction
SOURCE
A source refers to the acoustic disturbance within an environment, such as a percussive strike of a mallet to a drumhead
or the oscillation of paired vocal folds. The human voice source features wide variations of fundamental frequency, each
with many overtones (or harmonics). The fundamental frequency (F0) is determined by the length and vibrating mass of
the vocal folds so that long, thin folds produce high pitches, while short, fat folds produce low pitches. The cricthyroid
and the thyroarytenoid muscles, in particular, control these properties. At a normal intensity, the spectrum typically
decreases at about 12 dB/octave. When the intensity is increased, the slope of the spectral amplitude curve is decreased,
and the higher overtones increase in energy.
Loudness is determined by a coupling of the voice source with subglottal air pressure. With all other factors remain-
ing constant, a rise in subglottal pressure will raise the frequency of the voice source a few hertz. However, musically,
a crescendo (increase of intensity) may require that the voice source remains at a constant (or decreasing) pitch. In
other words, to stay in tune, a singer needs to reduce the activation of the laryngeal muscles that regulate F0 while
increasing air pressure.
The mode of phonation affects both the timbre (and quality) and register of the voice source. Vocal timbre often
is classified as pressed, breathy, or flow phonation. These differences occur through a change of adduction (aver-
age percentage of closing phase of one glottal cycle). An increased percentage of adduction results in a reduction of
amplitude that sounds pressed, or tense, strained, or strangled. At the opposite extreme, a reduced percentage of ad-
duction, in which loosely adducted folds nearly fail to close the glottis, results in breathy phonation. Between these
two extremes is a quality known as flow phonation, which features a clear closed phase and high peak amplitude with
a strong fundamental voice source.
In addition to timbre, the mode of phonation affects the voice register. In the male voice, there are at least three reg-
isters: (1) vocal fry (pulse), (2) chest (modal), and (3) falsetto (loft). In vocal fry, the vocal folds are thick and lax and
appear to produce air pulsations that are equally spaced or that appear in groups of pulses separated by pauses. The F0
of glottal pulses occurs as a change of mode at a pitch lower than what is normally considered to be voiced phonation—
often well below 100 Hz. During chest register, the folds are less lax while the glottal pulses are more regular, with a
long closing phase (more than 50 percent). In falsetto, the vocal folds are stretched thin and feature incomplete glottal
closure. Though less clear, it is assumed that female voices use both the modal and loft registers.
The 21st-Century Voice devotes chapters 2 through 4 to how source characteristics can explicitly heighten vo-
cal potential. Chapter 2 discusses source, laryngeal manipulation, unvoiced to barely voiced, voiced, onset to offset,
breathiness, vocal fry, low damped phonation, open-to-close ratio manipulation, pressed to loose, wide vibrato/ tremolo,
asymmetries, and glottal whistle. Chapter 3 discusses other laryngeal or near-laryngeal issues, including supraglottal,
subglottal, and esophageal phonation. Chapter 4 discusses issues related to register, including oscillation, color (timbre),
unusual tessitura, emphasis of shifting mechanism, and glissandi.
ARTICULATION/RESONANCE
Fundamentally, the voice source may be characterized as separate from the vocal tract because the mode of oscillation
is not affected by changes in articulation. This category of articulation and resonance represents two different but con-
nected principles that comprise chapters 5 (“Filtering”) and 6 (“Turbulent to Absolute Airflow Modification”).
Articulation refers to movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, soft palate, and so on during speech and song. Resonance
refers to the inherent acoustic properties that the vocal tract assumes at every moment. An important acoustic property
of the resonant environment of the vocal tract is seen in the configuration of the regions of high and low acoustic pres-
sure. These regions of high pressure are known as formant frequencies and are seen as high-amplitude frequency peaks
within a frequency-to-amplitude spectrum envelope plot. The frequencies of these resonant peaks depend on the length
of a tube (vocal tract) and its configuration (articulation). The length of the vocal tract influences formant frequencies;
longer tracts feature, on average, lower formant frequencies, so that males generally have lower formant frequencies than
females, while tenors feature somewhat higher formant frequencies than basses. This length differential prominently
figures into the perception of voice quality.
Voice source may be considered separate from vocal tract. Two examples may illuminate the principle: First, produce
the vowel /i/ on any pitch, and then change the vowel from /i/ to /o/ while retaining the same F0. Second, exchange the
behaviors; choose a low F0 on the vowel /i/. While retaining the vowel /i/, move the F0 from a low pitch to a higher one
Introduction xxxiii
and then back to the previous low pitch. What both examples have shown is that the resonant frequencies are separate
from the source frequencies. In the former case, the source frequencies remain the same while the resonant frequencies
shift predictably higher and lower. In the latter case, the resonant frequencies remain the same while the source frequen-
cies move higher and lower.
A phenomenon known as the singer’s formant has been well documented with the western classical singing voice.
This formant provides the acoustic power to project over and through unusually loud and dynamic environments, such
as an orchestra. This quality appears to boost the intensity of the voice in a region where the ear is particularly sensitive,
which results in a shiny or brassy quality. Acoustically, this phenomenon is characterized by a high amplitude spectral
peak in the region of 3 to 3.5 kHz. This high amplitude peak may be explained as a clustering of F3, F4, and F5. This
formant cluster may be explained as a widening of the pharynx by lowering the larynx. Acoustically the lower 2 centi-
meters above the larynx, the laryngeal tube, is considered a separate resonator that is not much influenced by the rest of
the vocal tract. When the pharynx is widened, the supraglottal resonator joins the upper vocal tract resonator. This has
often been reported for opera singers or soloists in orchestral settings.
Formants are often modified to increase the effect of coupling the resonant frequency F1 with the source frequency F0.
However, there are cases when this coupling is avoided, such as when the value of F1, which may vary between 250 Hz
and 1000 Hz, is low and the pitch is high. Then it is clear that the F0 may easily have a higher frequency than F1, which
places extreme demands on the control parameters of the multidimensional parameter space. However, singers tend to
avoid the situation where F0 is higher than F1; sopranos often widen their jaw opening as the pitch rises in order to tune
the resonant and source frequency, which results in an increased pitch amplitude and radiated sound level.
Chapters 5 and 6 explain the radical concept of composing with elements of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
in order to heighten the complexity of resultant sound output, which carries the similar quality for instrumental sound
exploration and composition in the late 1950s and through the 1960s. However, the IPA is limited in place and acoustic
output based on the efficiency of the communicative act within a particular linguistic origin. Therefore, as this text is
about potential for sound production, a model needed to be developed that would account for all regions and manners
available for human sound production while maintaining flexibility and ease of absorption and retention. The result is the
a mapping of vocal tract articulation for filter-like, turbulent, and absolute airflow modification. One further advantage
of this model is that it develops an environment for the conceptualization and production of a contrapuntal complex of
harmonic and inharmonic sources within one face.
HEIGHTENED POTENTIALS
Chapters 7, 8, and 9 discuss heightened and special potential uses of the voice that expand upon the basic framework
of air, source, resonance, and articulation. Chapter 7 presents four large categories of multiphonic source production,
including (1) voiced and voiced, (2) voiced and unvoiced, (3) unvoiced and unvoiced, and (4) three or more. These
categories represent the least used techniques in composed music. Not surprisingly, these techniques are more regularly
heard in performances by experimental vocal improvisers (e.g., Stratos, Minton, Blonk) than in performances of con-
temporary composed music. In addition to the recordings of chapter 7, a few of the recordings of chapter 2 present other
multiphonic productions.
Chapter 8 presents the nasty issue of pushing the instrument to an extreme. This is a delicate issue, and after the pre-
sentation of three different emphases (complex and unstable oscillation, forced blown, and rasp), the causes and treat-
ments of vocal disorders are presented. Last, as many performers around the globe are willing to pursue such behaviors,
it is warranted that a method for training hygienic extreme vocal production is presented.
Chapter 9 presents a discussion of the multidimensional voice focused on bioacoustic diversity that occurs when any
one sound production element is desynchronized from the ordinary. These procedures have been understood since the
1990s in reference to bioacoustics and pathological voice but have been slow in gaining any foothold in musical thought.
The basic premise is that each parameter involved in sound production by instruments or voices can be shifted away
from normal, which produces a corresponding change in sound quality or even class. Then, further, each parameter can
be scaled between minimal and maximal values, which not only produces changes of sound but also offers the potential
for intelligently composing ratios of relatedness ranging from closely related to distantly and even nonrelated. There is a
growing number of composers and performers who are exploring these notions, and I present a diverse sampling of such
methods. To be clear, I do not propose that these methods imply an adherence to some notion of complexity but, rather
simply, a decoupling of one or more elements from normal, no matter its context.
xxxiv Introduction
ENDING MATERIAL
Also included are appendixes A (“Voice Science”), B (“Glossary”), and C (“Representative Compositions”).
This is a book about potential based on a comprehensive biomechanical network of vocal sound production. In this
light, it is necessary to separate instrumental possibilities from current fashionable trends of form, technique, context,
and philosophy. This book does not consist of a historical survey but is an active continuation of exploration. Of course,
the text offers brief insights into western, contemporary vocal traditions but importantly suggests that “extended” vocal
techniques, while often thrilling, left little room for integral and developed compositional work. Artistic freedom and
responsibility is a shifting and subjective paradigm. Readers will bring personal emotions, acquired traditions, and social
networks into their views of sound and its organization. Therefore, and most importantly, this book is intended as a prag-
matic tool for exploration, presenting a clear and concise framework into which all possible means of sound production
can be placed. New and extended methods of production and conceptualization are presented so a higher functionality
can be enjoyed from this most inherently nonlinear instrument of musical expression—the human voice.
AIRFLOW
Chapter One
Airflow
Breath is the basis of speech and song. During expiration, the amount of air in the lungs lowers until inspiration occurs.
The breath cycle begins when air pressure rises, which helps to open the vocal folds, allowing air to pass through the
glottis. During the production of speech and song, the vocal folds open and close rapidly at a rate equal to its fundamental
period. Air and muscular properties (myoelastic-aerodynamic) combine to produce efficient self-sustaining oscillation
of the opening and closing sequence. Airflow affects extra-normal voice production through the following categories:
egressive/ingressive, lunged/unlunged, air prominent, support mechanism to affect sound in extra-normal ways, and end
of breath. At the end of this chapter, I present a few pedagogical issues of breath support.
EGRESSIVE/INGRESSIVE
Voice may use an outward (egressive)– or inward (ingressive)–moving airflow. In figure 1.1, the soprano and tenor
alternate between ingressive and egressive airflow. The arrow pointing to the left refers to ingressive airflow; the arrow
pointing to the right refers to egressive airflow.
Of course, the differences between egressive and ingressive airflow can be heightened to develop effective perform-
ances. The excerpt in figure 1.2 shows how the unique properties of ingressive airflow are used dynamically.
3
4 Chapter One
Figure 1.2. Edgerton: The Hidden Thunder of Screaming Souls. Courtesy of M. Edgerton.
Ingressive phonation is not well understood, especially during singing. From my experience, some comparisons be-
tween egressive and ingressive phonation, relevant to composers and performers of extra-normal voice, are itemized in
table 1.1. Additionally, in 2012 an important dissertation by DeBoer titled “Ingressive Phonation in Contemporary Vocal
Music” was completed, and those findings are summarized beneath mine.
The pedagogy of ingressive singing asks for an increased sensitivity primarily to vocal fold adductory pressure, rate
and volume of airflow, dehydration, duration, and endurance. For adductory pressure, it is important to not press the
voice too much and to ensure that the voice has frequent pauses to recoup. Additionally, the amount and force of incom-
ing air needs to be trained slowly so the singer begins with small volumes and force, only increasing with increased
stamina. Last, dehydration is a crucial element to monitor. Preparation is important, so drinking plenty of fluids (water)
before performance will help, as well as having a sip or two during any lengthy breaks in singing. Also during singing,
the shape of the lips and oral cavity helps reduce dryness by narrowing the air canal leading to the vocal folds. Lastly,
the duration of ingressive singing is important, so durations are shorter on inspiration. As intensity increases, ingressive
durations lessen. Endurance is an issue with ingressive singing. Generally, singers need more rests or periods of egres-
sive phonation to balance their voices and rehydrate the vocal folds.
Ingressive phonation, though seemingly not normal, is seen in some languages and performance settings. For example,
the Inuit throat singing featured in a type of gambling game contains an alternation of ingressive and egressive utter-
ances. Seemingly fascinated by these practices, Geyer references Inuit throat singing in his composition Sedna. As the
composer indicates, elements of Inuit throat singing are used in this piece but in such a way that is possible for untrained
throat singers to perform. In this excerpt, the crossed note asks the singer to whisper on egressive breath with a slight
growl; the crossed note with a circle is an inhaled whisper. The effect is continuous breathing in and out with slight
voicing (see figure 1.3).
Next, in the composition Liquid Structures, Holmqvist is definitely not referencing world music practices when he asks
for an ingressively produced tone. Here he is not asking for a multiphonic but rather a indistinct tone (see figure 1.4).
In the excerpt from Without Words by Einbond, the vocalist sings ingressively across a wide range while using relative
amounts of breathiness, pressure, and vocal fry. The singer articulates text fragments to avoid the notions of a narrative
text and derive new and perhaps unintended meanings (see figure 1.5).
Table 1.1. Egressive versus Ingressive Airflow
Action Egressive Ingressive
Tessitura Narrower, more uniform Wider, less uniform—middle range seems
inconsistent
Scalar movement Uniform throughout range Not uniform throughout range
Pitch control More fine-tuned control Less fine-tuned control—can be emphasized and
considered a virtue in some contexts
Dynamic control More fine-tuned control Less fine-tuned control—can be emphasized and
considered a virtue in some contexts
Timbre Wide diversity of timbre Even wider diversity of timbre
Multiphonics Depending on singer, a broad topology available Especially for the novice, multiphonics are more
accessible
Vocal fry Harder to produce, less resonant Easier to produce, more resonant
Breathy tones Available, though not naturally occurring except Naturally occurring
in pathology
“Normal” tones Yes Yes but not as proficient
Intensity Wide dynamic range Smaller dynamic range than egressive
Duration Greater Lesser
Recover/rest Efficient until overtaxed Can require longer periods than egressive to
recover prephonatory posture during ingressive
Hydration Unless extreme air volume is used, vocal folds Even with healthy singers at moderate air volume,
will remain hydrated if singer is healthy ingressive phonation has the potential to
dehydrate relatively quickly
Findings from DeBoer 2012
Rate of airflow Lower than ingressive Higher than egressive
Pitch Lower than ingressive Higher than egressive
Closing phase, glottal cycle Longer closed phase than ingressive Shorter closed phase than egressive
Vibratory cycle Closing inferior to superior Closing reversed—superior to inferior
Larynx position Higher than ingressive Lower than egressive
Vocal folds Vocal folds shorter and thicker Vocal folds lengthened and thinner
Comprehension Articulation ordinary Comprehension of consonants lower
Subglottal pressure and flow At higher pitches, similar to ingressive At higher pitches, similar to egressive
At lower pitches, lower pressure and flow At lower pitches, higher pressure and flow
Vibrato Occurs naturally Not naturally occurring
Loudness Loudness and resonance higher Loudness and resonance diminished
LUNGED/UNLUNGED
Egressive airflow may be either lunged (pulmonic) or unlunged (nonpulmonic). A lunged airflow refers to air that is sent
from the lungs, while an unlunged airflow uses the static air above the closed vocal folds. This classification is indebted
to Trevor Wishart in his book On Sonic Art (1983), where he suggests a three-part division of lunged, half-lunged (air-
flow above the closed glottis), and unlunged (oral cavity) air (see figure 1.6).
Figure 1.7 decouples airflow direction from airflow origins (lunged vs. unlunged) using an unvoiced /t/. In this ex-
cerpt, airflow direction is indicated by the arrows (to the left equals ingressive; to the right equals egressive), while
origins are indicated above or below the center horizontal line.
Another difference between lunged and unlunged airflow is that lunged airflow expels air at a far greater volume and
force than unlunged sound. In language, unlunged sounds include mouth sounds (such as /t/) or those farther back in the
throat (such as /x/). Of course, unlunged sounds can be ejected at a greater velocity than habitually produced consonants
Airflow 7
by using (1) pharyngeal contraction and expansion, (2) tongue movement, or (3) cheek expansion and contraction (with
or without bilabial constriction or some external device, e.g., the hand). Figure 1.8 asks the singer to produce unlunged
sounds at different rates of velocity with tongue and pharyngeal movement and constriction.
Figure 1.8. Contrast of lunged and unlunged airflow with a variety of articulation.
Track 1.4, Manipulation of Articulation That Results in Different Rates of Unlunged Airflow Velocity
Track 1.5, Contrast of Lunged and Unlunged Airflow with Changing Articulation
Dehaan in Three Études for Solo Voice asks the singer to transition between unlunged and lunged airflow during a
sequence in which an unvoiced /ti/ transitions to an unvoiced /ta/ (see figure 1.9).
Figure 1.9. Dehaan: Three Études for Solo Voice. Courtesy of D. Dehaan.
Similarly, Holmqvist in Liquid Structures frames the distinctions between lunged and unlunged origins with unvoiced
utterances. Note how the composer indicates the relative perceptual height of the different vowels by their vertical place-
ment on the stave (see figure 1.10).
Dharmoo in Vaai Irandu asks the singer to simultaneously produce both lunged (upper line) and unlunged (lower line)
material. The upper line sings the majority of sustained sounds using lunged consonants and vowels, while the lower line
produces mostly unlunged consonants superimposed upon them (see figure 1.11).
8 Chapter One
AIR PROMINENT
Air can be an interesting sound source and not only an origin of kinetic energy to support vocal fold acoustic distur-
bance. Figure 1.12 asks the singer to transition from an ordinary to a breathy tone. This excerpt indicates a duration of
four pulses but practically depends on how much air is expelled during the breathy phase, as well as how much time the
singer has to prepare for this gesture. A plausible sequence may involve increasing durations from three to ten seconds.
Figure 1.13 asks the singer to increase then decrease the perceptible amount of air using an /s/ sibilant that is filtered
by a series of unvoiced vowels produced at the lips. Here we wish to develop the dynamic capability of unvoiced sounds.
Try to have a consistent volume timbre during the increase and decrease of airflow.
In addition to noisy sonorities, unvoiced sounds can also alter their relative height to produce, essentially, melodies.
The next example shows an example of unvoiced melodies that are determined by lip and tongue movements and air
volume. In this passage, the lips stay static in the /u/ position while the tongue moves between the five cardinal vowels
to produce first an ascending melody, then an ascending leapfrog melody, followed by a descending leapfrog melody.
Physically, the melody is associated with the frequency of the dominant resonant peak of the unvoiced vowels, which
is normally F2. In this example, the lips are tuned to /u/ in order to emphasize the second formant. As in chapter 5, this
articulatory strategy is beneficial for producing reinforced harmonics (see figure 1.14).
Airflow 9
Figure 1.14. Unvoiced melodies controlled via oral cavity aperture and tongue movement.
Unvoiced melodies can be prominent and able to differentiate height quite well. In my composition Keltainen huone
(Yellow Room) written for children’s choir, the voices explore predominantly unvoiced melodies. Note in this excerpt
how the voices are asked to produce both rapidly articulated stops as well as sustained sibilants (see figure 1.15).
Figure 1.16 retains a static position at the lips and inside the mouth, here focusing on dynamic changes of airflow.
In this case, an unchanging and unvoiced palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/ is filtered by a bilabial /u/, while airflow is scaled
between pp (very low) and ff (very high).
10 Chapter One
Figure 1.17 asks the singer to decouple intensity of airflow from intensity of vocal fold pitch. This is a difficult ma-
neuver but possible, as the muscles of the larynx are able to asymmetrically vary both the rate and intensity of airflow
and voicing. The result is that the mixture of pitch to air can be controlled and repeated by performers. This example
shows how both air and pitch mixture may use separate intensity markings.
Finally, in Vocalize, Trevor Wishart explores the voice as an instrument. In this example, he uses unvoiced sounds to
focus on this unique vision and not simply as markers to identify phonemic or textual boundaries.
The abdomen and diaphragm, along with other elements of the support system, have the potential to render a normal sound
into an extra-normal sound. In the following example by Green, the singer is tasked with a large diaphragmatic change
in order to produce a hollow sound with the belly in (see figure 1.18). Other uses of the support mechanism bifurcating a
normal tone to an extra-normal tone may be seen in exercises 2, 4, and 7 in the last section labeled “Support Pedagogy.”
"The Opposition began its fight. Its arms were the Rules of
the House. It was soon manifest that by applying these Rules
ingeniously, it could make the majority helpless, and keep it
so as long as it pleased. It could shut off business every now
and then with a motion to adjourn. It could require the ayes
and noes on the motion, and use up thirty minutes on that
detail. It could call for the reading and verification of the
minutes of the preceding meeting, and use up half a day in
that way.
{40}
It could require that several of its members be entered upon
the list of permitted speakers previously to the opening of a
sitting; and as there is no time limit, further delays could
thus be accomplished. These were all lawful weapons, and the
men of the Opposition (technically called the Left) were
within their rights in using them. They used them to such dire
purpose that all parliamentary business was paralyzed. The
Right (the government side) could accomplish nothing. Then it
had a saving idea. This idea was a curious one. It was to have
the President and the Vice-Presidents of the parliament
trample the Rules under foot upon occasion! …
"And now took place that memorable sitting of the House which
broke two records. It lasted the best part of two days and a
night, surpassing by half an hour the longest sitting known to
the world's previous parliamentary history, and breaking the
long-speech record with Dr. Lecher's twelve-hour effort, the
longest flow of unbroken talk that ever came out of one mouth
since the world began. At 8.45, on the evening of the 28th of
October, when the House had been sitting a few minutes short
of ten hours, Dr. Lecher was granted the floor. … Then burst
out such another wild and frantic and deafening clamor as has
not been heard on this planet since the last time the
Comanches surprised a white settlement at midnight. Yells from
the Left, counter-yells from the Right, explosions of yells
from all sides at once, and all the air sawed and pawed and
clawed and cloven by a writhing confusion of gesturing arms
and hands. Out of the midst of this thunder and turmoil and
tempest rose Dr. Lecher, serene and collected, and the
providential length of him enabled his head to show out above
it. He began his twelve-hour speech. At any rate, his lips
could be seen to move, and that was evidence. On high sat the
President imploring order, with his long hands put together as
in prayer, and his lips visibly but not hearably speaking. At
intervals he grasped his bell and swung it up and down with
vigor, adding its keen clamor to the storm weltering there
below. Dr. Lecher went on with his pantomime speech,
contented, untroubled. … One of the interrupters who made
himself heard was a young fellow of slight build and neat
dress, who stood a little apart from the solid crowd and
leaned negligently, with folded arms and feet crossed, against
a desk. Trim and handsome; strong face and thin features;
black hair roughed up; parsimonious mustache; resonant great
voice, of good tone and pitch. It is Wolf, capable and
hospitable with sword and pistol. … Out of him came early this
thundering peal, audible above the storm:
"I will explain that Dr. Lecher was not making a twelve-hour
speech for pastime, but for an important purpose. It was the
government's intention to push the 'Ausgleich' through its
preliminary stages in this one sitting (for which it was the
Order of the Day), and then by vote refer it to a select
committee. It was the Majority's scheme—as charged by the
Opposition—to drown debate upon the bill by pure noise—drown
it out and stop it. The debate being thus ended, the vote upon
the reference would follow—with victory for the government.
But into the government's calculations had not entered the
possibility of a single-barrelled speech which should occupy
the entire time-limit of the sitting, and also get itself
delivered in spite of all the noise. … In the English House an
obstructionist has held the floor with Bible-readings and
other outside matters; but Dr. Lecher could not have that
restful and recuperative privilege—he must confine himself
strictly to the subject before the House. More than once, when
the President could not hear him because of the general
tumult, he sent persons to listen and report as to whether the
orator was speaking to the subject or not.
{41}
"Certainly the thing looked well. … [But next day, when the
President attempted to open the session, a band of the
Socialist members made a sudden charge upon him, drove him and
the Vice President from the House, took possession of the
tribune, and brought even the semblance of legislative
proceedings to an end. Then a body of sixty policemen was
brought in to clear the House.] Some of the results of this
wild freak followed instantly. The Badeni government came down
with a crash; there was a popular outbreak or two in Vienna;
there were three or four days of furious rioting in Prague,
followed by the establishing there of martial law; the Jews
and Germans were harried and plundered, and their houses
destroyed; in other Bohemian towns there was rioting—in some
cases the Germans being the rioters, in others the Czechs—and
in all cases the Jew had to roast, no matter which side he was
on. We are well along in December now; the new
Minister-President has not been able to patch up a peace among
the warring factions of the parliament, therefore there is no
use in calling it together again for the present; public
opinion believes that parliamentary government and the
Constitution are actually threatened with extinction, and that
the permanency of the monarchy itself is a not absolutely
certain thing!
"Yes, the Lex Falkenhayn was a great invention, and did what
was claimed for it—it got the government out of the
frying-pan."
On the last day of the year the Emperor closed the sittings of
the Austrian Reichsrath by proclamation and issued a rescript
continuing the "Ausgleich" provisionally for six months.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1898.
Prolongation of factious disorders.
Paralysis of constitutional government.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1899-1900.
Continued obstruction by the German parties in Austria.
Extensive secession of German Catholics from their
Church, and its significance.
Withdrawal of the Bohemian language decrees.
Obstruction taken up by the Czechs.
Quarterly Review,
January, 1899.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1900.
Military and naval expenditure.
Spectator (London),
February 10, 1900.
{44}
{45}