Singing While Playing, Ex. 2

Ofer Ben-Amots, Avis Urbanus (p.2 staff 3)

The technique of singing and playing the flute simultaneously was pioneered by jazz musicians and developed by composers seeking not only new sounds for the instrument, but ways to utilize the flute as a polyphonic instrument. It is produced by forming a normal flute embouchure and literally singing through it. Several possibilities exist for singing and playing simultaneously: singing pitches different from flute notes; singing pitches in unison with fingered notes; or singing in octaves with the sounding flute pitches. The latter two are most effective because the resonance of the tube is enhanced by the frequency of the vibrating vocal cords.

This example, from Ofer Ben-Amots’ Avis Urbanus, contains a unique use of singing and playing. The flutist sustains a single note, while singing the highest pitch possible for the voice and bending the pitch downward. Because of an acoustical phenomenon known as "resultant tones," the listener hears two simultaneous glissandi, one upward, and the other downward. Ben-Amots’ notation clearly reflects the resultant sound.