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Perhaps some of you have noticed that there are some jazz piano players (for example Keith Jarret) who sing the improvised melody lines along playing them on the piano. Years ago I read in a book (I guess it was a book by Joachim Ernst Berendt) that the reason for this behavior is to get more physical contact to the melody.

The piano keyboard is a quite abstract thing and playing the key is a quite abstract method to produce a tone. In contrast to this the human voice is one of the two basic methods to create music: Singing.

The other basic method to create music are the human hands pulsating on anything: Rhythm.

Whyle the piano player has a close contact to the rhythm created by his arms, hands and fingers, the contact to the melody is quite abstract. The singing is a hint to the way, a piano player creates his improvised melody lines: It is a inner singing that is congruent to what his fingers create on the keyboard.

We can say: The piano player sings his instrument. Knowing the keyboard or mastering the piano means to have connected the keyboard and what the fingers do with it to the same functions in the brain that make one singing. Or to say it from a practical view: You are able to sing a melody while you play it with your fingers on the keyboard.

We can take advantage of this insights in piano improvisation for playing the Hang: Knowing and mastering the Hang means singing the Hang.

A while ago I had the idea that it could be a good practice to sing the tone I want to play on the Hang a moment before I play it with my finger. It is a practice to connect the playing of the fingers on the Hang to the brain functions that creates singing. I thougt it was useful to practice this constantly to master my 2nd generation Hang. But I never was someone who was able to practice something constantly. It isn't long ago that I understood, that this isn't a vice but a hint that my brain and body are configurated in a way that works different to disciplined practice. This being said I noticed this morning that I had learned the connection between fingers and singing. I noticed that I really sing my Hang when I play melodies with the tone circle. When I want to play a certain tone that I sing innerly, I know which tone field I must use, and while my fingers are improvising on my Hang my brain is singing innerly.

Has someone related experiences with his Hang?

Ix

No answer for a month - It seems that there isn't anybody except me who sings his or her hang...

What's your connection to your Hang play?

Ix

Sorry. You know, for me in englisch not possible
Ohne Grundkenntnisse in englischer Sprache, hilft auch der Onlineübersetzer nicht weiter, leider.
gitta

Ix, sorry for the delayed response. I have never played hang and was reluctant to answer your query directly.

Your observation is right on. There is nothing more natural than singing. Singing the melody line either with your voice or inwardly while playing an instrument is a vital part of any great musicians art. It sets them apart from the technicians.

With enough Practice anyone can learn to make sound come out of a musical instrument or to read music and faithfully follow the composers notes on the page. Indeed some people can read anything you put in front of them producing every note on time. But they will not be great musicians unless they feel the music to their very core. Singing is one way to achieve this.

My grandmother studied voice in college (1912) and taught piano for decades. Though I never studied music under her she always encourage me to sing or to imagine singing the melody line as I played the piano.

Maybe relating notes of an instrument to voice (musicians and listeners alike) helps us tap into and release some deep seated primal energy. Maybe it helps the musician relate what he or she is feeling to the audience.

Yes, sorry, I also intended to respond to this one - thanks for the reminder!

I love to sing, but I have always had trouble singing and playing an instrument at the same time. While this is the case with the hang also, it is to much less degree and it is improving slowly - in other words, the hang is helping me to sing with it. I think this is partly because it is so intentionally and well suited to the human voice, but also partly because there is capacity for such simplicity with the hang.

I have also found that I am discovering little singing melodies arriving sponteneously in my head and when I explore them on the hang, they are all notes that are already on the hang, so it feels like a little bit of magic happening there - like I am singing the hang, but in my head instead of on the hang initially.

With these little melodies, I ask audiences to also sing along with the hang and they really enjoy it. Then I get them to sing the basic melody and I add harmonies or rounds. If it is simple I get them to do harmonies also, and the collective sound is beautiful.

I plan to do a lot more with this as I believe it is incredibly important for everybody to sing - the voice is is a very powerful, healing and heart connecting vibrational instrument.

I also love having improvisation singing with the hang, but at the moment I am restricted by my inability to sing and play at the same time. I need to work on that so that I can sing more with it, which I would really love to do. At the moment I need to get other people to do the improvisation singing!

I am very happy though, that the hang is helping me along...

I didn't reply to this post and why
I realized today I just don't sing with the hang
I had lots of time to search for a reason for this as I had a long journey down south.
I realized every time I play I am still (after 9 months) spellbound by the sound of the Hang
I regularly sing with a wide range of instruments, particularly didg and overtone singing is great fun
I can feel the time coming when I will sing with my beloved but at the moment I'm still enthralled by what she has to say and don't even think of interrupting her

I guess that some of you misunderstood my introducing post. "Singing the Hang" doesn't mean singing along the Hang. I never sing while I play the Hang (appart from that special practice I mentioned).

Singing the Hang means, that the same brain functions that are used to sing are used to play the Hang. A test to try out whether your brain functions for singing can control your Hang playing is to sing (really or innerly) the tone shortly before playing it on the Hang).

Singing the Hang means that hands and Hang become a part of your voice. Instead of your vocal cords you use your hands and your Hang in order to sing. This means that the tonal events you create with your hands have the same direct connection to your body as the rhythmical events you create with your hands.

I thought about this about a year ago, but didn't follow it strictly. Then some weeks ago I noticed that the ability to sing my Hang had developed in the meanwhile. I noticed that to be aware of this functionality helps to concentrate while playing. You can come closer to what could be described with "being the music" instead of "making the music".

Ix

Actually Ix, I understood what you were saying. And as an NLP practitioner (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) it is obvious to me that you are working with your neurolgy and with 'association'...it's another way to 'anchor' or 'condition' your responses (Remember Pavlov's dogs?)

I was not speaking directly to your comments in my last post - I was adding another element, which is that I have started to 'sing the hang' in my head in advance of when I am with the hang. It's not the same thing but it is an interesting variation.

And while I was posting anyway, I wanted to share some observations I have had about singing with the hang (as opposed to singing the hang).

It's all interesting...

Um.... interesting.....
If I understand what you are on about then that's the way it always works with me when making music.
I don't have to wait for the instrument to make the sound and then hear if its the right one.
I associate the placing of my fingers with the sound it will make, no need to search for the right place, its just there !
Actually I am dyslexic and often find things I take for granted are for "non dyslexics'" quite a challenge (and the other way round ).
They just wired me up differently to the norm.

Yes, that is standard - whether playing an instrument or driving a car or whatever. Repetition of the same thing creates neural pathways to/in the brain that 'remember' - it starts off as a conscious effort when one is learning a physical action but once the neural pathways are established then it doesn't require conscious effort - just like you don't have to think about or focus on your driving (physical actions in the car - as opposed to watching where you are going!)

Though this only forms a part of the conditioning I mentioned before - conditioning generally has more of an emotional component.

...this is only a very simplistic answer and not the whole picture, but it is sufficient for a hang forum. If you are interested to know more, Google 'NLP'. I also have a basic explanation of NLP on our non-music website, http://www.inspirationunlimited.com.au (click on life coaching).