Baritone Voice Research Articles

Music Reviews

Abstract: Reviewed in this column are Songs in Flight: a Song Cycle for Soprano, Countertenor, Baritone, and Piano , the collaborative effort of composer Shawn Okpebholo and contemporary poet Tsitsi Ella Jaji; Tom Cipullo’s Black Dog Song Cycle in Seven Movements, for Baritone Voice and Piano , on the topic of depression, and Libby Larsen’s North Shore Songs: Four Poems of Louis Jenkins . Finally, Dante in Musica: 10 Compositions for Voice and Pianoforte on texts by Dante Alighieri is a fascinating compilation of songs and arias by Italian composers from the early Romantic through the early twentieth century.

The effects of vowel, pitch, and dynamics on the emotional characteristics of the Mezzo-Soprano, Countertenor, and Baritone Voices

Previous research on the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices have shown that their emotional characteristics change with different vowel, pitch, and dynamics. This work continues the investigation with the mezzo-soprano, countertenor, and baritone voices. Listening tests were conducted whereby listeners gave absolute judgements on the voice tones over ten emotional categories, with the data analyzed using logistic regression. High-arousal categories were stronger for loud tones, whereas low-arousal categories were stronger for soft tones. The categories Happy, Heroic, Romantic, and Comic had an upward trend across the pitch range, whereas Calm, Mysterious, Shy, and Sad had a downward trend. Angry and Scary had different trends among the voices. For most categories, all five vowels were mostly similar in terms of emotional expressiveness, with exceptional cases for the baritone voice. Overall, pitch had the strongest effect and was almost twice as strong as dynamics and vowel, with dynamics slightly stronger than vowel. Vowel O had the largest strength-of-expressiveness overall, closely followed by vowels U and A, and finally vowels I and E last. These results give a quantified preliminary perspective on how vowel, pitch, and dynamics shape emotional expression in the voices across a wide range of voice types.

Music Received

Music Received Compiled by Kathleen Abromeit This column features musical settings of Black poetry. Asterisks indicate music by Black composers. The column was compiled by Gwen Gemmell, poet, and the column editor. Resources used were the Poetry Foundation website and the Theodore Front catalog. ANTHOLOGIES & COLLECTIONS: (Contains texts written by multiple Black poets.) *Adams, Leslie. Collected Songs: For Voice and Piano (1990). American Composers Alliance, 2021. Black poets included: H. Leslie Adams, Countee Cullen, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Score, 101 p. $41.50. *Adams, Leslie. Nightsongs: For Voice and Piano. American Composers Alliance, 1996. Black poets included: L. Morgan Collins, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Langston Hughes, Clarissa Scott Delaney, and James Weldon Johnson. Score, 59 p. $39.75. *Bonds, Margaret. Rediscovering Margaret Bonds: Art Songs, Spirituals, Musical Theater and Popular Songs. CVR, 2021. Black poets included: Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes. CVR 5268. Score, 242 p. $55.00. Courtney, Vicki Tucker. Contemporary Art Songs for Men: Ten Poetic Settings for Male Voices. Alfred, 2013. Black poets included: Paul Laurence Dunbar and Freeman Edwin Miller. ISBN 9780739095768. Score, 79 p., and 1 compact disc. *Moore, Dorothy Rudd. Flowers of Darkness: Song Cycle for Tenor and Piano. American Composers Alliance, 1990, 2022. Black poets included: Leslie M. Collins, Frank Marshall Davis, Binga Dismond, Robert E. Hayden, and James Weldon Johnson. MODR 007. Score, 29 p. $28.50 *Moore, Dorothy Rudd. From the Dark Tower: For Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra (1972). American Composers Alliance, 1972, [2016]. Black poets included: Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and James Weldon Johnson. Score, 46 p. $46.50. *Moore, Dorothy Rudd. Voices From the Light: For Women's Chorus, Oboe, String Quartet and Piano. American Composers Alliance, 1997 2018. Black poets included: Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes. Score, 37 p. $39.95. *Powell, Rosephanye. Miss Wheatley's Garden- Three Songs on Poetry by African-American Women: For Medium High Voice. Gentry Publications, 2015. Black poets included: Georgia Douglas Johnson, Angela W. Grimke, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. JG 0730. Score, 20 p. $14.99. *Price, Florence. Five Art Songs: For Medium-High Voice and Piano. CVR, 2010. Black poets included: Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes. CVR 4417. Score, 21 p. $15.00. Weir, Judith. Woman. Life. Song: For Soprano and Ensemble. Chester, 2011. Black poets included: Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. CH 61764-01. Score, 140 p. $65.95. MAYA ANGELOU (1928–2014) Bolcom, William. Let Evening Come: For Soprano, Viola, and Piano. Marks, 1994, [2003]. ISBN 9780634065828. Score, 20 p., and 1 part. $20.00. *Coleman, Valerie. Elegy: For Flute and Flute Ensemble. Vcoleman Music Publishing, Inc, 2015, [2022]. TPB 001017020. Score, 17 p. and 10 parts. $59.99. [End Page 448] Price, Deon Nielsen. To The Children of War, A Song Cycle for Tenor and Piano. Culver Crest Publications, 1990. Score, 28 p. $16.50. Trenney, Tom. Love Arrives: For SSA Chorus and Piano (2016). Galaxy, 2017. 1.3499. Score, 12 p. $2.35. ARNA BONTEMPS (1902–1973) *Anderson, Thomas J. Personals: A Cantata for Narrator, Chorus and Brass Ensemble. American Composers Alliance, 2019. Score, 55 p. $44.95. Benson, Warren. Drums of Summer: For Wind Orchestra and Chamber Choir. Marks, 1997 2013. 49200217. Score, 97 p. $135.00. GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917–2000) Bolcom, William. I Will Breathe a Mountain: A Song Cycle from A merican Women Poets. Marks, 1992 [1995]. ISBN 9780793542390. Score, 48 p. $12.00. LUCILLE CLIFTON (1936–2010) Walker, Gwyneth. No Ordinary Woman!: For Soprano and Piano. E.C. Schirmer, 2001 [2021]. 5728. Score, 33 p. $12.25. COUNTEE CULLEN (1903–1946) *Adams, Leslie. Dream Song: High, Medium and Low Voice with Piano. American Composers Alliance, 2018 (2021). Score, 24 p. $13.25. Cooman, Carson P. Christus Natus Est, Op. 1125: For SATB Choir Unaccompanied (2015). Zimbel, 2015 (2017). 80101378. $2.25. *Hairston, Jacqueline. Cullen's Trilogy (Three Poems of Countee Cullen): For Baritone Voice and Piano Accompaniment. CVR, 2016 (2018). CVR 5159. Score, 9 p. $15.00. Laitman, Lori. Sable Pride: For Soprano and Piano. Enchanted, 2013 2020. CVR 5257. Score, 13 p. $20.00. *Owens, Robert. Three Countee Cullen Songs, Op. 27: For High Voice and Piano. CVR, 2013. CVR 3958. Score. $15.00. RITA DOVE (1952–) Adolphe, Bruce...

Hugo Wolf’s Embodiment of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Humanistic Views in the Vocal Collection Goethe-Lieder

The purpose of the research is to study the basic principles of G. Wolf’s embodiment of J. W. Goethe’s humanistic views in the songs from the vocal collection Goethe-Lieder written for baritone voice – three songs of the Harpist and the monologue “Prometheus”. The research methodology consists in the analysis of musical and expressive means and their symbolism, with the help of which Hugo Wolf created the images and characters of J. W. Goethe’s heroes. The scientific novelty of the research. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the characteristic musical and expressive features of H. Wolf’s vocal works from the collection Goethe-Lieder for baritone voice, with the help of which the composer embodied the humanistic ideas of J. W. Goethe, are investigated. Conclusions. Through the depiction of the inner world of his heroes, the poet illuminates important moral and humanistic themes. In the Goethe-Lieder collection, the composer implements the humanistic ideas of J. W. Goethe with the help of means of musical expressiveness. He embodies his main worldview ideas in the poetic images of the suffering Harpist and the rebellious Prometheus. Every image created by Goethe gets a new meaning from Wolf. For him, the main source of the embodiment of musical thought is the poetic word. For the composer, the persuasiveness of vocal writing lies in the original melody. Harmony, texture, dynamics, and agogics, which he gives a certain meaning, acquire special importance in the creation of musical and poetic images. As a result, these tools acquire a symbolic meaning for revealing the created images. Developing the traditions of his predecessors (R. Schumann, F. Liszt, R. Wagner) with musical and expressive means, the composer strengthens the poetic word and gives it a deeper interpretation.

The Private Investigator

The Private Investigator

Jacob S. Matubis, MD (1950-2022) “Bye, Jake!”

Jacob S. Matubis, MD (1950-2022) “Bye, Jake!”

Unfinished Poetry

Unfinished Poetry

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

The Listener’s Gallery

The Listener's Gallery Gregory Berg (bio) Heinrich Marschner: Songs for Baritone. Jeffrey Williams, baritone; Sangeetha Ekambaram, soprano; Jennifer McGuire, piano. (Centaur CRC 3846; 67:04) "Ballade vom Ritter Hugo," "Geständnis," "Leb wohl, Therese," "Die Vertraute," "Verloren," "Gebet," "Eine dunkle Stunde," "Herbstlied," "Der deutsche Wald, das deutsche Herz," "Des Harfners Klage," "Ungleiche Theilung," "Doppelte Gefahr," "Das sehnende Herz," "Ermuthigung," "Aufforderung," "Um Mitternacht," "Treue," "Tarantella," "Corsarenliebe," "Trost beim Abschied." Nineteenth century German lieder is a vast and complex universe. One could spend a lifetime exploring the songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf, and never exhaust their riches. Of course, the world of lieder extends well beyond the scope of these four extraordinary composers, and we are grateful for those recordings and performances that broaden our understanding and appreciation for this genre and its limitless wonders. There are songs of composers such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Liszt whose renown in other genres sometimes leaves their songs unjustly neglected. One also finds treasures galore in the songs of composers like Louis Spohr and Carl Loewe, whose fame never equaled their most illustrious contemporaries but whose songs deserve to be better known. The recording at hand allows the listener to encounter the songs of Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861), a composer who is remembered (if at all) for his operas. He was a significant figure in Märchenoper or "Fairy Tale Opera," a genre essentially created by Carl Maria von Weber and brought to fuller fruition by Richard Wagner. Marschner's finest operas, Hans Heiling and Der Vampyr, while compelling in their own right for their vivid theatrical impact, are lauded chiefly as a potent source of inspiration for Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer. (One hopes that both works will begin to enjoy renewed attention from modern opera companies. Der Vampyr, in particular, deserves a more central position in the repertoire and has the potential to become a favorite.) Even people who have heard of Heinrich Marschner will probably have no idea that he was also one of the most prolific lieder composers of his generation. Liner notes of this new release tell us that Marschner composed more than 420 songs, which, in terms of sheer numbers, would place him ahead of every aforementioned composer with the exception of Schubert. It's difficult to know why his songs should have fallen into such deep oblivion; on the strength of what is heard here, they merit much more attention than they have hitherto received. Baritone Jeffrey Williams has sought to rectify this neglect with a marvelous new release that features the world premiere recordings of twenty Marschner songs. Williams tells us that he specifically selected these particular songs precisely because they have never before been recorded, and it's a choice for which we are grateful. Interestingly, the vast majority of these twenty songs feature poems that other composers appear not to have set to music. It may be that Marschner had an unconventional taste in poetry, or that he was drawn to texts that other composers perhaps found to be musically inhospitable. At any rate, it means that this release represents utterly new territory for even the most intrepid of lieder enthusiasts. What are we to make of these songs? They represent a refreshing addendum to our understanding of German lieder and are clearly the work of an imaginative and able composer. That being said, there is a slightly cumbersome quality to some of these songs that may help explain why they sank from sight. These are the kind of songs that require a singer of exceptional skill in order to redeem their full potential. We are told that most of these songs were specifically conceived with the baritone voice in mind, and Marschner clearly understood how to write effectively for that voice. Jeffrey Williams is a superb singer in every respect. His voice is opulent and beautifully balanced, and he sings with flawless musical polish and insightful expressiveness. One or two songs tax his bottom register, but one must also acknowledge the soaring beauty and ease of his top voice, which proves to be a huge asset time and time again. Texts are delivered clearly without sounding fussy or self...

Investigation of the effect of a male singing model on kindergarten children’s use of singing voice achievement

Replicable singing models are important as children learn to use their singing voices. Previous research indicates that for elementary school-aged children a child model is most effective, then a female model, then a male falsetto model, then a male baritone model. In my work with preschool children in a more informal setting, I noticed that many of these children did not seem to have difficulties singing along with male undergraduate students. In a recent study I conducted, significant differences in male and female models were found, favouring the female model. However, gains in singing were not noted until the second half of the year and the male teacher was only part of instruction for the first half of the year. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a male singing model over an entire academic year of instruction on kindergarten children’s singing voice achievement. Kindergarten children (N=15, n=10) received informal music guidance once a week for 30–40 minutes from October to May from a team of two music teachers, one female and one male. The teachers sang together during activities, but sometimes the female teacher would take the lead; other times the male teacher. The Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) was administered four times during the instructional period. For each test time, the female teacher administered the test with her voice as the singing model; on a different day the male teacher administered the test with his baritone voice as the singing model. Two raters evaluated the randomized recordings of the children’s singing; reliabilities were acceptable. A three-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction by time and model. The children’s scores, while quite high on the pretest, showed an increase over time for both models except for the final performances when singing with text with the female model; one of these performances appears to be an outlier.

When It’s Time for Hospice: A Lesson in Living and Dying

Back to table of contents Previous article Residents’ ForumFull AccessWhen It’s Time for Hospice: A Lesson in Living and DyingClaire Twark,M.D.Claire Twark,Search for more papers by this authorM.D.Published Online:3 Apr 2017https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2017.4a4AbstractTo me, the word “hospice” once signaled a difficult conversation, an unwanted outcome, a word synonymous with giving up. During medical school, my thinking began to change when palliative care physicians taught me to recommend hospice to patients. What personalized my understanding of hospice, however, was watching my Uncle John receive home hospice care. He survived a Whipple procedure, but the surgeons were unable to remove the entire pancreatic tumor, and he opted not to receive the recommended chemotherapy and radiation. He reasoned that he would rather spend his remaining time at home than make frequent hospital visits. He declined the serial MRIs offered to track the size of the remaining tumor, knowing that the results wouldn’t change his decision. As a physician, I was nervous about his refusing treatments. As his niece, I was in awe of his bravery and conviction.He once de-scribed to me his preference to view the cancer as a part of his body stemming from his own cells rather than a foreign invader instigating a battle. I have since reflected upon how his passion for photographing dying flowers foreshadowed his remarkable acceptance of his own dying process. Defying all statistics about his prognosis, he survived over three years into his late 70s. My Aunt Wanda, or “Wandawoman” as he called her, was intimately involved with the hospice care that he received for the last year of his life, including administration of oxygen, skin care, and medications for pain and anxiety. His primary care physician discontinued unessential medications. He took frequent walks with family members, and we often joked about my comment that he would win the hospice Olympics if such an event existed. In his wife’s words, “Being under hospice care allowed him to live while dying.”He became thin like other cancer patients I had seen, but he didn’t have the extensive arm bruising from frequent blood draws, hospital-acquired infections, or delirium from being in an unfamiliar environment. He chose DNR/DNI status, and I was comforted knowing that his preference to die in his sleep wasn’t going to be interrupted by anyone cracking his ribs or intubating him. His brother-in-law, a master staircase builder, crafted a simple pine coffin with one of Uncle John’s sons. Uncle John chose not to see the coffin, but he did ask if it would have wifi access in his characteristically witty and mischievous tone.When I came to visit, his mind was clear enough to reminisce about my lifelong gravitation toward him. I never tired of hearing his sonorous baritone voice, which he had previously used to perform Shakespearean plays and “Ol’ Man River” from “Showboat.” Throughout his ordeal, he continued singing and giving his granddaughter voice lessons.I remember more of the sentiment than the words that he used as he reflected upon dying in our final visits. Sitting with him was deep and captivating—nothing else in the world seemed to matter. It felt simultaneously voyeuristic and sacred to watch someone die at home over the course of months. When Wanda called to say that he had died in his sleep, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Wanda—an unapologetically fearless and resolute woman—prepared his body and hosted a home wake for guests to pay their respects. His sons and brother-in-law later placed his body in the simple pine coffin and transported his remains to be cremated. This ending was decidedly human, and I knew it was exactly what Uncle John would have wanted.As a psychiatrist, I have become comfortable talking about death, but from a decidedly preventive angle. Uncle John showed me the power—in select cases—of approaching death with acceptance and dignity. Perhaps it is our collective avoidance of these discussions about death that has led us to be so aggressive and interventionist at the end of life. As psychiatrists, we can offer space to dying patients, their families, and other providers to express their views and experiences. Through mutual understanding, perhaps we can achieve a more balanced approach. ■Claire Twark, M.D., is a PGY-4 resident in the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Program. ISSUES NewArchived

Young Dads and Old Men.

Young Dads and Old Men.

“I Figure Singing and Playing Is the Same”: Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony

ABSTRACTRecent research has shown that the counterpoint of New Orleans jazz derives from the application of the principles of barbershop harmonization to the instruments of a jazz ensemble. This essay argues that what have become known as “blue notes” are the result of tenor and baritone voice leading in a barbershop quartet. When these principles are applied to an improvised solo a blues inflected solo results. I explore how Louis Armstrong used barbershop principles in 12-bar-blues recordings of the 1920s in relation to dominant harmony, and that by the application of these principles, Armstrong introduced altered intervals (ninths and fifths) to his solos.

Freddie Mercury—acoustic analysis of speaking fundamental frequency, vibrato, and subharmonics

Freddie Mercury was one of the twentieth century’s best-known singers of commercial contemporary music. This study presents an acoustical analysis of his voice production and singing style, based on perceptual and quantitative analysis of publicly available sound recordings. Analysis of six interviews revealed a median speaking fundamental frequency of 117.3 Hz, which is typically found for a baritone voice. Analysis of voice tracks isolated from full band recordings suggested that the singing voice range was 37 semitones within the pitch range of F#2 (about 92.2 Hz) to G5 (about 784 Hz). Evidence for higher phonations up to a fundamental frequency of 1,347 Hz was not deemed reliable. Analysis of 240 sustained notes from 21 a-cappella recordings revealed a surprisingly high mean fundamental frequency modulation rate (vibrato) of 7.0 Hz, reaching the range of vocal tremor. Quantitative analysis utilizing a newly introduced parameter to assess the regularity of vocal vibrato corroborated its perceptually irregular nature, suggesting that vibrato (ir)regularity is a distinctive feature of the singing voice. Imitation of subharmonic phonation samples by a professional rock singer, documented by endoscopic high-speed video at 4,132 frames per second, revealed a 3:1 frequency locked vibratory pattern of vocal folds and ventricular folds.

In Memoriam: Always Moving, Always Working with Students: A Tribute to Dr. Mike

In MemoriamAlways Moving, Always Working with Students: A Tribute to Dr. Mike Christopher F. Meindl and Kathleen P. Meindl Experienced geographer with expertise in all facets of cutting-edge geospatial technology teaching and research, including GIS, remote sensing, and GPS. Proven ability to collaborate with graduate and undergraduate students as well as colleagues. Significant experience developing student-oriented geography and environmental studies programs. Proven ability to teach in a variety of classroom environments, including the use of online and hybrid technologies.** As some of you know, Dr. John Michael (Mike) Harrison passed away just before Thanksgiving 2015 at the age of 55. Despite heavy hearts about his passing, we are resisting the temptation to begin this tribute with the traditional “It is with great sadness. …” in favor of a more celebratory approach. Why not shine a light on Mike’s life, revealing the positive ways in which he touched those around him? First, a few details. Mike’s family moved often when he was young (in the past, some might have called him a military brat because his father spent a career in the U.S. Air Force), but Mike spent his formative years growing up in Texas: entirely befitting his six foot four inch frame and deep baritone voice with just a touch of Texas twang. Moving around must have been in his DNA because as an adult, Mike never remained in one place for long. After high school, he left the southwest for upstate New York to study computer and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Although he considered himself a Texan, like many teenagers, he wanted to go to a school far from home. Mike paid for college by participating in RPI’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and then joined the Air Force as a commissioned officer. After six years in the service, stationed in Los Angeles where he was part of a team developing a global positioning system, Mike went to the University of Georgia to pursue a master’s degree in geography. Using his math and engineering background, he finished his master’s thesis in 1992 under C.P. Lo entitled The use of the Discrete Fourier Transform in the analysis of karst terrains. Mike then moved back out west to the University of California, Davis, to pursue a doctorate, but that did not work out, so he drove big trucks hauling California’s [End Page 144] produce to earn the money needed to move back east—to the University of Florida. During his four years in Gainesville, Mike worked under the direction of Dr. Peter Waylen (with significant input from Professor Cesar Caviedes), using mathematical modelling to study climatology, especially the impact of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation on precipitation. He ultimately investigated the relationship between ENSO and wildfires. His dissertation work (completed in 1998) led him to visit Costa Rica. Upon his return, we remember him telling us all about his Central American visit—complete with stories about washing his laundry in the hotel sink and letting it dry in the open air. Mike appreciated the world outside the United States (eventually leading several study abroad trips to Chile and the Easter Island), but he was clearly a developed world guy. Mike soon landed a tenure line job at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he cut his teeth as a college professor, effectively mentoring several graduate and undergraduate students. He also met the love of his life, Kathy—a hard working New Yorker living in the Deep South—whom he married in 2002. The Harrisons moved to Virginia in 2001, when Mike took on a tenure line job at the University of Richmond, working with and encouraging many undergraduate students, and helping build the school’s Environmental Studies Program. Yet Mike being Mike, he eventually developed a yearning to return to Texas in order to be closer to family, ultimately taking a tenure line job at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Within a few years, just when we thought he and Kathy would settle down, Mike abandoned a promising academic career and moved again—back to Richmond, where Kathy’s job prospects turned out to...

"It Was Bryan and Sullivan Who did the Trick" How William Jennings Bryan and Illinois’ Roger C. Sullivan Brought About the Nomination of Woodrow Wilson in 1912

THE NOMINATION OF WOODROW WILSON for the presidency in the summer of 1912 remains significant. As the nations chief executive, Wilson brought the progressive movement to a climax with his New Free- dom that saw the creation of the Federal Reserve and the expansion of federal anti-trust powers and regulatory authority. Indeed, it is his administration to which most historians trace the beginnings of centralized control characterizing American society in the twentieth century. As a world leader, he took the responsibility for cobbling together a peace following World War I designed to create an international order of cooperation and disarmament, introducing in the process notions of self-determination. That he failed so miserably in this has only added a patina of tragic heroism to an image that has remained intact despite recent trends towards a more critical analysis. Whether as an object of adoration or antipathy, however, his importance as president remains unquestioned.1Remarkably, for all his historical prominence and the breathless accounts of his many biographers, Wilson's elevation to the presidential nomination was neither preordained, nor in the end especially the result of his own qualities and endeavors. Though assembling an impressive campaign team that labored mightily on his behalf, his selection was to come about largely through dynamics within his party over which he exercised relatively little influence. Rather than Wilson's noble ideals or the devotion he inspired, his nomination resulted from William Jennings Bryan's efforts to manage the 1912 convention and the fears this caused about his intentions among the conservative Democrats led by Roger C. Sullivan of Illinois.By 1912, Bryan was one of the giants of his age (Figure 1). To many, he was the embodiment of the Jeffersonian spirit, sent as a champion of the people and of American rural values to confront the encroachments of industrialization, urbanization, and modernity. To others, he was but a small-minded and ignorant bigot, who was perfectly willing to stoke and take advantage of the fears of farmers and others to promote his own ambitions. However, for nearly two decades none questioned his impor- tance as the dominant figure of the Democratic Party.He was born in 1861 in Salem, Illinois, and was raised and educated in the Sucker State (towards which he always maintained a proprietary interest). As a young man, he took his law degree to Nebraska's green acres. From there he was elected to two terms as a United States representative. He then became editor of the Omaha World-Herald. Gifted with great energy, a rich baritone voice, an impressive appearance, a flare for both composing and delivering speeches, and a burning conviction of the righteousness of his causes, he dedicated himself to becoming one of thecountry's leading advocates of free silver. By the 1896 Democratic convention, he was widely known but not considered a serious presidential possibility (Illinois' reform governor, lohn Altgeld, among others, thought him a damn fool). Everything changed when he delivered his famous Cross of Gold speech that brought him the nomination. Though campaigning indefatigably, he lost to William McKinley. Four years later, he was again nominated and defeated. By 1904, he and the populist wing of the party he led were widely judged (wrongly, as it proved) to be spent forces.2Where William Jennings Bryan made himself a living symbol of the rural experience and values so central to the early growth of the nation, Roger Charles Sullivan exemplified the possibilities and outlooks of a younger urban and industrial America (Figure 2). Bryan could trace his ancestry to pre-revolutionary Virginia Protestant farmers (it is claimed he was related to Daniel Boone). Sullivans parents were relatively recent immigrants arriving in the 1850s and settling in the small town of Belvidere, Illinois. Roger was born there in 1861, supposedly over his fathers saloon. …

Fruits and Vegetables

In May of 1999 I happened to be in Prague for the first performance of Diamonds, a new work for three orchestras. Petr Kotik, who had commissioned the work for The Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble and the Janacek Philharmonic, had organized two orchestral concerts for the Prague Spring Festival. The first had the title Music in Space. Besides Diamonds, it included Earle Brown's Modules I, II, III,· two Canzoni from the Sacrae symphoniae of Giovanni Gabrieli; and Stockhausen's Gruppen. While I was there I had lunch at the Maly [small] Buddha, a vegetarian restaurant near the Hradcany Castle, with pianist Joseph Kubera and singer Thomas Buckner. Joe was the solo pianist in Gruppen and Tom was soloist in Roscoe Mitchell's Fallen Heroes, a featured work on the second concert. The meal was memorable. Never had I tasted vegetarian food so fragrant and delicious. I highly recommend the Maly Buddha to all my friends. (Uvoz 46, Prague 1, Hradcany, Tel/Fax: 02-20513894.) Later that summer I started working on a commission from Tom Buckner for a new work for baritone voice. I immediately thought of writing a song cycle for voice and piano, a work that Tom andJoe could perform. For several years I have been developing a method of composition in which voices and instruments sustain tones against pure-wave oscillators, creating audible beats that occur when two or more closely tuned sound waves coincide. I use electronically generated waves because their purity (no overtones) produces vivid beating against the richer, more complex instrumental sounds. I began experimenting with this phenomenon in the early '80s, when performers started asking me for works. I wanted to make music for conventional instruments with the same aesthetic that informed my earlier electronic pieces (which often explored brain waves, echoes, and room resonances). I have always been drawn to sound that does work, that causes something physical to happen. There are two ways I go about this: 1) sustain one or more pure waves and ask the performer to micro tune tones against them, causing beats at various speeds (the farther apart, the faster the beating; at unison no beating occurs); and 2) design oscillator-sweeps against which the players sustain fixed tones. Since the waves are in constant motion, the beating speeds continually change. In Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (1984), a series of eleven solos and a duet, players detune sustained pitches around one or more stationary waves. I didn't specify exact tunings-that would have been impossible for the players to execute;

Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of the Kingston Trio by William J. Bush (review)

Reviewed by: Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of the Kingston Trio by William J. Bush Jim Alberts Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of the Kingston Trio. By William J. Bush. (American Folk Music and Musicians, no. 17.) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013. [xix, 283 p. ISBN 9780810881921 (paperback), $45; ISBN 9780810882850 (e-book), $44.99.] Illustrations, bibliographic references, index. Greenback Dollar is a major contribution to the history of the folk revival. This volume is especially important considering the central, indeed formative, place of the Kingston Trio within the revival. Bush’s biography is deeply informed by his background as a music journalist specializing in acoustic music. He digs into the business and professional life of the group, drawing on primary resources by relying largely on interviews with the surviving members of the Trio and with those who knew them. The greatest strength of this book, by far, is the ready access the author had to his subjects and the lengthy interviews that illuminate numerous issues in the Trio’s tumultuous history. Another aspect of this biography that is especially welcome is the attention paid to the Trio’s various bassists, who were often at least as, if not more, musically sophisticated than the Trio members themselves (e.g., p. 88 on David “Bucky” Wheat). Finally, Bush writes unabashedly from the standpoint of a fan. He is always ready to apologize for the trio’s faux pas, and makes no bones about avoiding the fraught issue of “authenticity,” which was much bruited about in the folk music literature of the time. Bush largely avoids discussions of contemporary journalism, [End Page 483] except for trade coverage and some mentions in the popular press. Aside from a brief introduction, Bush’s approach is thoroughly chronological. He spends considerable time on the early years of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds, and carefully explores the formative musical experiences of the Trio members, with Shane and Reynolds growing up in California and Guard in Hawaii. Because of this, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Mexican musics (or at least the Trio’s take on them) became organic parts of the Trio repertory. Bush also explores the various professional activities and false starts of the Trio members in the early 1950s, especially noting Dave Guard’s professional and semiprofessional performances in Hawaii. This begins a bit of a narrative in which Guard’s baritone voice, by turns booming and subtle, his bass-heavy Martin guitar, and his skill at arranging became the musical foundation of the first iteration of the Trio (the “Guard years”). Bush investigates the rather unusual set of circumstances in which the Trio members met in California, and explores their early musical experiences in some detail. He delves into various situations in which the band had to learn on its feet, with examples such as Dave Guard learning to play the banjo by holing up with Pete Seeger’s How to Play the 5-String Banjo and practicing the Seeger two-finger style constantly (p. 70). Anyone can hear from the early banjo cuts on the Bear Family’s Kingston Trio compilation that the learning process was hardly straightforward, but Bush sheds light on how Guard fairly quickly became a competent and effective, if not virtuoso, banjo player (Kingston Trio, The Guard Years, Bear Family BCD 16160 JK [1997], CDs; Kingston Trio, The Stewart Years, Bear Family BCD 16161 JK [2000], CDs). This book, naturally, also explores both the vocal and instrumental arrangements the Trio used. In addition to their vaunted vocal blend, which was the result of both carefully-planned arrangements and somewhat hit-or-miss rehearsal techniques, the interviews with Guard and Shane illustrate how they came to combine the deep bass of Guard’s (and later John Stewart’s) guitar with the relatively high tenor guitar of Nick Reynolds, resulting in an acoustic sound that somewhat resembled the bass-and-high-hat combination of a jazz ensemble, but also filled out more musical space (in terms of register) than would have been possible with two guitars or banjos alone. Both the complex, yet seemingly easy, vocal harmonies and the instrumental arrangements became hallmarks of the Trio’s sound. Bush devotes considerable...

Hearing Loss in Singers: A Preliminary Study

Singers need good hearing; however, they may be exposed to loud noises during their musical activities. The objectives of this study were to describe the incidence and type of hearing loss (HL) in singers. Retrospective case cohort. Billing records identified patients who had undergone videostroboscopy and audiogram during the same visit over a 3 year period. A singer was defined as anyone who self-identified as a singer (professional or avocational). Age and gender matched nonsingers were used as controls. Patients with otologic diagnoses, surgery, or complaints were excluded. Retrospective chart review was conducted for the presence of HL, type of HL, and pure tones audiogram results. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, Students t test, chi-square test, and Fisher exact test. Of 172 singers (44.7 years, 37.8% male), 31 (17.5%) had HL. Pure tone thresholds for the singers with HL subgroup at 3, 4, and 6 kHz were 21.0, 26.5, and 34.4 dB in the right, and 22.8, 30.3, and 38.8 dB in the left ear, respectively. Older age (P = 0.000000000000001), male gender (P < 0.001), longer number of years of singing (P = 0.0000000003), and baritone voice (P < 0.001) were associated with HL. There was no association with genre of music. When compared with controls, the incidence of HL (19.8%) was not significantly different (χ2 = 0.300, P = 0.58). Pure tones at 3, 4, and 6 kHz were not significantly different than controls with HL. Most common type of HL in singers was bilateral sensorineural (83.9%), which was significantly higher than controls (39.0%, χ2 = 14.6, P < 0.001). The incidence of HL in singers was 17.5%, which was not significantly different from controls. Bilateral sensorineural HL was most common.

John A. Milner: In Memoriam (1947–2013)

![Figure][1] On December 31, 2013, the scientific community lost Dr. John A. Milner, an internationally respected scientist known for his work in human nutrition and cancer prevention. John served as Chief of National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Nutritional Science Research Group in the