Humming on a flute - resonator of voice
The flute is an instrument that only one voice at a time, a monophonic instrument. Or isn't it? Humming and blowing at the same time can produce parallel motion or even polyphonic motion of two voices. Here is an example.
Polyphonic Singing, For the Contemporary Flutist by Wil Offermans
In Offermans's example, he focuses on blowing and singing at the same. If we just sing/hum without blowing any air, the sound is different. Lately, I wrote a piece for marimba and I learn how the resonator works.
The introduction of the marimba resonator
If humming on the flute without blowing, the tube of the flute becomes the resonator of the voice. If the tube length (fingering) matches the harmonic series of the voice, it amplifies the harmonic partials, producing two tones at once. The playing technique is to make sure to channel the air stream to the nose.
This is my piece below experiencing the technique of humming without blowing and humming with blowing. The beginning of the piece uses humming without blowing and gradually transforms to humming with blowing.
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