In my experience, this effect is much stronger when singing with less vibrato and quite a bright timbre (i.e. more upper overtones!). I hadn't really understood this—I sing mostly contemporary pop—but barbershop stylistic choices are mostly in pursuit of this effect.
Conversation
They lean heavily on dominant sevenths, which (tuned in just temperament) are the 4, 5, 6, and 7th harmonics of a root two octaves down. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_ Lots of interesting overtone interactions create an angelic "fifth voice" singing high above! "Ringing chords".
1
5
How do inversions/dispositions influence the effect?
eg If the Notre Dame cadence resolved to root triad instead of second inv above bass: 1, 2, 5/2, 3 instead of 1, 3, 4, 5. That'd emphasize a root-fifth interaction, which might detract from the sus resolution of the third.
1
3
I experience something like this effect with close dissonant chords, too, which barbershop eschews. What's going on there?
e.g. in Eric Whitacre's music, there are lots of so-called "fist chords". These sometimes produce the effect for me too! Why? Overtones aren't very aligned.
3
4
Why is this effect so much stronger for the singer than for the listener?
There's something in being the *causer*, but it's also physical: when the effect occurs, It feels like my voice, my chest, the air in my lungs, my muscles, all resonate with the room and the other singers.
1
13
Why is this physical sensation so powerful?
It feels almost overwhelming sometimes! Like being given over to a "higher power" for a moment. It's beautiful, moving… and a little eerie. Why do we respond this way? Odd!
"Sense and Sensation in Barbershop": jstor.org.sci-hub.se/stable/41700111
1
15
Goofy question I've been noodling with: it's not easy for an amateur to produce this effect—so could one design a simple cybernetic exhibit to give an untrained person the experience of causing this with their voice? I have a few ideas…
4
14
This feels like a dumb question, but: why don't we notice *destructive* interference more in vocal harmony? This figure shows constructive interference in a harmonic seventh chord—but that assumes everyone's in phase! Which… they won't be, right? Do we instinctively auto-align?
6
13
Related, important: vm.tiktok.com/ZM8bkaJ4J/
3
4
Super interesting thread! I've wondered about this, but have never explored possible technical reasons for it. For me, it's happened with specific people (my friend Amanda, for one), and I thought maybe our voices were similar enough in timbre that the vibrations…aligned well?😅
1
1
Replying to
Yeah, that sounds right! I think "mismatched" people can learn to match in this way: when I was music-directing an a cappella group, we'd do exercises in each rehearsal to match vowels and tone; it had the side effect of making this phenomenon happen more.
Replying to
That's so interesting, and makes so much sense! It's such a cool, electrifying feeling when it happens; you've done a great job describing it. Makes me really long to get back into a room singing harmonies with people! ❤️
1
1
Me too! It was, like, The Most Forbidden Activity during COVID times… gotta find some folks to sing with around here after the great reshuffling. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
1