One afternoon when I was in secondary school, I must have been about 14 years old, my physics teacher wheeled a TV into the classroom, and as you can imagine -or probably have experienced yourself- a sense of celebration resonated through the whole class. And then we were told that we were going to watch a video... on lights. Honestly, I'm not sure if my enthusiasm levels could have been much lower, but then something worse happened. 

I was sat at the front of the class, hashtag loser, and someone behind me asked if I could put my head down so that they could see the TV better. Apparently my pea head is still big enough to get in the way ...sometimes. So I dutifully folded my arms, rested my head down, lights off in the classroom, dry video playing. And despite being someone who prides themself on working really hard, even on [00:01:00] things that I have absolutely no interest in, there was just no stopping myself having a lovely afternoon nap. 

And I've had a very similar experience when it comes to learning about acoustics in singing. It's something I really want to understand better. I really, really do. But every time I start diving into it, it just feels like all of the colour gets drained out of my life. 

But then I was introduced to a particular book on Chris Johnson's Evolve training programme. This one: 'Stop Faking It! Sound' by William C. Robertson. 

And it seemed to promise a few laughs and was written for the non-science geek, so I thought this might be my way in, my way to break that cycle of avoidance. 

I got myself a copy and I first started reading it in the hairdressers last year when I was having my roots done. Too many gray little sparklers in my scalp for my liking. But I didn't get past chapter two, not because I wasn't enjoying [00:02:00] it, but more because I found other things to do. Again, avoidance. 

But since- I've sat down, not too comfortably, just in case and I've read it. And truthfully, this episode is partly happening for accountability and part because we want to give you some honest reviews of resources to help you as a singing teacher. 

So here I am to tell you all about it. 

Importantly, it is funny. 

I found myself giggling almost straight away when the author poses the question of whether the high pitched squeal a mosquito makes as it flies past your ear when you're trying to sleep is actually the mosquito screaming. 

 The illustrations by Brian Diskin also really add to keeping things light and engaging. 

There are exercises that we are prompted to do before we read the nitty gritty, and this comes from the advocacy of the learning cycle: experiencing the thing before you are told [00:03:00] about the thing. 

The first chapter might not introduce anything radically new, but actually that's kind of the point. It's a really helpful reminder and actually quite a confidence boost that you do actually understand some of these core concepts. So we revisit things like amplitude and frequency, but without feeling patronised by the author. And so we're reminded that amplitude, essentially the size of the vibration, links to loudness. Bigger vibration, louder the sound. Smaller vibration, quieter the sound. 

And frequency, the speed of the vibration, links to pitch. Faster vibration, higher pitch. Slower vibration, lower pitch. 

And there's something really satisfying about reading that and thinking: yes, jackpot. I actually do know this. 

There are [00:04:00] whole chapters dedicated to what happens when you pluck strings, sound waves, and how sound travels, and how this applies to musical instruments, as well as looking at electronic communication devices and the ear itself. Chapter four gets us into harmonics and continues into resonant frequencies through to chapter five. On paper, it sounds about as exciting as that video on lights from secondary school. 

We are introduced to some more terminology like transverse waves, standing waves, longitudinal waves -important for us because sound waves are longitudinal, meaning, and to quote: 'where the motion of the material itself is in the same direction as the direction of travel of the waves.'  

Some of the things we are advised to try out or do before you read the science stuff is all well and good, if you've got access to [00:05:00] time and the equipment. For example, in one exercise we're asked to gather a bell jar and a vacuum pump. I've got a Dyson hoover and the novel by Sylvia Plath, but something tells me that's not quite what they were asking for. 

We probably have access to a couple of glass bottles and no, I'm not about to hold up a couple of bottles of Prosecco, but instead some Kombucha bottles, some free advertising for One Living. You are very welcome, Jonny Wilkinson. 

So why don't we do one of the experiments together? 

So mango and lime- delicious, by the way, is fuller than the passion fruit and goji -also delicious. And if I were to blow across the top of each, what do you think will happen? 

Let's try it out. 

So the mango and lime, we have the water just up to the top of the label, and when I blow across the top... 

[00:06:00] and now if I blow across the top of the passion fruit and goji bottle, which has water just to the very bottom of the label, let's see what happens. 

 Mango and lime... 

 passion fruit and goji... 

 This is all to do with the decrease and increase in the length of the column of air that's vibrating. 

So from this we can gather that a higher water level decreases the air column length, which leads to a raise in pitch. the lower the water level increases the air column length leading to a lower pitch. 

And that makes sense with voice, right? If we adjust the space in our [00:07:00] vocal tract, no, of course we might be staying on the same pitch, we're not actually changing the fundamental frequency, but the lower the larynx position, the longer the vocal tract, which results in a boost to the lower frequencies of sound. And the higher the larynx, say in like a twang quality, the shorter the vocal tract leading to a boost of those higher partials of the sound. Well, that's my link anyway. 

Now, if we were to tap a spoon against each bottle, what might happen there? Let's get them back. 

Here's the mango and lime with more water in it... 

 and here is the passion fruit and goji with less water in it, 

 more water... less water..... 

 ooh, that could get annoying [00:08:00] very quickly. 

This time, the bottle with less water in it has the higher pitch and the bottle with more water in it has the lower pitch. 

 Well, that's because it's not now the air that's vibrating, but the actual bottle and the water itself. With more water in the bottle, it's going to be slower to vibrate. And that's a bit like the voice, right? The more bulk or slackness to the vocal folds, the slower the frequency of vibration, the lower the pitch. And the more we stretch the vocal folds out, the faster the frequency, the higher the pitch. 

Did I do all of the science experiments in the book to experience the thing before understanding the thing? Confession? I did not. Sorry, Bill. But I used a strong sense of imagination. 

At the end of each chapter is a summary, and it's quite possible to get a good idea of the important details just from [00:09:00] reading these alone. And I can imagine that I'll revisit these as a bit of a revision session. 

It is a book about sound, not singing, and many of the examples and scenarios in use refer to instruments like guitars and pianos, recorders and drums. So some things like the discussion of how an increase in string length tends to decrease frequency and pitch can be a bit confusing when looking at it from the standpoint of a singing teacher. 

 But then it's a good reminder that whilst the vocal folds can often be likened to that of a guitar string or rubber band, they aren't exactly the same. And also if you've listened to one of our recent conversations on the podcast with the lovely Mathais Aaen on the topic of laryngeal tilt, perhaps there is a relation to the idea discussed there: if laryngeal tilt and other things like tongue position increase the length of the vocal folds, why doesn't pitch increase [00:10:00] too? 

But one bloody thing at a time. 

That said though, at the end of chapter four, there is a dedicated paragraph to an example of voice, but it's more about exploring why the voice sounds higher when we've inhaled a gulp of helium. And I don't think we are doing that a lot in our sessions. And one little bug bear: is that the author spells it vocal chords, C-H-O-R-D-S, instead of vocal cords C-O-R-D-S. So there's a pedantic little point. 

For me, chapter seven didn't entirely seem relevant to what I was reading the book for, other than understanding a bit more about how the ear works and also this little chuckler of a sentence. I quote: "would you be able to hear better if your pinna was shaped like a paper cone? Sure. But you'd have trouble getting dates". And this part of the book here goes into a fair bit of detail with the inclusion of some ear anatomy along the way. 

But the other half of this chapter was giving focus to how [00:11:00] things like vinyls, CDs and phones make sound. And I might have zoned out. You know, when your eyes are just moving over words but nothing is actually being recognised. Yeah. A little bit of that. 

The author William -Bill- C Robertson passed away a few years ago now, and I would've loved to have chatted to him on this podcast because I think we would've had loads of fun. And sometimes that's what's missing in some of these books on more complex topics. A bit of a sense of humor. But Bill nailed it there. 

Honestly, there were some little heartbeat skipping moments reading this book as I started to feel myself turning a corner in my understanding. 

I didn't read it all in one go like it was a fiction novel or anything. I read it over the course of about two to three weeks, one chapter at a time, making my notes as I went along, and also because I had the newest Janice Hallett on the go. And also just chunking up bits into [00:12:00] smaller, digestible amounts just helped to acknowledge and sit with the information a little bit longer. 

There's some welcome repetition of ideas, and if we get confused throughout the reading, then we can just flick back to the very helpful glossary.  

Am I going to run a workshop on formants and harmonics? No. I think I'll leave that to the Bozeman's ,Ballantyne's and Howell's of the industry. Am I going to pass a test on it? Well, I think I could answer a few questions. And do I feel like things are becoming clearer? Yes, I absolutely think they are, and I do actually think I've retained some of the information. Mission complete! 

 If you are like me and just feel a little bit intimidated by the physics and offended by the F and H words sometimes, then this is a really good book to start with. I still plan to go ahead and read up more on how this applies in a voice situation, but I think that when I do, I'll be able to hold onto it a little bit more [00:13:00] and engage with it a bit more securely. If I can read it with, you know what, I must admit some enjoyment actually, then you can too. 

I'm giving it a solid 8/10. Definitely one for a singing teacher's bookshelf. 

And just to close off the story from the beginning... 

years later, when I met my now husband, I was invited with him and his family to their family friends for dinner, and who was it? But my physics teacher, whose class I had fallen asleep in. 

Oh, the circles life draws. 

We'll be bringing you some more book reviews in future. So if you have something specific that you would like us to talk about or to check out to give you an opinion before you spend your hard earned cash then drop us a comment or an email and, as always, we'll do our very best for you. 

Well, that's it from me and my review of 'Stop Faking It! Sound.' Until next time.