My friend, Elenna, approached me recently with a query about buying an instrument.

I’m going to buy a [Native American] flute and it comes in different keys. Which key do you suggest I get?

I suggested we find the key or tonality of her speaking and singing voice and select the flute that most closely matched her voice. The key here, pun intended, is to resonate with one’s instrument.

Three Ways I Resonate

Resonate is a verb meaning to produce or be filled with a deep, full, reverberating sound. By finding the tonality of Elenna’s voice, she can select an instrument that she will resonate with — on many levels.

First, she already resonates with the Native American flute - as in this instrument agrees with her. Of three ways to look at resonance, this meaning of agreement is the first one. We say something resonates with us when we agree with it. A delicious meal can resonate, or sit well, with the diner. Wide open spaces resonate with me. I am at ease on a grassy hillside, an open meadow, or the high desert plateau of Eastern and Central Oregon. Those places agree with me.

Another way to resonate with an instrument is figuratively. Perhaps the Native American flute evokes images, memories or emotions in Elenna; pleasant memories, attractive images, and important emotions. She is resonating with her chosen instrument on two levels.

The scent of Balsam Fir - common in Eastern North America - resonates in me. It arouses soothing childhood memories in one who grew up on the East Coast of the United States. Looking at photographs of my recent trip to Turkey resonates deeply; calling forth memories of activities and food and music of my travels.

Thirdly, there is a technical aspect to resonating; the electrical or mechanical resonance of a tone or object. Two examples are a crystal that resonates at 16 MHz and concert tuning pitch A that resonates at 440 Hz. For some fun resonating with tuning forks, visit Online Tuning Fork.

Galena crystals were used in the earliest radio receivers. These crystal radio sets are able to detect radio signals without a power supply. Yup! No battery. Not plugged in to an electrical outlet either. Hmmmm, a wireless connection. Ever hear your grandparent or great-grandparent talk about “the family would gather around the wireless to listen…”? Today we talk about WI-FI in the neighborhood coffee shop and over 100 years ago, many people built their own wireless radios to get news and entertainment from far away.

A Surprise Encounter With Resonance

Years after I had been playing the sax and clarinet, my friend, Brian, put a cello into my hands. With a little bit of instruction, he had me generating some decent cello sounds. I literally felt the resonance of the cello in my chest and belly. The vibrations of the strings echo in the large cello body which is held against the player’s body, in a hug almost.

The cello resonates for me on multiple levels.

• It agrees with me and makes me feel good.
• It vibrates at a pitch that matches a vibration in my upper and lower chest.
• It conjures strong, pleasurable images and memories, particularly from my undergraduate days at Indiana State University.

Generating Resonance

You can have experiences with resonance using your voice. Try these exercises. No special equipment is needed other than your own body and a willingness to experiment in different locations.

Exercise 1: Standing Inside

1. Stand in the center of a room in your home.
2. With your mouth closed, hum a mid-level pitch. Choose a pitch that is comfortable and easy for you.
3. Note where you feel the vibrations in your body. You may find it helpful to place one hand on various places of your body to determine where the vibrations are localized. Example: face, throat, top of head, upper chest, lower chest are just a few.

Exercise 2: Lying Down Inside

1. Lie flat on your back on your bed.
2. Repeat steps 2 and 3 from Exercise 1.
3. Do the vibrations feel different? If so, how? Are they in a different place on your body? Can you feel them in the mattress?

Exercise 3: Standing Outside

1. Stand outside, in the center of an open field.
2. Repeat steps 2 and 3 from Exercise 1.
3. Do the vibrations feel different? If so, how? Are they in a different place on your body? Can you feel them in the air around you?

Some Variations

• Sing with an open mouth instead of humming. Keep the pitch constant.
• Stand up against a wall both inside a building and outside a building.
• Lie down on a wood floor, concrete floor, or metal floor.

Experimental

What are your resonating experiences? I welcome hearing about the results of your experiments. Share them with me and my readers: email me or comment on my blog.

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