Writing with the Speech-to-Song Illusion

In 1995, music researcher Diana Deutsch↗(opens in a new tab) was working on a CD of musical illusions and paradoxes. While editing a small section of spoken commentary, she noticed something strange.

After listening to numerous repetitions of the same phrase, the spoken words seemed to transform into music.

You can hear the effect by listening to a clip called “Sound Demo 1” on her site↗(opens in a new tab). In the clip, the phrase is first played in context, then repeated on its own over and over.

If you replay the whole clip from the beginning, that phrase in context suddenly stands out from the words around it. It almost sounds like she bursts out into song.

The power of repetition

Repetition is a powerful force in music. Small motifs repeated in a song intrigue and unify. People love to hear their favorite choruses repeat. And they replay their favorite songs over and over.

But repetition also has the power to transform non-musical sound into music.

You may have noticed this effect while tapping along to the clicks of a car’s turning signal or the revolutions of a washing machine. Or maybe you’ve experimented with creating percussion from sampled sounds from around the house.

These common examples are more rhythmic than melodic. But in the speech-to-song illusion, repetition causes a distinct melody to emerge from the ups and downs of natural speech.

Let’s look at an exercise that takes advantage of this effect to discover new melodies for our own songs.

The speech-to-song exercise

For this exercise, start with a long section of lyrics. You can write them from scratch, use something you’ve already written, or even just take them from someone else.

The first step is to record yourself speaking these lyrics aloud.

Try to be as dynamic as you can in your performance. Don’t sing, but don’t speak in a monotone! It doesn’t matter if you sound ridiculous.

Now listen back and choose one small phrase to repeat. You can look for sections or lyrics that you particularly like. But you can also just pick random phrases and play around.

In your DAW, select that section and play it on loop. Listen for a while until the effect emerges. Then try to match it either by singing or playing notes on your instrument.

Don’t worry too much about matching it exactly. Use it as a starting point. Experiment!

Once you have something interesting, record it. Then start over by looping a different phrase.

Building on the exercise

Keep in mind that the illusion is more pronounced on some phrases (and to some people) than others↗(opens in a new tab). But even without the illusion, this exercise can help you discover melodies for your lyrics that you wouldn’t have written by just singing.

If you enjoy the exercise, you can try it with all kinds of sound recordings. Industrial noise, dialogue from a movie, podcasts, the sounds of animals, etc.

The possibilities go on and on. This is just one more approach to add to your songwriting practice.