Don’t tell Will, but I still have some disbelief that I get to call him my friend.
I was introduced to Will’s voice in the fall of 2021, when the cries from our community to react and analyze Lorna Shore had become deafening. He has the most primal sounds I have ever heard. Of course, this made me positively giddy.
A few months later, I received great news. Will Ramos was down to have a tea time interview with me. I started working up courage right away, because I knew that I wanted to ask him if he’d be willing to allow a camera down his throat.
I didn’t need the courage to direct the conversation – it was so easy to talk with Will, and he led to the topic of seeing inside his throat. He made it easy to ask.
In early 2022, we met Will in Salt Lake City and together ventured to The University of Utah.
The University of Utah Otolaryngology department is world renown and includes some of the greatest vocal researchers in human existence. In my opinion, Dr. Ingo Titze is THE vocal research god, and Dr. Amanda Stark, despite having more letters after her name than I can remember, describes difficult voice concepts with such eloquence and accessibility that I knew I needed her help creating the video.
What video?
This video – where we document the entire journey down Will’s throat.
The findings during this exploratory procedure were jaw-dropping. Dr. Ingo Titze literally stood up from his seat with his jaw dropped when he saw how Will’s throat twisted.
We discovered a much more complex system of vocalization than expected, and everything looked totally healthy.
Also, Will was a champ.
This initial test sparked so much interest in how harsh vocalizations are created. Our first documentary currently has over 4.5 million views. Amanda and I started receiving emails from interested parties and we took all of this enthusiasm and channeled it into an official pilot study.
In early 2024, we returned to Salt Lake City with Will to conduct much more extensive procedures, including a dynamic MRI, respiratory kinematics, multiple throat scopings AND putting needles in the muscles surrounding Will’s larynx.
Again, Will was a champ. The needles in the neck EMG was much more uncomfortable than I expected, yet he tolerated it – and of course, nothing we do would cause any vocal damage.
The data we collected was massive. We are still sifting through it, and 5 research papers are at various stages of publication.
This pilot study helped set the groundwork for how future research will be conducted. Will is a unicorn – his throat has an extraordinary twisting motion and he uses his anatomy unlike any singer we’ve studied. In order for this research to broadly apply, we need to expand the scope.
Our next step includes bringing more professional singers to The University of Utah to undergo the procedures that Will helped establish.
Will we discover a herd of unicorns? I hope to find out.
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