These situations are most intriguing for me as a teacher. Because of the spontaneous nature of the lesson, it is usually the ‘Reader’s Digest’ version, extremely shortened, delivering only the bare essentials.

I have found myself in this situation a few times recently. It occurred to me that doing this is no less important than full fledged lessons to an individual. When I think back to how I was initially pulled in by the magical spell of overtones, the bait was far less clear to me, and I ended up flying halfway across the world before even hearing it, and hopefully learn it. In my case, apparently it was a deep seated ‘purpose in life’ thing I was destined to be drawn to.

The most recent example of teaching it in this way came in the guise of (supposedly) an English lesson to Czech students. While in a swimming pool. Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.

I know I’ve been dwelling on this topic during the summer of 2011, since summer tends to be the dormant period for many. They’re all off on vacation contemplating what really matters to them, what they’ll initiate come autumn.

I’ve been getting opinions from other overtone singers about how to spread the word to the world at large. Perhaps it can only be done bit by bit, where folks are more inclined to be uninformed about overtones. One student suggested open mic nights, slipping it into otherwise overtone-less genres.

This, to me, is the essential bottom line when it comes to taking overtones to new heights and innovation. Those in the know should be celebrating their relatively early entry into our community.

Firstly, since I was on a wilderness island in Romania teaching overtone singing, there was no internet, so no blog posts.

But let me get to the point. We have a long way to go before overtone singing reaches critical mass. If a person is totally unaware that such a technique exists, they are not going to google it. Catch my drift?

So, in other words, if you are reading this post, congratulations. You have at least reached the narrow end of the funnel. It is up to us to bring the future of the voice into fruition globally. You are indeed fortunate to get in on the ground floor (the fundamental pitch!).

Let’s call it a pyramid scheme. NO, I don’t mean some illegal, unscrupulous money making system.

In Romania, while teaching a handful of adventurous singers, my attention was drawn to the ‘Sphinx’ of Romania, the Bosnian pyramids, and by association, the Egyptian pyramids (about 10,000 years younger than the Bosnian, BTW).

I am convinced that these pyramids were built using sound technology. Not a bunch of slaves going heave ho. It has been proven, if only in secretive demonstrations, that heavy objects may be risen by sound frequency alone. In a massive chamber under the Sphinx in Romania, there exists holographic technology. Once this becomes common knowledge, it knocks the socks off the generally accepted views of our collective history.

Check the book that reveals this story.

Let this little post stir the imagination. My life purpose continues to be reinvented, even as I teach overtone singing to whomever shares this common goal. Let’s look beyond all that I have heretofore presented. There are ancient artifacts of wisdom just waiting for you and me to be activated. With your voice.

Shall we accomplish these things together?

As for me, I will be away from the computer and internet for most of August. This means my time for blogging is almost non-existent, but I’m getting this one out there before the onslaught of travel/ teaching adventures.

What’s on my mind currently is how I integrate the teaching of ‘normal’ singing with overtone singing. This is what I’ll be doing for 10 days at Atlantykron, a wilderness island summer academy of learning in Romania.

Although my main focus will be on overtones and vocal freedom/ improvisation, there are several major cross-over points to deal with. There are too many to mention in a blog post, but here are a few, covered briefly.

* Care of the voice:

As with all singing, we need to properly warm up, be well hydrated. Overtone singing is no different in this regard. Though I often feel that overtone singing can be less ‘taxing’ than normal singing, we still need to prepare so that we don’t choke on the overtones! This involves getting a nice open throat, relaxing all the muscles surrounding the larynx….I like to focus on the lower end of our range, transforming a non-pitched sound down there into an extended sung pitch.

* Resonant chambers:

Of course, we are dealing with many of the same resonant chambers for both normal and overtone singing. The main difference is in how they are manipulated in the production of overtones, usually in more extreme ways. We need to know how they work in normal circumstances before we can start ‘bending’ the rules.

* Vocal Projection:

As with conventional styles of singing, we need to know how to be heard above the din, or without amplification at times. Similar concepts apply in overtone singing, but the main concern here is projection of the overtones so they are nice and clear, heard distinctly against the fundamental. Often we hear about ‘placement’ of the voice from vocal teachers, explained as concepts we are to imagine. This is to some degree what I teach also, but along with ‘directional’ ideas, I emphasize the use of certain consonants to graft onto the sound.

*The healing power of the voice:

I always say that all singing is healing or therapeutic, actually automatically. So whether one is singing normally or with overtones, they are ‘massaging’ themselves internally. This is further enhanced by the experience of having the vowels resonate in particular areas of the body, whether thought of as organs or chakra centers.

*Dynamics and vibrato:

These elements are essential to emotional delivery of the voice, in order to captivate your audience (and yourself!). Conventional systems of teaching these things certainly apply to overtone singing, so they are taught with further examination of having control over the dynamics/ vibrato of 2 separate pitches, i.e. having the overtone louder than the fundamental. I use the term ‘control’ loosely here, as I believe one has more freedom when one releases the idea of ‘control’ and lets natural, intuitive expression take over.

*Ear training/ Interval recognition:

Training the ear is essential in any kind of singing, not only to make the correct movements in melody, but to fine tune the ear for precision of frequency. The harmonic series, although it does not adhere exactly to piano tuning, for example, still trains us to focus intently to the tones inside our heads when we sing overtones. We learn to adjust our resonant chambers (and especially the tongue) to find the exact overtones we wish to emphasize. This has enormous benefits for any other kind of singing.

***

I hope you’re having a wonderful summer, and don’t forget to use those precious vocal cords at the campfire singalong.

Them- “Have you seen the documentary ‘Genghis Blues’? It’s about this blind American blues singer who learns to throat sing on his own and manages to get to Tuva for a throat singing competition.”

Me- “Uh…yeah…I was in it.”

For those of you who might not have heard of this one- It was made in ’95 for the International Symposium of Throat Singing in the Republic of Tuva, Russia. Paul Pena, the blind, black blues singer from San Francisco was famous for the song he wrote, Jet Airliner, recorded by the Steve Miller band. He’d discovered Tuvan singing via shortwave radio around 1990 or so. So he imitated it, and got quite good at the deep sound of ‘kargyra’.

I’d first met Huun Huur Tu, the Tuvan ensemble, back in 1993 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I jammed with them backstage and they invited me to the symposium then. Then the following year, while I was a tour member of Crash Test Dummies, I ran into them again in a TV studio in NYC. Again, I found myself jamming with them. It was in the cards that I was to go there, though it took several months of red tape. No computers, only aging Russian FAX machines.

Turned out I was the only female foreigner to perform (western overtone singing). They picked me to be one of the judges in the competition, along with several experts in various related occupations. It was a great honor, though I didn’t really feel so qualified to judge their own art form. They claimed that my style most resemble ‘sygyt’. The official competition involved around 100 teenage boys and a couple of girls. This took about 3 days to complete, so they interspersed the foreigners in the program (mostly for comic relief).

Paul was treated royally. The omni-presence of a somewhat eclectic film crew from California must have been quite amusing for them. As was the sound of American blues being interpreted through their ‘kargyra’. The film suggests that Paul won the kargyra category, but in actuality, it was more like an honorary prize. They nicknamed him ‘Earthquake’.

It was difficult to keep track of who was who in this fast paced contest. It was especially hectic when I had to leave my post and go up to perform, without any preparation. I leaped backstage, came up with a little acapella theme in about 10 minutes. Later on in Canada, I wrote the instrumental parts and recorded it on my first CD. It’s called ‘Tuva on Rye’.

The most rewarding part of the competition was seeing the grand prize winner ride off into the sunset on his new pony, dressed in his new national costume.

During the week, there were daily lectures by the likes of shamans, ethnomusicologists and scientific researchers. I enjoyed a presentation from a couple of young guys from Khakassia, with their ‘kai’ throat singing. It is like epics being channeled. The main singer just up and quit abruptly after a while, citing that spirit tapped him on the shoulder.

Oh, and getting back to that documentary- it was nominated for an Academy award. And if you watch it, you’ll see me near the end, on the stage wearing a white skirt, for about 8 seconds.

Here’s a photo gallery from the symposium.

Here’s an article written by ‘Living Treasure’ shaman Mongush Kenin-Lopsan for the Symposium. It’s about the origins of throat singing.

Here’s a video of Paul Pena performing during the documentary filming.

Like other indigenous musical forms, some of these have even become endangered. The younger people of these societies are simply more drawn to popular western music and see the old traditions as being backward. The elders are in some desperate campaign to save them. Let’s hope they are successful.

The Xhosa women of South Africa have their own unique style.
Website
Audio

Dani singing- Papua New Guinea
Audio

Throat singing women of Bogaz Havasi (Turkoman technique)
Video

This style reminds me of the electronically enhanced singing of pop stars like Cher, with the quick and precise switching between tones, almost like yodeling. But it’s done naturally by these women, of course. I’ve heard something similar by Lioudmilla Khandi, whose singing you can listen to here. Her voice enters at 0:55.

Bunun male choir in Taiwan- harmonically rich, gradually ascending in pitch, called Posibutbut. It seems to be connected to a ritual.
Video

Sardinian singing of male quartets

I had the pleasure of jamming with one of the most well known of these groups at the polyphonic singing festival in Albania in /08.
Tenores di Bitti official site

Bashkortostan throat singing
Audio

Hope you enjoy all these links. I’ll bring you more later!

I’ll begin with a ‘prelude’ of what brought me to having piano lessons in the first place. As a young kid, I attended the small village church choir, all girls. It wasn’t very sophisticated and didn’t even include harmony of any kind. Unison singing was so boring to me, that I sang harmony by ear. The director asked where that sound was coming from. I was shy, but spoke up then, and it seemed to be an important moment for my future musical life.

Shortly after that, upon returning from summer camp, I discovered an antique pump organ in our home. I jumped on it and played ‘The First Noel’. My mother announced “You can play by ear”, and decided to send me to piano lessons, although all I had to practice on was this old pump organ, until a few years later when I finally received a real upright piano.

My first teacher, Bev Bachalo, was wonderful, kind and full of humor. She basically taught popular music from the ground up, with a smattering of classical, but nothing really official in this regard. This was the perfect starting place for me, as it encouraged my growing love of contemporary music of the times, with a hint of the more ‘serious’ stuff to come. It was a real balance in my formative years. I think that this approach for any young beginner can reveal a fine indication of which direction they might be headed, avoiding alienation.

Frances Funk (great name) introduced me to the classical world via the Royal Conservatory of Music, with its proper schedule and competitions. I didn’t have to start at the very beginning, as I’d had enough of a grounding. She was also very kind and humorous. At this point, I’d already become obsessed with learning the top forty by ear. I taped them off the AM radio with my cassette recorder. Each week I’d have a new one to play for Mrs. Funk, which she’d request at the end of the formal classical lesson. This atypical encouragement was so valuable in those years of my greatest passion.

After high school graduation, when I moved to the big city, I auditioned to be taught by the most respected piano teacher in Winnipeg (though I can’t recall her name). My dream at the time was to become a concert pianist. She instead recommended that I go for jazz lessons with Wally Meyers. I wasn’t with him for very long, but this again was a turning point. He introduced me to complex chords, voicings and improvisation.

The next logical step was jazz college (Grant MacEwan, Edmonton, AB). I became completely engrossed in this world. The most influential teacher there was Sam Lancaster. His subject was ear training. He introduced an ingenious natural progression that became ever more complex, while at the same time instilling a sense of the magical. For example, one of his assignments was to take a cartoon book, about a circle searching for its missing piece. The adventures of this circle was the basis of a soundtrack we were to write. Mine included a Bb vacuum cleaner. I was the only one in the class to complete this assignment. I guess I saw the creative potential that it inspired.

Then I became professional, joining a jazz/ pop, then a rock band.

Later on, after being a pro for many years, I embarked on a voyage of vocal discovery with the guidance of Don Campbell. This is documented in the free eBook on this site, so I won’t go into detail in this blog post, apart from saying that he is true genius, coaxing the deepest revelations. The ultimate one being that there are no right and wrong answers when it comes to one’s own experience.

Now, what I would say about selecting a teacher, whether it’s for instrumental or vocal study, consider:

* Do they understand your basic leanings, tendencies and current level of ability?
* Do they approach you as an individual or do they ‘stick to the book’ when it comes to exercises, etc.?
* Do they encourage you to explore other related areas of study or do they insist that only they have the ‘right’ method?
* Do they understand anatomy and body function well enough as it applies to your discipline?
* Do they keep up with the changing times, or do they rely on old institutionalized ideas?

We are all unique in the seeds of our talents, and would be wise to choose carefully those who would be our mentors.

I’d like to present a few of them here, both instrumental and vocally based.

A great video series was made back in 1992 about this topic. You can view parts 1 and 3 here. (Note that parts 2 and 4 are not here, contrary to what is written underneath the 2 videos).

Part 1

Douglas Ewart at Haynes School in Chinatown, Chicago; improvisation in Mozart with Robert Levin, piano and the Academy of Ancient Music with Christopher Hogwood; John Zorn and Cobra; improvisation in religious and devotional music and communities with: Naji Hakim – organ improvisations in Paris; Gaelic psalm singing on the Scottish Isles of Harris and Lewis; and Indian singing with Pundit Hanuman Misra.

Part 3

Concentrating on jazz based and free improvisation. With Max Roach at the Harlem School of the Arts; Butch Morris conducting (with, among others, Shelley Hirsch); Sang-Won Park and Korean music; Max Eastley’s sound sculptures; Derek Bailey (solo and fleetingly with Phil Wachsmann, Steve Noble and Alex Ward); Steve Noble and Alex Ward duo; Nashville musicians including Buddy Emmons; Eugene Chadbourne.

Of particular interest to me are the sections on:

- Part 1 @ 35:44: the 17th century Gaelic improvised psalm singing that still goes on in the Scottish Hebrides. Chrissy Smith says- “The notes are not so important as that singing comes from the heart, and the sincerity of the music is what counts, not so much the music really but of the words, when one sings from the heart you might just draw an octave a bit longer, someone might add a twiddling to it, maybe because they are carried away with the feeling of it…”

-Part 1 @ 41:30 Rajasthan singing with Pundit Hanuman Misra

-Part 3 @ 12:58 Butch Morris and his ‘Conduction’ form of improvisational conducting.

-Part 3 @ 23:25 Sang Won Park and his Korean ensemble- 2000 year old shamanic originated collective improvisation with instruments and vocals

Conduction is practiced by Christine Duncan, from Toronto. For a great example, check her CD, The Element Choir, with 51 improvising voices.

The huge scope of gypsy music might surprise you. It has been largely improvised, and totally enmeshed in the life style of nomadic Romani people from many lands. I highly recommend the 1993 documentary film ‘Latcho Drom‘, which begins in Rajasthan and continues westward all the way to Spain.

Please also check the work of Walter Thompson, who developed something similar to what Butch Morris started. He created universal conducting gestures to indicate musical ideas for the musicians to respond to. It’s called Soundpainting.

All the other singers were Albanian choirs, representing several variations of the national singing form- UNESCO proclaimed “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity”, otherwise known as Shqiptar-Iso-polyphony. You can learn more from this video.

What was fairly strange for these folks was the presence of a solo singer. How could a single person be singing polyphonically? As soon as they heard my overtone singing, there were audible bursts of ‘Aha!’ Now they understood that I was splitting my voice into 2 separate controlled pitches, moving in counterpoint.

Strangeness…well it abounded, firstly due to the location of this festival. It took place on a high hilltop, in a 3rd century BC amphitheater setting (the ancient ruins of Bylis). Most of the seating had eroded away.

Another odd element of my participation was due to there being no electricity. They would have been perfectly fine with all the rest of the singers, but my act required electricity/ amplification for my computer, keyboard and mic. They had to go and find the necessary equipment, a sound engineer and a generator (very noisy) to haul up there. I don’t think that they generally have a lot of experience with audio gear. Many of the Albanian choirs, deciding to take advantage of this new-found technology, had certain members almost screeching into the mics, creating a lot of distortion in the inadequate outdoor speaker system.

I was supposed to perform on the first evening. I’d asked for an 88 key electric keyboard that had a reasonable piano sound, as the 49 key one I brought with me was just for the looping and various effects. They found something, though it was less than 88 keys, with very complex looking controls. I had no time to figure out how to get a piano sound out of it.

So there I was, waiting to set up and get some kind of sound check with an engineer who spoke no English. It was worrisome that time was getting on, and the crowd was already large. The master of ceremonies proceeded to announce my name to start my performance when none of the set up had even begun. Panic setting in, I explained from the wings that it was impossible to go on.

The next day, I was able to communicate just enough with the engineer to make the sound work, in time for the afternoon concert. This was reasonably successful, and ensured that later that evening, things would go smoothly for the finale.

The most rewarding part of this whole journey was getting to hang with (and jam with) the Tenores di Bitti from Sardinia. They are a quartet of men performing a one thousand year old tradition of vocals which include rich overtones sung together rhythmically in immaculate precision. You can learn more about it at their official site.

You can watch a video mash-up of me performing in the Albania festival here.

That could be any kind of choir, from community to professional, pop, gospel, classical, jazz, etc.

For one thing, having an obvious love of singing.

Next, a love of singing with others. This is also rather obvious, but choir membership can be broken down into a few different motivations:

* The social aspect, the idea of getting together once a week or so for rehearsals, then maybe going for a beer later.

* You love the teamwork involved in a choir context, increasingly improving your interactive skills, which will reflect well in your resume.

* You do it for the joy of blending your voice successfully with others into a cohesive unit of sound, akin to an inner knowing that we are all one anyway, and this is one way to experience it.

* It might be a way of escaping certain other expectations from others that you would rather avoid.

* You do it in order to prove to the world that you are worthwhile.

* You hope to be carted away in a bus, train or plane to some exotic location for a tour, festival, competition or other adventure.

* You don’t feel like a good enough singer to make it as a solo, so choir is the next best option.

Some of these reasons may seem more noble or desirable than others, and that’s okay. I think it’s important to realize these things for oneself, even if silently.

Now, there are a number of behavioral patterns that effective members may emulate:

* Show up on time for rehearsals. Don’t leave early.

* Be prepared by studying your parts beforehand.

* Strive to memorize your parts so you are not glued to your score. If you absolutely must refer to the score, keep one eye on the conductor.

* Make it a priority in your life, so that it is not affected by trivial excuses for absence.

* Be sensitive to others, as we are all humans with all of our foibles.

* Be quiet while the conductor is addressing others and while they are singing their parts.

* When new members join, if you are confident in your part, help them to learn by supporting them with your strong voice standing next to them. Don’t resent this duty. Remember this is a team, and at times it requires actions different than simply learning your parts. In other words, don’t skip rehearsal because you think it might be boring.

* Respect the final decisions of the director. If your director welcomes suggestions, you are lucky.

* Remember that almost all choirs go through a birthing process. This could take months or even years. Be patient and notice progress. Even with setbacks, realize that there lies great potential. Your commitment will expedite rewarding results.

There is one last type of choir I’d like to mention, that is the ‘virtual choir‘, which does not require you to be in the same location. We are fortunate indeed to have this option in our lifetimes. It’s very cool. And it doesn’t involve so many of the above ‘rules’. Just follow the online instructions, and if you are accepted, you might go on to glory in the ethers.

So, here it is 2011. I’ve always been fond of aliens. And from my experience as an overtone singer over the past two decades, I’ve felt like one myself. Overtone singing has yet to enter the mainstream. Even the awareness of such a thing existing has moved at a snail’s pace. My hat goes off to the Mongolian throat singing national treasure Hosoo, who was brave enough to go on a German ‘who’s got talent’ competition. In his debut performance, the looks on the faces of the audience were priceless: dumbfounded, eyebrows furled, jaws dropping and general confusion. His presence in such a popular phenomenon as these talent shows was testament to his confidence and vision to present throat singing to the world at large. We in the overtone singing community applaud Hosoo for his bravery.

Hosoo (also known as Khosbayar, with his instrumental partner Zolzayar) did go on to the semi-finals, performing Amazing Grace and a pop tune (by one of the judges). That certainly was an effective way to cinch their admiration. Watch it here.

I can relate somewhat, given an experience from my past while I was living in Tokyo. This was around 1991. I had a small group of overtone singers that got together every once and a while to jam on a rooftop. Prime time TV news got wind of this and decided to do a spot on us. For a whole day they filmed us, carted us around the city to various locations, including a park and a ‘science salon’. Here they hooked us up with electrodes to analyze our brain waves while we sang overtones as opposed to simply relaxing. When the feature aired, we saw that they had added a few elements of their own, presumably because they knew their audience. As the cameras were approaching the doorway of the house where the singing could be heard coming from, they superimposed some typical Japanese sci-fi B movie animated graphics and ‘doo, doo, doo, doo’ menacing music. A bit later, they alternately compared the singing of one of the men with a Japanese transvestite singing comedian. All in good fun. I appreciated the whole fiasco for what it was. Remember, this was way back in 1991. It’s amazing they paid any attention whatsoever to a few overtone singers.

Speaking of aliens, I created a little video with this theme in mind- The Adventures of Samson: Alien Overtone Singer.