Well, here it is mid-summer, and like a lot of you, thoughts turn to good times in the sunshine. Not so much studying singing, although if some of you are doing so, then bravo!
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.
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I hope you’re having a wonderful summer, and don’t forget to use those precious vocal cords at the campfire singalong.
CommentWhat makes a good music teacher? I’ll tell you from my own experience what made my own teachers extraordinary and influential.
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.
CommentFor all musicians, ear training is especially important. It is a small percentage of the population born with ‘perfect pitch’. Research has shown that those whose native tongue is one of the ‘melodic’ languages are more likely to be endowed with this ability (i.e. Chinese). This can be a huge boost in musical endeavors, but also can prove to be a burden. These people are extremely sensitive to anything out of tune and it can drive them crazy! For myself, I was not born with it, nor have I ever developed it, but I think that at times I’ve been able to ‘memorize’ a pitch if I get a certain anchor tune in my head.
It may be developed later in life, although it may be more successful if taught to young children, whose ears are more adaptable than adults. The best resource for this training is David Lucas Burge’s Ear Training Library.
Relative pitch (also taught through the above link), is quite different in nature and may be taught quite successfully to anyone. Once one establishes a root pitch, they may learn to identify at least a second pitch above or below it. I believe this is by far the most necessary ability for musicians of any kind. In jazz college, I was blessed with a wonderful ear training teacher, Sam Lancaster. He very methodically opened our ears in a progressive system that became quite complex in later stages.
For overtone singing, if one is to pursue serious polyphonic movement particularly, the ability to recognize intervals is very important. Not only does one need to know what the various intervals are (mainly the ones present in the natural harmonic series, and secondarily other intervals as they relate to the movement of the fundamentals), but also the singer needs to really hear these intervals present in their own voice. This requires a certain inner monitoring of oneself. Often, beginning overtone singers produce lovely clear overtones that others hear easily, but the singer still does not hear them themselves. They need encouragement that the overtones are definitely there.
One helpful idea I recommend for beginning overtone singers is the use of tuning forks. The most useful combinations for this practice are those that produce:
- a perfect 5th (C and G above, or A and E above) for recognizing the 6th harmonic
- a major third (C and E above) for recognizing the 5th and 10th harmonics
The next most important would be those that produce:
- a natural 7th (C and Bb above) for recognizing the 7th harmonic
- a major 9th (C and D above) for recognizing the 9th harmonic
The way to use these tuning forks is to first strike the lower pitched fork and hold the end to one ear, just in front of the little flap of cartilage at the mid area. Then immediately strike the other fork and do the same at the other ear. You can try this with alternating which ear gets the fundamental. Done often enough, the intervals become reinforced in the brain.
I will get further into the topic of tuning forks in a later blog, as there are many different frequencies of forks used for various purposes according to various value systems (i.e. not according to ‘artificial’ concert pitch).
Another useful approach to identifying intervals is by the association of certain well known songs with the first two notes creating a certain interval. You can find a good list of these here.
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