Ahh, remember the long sweet lingering in the womb, when the subtle echoes of outside voices and the swoosh of amniotic fluid soothed your waiting soul? NO?
Well, even if you don’t, there are adults who believe that what goes on acoustically in proximity to mom’s bulging belly may have dramatic effects upon the evolving brain therein.
This is not in the realm of my expertise, though I’ve always been fascinated by the prospects.
I like this post about introducing the unborn to music, with a range of choices to consider. The ‘Mozart Effect’ is widely known, but I agree with the idea of the mother using intuition with the responses of her fetus. Regular hearing begins at about the 4 month stage. It is believed that the most effective music in terms of future musical development depends on rhythmic factors. Higher frequencies tend to be muted out in the fluid environment.
There’s also underwater sound therapy (for those who’ve already gone through the birth process, that is).
When I attended a seminar in Halliburton, ON about sound ecology, I witnessed a video made by a woman who explored recording her own reactionary (wordless) sounds underwater while scuba diving by a coral reef. To me, it was as close as any of us might ever get to being back in the womb. It was incredibly comforting, creating for me a longing to get back there, away from the cacophony of every day life.
What I can give you from my own experience, though it’s not highly sophisticated, is very simple. While lying in a bathtub, lie back with your head slightly submerged, just enough so that your ears are under water. Hum, sing, overtone sing, yodel, try all those funny noises you made as a kid, etc. Notice the intense listening you experience inside your head. Without the interference of those sound waves traveling through the air (or at least have them greatly reduced in significance), there is an unusual calmness present. It allows us to get inside our own sound. And in the case of overtone singing, it tends to ‘exaggerate’ the harmonic content we might otherwise miss.
When it comes to recording whale song, for example, there are numerous complex factors to take into account. I won’t pretend to know or understand these principles, but if you’re interested, here’s a good site for the layperson.
I did have the pleasure of ‘jamming’ with the songs of the whales from Raratonga, on a recording by Lisa Walker. I could imagine sharing their environment, and perhaps even intutitively acknowledging what they were communicating.
It has been shown that the calls of dolphins, with their staccato like sound when heard above water, actually resemble human overtone singing when recorded underwater with hydrophones. For me, that’s reason enough to sing overtones, if we can interact with these highly intelligent beings!
CommentThe development of a notation system for overtone music has not reached unanimous agreement as to standardization. Since the earliest composers of western overtone music started immortalizing it on paper, most of them have more or less invented their own way of conveying it.
In the late 60′s, early 70′s, both Folke Rabe and Karlheinz Stockhausen had elaborate scores that more resembled hieroglyphics to describe ‘events’.
Stockhausen did not rely on numbers of harmonics, and instead used a system of vowels according to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Coming up to the present day, with a few more polyphonic overtone composers on the scene, it is beginning to take some shape that skilled overtone singers can follow.
The way I write has the following components:
*The overtone part, whichever range (SATB), has two staves, with the lower representing the fundamental pitches
*The upper stave represents the pitch of the overtone
*The overtone pitches have diamond shaped heads
*The numbers beneath the fundamentals represent the numbers of the overtones in the harmonic series
*The upper stave notes (pitches) are usually written one or two octaves below the actual sounding pitch. This is for convenience of sight reading, and our ears tend to perceive them as being lower anyway.
*The upper stave uses the treble clef with a small 8 above it to indicate the pitches sound an octave higher.
*In some cases, the treble clef with the number 15 above it indicate the pitches sound 2 octaves higher.
The number system used for the overtones has generally come to agreement that the 2nd harmonic is the octave above the fundamental, the 3rd is the fifth above that, the 4th is in the 2nd octave, etc.
Tuvan throat singing, as it appeared in their folk music, was never formally written down. It was not until the latter half of the past century that attempts were made to transcribe it by outside music scholars. Understandably, it was quite a difficult and obtuse representation that included numerous odd time signature changes. I’m sure that the original singers of these ‘pieces’ of music never once considered these elements.
Here’s some transcribed scores of a few of the Tuvan styles and sub- styles, with titles in Russian.
part 1
part 2
Other modern composers you can check out are:
Christian Bollmann (Germany)
Stuart Hinds (USA)
Baird Hersey (USA)
Sarah Hopkins (Australia)
And especially exciting for all you modern overtone singers (and aspiring ones) is a collection of 8 free scores of my music for overtone choir. I hope you will learn your parts (either regular or overtone parts), and join the virtual choir.
CommentMany people, upon first hearing overtone singing, report a profound experience. It is described in various ways. From my own experience, dating back to 1988, I’ve heard a multitude of descriptions.
“I felt tingles up and down my spine.”
“The hairs on my arms stood up.”
“I felt like I was levitating.”
“Something inside me just opened up for the first time.”
“It was inhuman, like coming from the cosmos.”
Or not so profound.
“I thought someone was whistling.”
“I thought it was a synthesizer.”
“I heard something different, but I don’t know what instrument it was.”
“I don’t get it.”
Back in ’94, when I was a tour member with the Crash Test Dummies, I was introduced at each concert, along with giving brief demonstration of overtone singing. This was quite early in the public awareness of such a thing. Indeed, most of the fans of the supergroup had never before been exposed to it. As I was standing in front of a keyboard, I was accused of triggering the sound by some synthetic means. Eventually I had to put my hands behind my back to dispel this myth.
When I first heard of the existence of the possibility for one singer to split their voice into 2 separate distinct pitches, without even hearing an example of this, I was determined to do whatever was necessary to learn it. I was living in Japan at the time, and upon discovery of a workshop coming up in England, I registered for it. It was with Jill Purce, and she called it ‘Mongolian Overtone Chanting’. She still teaches this. The actual introduction she gave was quite brief, though I took to it immediately, thinking at the time, “Why didn’t I ever think of this before?” I’d always had sensitive ears, and harmonies were second nature to me. I think it was something like “Ah, yes, this is something fundamental to my auditory world. Of course I will master this.”
Since overtones are always present in varying degrees in every sound, regardless of the source, it involves an enhanced way of listening to our environment.
Even some of those who take up the study of overtone singing are fully aware of the clarity of the upper pitches (harmonics) when they hear others do it, but they are still unsure about the harmonics they themselves are producing, even when they are clear. This is partially due to the fact that we hear our own voices differently than others do. We have the inner sound of bone conduction going on in our heads. This is another reason why we are so shocked when we hear our own voices played back to us (often in disgust!).
If you are one of those people, never fear. This is a common occurrence in the beginning. Usually what happens, with concentration and practice, is that something suddenly clicks. The intervals become apparent and controllable. There are many ways of cementing this.
It has been demonstrated that we are essentially either fundamental listeners or overtone listeners. This is something like being right or left handed. I don’t think that being one or the other represents any kind of limitation. But I believe it is possible to become ‘ambidextrous’ in this regard. What is revealing about this is the fact that the fundamental is governed by the left brain, and the overtone by the right brain. So it’s just a matter of uniting the hemispheres. Overtone singing tends to expedite the process, provided it is learned in a natural progression.
Here’s a fascinating paper on research done about how overtones are perceived to untrained ears.
CommentI’ve compiled a body of work for overtone choir. These pieces have parts for all voice ranges (SATB). In most cases, there are also regular sung parts with lyrics. The lyrics are mostly English, with a few exceptions. (Latin, Martian, and imaginary language…those 3 are separate!)
Here are some of the reasons and methods behind adding overtone parts to choral compositions.
Why do it?
Well, it sounds phenomenal. It really reaches out and grabs the listeners in ways they may never have experienced before.
Though It’s like a special spice. Not to be overused, and certainly not simply for the sake of throwing it in there. The music has to call for it. I believe any song should speak for itself, and not be coerced into existence for some acrobatic demonstration.
Indeed, some of the songs have overtone parts that are completely optional. The song will not suffer for its absence. This proves to be advantageous if your choir has not yet developed any singers towards successfully singing those parts. You can still perform them. And look forward to the day when that extra part or two comes floating in.
Now for some ‘rules’. Although I hate to use that term, as I’ve always been a fan of learning the rules, so that they may then be broken. But alas, there is the physical law of the harmonic series, which refuses to be bent.
So, we are stuck with a certain order of available pitches for any given ground pitch (fundamental).
Basses and tenors have a bit of an advantage over the alto and soprano voices. This is because they have a lower starting pitch, therefore they are able to produce more of the series, up to the 14th overtone in some cases. The pitches of the overtones get closer and closer together as you move up the series.
Females can still accomplish much with overtone singing, with beautiful effects using ‘falsetto’ fundamentals. Altos usually have a wide range of possibilities as well.
There has been a lot done with overtone music using a single drone for the lower pitch. This commonly occurs in new age type music. The type I am referring to in my own writing is polyphonic, in that the fundamental moves around, allowing the singer to move the 2 pitches apart in opposite directions. This opens up a vast array of possibilities harmonically. Sure, it can get a bit mathematical and complex, but nothing too unworkable usually. Just maybe it takes a bit more time going over the vertical relationships in all the intervals. For me, Sibelius notation software is a gift from the universe. Others use Finale, and there are several other lesser known options. Even some basic ones for free…
So for starters, here’s a score for one of those pieces that have ‘overtone optional’ parts. This one is called ‘The Dawning of the New World‘, an uplifting global anthem for SATB. The overtone part is written for tenor, and could be a solo part. (Give that person a microphone if necessary!)
Note: Post a comment here and I’ll give you the score for free.
That said, I’ll gradually make more scores available according to how crucial the overtone parts are. Thought this would be a good starting point.
To see some overtone notation at work, watch these videos for a clear audio/ visual experience:
Auralia choir sings Pink Floyd
O Come All ye Faithful
Note: The overtone pitches are written in the treble clef with an ’8′ above it to indicate the sounding pitch is actually an octave higher than what is written. This is for convenience of reading. Also, our ears tend to perceive the overtones as lower than they are anyway. The numbers below the lower pitches refer to the numbers of the overtones in the series, with the corresponding intervals they sound like shown below.
3= a perfect 5th
4= octave
5= maj 3rd
6= perfect 5th
7= natural seventh
8= octave
9= ninth (or maj 2nd)
10= tenth (or maj 3rd)
11= (not used much because it is too sharp for a proper 11th)
12= perfect 5th
Lastly, here’s an overtone composing tool from my colleague Wolfgang Saus.
CommentWhen it comes to overtone singing, nothing can be more fun than doing it in a nice resonant space. It doesn’t have to be huge in size. Just the configuration of the dimensions of a room and shape of a vaulted ceiling can be magical in resulting reverberation, as well as the type of building materials.
What tends to happen here, is the room will pick up the higher harmonic frequencies and send them right back at you, providing a catalyst effect which helps you to sing the overtones even more loudly and clearly.
Some of these types of spaces are ideal for recording overtone singing. The natural echo/ reverb in these spaces is usually plenty, and does not need any extra artificial reverb. Too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing, though. It’s nearly impossible to successfully record or sing live with a quick tempo or rhythm, because it all gets washed away in a messy blur. It’s okay for long tones or meditative type music.
These spaces can be separated into 2 categories, man-made and natural.
Certainly the man-made sources of these acoustic phenomena are easy and practical for almost everybody to seek out. For example:
-Stair wells in high rise buildings
-Underground parking lots
-Certain tiled bathrooms
-Beneath bridges, in tunnels
-Cathedrals
-(abandoned) water towers
-empty Grain silos
At an abandoned grain silo complex called the SILOPHONE in Montreal, one can make use of extraordinarily long echo effects produced there, all remotely via internet (even for live concerts).
For centuries in Tibet, the monks have chanted the frequencies of the temples themselves.
And honorable mention goes to the architectural wizardry of the freemasons, whose most impressive work exists in the ‘Pool of the Black Star‘ (Manitoba Legislative Building). It contains an indescribable acoustic phenomenon, only detectable when you are standing directly in the center, and people outside of this area cannot hear it. (I actually taught a workshop in this space once).
On the other hand, natural, sometimes ancient formations lend themselves to some other-worldly acoustic beauty. Since most of these are location specific, they are not so practical for most singers. However, if you ever have the chance to reach some of them, by all means seize the opportunity to sing there.
For brevity sake, I’ll just mention caves here, although there are many more examples.
Pre-historic peoples knew how to make use of these formations, and evidently chose specific locations in caves to make their wall paintings.
For example- did you know that in a number of caves in France, with the still clear and colorful paintings of animals, that sounding directly in front of these paintings produces a pronounced acoustic effect not present elsewhere in the caves? Did they intuit and make use of characteristics that only modern research has been able to measure? And why did they seek these places out? Was this culturally based? For rituals? For music?
Here are some of the caves in France with such evidence:
Niaux at Argiege
Arcy-sur-Cure at Burgundy
Grotte du Portel at Portel
Grotte du Pech Merle at Caberets
Cougnac Cave at Lot
Article on Art of Paleolithic Caves
My favorite source of information on this topic is to be found in the book ‘Stone Age Soundtracks‘, the acoustic archeology of ancient sites.
Comment
