Today I will bring your attention to a few composers of overtone music. By this, I mean those that actually score their pieces. Mostly, these artists compose for overtones choirs, where some or all the singers are skilled in overtone singing. Often, the notation requires singers to be able to sing polyphonically, with fundamentals and overtones moving contrapuntally. Some of the pieces do not require a high level of skill and most singers are capable of the directions. And of course, there are those that score out solo pieces as well.
The genres covered by overtone composers also vary- from New Age to New Classical to pop/ experimental and beyond.
The styles of notation in overtone music vary slightly from one to the other, but perhaps in future there will be a universal standard set of ‘rules’ that everyone can follow. When Karlheinz Stockhausen composed his ‘Stimmung‘ in 1968, he used quite a different and complex system based upon vowels rather than a numbering system commonly used today.
So, besides myself being one of these composers, here is a partial list of some more. (I will eventually add more to this list in further blogs). I have sung compositions in overtone choirs from the first four mentioned here.
Sarah Hopkins (Australia)
Stuart Hinds (USA)
Linda Alexandersson (Sweden)
Baird HerseyUSA)
Lothar BergerGermany)
For examples of some of my overtone notation for choir, click here.
CommentWhat comes to mind when much of the general public thinks about overtone singing (if they think about it at all), is usually a spiritual idea of meditation/ healing music. Or, they make the mistake of thinking that throat singing is the same thing. It isn’t. Anyway, lots of improvisation goes on in overtone singing. I have a feeling that most of it is improvisation, because not very much of it is based in notated compositions. Perhaps because it has not yet fully evolved to the point where enough people who are really skilled at it have contributed such compositions.
I’m really happy for the people who can go to a full concert of a soloist or choir performing the new age style of overtone singing and feel satisfied. More power to them. It’s just that a full evening of this leaves me rather numb. Maybe because one of my favorite groups of all time is Steely Dan. I love having my ears turned into origami from all the wild, weird and wonderful unexpected chord changes.
Improvising with overtones on a background of constantly changing chord structures requires that you learn the rules, absorb them into your cellular memory, then forget about them as you bravely intuit each new fundamental/ overtone combination. Once you have it, it’s vocal expression at its ultimate. (Please just be sure never to sing the 5th or 10th overtone with the fundamental being the root in a minor key).
Of course, one can just as easily improvise with overtones completely a cappella. It stands to reason that you can get away with a lot more than when you are following an instrumental part.
That being said, I encourage overtone singers everywhere to look to the future, to take it beyond the drone. There is unlimited potential here, albeit a bit more mathematically challenging, but what the hey? Progress!
Here’s a great link for those interested in experimental music to meet up with like-minded people in your own location.
CommentIn the present atmosphere of western overtone music, most of the stuff out there is still based on a single note drone for the fundamental. This allows one specific set of pitches available for the harmonics for the entire length of the piece. Much of this material focuses on new age/spiritual/healing/ meditation type music. This is great, for those people whose main interest in overtones is related to healing. I’d like to expand on this idea here.
I mentioned that most of the therapeutic benefits of overtoning are ‘automatic’ regardless of how you are using them. I don’t feel it is necessary to dwell on these aspects. If one is so inclined, overtoning can be taken so much further into musical applications. I firmly believe this is the future of overtone singing. Western overtone singing is a very young discipline, with no real ‘tradition’ attached to it. It’s only been around since the late ’60s (with a few instances earlier than that), and has been growing in the public consciousness very slowly to this day. In comparison to Central Asian throat singing (the original inspiration behind it), which has many centuries of history, there is plenty of room for innovation.
One of the most satisfying developments of my years of experience in overtoning has been an increased level of intuition. By this I mean in improvisational situations, I can automatically navigate the ‘mathematical’ aspects, sub-consciously, subliminally if you will, so I can sing polyphonically over almost any background which has a lot of chord changes. In contrast to Central Asian throat singing, progressive western overtone singing incorporates a great deal of movement of the lower fundamental. (In Tuvan folk music, Mongolian and Tibetan throat singing, generally the fundamental remains the same throughout).
