

I usually won’t let any air out of the nose because you lose some sound. What role does the soft palate play in polyphonic singing? This supports the female voices that sing the major 3 rd as a normally sung note. For a major chord for example, the section which is singing the fundamental of the chord (bass, usually) can amplify the major 3 rd in the vowel for a super clean sound. The conductor could even ask the choir members to tune their vowel to amplify a specific overtone. You can ‘tune’ the vowels of each choir member to each other to boost the same overtones inside the same voice section in the choir. How could choirs benefit from learning polyphonic singing? For example, it improves your perception for resonance overtone singing makes you more aware of vowel shapes and vocal colours.Īs well as developing vocal cord closure and sustained support, you are also able to expand your range and find higher notes because you train to have the physical power for it. Overtone singing can certainly help all singers. If you’re able to hold long notes on one fundamental note, you also have more time to explore different sound colours before you run out of breath.ĭo you think practicing overtones will help the voice in other ways? Overtone singing is all about searching for the overtones in the vowel transitions. When a singer has learnt to close their vocal cords well and developed good support, they can hold longer notes which is very helpful for developing a good filtering technique in overtone singing. Overtone singing makes you more aware of vowel shapes and vocal colours Automatically the voice gets stronger when the student tries to keep his stabile standing position. I make them stand in a stable way and sing whilst I try to push them (carefully) over. If I meet a breathy singer at one of my workshops, I encourage them to use the whole body for support. But you can only filter and amplify something you put into the filter in the first place. Overtone singing is about filtering overtones out of the voice out and amplifying others. An airy voice will not have so many overtones to amplify. This sound already contains more overtones. You need a more ‘tight’ sound in the voice than in other vocal techniques, which means I am working with a higher closing quotient in the vocal folds. How important is it to have clean tone for polyphonic/overtone singing? Mostly they sing overtone melodies on one fundamental which they keep throughout the song. The Mongolian throat singers usually don’t change their fundamentals. In the western overtone singing technique I don’t use this high pressure on the larynx in order to keep my flexibility in changing quickly into classical technique, and also to have the ability of changing the fundamentals a lot, which allows my polyphonic singing style. With this they can supress the fundamental even more, as it is their aim to make it almost unhearable. The throat singers do this like me, but they also add more pressure on the larynx. However, with overtone singing, you close the vocal cords a little bit tighter. In classical voice training, you aim for a balance of air and sound where you can develop a natural vibrato.

But, the sound production in the larynx is different. The filtering process in the mouth and pharynx is the same. It is difficult to learn or practice something if you don’t have any guidance or direction.Īre you singing the same as Tuvan or Mongolian throat singers? By understanding how it works, you are able to do it better. What came first – the theory or the practical? I had a certain talent for it, but I was also so intrigued I couldn’t stop practicing.
#Polyphonic overtone singing tutorial how to#
He lived locally to me so I met with him and asked if he could show me how to do it. One day, when I was 16, I was listening to a radio broadcast of a man who performed polyphonic singing. So, we are connected to overtones in a complex way in our daily lives, but we are usually not doing it on a conscious level.

We know that and “u” sound is very dark because we amplify the low overtones contained in the sound and filter out the higher ones at the same time, and an “i” is very bright, because the high overtones are amplified and the low ones are filtered out. We hear and use all sorts of different vowel shapes all throughout our lives, and the overtones are the reason why one vowel sounds quite different from another vowel. When people hear it for the first time they are often very moved. What emotive effect can polyphonic singing have? She spoke to VoiceCouncil about her incredible talent, and explains the benefits of overtone singing for all singers. Anna Maria Hefele is a highly skilled polyphonic singer from Austria who also performs with various ensembles as a specialist multi-instrumentalist.
