# Overtone Singing



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I attended a concert last night featuring a contemporary vocal concerto. The singer (and composer of the work) used a style known as overtone singing (straight bi-tonal style) and throat singing with laryngeal straining. He used a microphone. I will say I have not heard anything quite like it.

The performance took place at my local volunteer orchestra where they are featuring contemporary works (mostly premieres) from local composers. The other premeires have been somewhat tame by TC contemporary standards, but this one was not. I was rather surprised that the conductor chose to perform such a work for this audience. There were several people who gave a standing ovation afterwards, but possibly they did so for the incredible vocals.

The throat singing often sounded like a jet airplane taking off. The bi-tonal singing manages to produce a low tone with a higher tone above it (the higher harmonic is clearly heard rather than just produced as all toned instruments do. I found it remarkable. 

I enjoyed the orchestral music, but most of the time I found little relating the orchestral music to the singing. Of course, that could very likely be my inability to hear the relationship. 

Anyway, has anyone heard overtone singing before?


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2016)

Sure have. One word: Tuvan.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2016)

I'm not sure I've got any CDs with this singing on any more, but I think you'll find it's not an uncommon thing these days; in what the marketing people labelled World Music.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

mmsbls said:


> I attended a concert last night featuring a contemporary vocal concerto. The singer (and composer of the work) used a style known as overtone singing (straight bi-tonal style) and throat singing with laryngeal straining. He used a microphone. I will say I have not heard anything quite like it.


What is the composer's name?

I think Joan La Barbara used overtone multiphonic singing.

I read that David Hykes was the earliest composer who adopted overtone singing. I have not heard his music but it seems interesting.



dogen said:


> Sure have. One word: Tuvan.


Also Mongolian Khoomii.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Sorry for the late response. The composer's name is Ken Ueno, and I believe he is a professor at UC Berkeley.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Thank you. I didn't know about the composer and just found that BMOP and Del Sol Quartet recorded his works. Looks interesting.

Yesterday I listened to _Hearing Solar Winds Alight_ by David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir. It sounds like sophisticated Shōmyō. Otherworldly and very impressive. I also listened to _Harmonic Worlds_, but due to its inclusion of percussion, it sounded more catchy and new agey. I prefer the ensemble without percussion.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

In case someone has missed it, this video of Anna Maria-Hefele has been very popular last year and for a good reason. 
While I've heard other singers using overtones I've never heard anybody else with this degree of control.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I learnt this technique while at university when asked to record a work employing overtone singing by one of our professors, the NZ composer Denis Smalley. It takes some practice, but anyone can learn to do this with manipulation of the tongue and mouth cavity.

You might be interested to explore the music of David Hykes, who employs this technique a great deal in his music.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Ken Ueno demonstrated some overtone singing before the concert, but in Ms. Hefele's demonstrations the notes appear clearer to me. Thanks for the suggestions of David Hykes. I found several videos on youtube and will listen when I get the chance.


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## Johann Sebastian Bach (Dec 18, 2015)

Stockhausen's Stimmung relies on it.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Johann Sebastian Bach said:


> Stockhausen's Stimmung relies on it.


Yes, in fact I thought of Stimmung at times during the performance.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

That video is fantastic! Besides Stimmung, there is this:


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

I enjoyed Ueno's album by BMOP very much, though only one work is for vocal, and to me, it's difficult to hear what Ueno's singing is really doing. This is a trilogy of concerti, for viola, for voice, and for biwa & shakuhachi. Each work is stunning.

Ken Ueno (b. 1970): Talus (BMOP/sound)








http://www.bmop.org/audio-recordings/ken-ueno-talus (album booklet available)

_Talus_ (2007) for solo viola and string orchestra 
_On a Sufficient Condition for the Existence of Most Specific Hypothesis_ (2008) for vocal soloist with amplification, boombox, and orchestra
_Kaze-no-Oka_ (2005) for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra

Wendy Richman, viola; Kifu Mitsuhashi, shakuhachi; Yukio Tanaka, biwa; Ken Ueno, overtone singer; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose, conductor

This is a fascinating recording of Tuvan throat singing. Oorjak Hunashtaar-ool's voice is deep and wonderful, with clear overtones.





Melodii Tuvi: Throat Songs and Folk Tunes from Tuva (Dust-to-Digital)








(Also, I first heard the sound of a very interesting instrument, temir-khomus.)


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