Zweite (S)Ausbildungsgruppe Obertongesang ab 30.10.2020 – mit Wolfgang Saus – in Hirschbach (Mittelfranken)
Fr., 30.10.2020 — So., 14.03.2021
€ 1.608
Intensivausbildungsgruppe in westlichem Obertongesang und Obertongesangspädagogik nach Wolfgang Saus
für weitere 4 Menschen, die Obertongesang wirklich lernen wollen
Weil der erste Kurs sofort ausgebucht war, biete ich ab 30.10.2020 einen zweiten Kurs an.
Dieser Kurs bietet Dir eine einmalige Gelegenheit: Seit 2003 biete ich diese Ausbildungsgruppe alle ein bis zwei Jahre auf hohem Niveau für jeweils eine kleine erlesene Gruppe von 12 Teilnehmern an. Wegen der derzeitigen Abstandsverordnungen ist der Kurs auf nur 4 TeilnehmerInnen beschränkt. Unterrichten ist meine Leidenschaft und ich möchte die Gelegenheit nutzen, vier bsonders engagierte wissenshungrige SchülerInnen, Enthusiasten, zu schulen, die bereit sind, sich ein halbes Jahr auf eine intensive Erfahrung des Erlernens dieser besonderen Gesangstechnik einzulassen und auch zu Hause zu üben. Bei nur 4 Teilnehmern werde ich auf jede Stimme so individuell eingehen können, wie nie zuvor. Ich bin gespannt, wie weit wir kommen werden. Weiterer Vorteil: reduzierte Mehrwertsteuer bis Ende des Jahres.
Der Kurs findet erstmals in meinem neuen Zuhause statt. Dort steht Dir meine gesamte Klanginstrumentensammlung zur Verfügung. Und wir sind von Natur und Wald umgeben, eine Wohltat für Stimme und Seele.
Fr.-So., 30. Oktober – 1. November 2020 Fr.-So., 4.-6. Dezember 2020 Fr.-So., 15.-17. Januar 2021 Fr.-So., 12.-14. Februar 2021 Fr.-So., 12.-14. März 2021
Jeweils Freitags 19:30 Uhr bis Sonntags 12:30 Uhr.
Der Kurs umfasst 90 Unterrichtseinheiten plus einige Online-Einzelsessions, die ich individuell mit Euch bespreche, und Webinare zu Spezialthemen.
Pensionen und Hotels findes Du zahlreich z. B. im Nachbarort mit der schönsten Altstadt Deutschlands, in Dinkelsbühl. Es gibt auch Parkmöglichkeit für ein Wohnmobil, falls gewünscht. Die Umgebung hat viel Wald und Natur.
Inhalte
Mit dieser in Europa einzigartigen, seit 2003 etablierten Ausbildung kannst Du in die Profi-Liga des Obertongesangs aufsteigen. Wie weit Du kommst und wieviel Zeit Du zwischen den Kursen investieren willst, bestimmst Du selbst. Ich begleite Dich gern über Deine eigenen Erwartungen hinaus. Du kannst den Kurs nutzen, um anschließend selber zu unterrichten, aufzutreten oder zu komponieren. Oder Du nutzt die tiefe Erfahrung der Obertöne für Dich selbst. und kannst in diesem intensiven Kurs Deine Obertontechnik auf ein Niveau entwickeln, mit dem Du in der Lage bist, selber Obertongesang zu unterrichten, wenn Du das möchtest, oder auch nur für Dich selbst tiefer in Deine eigene Obertonerfahrung eintauchen.
An fünf aufeinander aufbauenden Wochenenden vermittle ich alle wichtigen Aspekte des Obertongesangs. Die praxisorientierte Ausbildung optimiert vor allem den Obertonklang, die Leichtigkeit der Stimme, die Lautstärke und Klarheit der Obertöne, die Melodieführung und Virtuosität, sowie die Bandbreite musikalischer und derzeit bekannter therapeutischer Anwendungen der Obertöne. Es wird eine solide Wissensbasis aufgebaut, die als Grundlage didaktische Erfolge aber auch für neue Techniken wie Gesangs- und Chorphonetik wichtig ist. Wir werden uns Zeit nehmen, mit Instrumenten zu improvisieren. Ich habe unzählige Instrumente zur Verfügung. Wir werden jeden Abend mit einer meditativen Visionsreise abschließen, die auf die speziellen Vorgänge, die beim intensiven Obertonsingen und -hören im Gehirn geschehen, abgestimmt sind. Obertonsingen ist trotz aller Wissenschaftlichkeit eine ganzheitliche Erfahrung.
Weitere Inhalte sind: Vertiefende Kenntnisse der Vokal- und Formantbildung, Kontrolle des 2. und 3. Stimmformanten. Verfeinerung der Obertongesangstechniken (darunter: R- und L-Technik, Techniken zur erweiterten Kontrolle des Vokaltrakts im Rachenraum, Verbesserung der Resonanz im vorderen Mundbereich, Zungenfeinmotorik), Erweiterung des Stimmvolumens, Nutzen der Raumresonanz, Atmung. Neue Stimm- und Gehörübungen zum Resonanzverhalten der Stimme. Herleiten und Singen reiner Intonationen durch Teiltonhören. Polyphonie im Obertongesang, Singpraxis und Kompositionsregeln Improvisation mit Obertönen in Gruppen und solistisch. Wirkung der Klangfarbe in der Sprachkommunikation. Körperübungen zur Integration neuer Klangvorstellungen. Chorarbeit, Anwendungen für klassischen Chor, Resonanzsingen, Stimmhygiene
Die Obertongesangs-Ausbildung umfasst 90 Unterrichtseinheiten plus Online-Webinar und endet mit dem Erhalt eines Zertifikats. Zusätzlich gibt es zu jedem Block persönliche Coaching-Zeit mit Wolfgang Saus per Internet.
Den Absolventen steht ein Netzwerk zur Verfügung, um Erfahrungen auszutauschen und Unterstützung bei Fragen und zur Weiterentwicklung zu erhalten. Es gibt in Abständen offene Absolventen-Treffen für Fortbildung und Austausch. Für Absolventen besteht die Möglichkeit der Teilnahme an einer Masterclass.
Zielgruppe/Voraussetzungen
Egal ob Du Obertongesang beruflich nutzen oder als Erfahrung für Dich selbst vertiefen möchtest, dieser Kurs ist für Menschen, die sich wirklich für Obertongesang begeistern und bereit sind, sich ein halbes Jahr auf eine intensive Erfahrung des Erlernens dieser besonderen Gesangstechnik einzulassen. Der Kurs ist auch geeignet für Berufssänger, die Obertongesang als extended vocal technique auf der Bühne nutzen oder ihre Gesangspädagogik um das Wissen um Resonanz und Obertöne erweitern möchten. Der Kurs legt zudem die Basis für Chorphonetik, die Chorleiter zur gezielten Gestaltung von Intonationen und Homogenität nutzen können. Therapeuten werden die verschiedenen Arten der Wirkung von Obertönen und die mit der Ausbildung einhergehende stimmliche Empathiefähigkeit zu schätzen wissen.
Voraussetzungen: Wichtig ist mir, dass Du Dich gerne auf meine gesangstechnisch und wissenschaftlich orientierte Herangehensweise einläßt. Am besten ist natürlich, Du hast mich schonmal erlebt. Das Angebot richtet sich deshalb in erster Linie an ehemalige TeilnehmerInnen einer meiner Fortbildungen oder eines Kurses bei einem meiner Absolventen.
Aber auch wenn Du bei einem meiner Kollegen einen Einführungskurs besucht oder autodidaktisch Obertongesang gelernt hast, kannst Du Dich für den Kurs bewerben. Eine gute Voraussetzung ist, wenn Du bereits weiss, was die L-Technik ist. Falls Gesang, Stimme oder Musik Dein Hauptberuf sind, kannst Du möglicherweise sogar ohne Vorkenntnisse einsteigen, da akademisch studierte Musiker die Grundlagen erfahrungsgemäß oft schnell aufholen können. Vereinbare bitte dazu vorab eine Online-Unterrichtsstunde mit mir. Ruf mich an (+49 163 6237866), oder schick mir per E-Mail eine kurze Aufnahme Deiner Stimme.
Preis
Kurskosten 1.608,00 € inkl. MwSt. (aktuell 16%)
Zahlungsbedingungen: Eine Rechnung erhälst Du, sobald sicher ist, dass der Kurs auf Basis der bestehenden Bestimmungen stattfinden kann. Der Betrag gilt für 5 Wochenenden je 321,60 € und wird in einem Betrag fällig. Falls ich als Dozent ein Wochenende absagen müsste und keinen geeigneten Ersatzdozenten finde und kein Ersatztermin im Konsenz gefunden wird, wird der anteilige Kursbeitrag selbstverständlich erstattet. Das gilt auch, falls ein Wochenende wegen neuer Corona-Maßnahmen abgesagt werden muss. Wenn Du als Teilnehmer ein odere mehrere Wochenenden versäumst, wird die Kursgebühr nicht erstattet. Deshalb empfehle ich, eine Seminarversicherung für die Wochenenden abzuschließen (z. B. ERV oder HanseMerkur), die z. B. im Krankheitsfall die anteiligen Kosten erstattet, sodass Du, um den Kurs abschließen und das Zertifikat/Teilnahmebescheinigung erhalten zu können, nach Absprache die versäumten Anteile in Einzelstunden (auch online) nachholen kannst.
Anmeldung
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Wolfgang Saus singt seit 1983 Obertöne, lehrt seit 1994 Obertongesang hauptberuflich und entablierte 2003 diese Ausbildung in westlichem Obertongesang. Viele seiner SchülerInnen sind inzwischen bekannte und rennomierte ObertonsängerInnen. Als Pionier in der Obertongesangsforschung ist er für seinen gesangspädagogisch fundierten und humorvollen Unterrichtsstil bekannt. Sein Fachbuch „Oberton Singen“ gilt als Standardwerk in Musikbibliotheken und ist das erste Fachbuch zum Thema westlicher Obertongesang. Als Initiator und Mitentwickler der Stimmanalyse-Software Overtone Analyzer/VoceVista Video ist er führend in der wissenschaftlichen Erforschung und Weiterentwicklung der Gesangstechnik. 1983 erweiterte er seine damalige Spezialisierung auf zeitgenössische Musik als klassischer Bariton um Obertongesang als extended vocal technique. Sein Ziel ist es, seine in mehr als 30 Jahren gesammelte Erfahung, sein Wissen und Können zum Phänomen Obertonsingen an Enthusiaten weiter zu geben. Seine Begeisterung und sein präziser Forschungssinn für das Thema wirken mitreißend. Er steht für einen hohen Standard der Singtechnik und der Pädagogik.
“Der Oberton Workshop” mit Wolfgang Saus – DVD Trailer
5 001 vues•10 mars 2011 232PartagerEnregistrerovertonesinging 1,06 k abonnés Obertongesang basiert auf Resonanz. Die Grundtechnik des Obertonsingens kannst Du in nur 1 Minute lernen – Zunge raus und los geht’s. “Der Oberton Worskhop” ist eine selbstlern DVD des deutschen Baritons und Obertonspezialisten Wolfgang Saus. Er fasst 20 Jahre Unterrichtserfahrung in übersichtliche und kurzweilige Schritt-für-Schritt Anleitungen zusammen. Seine erfirschend klare und wissenschaftliche Art ist humorvoll und leicht nachzuvollziehen, ohne Esoterisches Beiwerk. Mit 2 Stunden Lehrmaterial kann “jeder der sprechen kann”, so Saus, das Obertonsingen lernen. Regie: Minghao Xu. Hauptfilm: 120 min. Extras: 20 min. Sprache: Deutsch. Untertitel: Englisch. Genre: Lehrfilm.
Space Sound Voice – Full Documentary about Overtone Singing and Harmonics
960 vues•30 nov. 2019 430PartagerEnregistrerVoid Visuals 1,43 k abonnés This documentary about overtone singing was published in 2010. Now for the 10 years anniversary it is available in full length here. ENJOY! Harmonic Singing (also known as overtone singing) has the power to move us deeply. It is an ancient form of singing, using our voice to produce two or more tones at once. But how does it work? And how can harmonic singing have such a profound effect on us? In the documentary “Space Sound Voice” filmmaker Minghao Xu takes us on a quest for the origins of harmonics, giving us insight in our own ability to sing harmonics. Not only a varied range of international overtone singers is introduced, but also the scientific side is well presented, resulting in an inspirig journey through the world of sound. This film documentation portrays seven musicians and tells the story of my personal fascination for ‘overtone-singing’ and the fractal geometry of sound. With: David Hykes Wolfgang Saus Christian Bollmann Danny Wetzels Hosoo & Transmongolia Jill Purce Mark van Tongeren The DVD with extra materials is available in English and German at the German publishing house https://www.traumzeit-verlag.de/ See my recent works in Animation and VFX on https://voidvisuals.com
Overtone singing is a vocal technique that creates the auditory impression of polyphony by filtering individual overtones from the sound spectrum of the voice by controlling the resonances in the vocal tract in such a way that they are perceived as separate tones. [(Saus 2004)]
It is amazing when a single person sings two notes at the same time. A second flute-like tone suddenly sounds about two octaves above the normal voice, which seems to float crystal clear and hardly locatable in space. The sound is reminiscent of a glass harp, exotic and yet strangely familiar. It touches in a peculiar way, has a calming effect and is almost physically palpable.
Can anyone do that? Yes, anyone who can speak can learn overtone singing.
Where does overtone singing come from? The styles were created independently of each other. Western overtone singing comes from Europe and not from Mongolia, as is often claimed. Altai styles of the Turkic peoples are related to each other. Less well known are overtone songs from Africa, Papua New Guinea and Tibet. Here is a list of styles:
How does overtone singing work? The resonance in the mouth and throat are combined with tongue, lip and jaw movements in such a way that individual overtones become so loud that they are perceived as individual tones.
(Neuschaefer-Rube et al. 2002), (Saus 2009)]. This does not occur in the German language. That’s why overtone singing is not so easy to discover by oneself, although in principle it consists only of exotic “vowels”.
The lowest three resonance frequencies in the vocal tract can be changed in pitch arbitrarily. This is done with mouth-, lip-, tongue- and larynx movements. Vowels are created by the first two resonance frequencies, a special pitch for each vowel.
In overtone singing, the third resonance frequency is added and lowered to the pitch of the second resonance frequency by creating an additional cavity under the tongue.
The resulting double resonator is then precisely matched to an overtone [(Saus 2009)]. The effect: the overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, which gives the impression that you hear two tones, namely the voice and the amplified overtone. If you move the double resonator from overtone to overtone, you get the impression of an overtone melody.
Overtone singers thus produce the melody with the form of the vocal tract, not with the vocal chords. The second resonance frequency determines the pitch. The third resonance frequency is used for amplification.
Actually, you still hear all the partials, not two. But the timbre created by the isolated overtone is so unfamiliar that the brain searches for a comparison with what it knows and thus communicates a flute-like sound and a singing voice to the consciousness. Overtone singing is thus a kind of acoustic illusion.
In fact, everyone hears the overtone singing a little differently. Some people experience more or less vowel character and associate the sound of the Australian didgeridoos. Others hear the sound of the flute so clearly and separately that they cannot believe it comes from the voice. These different perceptions are related to the individual sound processing (cf. How overtones work in the brain).
This double resonator can be varied over more than one octave. Most overtone singers don’t know anything about it. They are still good at overtone singing because they have intuitively learned over a long time to control their resonances. Those who have knowledge of the connections, however, learn overtone singing much faster and can optimize overtone singing in a targeted way. If you are looking for an overtone singing teacher, make sure he has this background knowledge. This saves time and money.
Voice as a Double Instrument
Our voice consists of two instruments:
The primary sound (singing tone) is formed in the larynx and consists of a chord of partial tones (sine tones) and a noise portion. It generates the keynote pitch.
The resonances in the vocal tract (mouth, throat, nose) modulate the volume of the partials. They produce the timbre. During overtone singing, they produce the melody from overtones.
Voice = primary sound + resonance
This corresponds to the classic source filter model of the voice. The new thing, however, is that in overtone singing the resonances are used as a second melody instrument. The fact that resonances can be tuned to a precise pitch is generally unknown and is not taught in classical singing education.
This bundle forms a special harmonic partial-tone chord, which we normally hear as a single note with a timbre. The timbre is created by the volume distribution of the partials. The volume distribution in the picture results from the vowel æ.
If an overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, it will suddenly be perceived as a separate tone. This is exactly what happens with overtone singing. Extreme “vowels” are used, which are not found in the language. Overtone singing is in a way an acoustic illusion, because in fact only one note is sung, but because of an extreme “pronunciation” it sounds like two notes. But one could also say that it is an acoustic disillusionment: the tone consists of many tones, and now we hear at least two of them, the keynote and the amplified overtone.
Second Instrument: Resonance Frequencies
The mouth and throat space from the larynx to the lips is also called vocal tract. Like any cavity, the vocal tract has natural resonance frequencies. These resonances are pitches that change with the shape of the mouth. The resonances change the volume distribution of the partials in the voice. This creates vowels. The fact that the resonances can be used as a melody instrument, however, is completely unknown as a concept.
Pharynx Tongue & Second Formant
The pharynx tongue controls the 2nd resonance frequency (2nd formant), the space under the tongue controls the 3rd resonance frequency. The aim of overtone singing is to place the two resonances exactly on top of each other and to meet an overtone at the same time.
During examinations at the University Hospital Aachen we found that the pharyngeal tongue movement together with the epiglottis mainly controls the overtones .
Try it: Let your tongue hang out of your mouth and speak the English we with a creaking voice (vocal fry) and motionless lips, preferably in slow motion. And then the English you, which is the backwards movement. The vowel transition i-u and u-i in these words is now produced exclusively by the pharyngeal tongue because of the inactive front tongue. It’s important that you take time for all the intermediate vocals.
Usa a sound analysis program like Overtone Analyzer to record a spectrogram of the produced sound. You will see in the spectrogram that only the second resonance frequency moves.
Mouth Floor & Third Formant
We don’t move the 3rd resonance frequency in German vowels. Therefore, the associated tongue movements are unfamiliar. If you keep your tongue in the L-position, a cavity will form under your tongue. If you then lower the floor of your mouth and pull back the muscles at the side next to the frenulum of your tongue, you will hear a sound similar to the American “r” [ ɹ ]. Imagine a small hot potato under your tongue. The larger the cavity, the lower the 3rd resonance frequency.
With a little practice the 3rd resonance frequency can be lowered exactly to the frequency of the 2nd. That’s the basic technique of overtone singing.
Literature & Sources
Itemisations
Books
Akademie f. gesprochenes Wort und Hellmut K Geissner. 2002. Stimmkulturen: 3. Stuttgarter Stimmtage 2000. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag. Arjopa. 1999. Choomii – das mongolische Obertonsingen [Medienkombination] : Anleitung zum Selberlernen. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins. Coffin, Berton. 1980. Coffin’s Overtones of Bel Canto: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel-Chart Exercises: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel Chart Exercises. Scarecrow Pr Inc. Cope, Jonathan. 2004. How to Khoomei: And Other Overtone Singing Styles. Sound For Health. Finscher, Ludwig und Friedrich Blume. 1994. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ( MGG): 23 Bände. 2., neubearb. A. Metzler. Galgut, Peter. 2005. Humming Your Way Happiness: An Introduction to Tuva and Overtone Singing from Around the World. O Books (John Hunt). Goldman, Jonathan. 1994. Heilende Klänge : die Macht der Obertöne. München: Droemer Knaur. Goldman, Jonathan. 2002. Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics. New. Healing Arts Home. Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. Klangheilung. Die Schöpferkraft des Obertongesangs. Mit CD zum Erlernen heilender Klänge! Erw. Ausg. mit CD. AMRA Verlag. Grawunder, Sven. 1999. Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs – Obertongesang versus Kehlgesang. Unpublished Diploma, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~grawunde/KehlgesangversObertongesang.pdf. Grawunder, Sven. 2005. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing – Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences. Unpublished PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle. Grawunder, Sven. 2009. On the physiology of voice production in South-Siberian throat singing: analysis of acoustic and electrophysiological evidences. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Groeneveld, B.D. 2007. Stem en boventonen / druk 1: oefeningen, improvisaties, klankmeditaties. 1. Panta Rhei, Uitgeverij. Hinds, Stuart. 2012. Eine Oberton-Erfahrung – An Overtone-Experience: 15 Lieder mit mehrstimmigem Obertongesang – 15 polyphonic overtone songs you’ll love to sing. Übers. von Wolfgang Saus. 1., Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Levin, Theodore Craig und Valentina Suzukei. 2006. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond with CD (Audio) and DVD: Sound, Music and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Har/Com/Dv. Indiana University Press. Mecke, Ann-Christine, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter und Thomas Seedorf, Hrsg. 2016. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme: Geschichte – Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen – Gesangstechniken – Interpreten. 1. Aufl. Instrumenten-Lexika. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Recovering Performance Traditions. Pap/Com. Univ of Washington Pr. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Boventoonzang: een zelfstudiecursus in het leren hzingen van boventoonen. 1. Aufl. Katwijk aan Zee: Servire Uitgevers B. V. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Overtone Singing Study Guide. 1. Aufl. Cryptic Voices. Reimann, Michael. 1993. Unendlicher Klang. Obertöne in Stimme und Instrumentalmusik. Norderstedt: Kolibri. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Was ist Obertongesang – Eine Definition. In: Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs, 58. 1. Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs. 4. (2011). Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2010. Obertongesang. In: Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft, hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller, 182–189. Schüttorf: Hess, 9. November. Saus, Wolfgang. 2016. Obertongesang. Hg. von Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, und Thomas Seedorf. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme. Instrumenten-Lexika 5. Laaber: Laaber. Saus, Wolfgang und Minghao Xu. 2009. DVD. Der Oberton Workshop mit Wolfgang Saus. Erlerne das Geheimnis der magischen Stimmkunst Obertongesang. The Overtone-Workshop. Aquire the magical art of harmonic singing.DVD-5. 16:9 PAL. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang, Alexander Lauterwasser, Michael Konrath, Uwe Ross, Emily Zurek, Peter Gabis, Herbert Seitz, u. a. 2010. Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft. Hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller. Hess, Schüttorf. Stroh, Wolfgang Martin. 1999. Handbuch New Age Musik. Auf der Suche nach neuen musikalischen Erfahrungen. Conbrio Verlagsges.Mbh. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West (Hardcover). 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West. 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. Vetter, Michael. 1996. Om-Eine ObertonschuleAudio CD. Spectrum (Note 1). Voigt-Zimmermann, Susanne, Stephanie Kurtenbach, Gabriele Finkbeiner, Anke Bergt und Wanda Mainka, Hrsg. 2016. Stimmstörungen – ein Fokus der Klinischen Sprechwissenschaft: Aktuelle Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Forschung und Praxis. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Formanten – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Formanten (zugegriffen: 27. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Stimme – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Stimme (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Intervalle – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Intervalle (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Hören – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Hören (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Obertöne – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Obertöne (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wolff, Stephanie. 1987. Obertöne. Versinken in die Welt des Klanges. Meditation und Therapie durch neue Dimensionen der Musik. Mit einer praktischen Einführung in die Technik des Obertonsingens. Freiburg: Bauer.
The first version of this article was published in 2000, the first WordPressverion on 8/3/2013. 3 replies
Claudia Franke says: Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung! Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich. Ich werde weiter daran versuchen. Reply
Miroslav Grosser says: oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!! Reply
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Overtone singing is a vocal technique that creates the auditory impression of polyphony by filtering individual overtones from the sound spectrum of the voice by controlling the resonances in the vocal tract in such a way that they are perceived as separate tones. [(Saus 2004)]
It is amazing when a single person sings two notes at the same time. A second flute-like tone suddenly sounds about two octaves above the normal voice, which seems to float crystal clear and hardly locatable in space. The sound is reminiscent of a glass harp, exotic and yet strangely familiar. It touches in a peculiar way, has a calming effect and is almost physically palpable.
Can anyone do that? Yes, anyone who can speak can learn overtone singing.
Where does overtone singing come from? The styles were created independently of each other. Western overtone singing comes from Europe and not from Mongolia, as is often claimed. Altai styles of the Turkic peoples are related to each other. Less well known are overtone songs from Africa, Papua New Guinea and Tibet. Here is a list of styles:
How does overtone singing work? The resonance in the mouth and throat are combined with tongue, lip and jaw movements in such a way that individual overtones become so loud that they are perceived as individual tones.
(Neuschaefer-Rube et al. 2002), (Saus 2009)]. This does not occur in the German language. That’s why overtone singing is not so easy to discover by oneself, although in principle it consists only of exotic “vowels”.
The lowest three resonance frequencies in the vocal tract can be changed in pitch arbitrarily. This is done with mouth-, lip-, tongue- and larynx movements. Vowels are created by the first two resonance frequencies, a special pitch for each vowel.
In overtone singing, the third resonance frequency is added and lowered to the pitch of the second resonance frequency by creating an additional cavity under the tongue.
The resulting double resonator is then precisely matched to an overtone [(Saus 2009)]. The effect: the overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, which gives the impression that you hear two tones, namely the voice and the amplified overtone. If you move the double resonator from overtone to overtone, you get the impression of an overtone melody.
Overtone singers thus produce the melody with the form of the vocal tract, not with the vocal chords. The second resonance frequency determines the pitch. The third resonance frequency is used for amplification.
Actually, you still hear all the partials, not two. But the timbre created by the isolated overtone is so unfamiliar that the brain searches for a comparison with what it knows and thus communicates a flute-like sound and a singing voice to the consciousness. Overtone singing is thus a kind of acoustic illusion.
In fact, everyone hears the overtone singing a little differently. Some people experience more or less vowel character and associate the sound of the Australian didgeridoos. Others hear the sound of the flute so clearly and separately that they cannot believe it comes from the voice. These different perceptions are related to the individual sound processing (cf. How overtones work in the brain).
This double resonator can be varied over more than one octave. Most overtone singers don’t know anything about it. They are still good at overtone singing because they have intuitively learned over a long time to control their resonances. Those who have knowledge of the connections, however, learn overtone singing much faster and can optimize overtone singing in a targeted way. If you are looking for an overtone singing teacher, make sure he has this background knowledge. This saves time and money.
Voice as a Double Instrument
Our voice consists of two instruments:
The primary sound (singing tone) is formed in the larynx and consists of a chord of partial tones (sine tones) and a noise portion. It generates the keynote pitch.
The resonances in the vocal tract (mouth, throat, nose) modulate the volume of the partials. They produce the timbre. During overtone singing, they produce the melody from overtones.
Voice = primary sound + resonance
This corresponds to the classic source filter model of the voice. The new thing, however, is that in overtone singing the resonances are used as a second melody instrument. The fact that resonances can be tuned to a precise pitch is generally unknown and is not taught in classical singing education.
This bundle forms a special harmonic partial-tone chord, which we normally hear as a single note with a timbre. The timbre is created by the volume distribution of the partials. The volume distribution in the picture results from the vowel æ.
If an overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, it will suddenly be perceived as a separate tone. This is exactly what happens with overtone singing. Extreme “vowels” are used, which are not found in the language. Overtone singing is in a way an acoustic illusion, because in fact only one note is sung, but because of an extreme “pronunciation” it sounds like two notes. But one could also say that it is an acoustic disillusionment: the tone consists of many tones, and now we hear at least two of them, the keynote and the amplified overtone.
Second Instrument: Resonance Frequencies
The mouth and throat space from the larynx to the lips is also called vocal tract. Like any cavity, the vocal tract has natural resonance frequencies. These resonances are pitches that change with the shape of the mouth. The resonances change the volume distribution of the partials in the voice. This creates vowels. The fact that the resonances can be used as a melody instrument, however, is completely unknown as a concept.
Pharynx Tongue & Second Formant
The pharynx tongue controls the 2nd resonance frequency (2nd formant), the space under the tongue controls the 3rd resonance frequency. The aim of overtone singing is to place the two resonances exactly on top of each other and to meet an overtone at the same time.
During examinations at the University Hospital Aachen we found that the pharyngeal tongue movement together with the epiglottis mainly controls the overtones .
Try it: Let your tongue hang out of your mouth and speak the English we with a creaking voice (vocal fry) and motionless lips, preferably in slow motion. And then the English you, which is the backwards movement. The vowel transition i-u and u-i in these words is now produced exclusively by the pharyngeal tongue because of the inactive front tongue. It’s important that you take time for all the intermediate vocals.
Usa a sound analysis program like Overtone Analyzer to record a spectrogram of the produced sound. You will see in the spectrogram that only the second resonance frequency moves.
Mouth Floor & Third Formant
We don’t move the 3rd resonance frequency in German vowels. Therefore, the associated tongue movements are unfamiliar. If you keep your tongue in the L-position, a cavity will form under your tongue. If you then lower the floor of your mouth and pull back the muscles at the side next to the frenulum of your tongue, you will hear a sound similar to the American “r” [ ɹ ]. Imagine a small hot potato under your tongue. The larger the cavity, the lower the 3rd resonance frequency.
With a little practice the 3rd resonance frequency can be lowered exactly to the frequency of the 2nd. That’s the basic technique of overtone singing.
Literature & Sources
Itemisations
Books
Akademie f. gesprochenes Wort und Hellmut K Geissner. 2002. Stimmkulturen: 3. Stuttgarter Stimmtage 2000. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag. Arjopa. 1999. Choomii – das mongolische Obertonsingen [Medienkombination] : Anleitung zum Selberlernen. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins. Coffin, Berton. 1980. Coffin’s Overtones of Bel Canto: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel-Chart Exercises: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel Chart Exercises. Scarecrow Pr Inc. Cope, Jonathan. 2004. How to Khoomei: And Other Overtone Singing Styles. Sound For Health. Finscher, Ludwig und Friedrich Blume. 1994. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ( MGG): 23 Bände. 2., neubearb. A. Metzler. Galgut, Peter. 2005. Humming Your Way Happiness: An Introduction to Tuva and Overtone Singing from Around the World. O Books (John Hunt). Goldman, Jonathan. 1994. Heilende Klänge : die Macht der Obertöne. München: Droemer Knaur. Goldman, Jonathan. 2002. Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics. New. Healing Arts Home. Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. Klangheilung. Die Schöpferkraft des Obertongesangs. Mit CD zum Erlernen heilender Klänge! Erw. Ausg. mit CD. AMRA Verlag. Grawunder, Sven. 1999. Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs – Obertongesang versus Kehlgesang. Unpublished Diploma, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~grawunde/KehlgesangversObertongesang.pdf. Grawunder, Sven. 2005. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing – Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences. Unpublished PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle. Grawunder, Sven. 2009. On the physiology of voice production in South-Siberian throat singing: analysis of acoustic and electrophysiological evidences. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Groeneveld, B.D. 2007. Stem en boventonen / druk 1: oefeningen, improvisaties, klankmeditaties. 1. Panta Rhei, Uitgeverij. Hinds, Stuart. 2012. Eine Oberton-Erfahrung – An Overtone-Experience: 15 Lieder mit mehrstimmigem Obertongesang – 15 polyphonic overtone songs you’ll love to sing. Übers. von Wolfgang Saus. 1., Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Levin, Theodore Craig und Valentina Suzukei. 2006. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond with CD (Audio) and DVD: Sound, Music and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Har/Com/Dv. Indiana University Press. Mecke, Ann-Christine, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter und Thomas Seedorf, Hrsg. 2016. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme: Geschichte – Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen – Gesangstechniken – Interpreten. 1. Aufl. Instrumenten-Lexika. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Recovering Performance Traditions. Pap/Com. Univ of Washington Pr. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Boventoonzang: een zelfstudiecursus in het leren hzingen van boventoonen. 1. Aufl. Katwijk aan Zee: Servire Uitgevers B. V. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Overtone Singing Study Guide. 1. Aufl. Cryptic Voices. Reimann, Michael. 1993. Unendlicher Klang. Obertöne in Stimme und Instrumentalmusik. Norderstedt: Kolibri. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Was ist Obertongesang – Eine Definition. In: Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs, 58. 1. Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs. 4. (2011). Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2010. Obertongesang. In: Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft, hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller, 182–189. Schüttorf: Hess, 9. November. Saus, Wolfgang. 2016. Obertongesang. Hg. von Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, und Thomas Seedorf. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme. Instrumenten-Lexika 5. Laaber: Laaber. Saus, Wolfgang und Minghao Xu. 2009. DVD. Der Oberton Workshop mit Wolfgang Saus. Erlerne das Geheimnis der magischen Stimmkunst Obertongesang. The Overtone-Workshop. Aquire the magical art of harmonic singing.DVD-5. 16:9 PAL. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang, Alexander Lauterwasser, Michael Konrath, Uwe Ross, Emily Zurek, Peter Gabis, Herbert Seitz, u. a. 2010. Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft. Hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller. Hess, Schüttorf. Stroh, Wolfgang Martin. 1999. Handbuch New Age Musik. Auf der Suche nach neuen musikalischen Erfahrungen. Conbrio Verlagsges.Mbh. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West (Hardcover). 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West. 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. Vetter, Michael. 1996. Om-Eine ObertonschuleAudio CD. Spectrum (Note 1). Voigt-Zimmermann, Susanne, Stephanie Kurtenbach, Gabriele Finkbeiner, Anke Bergt und Wanda Mainka, Hrsg. 2016. Stimmstörungen – ein Fokus der Klinischen Sprechwissenschaft: Aktuelle Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Forschung und Praxis. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Formanten – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Formanten (zugegriffen: 27. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Stimme – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Stimme (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Intervalle – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Intervalle (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Hören – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Hören (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Obertöne – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Obertöne (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wolff, Stephanie. 1987. Obertöne. Versinken in die Welt des Klanges. Meditation und Therapie durch neue Dimensionen der Musik. Mit einer praktischen Einführung in die Technik des Obertonsingens. Freiburg: Bauer.
The first version of this article was published in 2000, the first WordPressverion on 8/3/2013. 3 replies
Claudia Franke says: Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung! Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich. Ich werde weiter daran versuchen. Reply
Miroslav Grosser says: oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!! Reply
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I agree to the terms and conditions laid out in the Privacy Policy
Overtone singing is a vocal technique that creates the auditory impression of polyphony by filtering individual overtones from the sound spectrum of the voice by controlling the resonances in the vocal tract in such a way that they are perceived as separate tones. [(Saus 2004)]
It is amazing when a single person sings two notes at the same time. A second flute-like tone suddenly sounds about two octaves above the normal voice, which seems to float crystal clear and hardly locatable in space. The sound is reminiscent of a glass harp, exotic and yet strangely familiar. It touches in a peculiar way, has a calming effect and is almost physically palpable.
Can anyone do that? Yes, anyone who can speak can learn overtone singing.
Where does overtone singing come from? The styles were created independently of each other. Western overtone singing comes from Europe and not from Mongolia, as is often claimed. Altai styles of the Turkic peoples are related to each other. Less well known are overtone songs from Africa, Papua New Guinea and Tibet. Here is a list of styles:
How does overtone singing work? The resonance in the mouth and throat are combined with tongue, lip and jaw movements in such a way that individual overtones become so loud that they are perceived as individual tones.
(Neuschaefer-Rube et al. 2002), (Saus 2009)]. This does not occur in the German language. That’s why overtone singing is not so easy to discover by oneself, although in principle it consists only of exotic “vowels”.
The lowest three resonance frequencies in the vocal tract can be changed in pitch arbitrarily. This is done with mouth-, lip-, tongue- and larynx movements. Vowels are created by the first two resonance frequencies, a special pitch for each vowel.
In overtone singing, the third resonance frequency is added and lowered to the pitch of the second resonance frequency by creating an additional cavity under the tongue.
The resulting double resonator is then precisely matched to an overtone [(Saus 2009)]. The effect: the overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, which gives the impression that you hear two tones, namely the voice and the amplified overtone. If you move the double resonator from overtone to overtone, you get the impression of an overtone melody.
Overtone singers thus produce the melody with the form of the vocal tract, not with the vocal chords. The second resonance frequency determines the pitch. The third resonance frequency is used for amplification.
Actually, you still hear all the partials, not two. But the timbre created by the isolated overtone is so unfamiliar that the brain searches for a comparison with what it knows and thus communicates a flute-like sound and a singing voice to the consciousness. Overtone singing is thus a kind of acoustic illusion.
In fact, everyone hears the overtone singing a little differently. Some people experience more or less vowel character and associate the sound of the Australian didgeridoos. Others hear the sound of the flute so clearly and separately that they cannot believe it comes from the voice. These different perceptions are related to the individual sound processing (cf. How overtones work in the brain).
This double resonator can be varied over more than one octave. Most overtone singers don’t know anything about it. They are still good at overtone singing because they have intuitively learned over a long time to control their resonances. Those who have knowledge of the connections, however, learn overtone singing much faster and can optimize overtone singing in a targeted way. If you are looking for an overtone singing teacher, make sure he has this background knowledge. This saves time and money.
Voice as a Double Instrument
Our voice consists of two instruments:
The primary sound (singing tone) is formed in the larynx and consists of a chord of partial tones (sine tones) and a noise portion. It generates the keynote pitch.
The resonances in the vocal tract (mouth, throat, nose) modulate the volume of the partials. They produce the timbre. During overtone singing, they produce the melody from overtones.
Voice = primary sound + resonance
This corresponds to the classic source filter model of the voice. The new thing, however, is that in overtone singing the resonances are used as a second melody instrument. The fact that resonances can be tuned to a precise pitch is generally unknown and is not taught in classical singing education.
This bundle forms a special harmonic partial-tone chord, which we normally hear as a single note with a timbre. The timbre is created by the volume distribution of the partials. The volume distribution in the picture results from the vowel æ.
If an overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, it will suddenly be perceived as a separate tone. This is exactly what happens with overtone singing. Extreme “vowels” are used, which are not found in the language. Overtone singing is in a way an acoustic illusion, because in fact only one note is sung, but because of an extreme “pronunciation” it sounds like two notes. But one could also say that it is an acoustic disillusionment: the tone consists of many tones, and now we hear at least two of them, the keynote and the amplified overtone.
Second Instrument: Resonance Frequencies
The mouth and throat space from the larynx to the lips is also called vocal tract. Like any cavity, the vocal tract has natural resonance frequencies. These resonances are pitches that change with the shape of the mouth. The resonances change the volume distribution of the partials in the voice. This creates vowels. The fact that the resonances can be used as a melody instrument, however, is completely unknown as a concept.
Pharynx Tongue & Second Formant
The pharynx tongue controls the 2nd resonance frequency (2nd formant), the space under the tongue controls the 3rd resonance frequency. The aim of overtone singing is to place the two resonances exactly on top of each other and to meet an overtone at the same time.
During examinations at the University Hospital Aachen we found that the pharyngeal tongue movement together with the epiglottis mainly controls the overtones .
Try it: Let your tongue hang out of your mouth and speak the English we with a creaking voice (vocal fry) and motionless lips, preferably in slow motion. And then the English you, which is the backwards movement. The vowel transition i-u and u-i in these words is now produced exclusively by the pharyngeal tongue because of the inactive front tongue. It’s important that you take time for all the intermediate vocals.
Usa a sound analysis program like Overtone Analyzer to record a spectrogram of the produced sound. You will see in the spectrogram that only the second resonance frequency moves.
Mouth Floor & Third Formant
We don’t move the 3rd resonance frequency in German vowels. Therefore, the associated tongue movements are unfamiliar. If you keep your tongue in the L-position, a cavity will form under your tongue. If you then lower the floor of your mouth and pull back the muscles at the side next to the frenulum of your tongue, you will hear a sound similar to the American “r” [ ɹ ]. Imagine a small hot potato under your tongue. The larger the cavity, the lower the 3rd resonance frequency.
With a little practice the 3rd resonance frequency can be lowered exactly to the frequency of the 2nd. That’s the basic technique of overtone singing.
Literature & Sources
Itemisations
Books
Akademie f. gesprochenes Wort und Hellmut K Geissner. 2002. Stimmkulturen: 3. Stuttgarter Stimmtage 2000. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag. Arjopa. 1999. Choomii – das mongolische Obertonsingen [Medienkombination] : Anleitung zum Selberlernen. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins. Coffin, Berton. 1980. Coffin’s Overtones of Bel Canto: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel-Chart Exercises: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel Chart Exercises. Scarecrow Pr Inc. Cope, Jonathan. 2004. How to Khoomei: And Other Overtone Singing Styles. Sound For Health. Finscher, Ludwig und Friedrich Blume. 1994. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ( MGG): 23 Bände. 2., neubearb. A. Metzler. Galgut, Peter. 2005. Humming Your Way Happiness: An Introduction to Tuva and Overtone Singing from Around the World. O Books (John Hunt). Goldman, Jonathan. 1994. Heilende Klänge : die Macht der Obertöne. München: Droemer Knaur. Goldman, Jonathan. 2002. Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics. New. Healing Arts Home. Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. Klangheilung. Die Schöpferkraft des Obertongesangs. Mit CD zum Erlernen heilender Klänge! Erw. Ausg. mit CD. AMRA Verlag. Grawunder, Sven. 1999. Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs – Obertongesang versus Kehlgesang. Unpublished Diploma, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~grawunde/KehlgesangversObertongesang.pdf. Grawunder, Sven. 2005. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing – Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences. Unpublished PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle. Grawunder, Sven. 2009. On the physiology of voice production in South-Siberian throat singing: analysis of acoustic and electrophysiological evidences. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Groeneveld, B.D. 2007. Stem en boventonen / druk 1: oefeningen, improvisaties, klankmeditaties. 1. Panta Rhei, Uitgeverij. Hinds, Stuart. 2012. Eine Oberton-Erfahrung – An Overtone-Experience: 15 Lieder mit mehrstimmigem Obertongesang – 15 polyphonic overtone songs you’ll love to sing. Übers. von Wolfgang Saus. 1., Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Levin, Theodore Craig und Valentina Suzukei. 2006. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond with CD (Audio) and DVD: Sound, Music and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Har/Com/Dv. Indiana University Press. Mecke, Ann-Christine, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter und Thomas Seedorf, Hrsg. 2016. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme: Geschichte – Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen – Gesangstechniken – Interpreten. 1. Aufl. Instrumenten-Lexika. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Recovering Performance Traditions. Pap/Com. Univ of Washington Pr. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Boventoonzang: een zelfstudiecursus in het leren hzingen van boventoonen. 1. Aufl. Katwijk aan Zee: Servire Uitgevers B. V. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Overtone Singing Study Guide. 1. Aufl. Cryptic Voices. Reimann, Michael. 1993. Unendlicher Klang. Obertöne in Stimme und Instrumentalmusik. Norderstedt: Kolibri. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Was ist Obertongesang – Eine Definition. In: Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs, 58. 1. Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs. 4. (2011). Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2010. Obertongesang. In: Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft, hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller, 182–189. Schüttorf: Hess, 9. November. Saus, Wolfgang. 2016. Obertongesang. Hg. von Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, und Thomas Seedorf. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme. Instrumenten-Lexika 5. Laaber: Laaber. Saus, Wolfgang und Minghao Xu. 2009. DVD. Der Oberton Workshop mit Wolfgang Saus. Erlerne das Geheimnis der magischen Stimmkunst Obertongesang. The Overtone-Workshop. Aquire the magical art of harmonic singing.DVD-5. 16:9 PAL. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang, Alexander Lauterwasser, Michael Konrath, Uwe Ross, Emily Zurek, Peter Gabis, Herbert Seitz, u. a. 2010. Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft. Hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller. Hess, Schüttorf. Stroh, Wolfgang Martin. 1999. Handbuch New Age Musik. Auf der Suche nach neuen musikalischen Erfahrungen. Conbrio Verlagsges.Mbh. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West (Hardcover). 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West. 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. Vetter, Michael. 1996. Om-Eine ObertonschuleAudio CD. Spectrum (Note 1). Voigt-Zimmermann, Susanne, Stephanie Kurtenbach, Gabriele Finkbeiner, Anke Bergt und Wanda Mainka, Hrsg. 2016. Stimmstörungen – ein Fokus der Klinischen Sprechwissenschaft: Aktuelle Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Forschung und Praxis. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Formanten – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Formanten (zugegriffen: 27. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Stimme – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Stimme (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Intervalle – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Intervalle (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Hören – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Hören (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Obertöne – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Obertöne (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wolff, Stephanie. 1987. Obertöne. Versinken in die Welt des Klanges. Meditation und Therapie durch neue Dimensionen der Musik. Mit einer praktischen Einführung in die Technik des Obertonsingens. Freiburg: Bauer.
The first version of this article was published in 2000, the first WordPressverion on 8/3/2013. 3 replies
Claudia Franke says: Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung! Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich. Ich werde weiter daran versuchen. Reply
Miroslav Grosser says: oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!! Reply
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion? Feel free to contribute!
Name *
Email *
Website
I agree to the terms and conditions laid out in the Privacy Policy
Overtone singing is a vocal technique that creates the auditory impression of polyphony by filtering individual overtones from the sound spectrum of the voice by controlling the resonances in the vocal tract in such a way that they are perceived as separate tones. [(Saus 2004)]
It is amazing when a single person sings two notes at the same time. A second flute-like tone suddenly sounds about two octaves above the normal voice, which seems to float crystal clear and hardly locatable in space. The sound is reminiscent of a glass harp, exotic and yet strangely familiar. It touches in a peculiar way, has a calming effect and is almost physically palpable.
Can anyone do that? Yes, anyone who can speak can learn overtone singing.
Where does overtone singing come from? The styles were created independently of each other. Western overtone singing comes from Europe and not from Mongolia, as is often claimed. Altai styles of the Turkic peoples are related to each other. Less well known are overtone songs from Africa, Papua New Guinea and Tibet. Here is a list of styles:
How does overtone singing work? The resonance in the mouth and throat are combined with tongue, lip and jaw movements in such a way that individual overtones become so loud that they are perceived as individual tones.
(Neuschaefer-Rube et al. 2002), (Saus 2009)]. This does not occur in the German language. That’s why overtone singing is not so easy to discover by oneself, although in principle it consists only of exotic “vowels”.
The lowest three resonance frequencies in the vocal tract can be changed in pitch arbitrarily. This is done with mouth-, lip-, tongue- and larynx movements. Vowels are created by the first two resonance frequencies, a special pitch for each vowel.
In overtone singing, the third resonance frequency is added and lowered to the pitch of the second resonance frequency by creating an additional cavity under the tongue.
The resulting double resonator is then precisely matched to an overtone [(Saus 2009)]. The effect: the overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, which gives the impression that you hear two tones, namely the voice and the amplified overtone. If you move the double resonator from overtone to overtone, you get the impression of an overtone melody.
Overtone singers thus produce the melody with the form of the vocal tract, not with the vocal chords. The second resonance frequency determines the pitch. The third resonance frequency is used for amplification.
Actually, you still hear all the partials, not two. But the timbre created by the isolated overtone is so unfamiliar that the brain searches for a comparison with what it knows and thus communicates a flute-like sound and a singing voice to the consciousness. Overtone singing is thus a kind of acoustic illusion.
In fact, everyone hears the overtone singing a little differently. Some people experience more or less vowel character and associate the sound of the Australian didgeridoos. Others hear the sound of the flute so clearly and separately that they cannot believe it comes from the voice. These different perceptions are related to the individual sound processing (cf. How overtones work in the brain).
This double resonator can be varied over more than one octave. Most overtone singers don’t know anything about it. They are still good at overtone singing because they have intuitively learned over a long time to control their resonances. Those who have knowledge of the connections, however, learn overtone singing much faster and can optimize overtone singing in a targeted way. If you are looking for an overtone singing teacher, make sure he has this background knowledge. This saves time and money.
Voice as a Double Instrument
Our voice consists of two instruments:
The primary sound (singing tone) is formed in the larynx and consists of a chord of partial tones (sine tones) and a noise portion. It generates the keynote pitch.
The resonances in the vocal tract (mouth, throat, nose) modulate the volume of the partials. They produce the timbre. During overtone singing, they produce the melody from overtones.
Voice = primary sound + resonance
This corresponds to the classic source filter model of the voice. The new thing, however, is that in overtone singing the resonances are used as a second melody instrument. The fact that resonances can be tuned to a precise pitch is generally unknown and is not taught in classical singing education.
This bundle forms a special harmonic partial-tone chord, which we normally hear as a single note with a timbre. The timbre is created by the volume distribution of the partials. The volume distribution in the picture results from the vowel æ.
If an overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, it will suddenly be perceived as a separate tone. This is exactly what happens with overtone singing. Extreme “vowels” are used, which are not found in the language. Overtone singing is in a way an acoustic illusion, because in fact only one note is sung, but because of an extreme “pronunciation” it sounds like two notes. But one could also say that it is an acoustic disillusionment: the tone consists of many tones, and now we hear at least two of them, the keynote and the amplified overtone.
Second Instrument: Resonance Frequencies
The mouth and throat space from the larynx to the lips is also called vocal tract. Like any cavity, the vocal tract has natural resonance frequencies. These resonances are pitches that change with the shape of the mouth. The resonances change the volume distribution of the partials in the voice. This creates vowels. The fact that the resonances can be used as a melody instrument, however, is completely unknown as a concept.
Pharynx Tongue & Second Formant
The pharynx tongue controls the 2nd resonance frequency (2nd formant), the space under the tongue controls the 3rd resonance frequency. The aim of overtone singing is to place the two resonances exactly on top of each other and to meet an overtone at the same time.
During examinations at the University Hospital Aachen we found that the pharyngeal tongue movement together with the epiglottis mainly controls the overtones .
Try it: Let your tongue hang out of your mouth and speak the English we with a creaking voice (vocal fry) and motionless lips, preferably in slow motion. And then the English you, which is the backwards movement. The vowel transition i-u and u-i in these words is now produced exclusively by the pharyngeal tongue because of the inactive front tongue. It’s important that you take time for all the intermediate vocals.
Usa a sound analysis program like Overtone Analyzer to record a spectrogram of the produced sound. You will see in the spectrogram that only the second resonance frequency moves.
Mouth Floor & Third Formant
We don’t move the 3rd resonance frequency in German vowels. Therefore, the associated tongue movements are unfamiliar. If you keep your tongue in the L-position, a cavity will form under your tongue. If you then lower the floor of your mouth and pull back the muscles at the side next to the frenulum of your tongue, you will hear a sound similar to the American “r” [ ɹ ]. Imagine a small hot potato under your tongue. The larger the cavity, the lower the 3rd resonance frequency.
With a little practice the 3rd resonance frequency can be lowered exactly to the frequency of the 2nd. That’s the basic technique of overtone singing.
Literature & Sources
Itemisations
Books
Akademie f. gesprochenes Wort und Hellmut K Geissner. 2002. Stimmkulturen: 3. Stuttgarter Stimmtage 2000. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag. Arjopa. 1999. Choomii – das mongolische Obertonsingen [Medienkombination] : Anleitung zum Selberlernen. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins. Coffin, Berton. 1980. Coffin’s Overtones of Bel Canto: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel-Chart Exercises: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel Chart Exercises. Scarecrow Pr Inc. Cope, Jonathan. 2004. How to Khoomei: And Other Overtone Singing Styles. Sound For Health. Finscher, Ludwig und Friedrich Blume. 1994. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ( MGG): 23 Bände. 2., neubearb. A. Metzler. Galgut, Peter. 2005. Humming Your Way Happiness: An Introduction to Tuva and Overtone Singing from Around the World. O Books (John Hunt). Goldman, Jonathan. 1994. Heilende Klänge : die Macht der Obertöne. München: Droemer Knaur. Goldman, Jonathan. 2002. Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics. New. Healing Arts Home. Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. Klangheilung. Die Schöpferkraft des Obertongesangs. Mit CD zum Erlernen heilender Klänge! Erw. Ausg. mit CD. AMRA Verlag. Grawunder, Sven. 1999. Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs – Obertongesang versus Kehlgesang. Unpublished Diploma, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~grawunde/KehlgesangversObertongesang.pdf. Grawunder, Sven. 2005. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing – Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences. Unpublished PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle. Grawunder, Sven. 2009. On the physiology of voice production in South-Siberian throat singing: analysis of acoustic and electrophysiological evidences. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Groeneveld, B.D. 2007. Stem en boventonen / druk 1: oefeningen, improvisaties, klankmeditaties. 1. Panta Rhei, Uitgeverij. Hinds, Stuart. 2012. Eine Oberton-Erfahrung – An Overtone-Experience: 15 Lieder mit mehrstimmigem Obertongesang – 15 polyphonic overtone songs you’ll love to sing. Übers. von Wolfgang Saus. 1., Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Levin, Theodore Craig und Valentina Suzukei. 2006. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond with CD (Audio) and DVD: Sound, Music and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Har/Com/Dv. Indiana University Press. Mecke, Ann-Christine, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter und Thomas Seedorf, Hrsg. 2016. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme: Geschichte – Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen – Gesangstechniken – Interpreten. 1. Aufl. Instrumenten-Lexika. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Recovering Performance Traditions. Pap/Com. Univ of Washington Pr. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Boventoonzang: een zelfstudiecursus in het leren hzingen van boventoonen. 1. Aufl. Katwijk aan Zee: Servire Uitgevers B. V. Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Overtone Singing Study Guide. 1. Aufl. Cryptic Voices. Reimann, Michael. 1993. Unendlicher Klang. Obertöne in Stimme und Instrumentalmusik. Norderstedt: Kolibri. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Was ist Obertongesang – Eine Definition. In: Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs, 58. 1. Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs. 4. (2011). Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang. 2010. Obertongesang. In: Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft, hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller, 182–189. Schüttorf: Hess, 9. November. Saus, Wolfgang. 2016. Obertongesang. Hg. von Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, und Thomas Seedorf. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme. Instrumenten-Lexika 5. Laaber: Laaber. Saus, Wolfgang und Minghao Xu. 2009. DVD. Der Oberton Workshop mit Wolfgang Saus. Erlerne das Geheimnis der magischen Stimmkunst Obertongesang. The Overtone-Workshop. Aquire the magical art of harmonic singing.DVD-5. 16:9 PAL. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag. Saus, Wolfgang, Alexander Lauterwasser, Michael Konrath, Uwe Ross, Emily Zurek, Peter Gabis, Herbert Seitz, u. a. 2010. Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft. Hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller. Hess, Schüttorf. Stroh, Wolfgang Martin. 1999. Handbuch New Age Musik. Auf der Suche nach neuen musikalischen Erfahrungen. Conbrio Verlagsges.Mbh. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West (Hardcover). 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West. 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V. Vetter, Michael. 1996. Om-Eine ObertonschuleAudio CD. Spectrum (Note 1). Voigt-Zimmermann, Susanne, Stephanie Kurtenbach, Gabriele Finkbeiner, Anke Bergt und Wanda Mainka, Hrsg. 2016. Stimmstörungen – ein Fokus der Klinischen Sprechwissenschaft: Aktuelle Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Forschung und Praxis. Berlin: Frank & Timme. Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Formanten – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Formanten (zugegriffen: 27. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Stimme – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Stimme (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Intervalle – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Intervalle (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Hören – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Hören (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wikipedia. 2011. Benutzer:Oberton/Bücher/Obertöne – Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Wolfgang_Saus/Bücher/Obertöne (zugegriffen: 24. Januar 2011). Wolff, Stephanie. 1987. Obertöne. Versinken in die Welt des Klanges. Meditation und Therapie durch neue Dimensionen der Musik. Mit einer praktischen Einführung in die Technik des Obertonsingens. Freiburg: Bauer.
The first version of this article was published in 2000, the first WordPressverion on 8/3/2013. 3 replies
Claudia Franke says: Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung! Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich. Ich werde weiter daran versuchen. Reply
Miroslav Grosser says: oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!! Reply
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4 810 vues•25 nov. 2009 120PartagerEnregistrerVoid Visuals 1,39 k abonnés Filmdokumentation “Raum Klang Stimme – Auf der Suche nach dem Ursprung der Obertöne” 45min – 2009 Deutschland. DVD erhältlich auf http://www.voidvisuals.com Obertongesang, die Kunst, mit der menschlichen Stimme zwei oder mehrere Töne gleichzeitig zu singen, berührt und bewegt uns in der Tiefe unserer Seele. Doch wie entstehen Obertöne? Und warum wirken sie so intensiv auf uns? Der Filmemacher Minghao Xu geht in seiner DVD-Dokumentation mit dem Who-is-who der internationalen Obertonszene auf eine ebenso poetisch gefilmte wie wissenschaftlich inspirierende Reise – auf der Suche nach dem Ursprung der Obertöne. Herausgekommen ist dabei eine stimmungsvolle und informative Exkursionin in das Herz der Klänge, die nicht nur Klangfreunde begeistern dürfte. Diese Filmdokumentation behandelt anhand von sieben Musikern das Thema Obertongesang und jener harmonikalen Proportionen, die dahinter stecken. Mit: David Hykes Christian Bollmann Wolfgang Saus Danny Wetzels Hosoo & Transmongolia Jill Purce Mark van Tongeren
Overtone singing is a vocal technique that creates the auditory impression of polyphony by filtering individual overtones from the sound spectrum of the voice by controlling the resonances in the vocal tract in such a way that they are perceived as separate tones.
It is amazing when a single person sings two notes at the same time. A second flute-like tone suddenly sounds about two octaves above the normal voice, which seems to float crystal clear and hardly locatable in space. The sound is reminiscent of a glass harp, exotic and yet strangely familiar. It touches in a peculiar way, has a calming effect and is almost physically palpable.
Can anyone do that?
Yes, anyone who can speak can learn overtone singing.
Where does overtone singing come from?
The styles were created independently of each other. Western overtone singing comes from Europe and not from Mongolia, as is often claimed. Altai styles of the Turkic peoples are related to each other. Less well known are overtone songs from Africa, Papua New Guinea and Tibet. Here is a list of styles:
How does overtone singing work?
The resonance in the mouth and throat are combined with tongue, lip and jaw movements in such a way that individual overtones become so loud that they are perceived as individual tones.
→ see below
The Trick: Double Resonance
The secret of overtone singing is double resonance – the merging of two resonance frequencies that originate in the pharynx and oral cavity (vocal tract). This does not occur in the German language. That’s why overtone singing is not so easy to discover by oneself, although in principle it consists only of exotic “vowels”.
The lowest three resonance frequencies in the vocal tract can be changed in pitch arbitrarily. This is done with mouth-, lip-, tongue- and larynx movements. Vowels are created by the first two resonance frequencies, a special pitch for each vowel.
In overtone singing, the third resonance frequency is added and lowered to the pitch of the second resonance frequency by creating an additional cavity under the tongue.
The resulting double resonator is then precisely matched to an overtone. The effect: the overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, which gives the impression that you hear two tones, namely the voice and the amplified overtone. If you move the double resonator from overtone to overtone, you get the impression of an overtone melody.
Overtone singers thus produce the melody with the form of the vocal tract, not with the vocal chords. The second resonance frequency determines the pitch. The third resonance frequency is used for amplification.
Actually, you still hear all the partials, not two. But the timbre created by the isolated overtone is so unfamiliar that the brain searches for a comparison with what it knows and thus communicates a flute-like sound and a singing voice to the consciousness. Overtone singing is thus a kind of acoustic illusion.
In fact, everyone hears the overtone singing a little differently. Some people experience more or less vowel character and associate the sound of the Australian didgeridoos. Others hear the sound of the flute so clearly and separately that they cannot believe it comes from the voice. These different perceptions are related to the individual sound processing (cf. How overtones work in the brain).
This double resonator can be varied over more than one octave. Most overtone singers don’t know anything about it. They are still good at overtone singing because they have intuitively learned over a long time to control their resonances. Those who have knowledge of the connections, however, learn overtone singing much faster and can optimize overtone singing in a targeted way. If you are looking for an overtone singing teacher, make sure he has this background knowledge. This saves time and money.
The primary sound (singing tone) is formed in the larynx and consists of a chord of partial tones (sine tones) and a noise portion. It generates the keynote pitch.
The resonances in the vocal tract (mouth, throat, nose) modulate the volume of the partials. They produce the timbre. During overtone singing, they produce the melody from overtones.
Voice = primary sound + resonance
This corresponds to the classic source filter model of the voice. The new thing, however, is that in overtone singing the resonances are used as a second melody instrument. The fact that resonances can be tuned to a precise pitch is generally unknown and is not taught in classical singing education.
This bundle forms a special harmonic partial-tone chord, which we normally hear as a single note with a timbre. The timbre is created by the volume distribution of the partials. The volume distribution in the picture results from the vowel æ.
If an overtone becomes much louder than its neighbours, it will suddenly be perceived as a separate tone. This is exactly what happens with overtone singing. Extreme “vowels” are used, which are not found in the language. Overtone singing is in a way an acoustic illusion, because in fact only one note is sung, but because of an extreme “pronunciation” it sounds like two notes. But one could also say that it is an acoustic disillusionment: the tone consists of many tones, and now we hear at least two of them, the keynote and the amplified overtone.
Second Instrument: Resonance Frequencies
The mouth and throat space from the larynx to the lips is also called vocal tract. Like any cavity, the vocal tract has natural resonance frequencies. These resonances are pitches that change with the shape of the mouth. The resonances change the volume distribution of the partials in the voice. This creates vowels. The fact that the resonances can be used as a melody instrument, however, is completely unknown as a concept.
Pharynx Tongue & Second Formant
The pharynx tongue controls the 2nd resonance frequency (2nd formant), the space under the tongue controls the 3rd resonance frequency. The aim of overtone singing is to place the two resonances exactly on top of each other and to meet an overtone at the same time.
During examinations at the University Hospital Aachen we found that the pharyngeal tongue movement together with the epiglottis mainly controls the overtones .
Try it: Let your tongue hang out of your mouth and speak the English we with a creaking voice (vocal fry) and motionless lips, preferably in slow motion. And then the English you, which is the backwards movement. The vowel transition i-u and u-i in these words is now produced exclusively by the pharyngeal tongue because of the inactive front tongue. It’s important that you take time for all the intermediate vocals.
Usa a sound analysis program like Overtone Analyzer to record a spectrogram of the produced sound. You will see in the spectrogram that only the second resonance frequency moves.
Mouth Floor & Third Formant
We don’t move the 3rd resonance frequency in German vowels. Therefore, the associated tongue movements are unfamiliar. If you keep your tongue in the L-position, a cavity will form under your tongue. If you then lower the floor of your mouth and pull back the muscles at the side next to the frenulum of your tongue, you will hear a sound similar to the American “r” [ ɹ ]. Imagine a small hot potato under your tongue. The larger the cavity, the lower the 3rd resonance frequency.
With a little practice the 3rd resonance frequency can be lowered exactly to the frequency of the 2nd. That’s the basic technique of overtone singing.
Literature & Sources
Itemisations
Books
Akademie f. gesprochenes Wort und Hellmut K Geissner. 2002. Stimmkulturen: 3. Stuttgarter Stimmtage 2000. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag.
Arjopa. 1999. Choomii – das mongolische Obertonsingen [Medienkombination] : Anleitung zum Selberlernen. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins.
Coffin, Berton. 1980. Coffin’s Overtones of Bel Canto: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel-Chart Exercises: Phonetic Basis of Artistic Singing with 100 Chromatic Vowel Chart Exercises. Scarecrow Pr Inc.
Cope, Jonathan. 2004. How to Khoomei: And Other Overtone Singing Styles. Sound For Health.
Finscher, Ludwig und Friedrich Blume. 1994. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ( MGG): 23 Bände. 2., neubearb. A. Metzler.
Galgut, Peter. 2005. Humming Your Way Happiness: An Introduction to Tuva and Overtone Singing from Around the World. O Books (John Hunt).
Goldman, Jonathan. 1994. Heilende Klänge : die Macht der Obertöne. München: Droemer Knaur.
Goldman, Jonathan. 2002. Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics. New. Healing Arts Home.
Goldman, Jonathan. 2008. Klangheilung. Die Schöpferkraft des Obertongesangs. Mit CD zum Erlernen heilender Klänge! Erw. Ausg. mit CD. AMRA Verlag.
Grawunder, Sven. 2005. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing – Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences. Unpublished PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle.
Grawunder, Sven. 2009. On the physiology of voice production in South-Siberian throat singing: analysis of acoustic and electrophysiological evidences. Berlin: Frank & Timme.
Hinds, Stuart. 2012. Eine Oberton-Erfahrung – An Overtone-Experience: 15 Lieder mit mehrstimmigem Obertongesang – 15 polyphonic overtone songs you’ll love to sing. Übers. von Wolfgang Saus. 1., Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag.
Levin, Theodore Craig und Valentina Suzukei. 2006. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond with CD (Audio) and DVD: Sound, Music and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Har/Com/Dv. Indiana University Press.
Mecke, Ann-Christine, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter und Thomas Seedorf, Hrsg. 2016. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme: Geschichte – Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen – Gesangstechniken – Interpreten. 1. Aufl. Instrumenten-Lexika. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag.
Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance, and Oral Narrative: Recovering Performance Traditions. Pap/Com. Univ of Washington Pr.
Rachele, Rollin. 1989. Boventoonzang: een zelfstudiecursus in het leren hzingen van boventoonen. 1. Aufl. Katwijk aan Zee: Servire Uitgevers B. V.
Reimann, Michael. 1993. Unendlicher Klang. Obertöne in Stimme und Instrumentalmusik. Norderstedt: Kolibri.
Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Was ist Obertongesang – Eine Definition. In: Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs, 58. 1. Aufl. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag.
Saus, Wolfgang. 2004. Oberton Singen. Mit Lern-CD: Das Geheimnis einer magischen Stimmkunst – Obertongesang erlernen mit dem Drei-Stufen-Selbstlernkurs. 4. (2011). Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag.
Saus, Wolfgang. 2010. Obertongesang. In: Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft, hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller, 182–189. Schüttorf: Hess, 9. November.
Saus, Wolfgang. 2016. Obertongesang. Hg. von Ann-Christine Mecke, Martin Pfleiderer, Bernhard Richter, und Thomas Seedorf. Lexikon der Gesangsstimme. Instrumenten-Lexika 5. Laaber: Laaber.
Saus, Wolfgang und Minghao Xu. 2009. DVD. Der Oberton Workshop mit Wolfgang Saus. Erlerne das Geheimnis der magischen Stimmkunst Obertongesang. The Overtone-Workshop. Aquire the magical art of harmonic singing.DVD-5. 16:9 PAL. Battweiler: Traumzeit-Verlag.
Saus, Wolfgang, Alexander Lauterwasser, Michael Konrath, Uwe Ross, Emily Zurek, Peter Gabis, Herbert Seitz, u. a. 2010. Peter Hess – Klangmethoden im Kontext von Forschung und Wissenschaft. Hg. von Peter Hess und Christina M. Koller. Hess, Schüttorf.
Stroh, Wolfgang Martin. 1999. Handbuch New Age Musik. Auf der Suche nach neuen musikalischen Erfahrungen. Conbrio Verlagsges.Mbh.
van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West (Hardcover). 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V.
van Tongeren, Mark C. 2004. Overtone Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East and West. 2Rev Ed. Amsterdam: Eburon B V.
Voigt-Zimmermann, Susanne, Stephanie Kurtenbach, Gabriele Finkbeiner, Anke Bergt und Wanda Mainka, Hrsg. 2016. Stimmstörungen – ein Fokus der Klinischen Sprechwissenschaft: Aktuelle Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Forschung und Praxis. Berlin: Frank & Timme.
Wolff, Stephanie. 1987. Obertöne. Versinken in die Welt des Klanges. Meditation und Therapie durch neue Dimensionen der Musik. Mit einer praktischen Einführung in die Technik des Obertonsingens. Freiburg: Bauer.
Black, Jocelyn. 2018. Overtone Singing: History, Development, and Influence in Contemporary Music. Capstone Projects and Master’s Theses (1. Dezember). https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps_thes_all/402.
Cosi, Piero und Graziano Tisato. 2003. ON THE MAGIC OF OVERTONE SINGING. Voce, Canto, Parlato / Studi di Onore di Franco Ferrero. Instituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Sezione di Padova “Fonetica e Dialettologia”: 83–100. (zugegriffen: 14. November 2008).
Fuks, Leonardo. 1998. PhD Thesis in music acoustics: FROM AIR TO MUSIC – Acoustical, Physiological and Perceptual Aspects of Reed Wind Instrument Playing and Vocal-Ventricular Fold Phonation. Stockholm: KTH.
Garcia, Manuel. 1878. Traité complet de l’art du chant en deux parties. Ecole de Garcia. Paris: Heugel et cie. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001981291 (zugegriffen: 21. November 2013).
García, Manuel Compositeur. 1851. Ecole de Garcia. Traité complet de l’art du chant en 2 parties (3e éd.) – Première partie. l’auteur (Paris). http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525032004 (zugegriffen: 26. Juli 2014).
García, Manuel. 1985. École de Garcia: traité complet de l’art du chant en deux parties. Minkoff.
Grawunder, Sven. 2003. Comparison of voice production types of „western“ overtone singing and South Siberian throat singing. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Conference Paper.
Grawunder, Sven. 2003. Der südsibirische Kehlgesang als Gegenstand phonetischer Untersuchungen. In: Gegenstandsauffassung und aktuelle Forschungen der halleschen Sprechwissenschaft, hg. von Eva-Maria Krech und Eberhard Stock, 53–91. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~grawunde/files/Autorreferat_SG_Dipl.pdf.
Grawunder, Sven. 2012. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat singing – Extended Abstract. The Phonetician 101/102: 25–32. http://www.isphs.org/Phonetician/Phonetician_101.pdf (zugegriffen: 6. Juli 2014).
Kob, Malte, Christiane Neuschaefer-Rube und Wolfgang Saus. 2001. Untersuchungen der akustischen Eigenschaften des Obertongesangs. In: . Hamburg: TU Hamburg-Harburg.
Matern, Gabriele, Christiane Neuschaefer-Rube, Wolfgang Saus und Malte Kob. 2000. Ansatzrohrgestaltung beim Obertonsingen. 17. Wiss. Jahrestagung Deutsche Ges. für Phoniatrie und Pädaudiologie, Tübingen (2000)DVD. Aachen: RWTH, Uniklinik.
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Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung!
Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich.
Ich werde weiter daran versuchen.
oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!!
Sygyt Software was founded in 2003 by Bodo Maass and Wolfgang Saus to explore the creation of tools that help people to become better musicians and to realize the full potential of their voice. “Sygyt” is the tuvan word for a specific throat singing technique that creates a very strong, high pitched overtone sound. The name represents the company’s origin in overtone singing.
Bodo Maass
Bodo Maass is the founder and main software developer of Sygyt Software. He first began programming at the age of 11. After studying Cognitive Science (Psychology and Philosophy) at the University of Oxford, he worked on voice based human-machine interfaces for a company called MicroStrategy in Washington D.C. He subsequently returned to Oxford to become the first employee of the newly founded company NaturalMotion, where he was the lead developer for NaturalMotion’s award winning 3D animation software “endorphin”, a commercial product to synthesize human movement based on artificial intelligence research. He discovered Overtone Singing in 1994 and immediately wanted to learn this seemingly impossible art of singing two melodies at the same time. He and his teacher in this method, Wolfgang Saus, talked about the lack of good software to assist teaching overtone singers, and thus “Overtone Analyzer” was born.
This work was later expanded to create the next generation of the software “VoceVista” together with the voice scientist Don Miller.
Wolfgang Saus
Originally trained in Germany as a scientist as well as a classical singer, Wolfgang Saus has gained a profound understanding of overtone singing, both as a performer and a teacher. His unique combination of a scientific intellect and several decades experience as a singer enables him to make overtones accessible to many people by explaining them in simple, intuitive terms. Saus has become one of the leading overtone singers in Europe, and has taught hundreds of students individually and through workshops. He is also an expert in improving the intonation of a choir by training the singers to control their overtones, which he has refined into his new method of “Choral Phonetics”.
Overtone Analyzer and VoceVista Video are the consequent application of his knowledge to the medium of software, which allows the visualization and exploration of voice and sound in an interactive way.
Don Miller
Operatic bass-baritone Donald Miller was professor at the Syracuse Unversity School of Music when, in the 1980s, he began research on the acoustics and physiology of the singing voice with phoniatrist Harm Schutte in Groningen, The Netherlands. Later in that decade he settled in Groningen full time, where he and Prof. Schutte published a number of articles, earning him a PhD with the publication of Registers in Singing in the year 2000. A product of that research has been the software program VoceVista, providing digital feedback for singing instruction from spectrum analysis and the electroglottograph (EGG). In 2008 he published Resonance in Singing, concisely describing the application of the system to analysis of the recorded literature, as well as to live instruction in the voice studio.
Krzysztof Jaros
Krzysztof Jaros, born in Poland, is author, software developer, independent researcher, lecturer. Mainly, his work is focused on soundwork and consciousness exploration. His research touches singing bowls, overtone singing, brainwave entrainment, and spectral signal processing. Over the years, he created several audio technologies, software solutions, methods and verbal programs – designed to support therapies, self-improvement and adventures in the world of altered states of awareness. He worked for Peter Hess Academy in Poland, and inspired by works of Robert A. Monroe, he gives workshops on ways of dealing with expanded perception of inner and outer reality. A few years ago he fell in love with Overtone Analyzer, and now is helping to push it beyond the imaginable.
Ganz herzlichen Dank für diese klare, hervorragend strukturierte und überzeugende Darstellung!
Dadurch wird mir die Hörbarkeit des 2. Tons endlich deutlich.
Ich werde weiter daran versuchen.
so spannend
oberton.org war und ist aus meiner Sicht eindeutig die informativste Webseite zum Thema Obertongesang im deutschsprachigen Raum. DANKE für soviel Informationen und das ganze Engagement und die Zeit, die es erfordert, dieses ständig aktualisierte, wachsende und mittlerweile sogar interaktive lexikonartige Wissen hier zu versammeln und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Ich bin echt begeistert von dieser Fundgrube für Stimm-Interessierte und Oberton-Fans!!!
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