
Polyphonic overtone singing explained visually (2014) [video] - peter_d_sherman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHTF1-IhuC0
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ksaj
Interestingly, this technique is often called throat singing, because it
typically occurs with a style of singing that does begin in the throat. But
the overtones themselves are "singled out" by the shape of your tongue, which
is why it sounds so much like a varietal RearrrearrrRRRRearrrr effect. The
"throat" part of throat singing is the rough "frog" and grinding sounds you
hear in Tuva (for example), which is done to provide richer overtones for
singling out with the tongue.

I saw an illustrated guide of how to do it, but it was so long ago I probably
won't find it again. It's basically a lot like how you pronounce the R sound,
except that your tongue takes on a bit of an S wave shape. If you look at a
referee's whistle, you can get a fairly good idea what shape it is that you
are forming inside your mouth. The shape of the whistle is to emphasize a
specific frequency in the hiss noise made by blowing into it. Polyphonic
overtone singing is pretty much exactly the same thing, but using voice
instead of hiss to generate the complex tones.

And just like learning to whistle, at first you'll sound like a raving lunatic
and maybe even come close to passing out from hyperventilating. But once you
begin finding the ideal tongue placements for a pitch, you'll very rapidly
learn more, and it'll be exactly as automatic as after you learn to whistle.
They're very very similar things to do, and the difficulty is identical.

If you are tongue tied (as I am) you probably won't ever be able to do it
right. But you should be able to coax out at least a bit of overtone.

Now go out and try it, and enjoy knowing your neighbours will be forever
terrified of you.

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MperorM
For the overtones put your tongue somewhere between an L and an R sound. Then
move around your lips to create different o shapes while humming. Move around
your tongue slightly in different ways as well. At some point you'll
accidently create an overtone for a brief moment. Then see if you can recreate
that. Slowly you'll be able to consistently hit the overtones and from there
it's smooth sailing.

For the throat singing it's the exact same technique beat boxers use to create
the deep bass. Just try to make a exagurated sigh. Do so until you accidently
do throat singing for a brief second, then see if you can recreate that for a
longer duration.

It's all about trial and error! It's really not as hard to learn as it might
seem :)

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amelius
I have yet to see a real performance where this technique is used artistically
_and_ in a way that sounds pleasant.

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ksaj
Have you watched Ghengis Blues? That's actually the very first place I ever
heard of Tuvan throat singing, which has a lot of polyphonic overtones going
on.

The story is great, and the mix with blues is really interesting. The dude has
the most thunderous voice I've ever heard. Subwoofer gold.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xlbCq0WTw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xlbCq0WTw)

~~~
amelius
Definitely an interesting sound, but not my definition of singing. The term
"polyphonic singing" makes me want to hear a single person sing in a way such
that it sounds like two or more people singing in harmony.

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drifkin
it's very brief, but she gets quite a reaction from the band at around 6:10:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJIgTLe0hc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJIgTLe0hc)

~~~
ksaj
I noticed David Lee Roth (Van Halen and solo) does exactly that polyphonic
vocal riff in a number of songs.

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tyingq
His vocal track separated. Try around 3:25 or so:
[https://youtu.be/IArxakPsPE0](https://youtu.be/IArxakPsPE0)

~~~
ksaj
It's only 3:28 long. I think you meant 2:25 since he does a really good
overtone at about 2:30. Thanks for this perfect example. Usually I'm the only
one who knows wtf I'm talking about when I mention such obscure things.

~~~
tyingq
Oops, yes...2:25.

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TedDoesntTalk
Why is she dressed like that?

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dmerrick
Because she can dress however she wants

