give throat-singing a go

[ThunderIdeal]

for the unaware http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1pcEtHI_w probably the best youtube vid. this guy achieves high pitch throat singing and has lots of control, awesome.

throat singing is when two to four notes are sounded simultaneously by resonating a deeper note in the chest which makes a higher note as it goes past the throat. alternately you may believe that angles or invisible aliens are just singing harmony.

there are some youtube tutorials.

i post this because i didn't have to try very hard to learn how to do it so some of you should give it a go. my throat singing, like most, is nowhere near as high pitched or awesome as what is contained in that link. also, it is painful after a little while.

[Yawning Man]

Man throat singing sounds awesome. Just don't post it on youtube if you're a beginner.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=alnXKiwSm7A

Haha

cheers

[Teotzlcoatl]

Very cool! Seems like a good shamanic tool.

[rahli]

Yes one of my favorites too. Would love to hear it while watching bergs float by.

[ajna]

yeah how awesome is throat singing

i've made some funny noises trying but none of the cool harmonics. maybe i should try harder though if you reckon it's pretty doable TI

that youtube vid is my favorite, gives me tingles. since i first heard it i've wanted to try and do a cover, not even necessarily the throat singing part but the structure of the song is beautiful. i'm guessing it's a traditional song of some kind, pretty sure i've seen a vid of someone else throat singing the same song

[incognito]

massive attacks 'karmacoma' has throatsinging mixed into the beat. sounds awesome.

features one of my favorite trip-hop artists tricky as well!

[Stinkmeat]

Throat singing rocks! I saw a documentary a few years ago with tibetan monks doing it, except they seem to focus moreso on the lower notes. I've been practicing on and off for the last 2 years or so. The higher notes are really hard for me to reach though. I just stick to the bassy tones.

Stink

[Undergrounder]

Man throat singing sounds awesome. Just don't post it on youtube if you're a beginner.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=alnXKiwSm7A

Haha

cheers

HAHAHAHA Man that was funny shit... he's not actually throat singing like the guy in the OP's video, he's just growling and squawking like an idiot?

Anyway yeah i can do it too! It's not that hard, but i come from a long family of whistlers and strange noise makers...

The movie 'Mongol' has a lot of traditional throat singing in it, although they don't do the higher whistling tone, just the low growling.

[coin]

I'm pretty sure anyone can learn to do it quite quickly...years ago I figured it out just from listening and reading a brief description...I've taught a couple of people how to do it within a few minutes -- more generically - overtone singing

the low gyuto monk style (tibetan tantric buddhism), and particular styles of mongolian throat singing make use of the false vocal chords, which is harder to learn because you have to find the specific resonant frequency (i think??) or "sweet spot" of your own chords...too much or too little tension (ie too high or too low by about 1 whole tone, seemingly) results in severe coughing and vocal strain and is probably a good way to develop nodules. but you can gradually increase this range see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_cords for false vocal chords

i have read that some traditions of mongolian throat singing deliberately develop nodules (sing until their vocal chords bleed basically) but I'm not sure if this is accurate/true

when practising, sip warm water...before practising you can gargle some oil around in your mouth to lubricate the back of the throat

but anyone can use a more pure tone (sounds like a sine wave -- "uuuu" [rhymes with "who"] sound, also "eeee" [as in "see"] is easy) to begin, that places no strain on the voice and still get decent harmonics...obviously the more noisy growls will have richer, more complex harmonic components that are revealed by manipulating the mouth.

also, it seems you can open up the nasal passage/back of the throat for further tones

it's a good way of practicing efficiency of breath and absorptive concentration

inuit throat singing is another very interesting phenomenon and a fun game to play with friends who are equally weird as yourself : ) (check youtube, and also an artist called Tanya Tagaq)

some may also be interested in david hykes' music

maybe i should post a clip of my singing...we could all post our attempts : )

Edited July 26, 2008 by coin

[Lachy]

That first clip is very cool. That second clip murders both throat singing *and* Tool... the bastard!

[Fenris]

Listening to throat singing while on Aya is totally awesome.

Thats some special stuff.

[hebrew]

coin would love to hear you sing

throat singing is great, there is a really interesting film called ghengis blues, i highly reccomend it, its about this blind guy from the US who si dead know i think which is sad, but he heard it late one night on radio and it mesmerised him, so he learnt to sing tuvan styles, the film is about him going over to tuva and performing and winning the competition he was a blues artist and shared that with the people of tuva too and it is such a great film look out for it.

last time i had sapo, during the intense burning and sweating a frog came to me, made my throat groan it transformed into some deep throat singing, that singing vibrated all over my body through my body made my head rattle and it soothed me like nothing else it was like a cool breeze over hot sweat.

sounded like a frog too.

just thought i woudl share.

nothing beat some thrat singing with a mouth harp either.

[tassiejd]

throat singing is great, there is a really interesting film called ghengis blues, i highly reccomend it, its about this blind guy from the US who si dead know i think which is sad, but he heard it late one night on radio and it mesmerised him, so he learnt to sing tuvan styles, the film is about him going over to tuva and performing and winning the competition he was a blues artist and shared that with the people of tuva too and it is such a great film look out for it.

I have been trying to remember the name of that for so many years now its wrong lol, but i agree that was a great doco that one.

And i to have been slowly learning throat singing, and while i can hit some of the whistles and higher notes I cant do it clean like a lot of them can with just the high part i always end up with the lower stuff underneath but im getting there.

On a side note some one was showing us their throat singing at ega last year, Who ever that was was quite good, not sure who it was now but if you are amongst us here cheers I enjoyed it.

[Legba]

Antique singing bowls

Antique Himalayan bowlsTraditionally, antique singing bowls were made of Panchaloga (literally meaning "five metals" in Sanskrit): a bronze alloy of copper, tin, zinc and iron and other metals. Antiques often include silver, gold and nickel.

Antique singing bowls produce multiphonic and polyharmonic overtones which are unique to the antique instruments. The subtle yet complex multiple harmonic frequencies are a special quality of the high quality bronze alloy. The art of making singing bowls in the traditional way is considered a lost art.

Antique singing bowls may display abstract decorations like lines, rings and circles engraved into the surface. Decoration may appear outside the rim, inside the bottom, around the top of the rim and sometimes on the outside bottom.

Antique singing bowls are highly prized and collected worldwide. Their popularity is due to their fine craftsmanship and remarkable sound. The aging process seems to improve the tone and centuries old antiques produce an incredibly rich and beautiful sound.

Link

Ive seen Tuvan Throat singing used with these wonderful instruments. You can get the bowl going with the padded stick that you use to strike the bowl then hold the bowl up to your mouth and polyphonic away.

Very cool.

[hebrew]

yes they are really cool those singing bowls

had thought of using them as a resonator for your singing though thats great.

[incognito]

tass was it julian? he was kinda doing throat singing in preperation for his talks at ega 06 i believe~!

not to shabby!

[coin]

yeah, there's nothing like the bizarro harmonics of a bell/bowl ... have not had the pleasure of using the bowls myself

i'll record some singing tomorrow - won't be the best quality tho (not that it matters, im just a hack :-) ).. will use an iriver

[coin]

also forgot to mention, for interest, Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Stimmung"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimmung

[Teotzlcoatl]

 

That's amazing! I can't believe he does that with his mouth!!!

[JDanger]

That's amazing! I can't believe he does that with his mouth!!!

That's what she said.

[hebrew]

coin thanks fro that stickhausen i have not heard of that piece, will look into it

[ThunderIdeal]

yay, i made a recording with some obvious high sounds. i was driving, which makes it virtually impossible to hold a note, so theoretically it should have been easy to reproduce, but i haven't been able to.

throat singing reminds me of didgeridoo a bit, or 'aum'. it seems powerful, and primal. i think i'm gonna keep trying (long term though, because the more i practise in a short period, the worse i get as the throat becomes sore).

i'd like to listen to some clips if anybody is confident.

[coin]

nice one TI - the car can be good : ) (just don't get distracted ) try the pure tones to tweak/practice your harmonics so you don't hurt your chords

if anyone is in melbourne -- at CAE (council of adult education, in the city www.cae.edu.au ), there is a guy named Dean Frenkel (he has put out a CD or two) who does a day (or 2 day?) course teaching harmonic singing ... he does some didge "massage" also ... i'm not sure how much it is, and i don't think it's necessary to pay to learn this - but if you enjoy short courses and meeting people, etc, could be an interesting weekend ... just thought I'd mention it. (i assume he's still doing the course?)

[hebrew]

there is alos an online lesson page as well i will try and find it again for you all help you get started

[ThunderIdeal]

starting this thread was a wise move. i should have known you'd all be right into it since one of you introduced me to the concept.