Lauri
Harvilahti
circa
1981
A TWO VOICED
SONG WITH NO WORDS
Overtone singing, which is often referred to as biphonic or pharyngeal singing, is a style of
singing within the framework of which it is possible to produce two (sometimes
three) tones which are distinct auditory
experiences (1). Singing in this style involves having the vocal cords produce
a low tonic which is then normally used in the same manner as a pedal point.
Utilizing a specific technique a voice based on the same series of overtones
is also produced. Altering the shape of the oral cavity by movements of the tongue,
the singer is able to shift from one overtone to another and thus present
melodies. (2) The area which can be profitably exploited extends from the 5th
to the 13th harmonic.
Upon
first acquaintance, this type of singing leaves a striking impression;
nevertheless it is known to several peoples of Central
Asia as the Tuvins, the Mongols, Khakas, the Bashkirs, and the
Tibetans. According to A. N. Aksenov,
Tuva is the focal area of overtone singing. The Tuvins know four different
types of singing, each of which has its own name: kargyraa, borbannadyr, sygyt, and ezengileer. The height of the tonic, the tonality,
the structure of the melodies produced with the harmonics, and the styles of presentation
are criteria providing a basis for differentiating these styles of singing. The
general term used by the Tuvins to refer to this style of singing is khömei.
(3)
Overtone
singing (khöörnii) is most
common in the western parts of the Mongolian People's Republic.(4) According to
the information I have been able to obtain from Mongolian scholars, in the
western aimak of Kobdo there are places where the entire male population knows
this type of biphonic singing which is not accompanied by any text.
C.
Erdenebilig mentions that one of the amateur groups in this region has twenty
gifted khöörnii singers. The
state folk song and dance ensemble also employs overtone singers. One of them,
Dovčingiin Sundui, the most famous master of this style, has a repertoire
of more than 70 folk songs and other melodies.(5)
Some of the peoples who once knew this
style seem to have forgotten it. With respect to the Bashkirs, for example, the
only accounts that I know of are V.I. Dal’s interesting description from the
middles of the last century, S.G. Rybakov’s “notes of an unfortunate
fieldworker”, from the year 1897, and L.N. Lebendinsky’s article in which he
provides a description of his meeting with Sayfetdin in 1939. Advanced in
years, Sayfetdin was the only Bashkir he could told find who knew overtone
singing. Of primary interest, however, is the fact that Sayfeldin claimed to
have learned how to sing without any instruction and he tried to convey the impression
that he had never even heard anyone perform an özläü Song, özläü being the term
used by the Bashkirs refer to this type of Singing. (6)
Overtone Singing and Shamanism?
Lebendinsky did not consider Sayfetdin's
claim described in the preceding section to be reliable, and he surmised that
the Singer was attempting to conceal the evidently shamanistic origin of this
type of singing. Lebendinsky connected özläü singing with the imitation of animal
cries used by the shamans, and he linked this style of singing with the
technique used to play the Jew’s harp. According to him, an additional factor
supporting this is the other term the Bashkirs use to refer to the özläü type
of singing. Specifically, the Bashkir word for "Jew's harp" is kurai,
while the term tamak kurai 'throat
Jew's harp' is one of the terms used for overtone singing. (7) This is
definitely an apt association: playing the Jew's harp and the type of singing
depicted in this article are both based on the amplification of overtones in
the oral cavity. Naturally, the most important difference is the actual sound
source: in the Jew's harp this is the string of the instrument, in overtone
singing it is the vocal cords. The Jew's harp was one of the most important
instruments used by the shamans. (8).One of the better descriptions is the
article about the Shamanism practiced by the Buriats of the Irkutsk region published by N. Agapitov and M.
Kharigalov. Among the Buriats in question this instrument is only used by the
shamans, and it had to be made by a master who was descended from the
"heavenly spirits”. (9)
A.
Aksenov also links the type of singing to playing the Jew's harp, but he claims
that the overtone singing of the Tuvins has no connection with Shamanism. (10) In contrast to this, Crossley‑Holland
notes that the type of singing may have become secularized and thus lost its
links to Shamanism and the use of the Jew’s harp. As an example of the ritual
use of overtone singing he mentions the type of singing used in Tibetan
dGe-lugs-pa monasteries in
conjunction with Tantric rituals. Typical of this type of singing is the
presence of a superimposed 5th or 6th harmonic on top of
a low fundamental. (11)
Ter
Ellingson-Waugh’s extensive article, “Musical flight in Tibet” takes up the question of the
influence of shamanism on Tibetan Buddhism connects tile glissando technique
used In the Tibetan db yangs song corresponding technique of rapid transition
between a low and high register used by shamans and described by E.
Širokogoroff and J. Yasser (12)
There are many descriptions of the
imitation of auxiliary spirits and animals during Shamanistic séances. (13) It
seems probable that overtone singing would have been one of those techniques of
singing which have been used to produce this effect. Erdenebilig notes that
Mongolian Traditional lore connects khöömii
singing with the whistling of the wind, the murmuring of flowing water, and
imitating the cries of birds and other animals. He does not, however, mention
tile connection with shamanism. (14)
The analogy with the Jew's harp provides
some verification for this theory:
descriptions exist according to which at least the Yakuts and the Turkmenians
used the Jew’s harp in order to imitate birds as well as animals in general.
(15)
The remarks concerning the method the
peoples of the upper Altai use to perform epic poems found by B. Šul’gin in the
notes left by A. Anokhin, a geographer, are also interesting. According to
Anokhin the peoples of
the Altai sing epic poems in a voice
the tonality of which resembles the buzzing
of a flying beetle.(16) I have personally made the same observation when listening to an epic poem recorded in
western Mongolia by an
expedition sent by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. The manner in which
the poems was performed brought
Anokkin's description to mind: the singer used an articulation in which the words were clearly differentiated, but
in which some of 1he melodies in the
series of overtones constantly resonated in a low voice above the text which
was being recited above the text which was been recited.
A Mongolian khöömii Performance
In 1981
I spent a month in Mongolia.
I intended to record folk music and accordingly,
I had the study of overtone singing, of which I had heard a few Recordings
previously, as one of my goals. Towards the end of my stay Ulaan Bator I was
introduced to a geology student named Badzardaran. 
This young man was from
the Kobdo region, and he bad learned how to sing from his father, a famous
master of khöömii singing. In spite
of efforts taken on my part, Badzardaran remained my only contact with overtone
singing on that trip. He Sang two melodies into my microphone, of which the
first was, to my surprise, the Song Ulaan
odnii tukhai duu 'A Song about the Red Star' dedicated to Lenin by the
composer Luvsandzav. I told him that I also wanted to hear a traditional
melody, and the hurried student found the time to perform the well known folk
Song Dörvön uul 'Four Mountains’
the notes for which follow [page 5].
The melody
consists of a series of harmonics and in this case they are the fifth, sixth,
seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth harmonics. The scale of the song corresponds
to the anhemitonic pentatonic scale which dominates in Mongolian music. This performance
differs from the normal version which is sung with respect to rhythm as well
as, in places, melody. The style of singing has its limitations: in practice, the
melody can only move between the 5th and the 13th harmonics. The 11th harmonic
is not used since it is not included in the anhemitonic pentatonic scale (17)
The following table depicts the series of
partial harmonies when the tonic is ‘Ab’, this situation being analogous to
that in the song serving as our example. The area used in the melody is
indicated by transversals. In some cases the harmonic is a level lower (↓)
than is indicated by the notation. I have written the note corresponding to the
7th harmonic as ‘F’ in accordance with the pentatonic scale. In actual fact,
the seventh tone of the series of harmonies emanating from ‘Ab’ is essentially a low ‘G#. (18)
As a prerequisite to the analysis, samples
of the song were recorded on a Revox B77 tape recorder, the tape was an Agfa
Professional PEM468: the microphone was AKG CK 22 (linear).
The result of the analysis was a
spectrum which is a visible model of the singing voice as a function of both
amplitude of the harmonics and the frequency. In the following paragraphs I
present a few examples of the various types of analysis which can be obtained.
It is my intention to make a more precise comparison based on a wider selection
of material of the sonorgrams used by Walcott and Guillou as well as of Gunji’s spectrographs in a more detailed
article.
As the subject of my comparison I have
selected the vowel ‘i’ produced using the overtone style of singing and
compared it with a normally sung ‘I’ vowel at the same volume and level, as
well as with the same vowel produced using a normal speaking voice. All of the
samples were played at a moderate volume (mp-mf).
A 30 MS period is visible in each of the
following spectra. The amplitude of the harmonics is compared on the vertical
axis. The value which is used for comparison is the amplitude of the strongest
harmonics (indicated by 0dB on the graphs). The frequency can be read from 
the horizontal axis
(kHz).
Using the technique of overtone
singing a 13th harmonic can be clearly distinguished by the naked
ear and which clearly has the highest amplitude, is produced above by singing
the vowel ‘I’. The frequency of the tonic is 189 Hz, while that of the 13th
harmonic is 2513 Hz. (in this connection it should be noted that when
performing overtone singing, front vowels produce vowels which give an auditory
impression of being higher, while back vowels give an impression of being
lower).
On The Technique
The term which is often used for the
type of singing in question is throat
singing or guttural singing; the
use of such a term refers to the fact that both of the audible sounds have been
imagined to originate in the "throat" ‑ either in such a manner
that the vocal cords produce two sounds or for example, in such a manner that a
harmonic could be made audible with the aid of the windpipe or tile uvula. (19).The
suggestion has also been made that when the tonic is formed the glottis is
"extremely tense", for which reason singing requires a great amount
of physical effort and learning the entire technique requires several years of
practice (20) At most, only the last of these views is justified. When learning
this type of singing the same criteria are important which are significant when
learning to control a style such as that used in singing western classical music:
everyone who has studied singing knows how much time is needed to learn such
things as to breathe correctly, this being a function of the proper control of
the diaphragm and the other abdominal muscles, as well as to practice both maintaining
the proper resonance and controlling the muscles in the region of the glottis.
The basis of overtone singing is provided by a normal, well supported singing
voice which is used in order to produce the tonic. In practice, the choice of
the harmonics which are heard above the tonic is affected in such a manner that
the form of the oral cavity is altered
primarily with the aid of the tongue, although the lips and slight movements of
the lower jaw are also involved. When singing, the tip of the tongue is pressed
against the palate, and the sides of the tongue are supported so that they rest
against the molars in the same manner as when producing an ‘L’
sound.
After this it is possible to begin to search for the correct
"location" by combining this lateral articulation with a normal
singing voice (21). In Mongolia
I was told that a silver drinking cup is often held in front of the mouth when
practicing khöörnii singing. The thin
metal evidently serves as an extra resonator or reflector which can help the
singer learn to select and reinforce the harmonies which he desires. I also
made use of the experience had obtained from singing instructions in learning
to listen to my own voice. After practicing for about a week I was able to
produce acceptable harmonics (22). I quote here Ronald Walcott’s clear words
with respect to the reinforcement of harmonic: (23)
“Reinforcement of partials is achieved by characteristic changes in the
shape and volume of the mouth cavity. This is reminiscent of the principle of
the Jew's harp,' where a vibrating tongue sounded at the lips produces a drone
fundamental which the player modifies by shaping his mouth cavity so as to‑form
a resonance chamber of critical volume. The volume of this chamber, functioning
on the principle of a Helmholtz resonator, reinforces a narrow frequency band
area within an existing spectrum. This band is sufficiently narrow to enable
the singer to select a given single partial above the drone in accordance with
the degree of modification made by him. The principle involving the
reinforcement of discrete partials by a specific shaping of the mouth cavity is
thus common to both chöömij and the Jew's harp. A difference, however, lies
in the physical origination of the fundamental. In the Jew's harp it is
produced at the lips, in the chöömij it originates in the throat region.”
Walcott
conjecture's that physiological limitations prevent the singer from going below
the. 6th or above the 13th harmonic (24) Badzardaran
used the 5th harmonic in his performance ‑ i myself have been able to
attain this as well as the 14th, 15th, and 16th harmonics (with ‘G’
as the tonic). Nevertheless, the last mentioned are already difficult to
filter, for which reason they cannot be used for purposes such as performing
melodies.
Walcott also notes that the tonic is usually selected from
within the range of ‘G’ and ‘d’, and he supposes that it is specifically this
area which makes it possible to produce a composition of harmonics which can
tie effectively filtered by the oral cavity.(25). The optimal height of the
tonic is evidently greatly dependent on the singer's voice. For example Badzardaran
has ‘Ab’ as the tonic in both songs, and I myself have attempted to produce
even higher tonics with good results (25).
On the possible spectral
analysis of overtone singing
Not too
much can tie learned about this type of singing if its study is restricted
solely to the descriptive level. For this reason I have used a computer to
carry out a so‑called FFT or Fast Fourier Transform analysis. The pertinent
data for this is as follows:
Computer used for the analysis:
EXORset 30
Computer program: VOCOM Speech
Processing System
Analysis
performed by: Hannu Kaskincen, Phil. Mag., whom I thank for the technical
realization as well as for the friendly advice and guidance he provided me with
when I was writing this part of the
article.
Place:
department of Phonetics, university
of Helsinki.
The
foregoing is a representation of the vowel ‘I’ with normal speaking voice.
Compared with the previous examples the individual harmonics can only be
distinguished from one another with difficulty (tonic=106 Hz).
The preceding three figures demonstrate
quite graphically how resonance frequencies with a powerful amplitude form clearly
distinguishable peaks in the spectra. These peaks are called formants. The
differences between the formants of overtone and normal singing are clearly
evident in the spectra reproduced below. In figures 1 and 2 one period of the
glottis(~ 6MS) is visible as a superimposed pattern.
The following table is a representation of the frequency of
three formants (F1, F2, and F3) of overtone and normal singing, as well as of
their divergence in intensity from the standpoint of that formant which has the
strongest intensity (-dB). In these examples the variation in the frequency of F2
is a consequence of differences in the tonality of the ‘I’ vowel.
On the
basis of the above it seems that the differences in amplitude noted in the
formants of overtone singing are smaller than they are in normal singing. With
respect to both what is heard by the ear and what is shown by the spectrum the
increase in the resonance of the supraglottal cavity, which is a characteristic
of overtones singing is achieved by making use of a constricted articulation
not unlike that used when pronouncing a lateral sound. This involves the tongue
dividing the oral cavity into two resonating chambers (27). Maximal
exploitation of resonance is also demonstrated by the small amount of
respiratory air needed to produce a sound: using a normal voice I am able to
sing for approximately a half minute without having to pause for breath, but if
I perform a song using overtone singing not even a minute of uninterrupted
singing results in any major difficulties.
References
1. With
respect to the name and definition of the style of singing see e.g.
Tran/Guillou, pg 162.
2. Cf. e.g.
Hamayon, pg. 484; Aksenov, pg. 12; Crossley-Holland, pg. 65-66; erdenebilig,
pg. 29.
3. Aksenov,
pg. 12‑ 13; Tran,pg. 162 and pg. 165.
4. Vargyas
propose (pg. 71) that the style of singing concerned is particularly widespread
in the eastern parts of the Mongolian People’s Republic. This information might
be based on a misunderstanding.
5. Erdenebilig,
pg. 29.
6. Lebedinskiy
1948, pg. 50‑51; 1965 pg. 82‑86; Rybakov, pg. 271
7. Lebedinskiy
1948, pg. 51. For some reason the references to shamanism are not included in
Lebedinsky’s later work (1965).
8. Cf. e.g.
Emsheimer, pq. 19‑22, and Rouget, pg. 187 and 189.
9. Agapitov/Khangalov,
pg. 43.
10. Aksenov, pg. 12
11.
Crossley-Holland, pg.66
12.
Ellingson-waugh 1974, pg 13-14. Cf. also Ellingson 1979, pg.
44:”In western terms their melodies ‘db Yangs’ consist of sequences of smoothly
and continuously varying intonational contours including changes in pitch,
loudness and/or configurations of resonance (overtone) mixtures.
13.
Anna-Leena Stikala gives a thorough assessment of the shamanistic
descriptions in her dissertation, cf. e.g. pg. 236, 5L‑5P1N; pg. 266, 3G-3H
51; pg. 294, 3H. Cf. also Rouget , pg. 192.
14.
Erdenebilig pq. 29. The only musical transcription of this
type of singing as used for imitating the sounds of nature that I have been
able to find is in Smirnov's book, pg. 225‑229, cf. also the commentary
on page353. Smirnov has made a musical transcription of the imitation of
flowing water (usnii sorgio) produced by Čimitosor, who is from the Gobi‑Altai
region. This imitation occurred in a secular context. Cf. also Musical Voices
of Asia, pg. 48; “Tanimoto asked Sundui to
demonstrate the imitation of a water stream by xöömij. Sundui performed a
piece, which was composed when inspired by the sounds of water flows in a mountainous
area".
15.
Cf. e.g. Emsheimer, pg.
20, Serosevskiy, pg. 592
16.
Sul’gin, pg. 459.
17.
Cf. Walcott, pg. 56. Examples of use of the 13th harmonic: Smirnov
pg. 226‑2227 and Vargyas, pg. 72.
18.
Cf. Walcott, pg. 56... "The melodic style would seem to
dictate the selection of tones agreeable to an anhemitonic pentatonic scale widespread
in Mongolian music, and this would naturally require the lowering of the7th
partial…” a lowering of the harmonic would require a corresponding reduction in
the drone. However, nothing like this is to be heard. Cf. Gunji, pq. 135.
19.
Lebedinskiy 1965, pg. 83‑84, Rybakov, pq. 270‑272.
Erdenebilig, pg. 29.
20.
Lebedinskiy 1948, pg. 51; Vargyas, pg‑ 71
21.
B.P. Cernov 1982, pq. 87‑92, notes in his article which
deals with overtone singing of the Tuvins and the Khakas that Soviet
researchers have carried out tests using a laryngoscope and x‑rays, the
results of which demonstrate that the Tuvin singers produce the constriction in
the anterior portion of the glottis between the arytenoid cartilages and epiglottis.
Use of this constriction to produce overtone singing varies according to the
type of singing in question. Evidently the Kargyraa and borannadyr singing of
the Tuvins is based on the use of this technique asdoes the resonating type of
the Khakas and the Altais. The slit between the arytenoid cartilages
characteristic of Tuvin singing is 1 ‑ 1.5 mm, while that used in the
style used for recitations by the Khakas is greater, measuring from 3 to 5 mm.
Cf. MasLov/Cernov Pg. 157‑159
22.
Tran
mentions, pg. 163, that he needed two years to learn overtone singing.He also gives
instructions, more detailed than those presented by me above, concerning the
physiological mechanisms involved. I think that many people would be able to
produce Overtone singing ‑ the quality will, of course, depend on each
person's musical talent. I have also noticed that some people working as
professional musicians and inusic teachers cannot distinguish the various
harmonies. Guillou is, without douht, right in saying: "The western ear
may need a certain amount of trainging before becoming accustomed to the sound
quality” (Tran/Guilou pg. 168)
23.
Walcott, pg. 55, Cf. also Crossley-Holland, pg. 65-66
24.
Walcott, pg. 56
25.
Walcott, pg. 56
26.
Cf.Tran/Guillou, pg 164.”favourite fundamental tone varies
according to the tonal quality of the singer’s voice and his windpipe” Cf. also
ibid. pg. 169
27.
Foe more details Cf.Tran/Guillou, pg 170-173.
LITERATURE
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Geograficeskogo Obscaestva T.XIV, Nr. 1~2. lrkutsk 1883.
Aksenov,
A. N. Tuvin Folk Music. Asian Music IV‑2. New York 1973,
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P. B. O. fiziologi mekhanizma tuvinskogo i khakasskoqo gortanogo penija.
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P. Central Asia. The New Grove DIctionary of
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T. Musicat Flight in Tibet.
Asian Music V‑2. New York.
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Tibetan Chant and Melodic Categories. Asian Music X‑2. New York1979.
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