Keep Oppo Weird: Polyphonic Overtone Singing

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
10/08/2014 at 09:34 • Filed to: keep oppo weird

This is amazing. Using fundamental pitches and harmonic overtones, she can sing two notes at the same time. I know what she's doing, but I have absolutely no idea how she does it.

DISCUSSION (14)

McMike > ttyymmnn
10/08/2014 at 09:48

Sounds like the second tone is a whistle, or some other sound created by simply having the air pass through the mouth. Totally independent on what the actual note is being produced in the throat.

Neat trick.

Alfalfa > ttyymmnn
10/08/2014 at 09:58

I've studied voice for a decade, and I can't do it.

One key reason for that though, is that doing it is supposed to be really bad for your voice.

ttyymmnn > McMike
10/08/2014 at 10:03

The thing is, it's not totally independent. The higher notes she's able to create are generated by the fundamental pitch. For every fundamental note, there is a series of pitches that are present in that sound, and that series is called the overtone series or harmonic series. If you think of a bugle playing reveille or taps , that bugle can only play notes in the harmonic series that is part of the fundamental note of the bugle. Change the fundamental, you change the harmonic series.

Kinja'd!!!

So, when she sings a fundamental, she can also isolate whichever of the inherent harmonics of that fundamental she wishes. Yes, she likely does it with her lips, but she may also be doing it with her tongue or mouth shape. And now I need a cold shower.

McMike > ttyymmnn
10/08/2014 at 10:05

That's not fair posting sheet music. I'm a guitarist.

ttyymmnn > McMike
10/08/2014 at 10:06

Yeah, but your guitar works in the same principal. Sound is sound, no matter how it's generated. Do you tune your guitar by touching one string and playing another? You're isolating the matching overtone of the other string. When those overtones match, the guitar is in tune.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
10/08/2014 at 10:07

Isolation of this or that harmonic with mouth shape, etc. is the fundamental (DO U C WOT I DID THER) principle behind a Jew's harp, which produces an irregular "note" with many different tones. Practicing with a Jew's harp would probably help developing this.

McMike > ttyymmnn
10/08/2014 at 10:23

I know how harmonics work with strings. I was just making a sheet music joke.

Q: How do make a guitar player stop playing?

A: Put sheet music in front of him.

Now, let's make it weirder