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Home , Demetrio Stratos, Formant, Overtone singing, Spectrogram

In: Mattias Heldner (ed.): Proceedings from Fonetik 2019 10-12 June 2019, Stockholm , Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019 PERILUS XXVII, ISSN 0282-6690 ISBN 978-91-7797-984-5 (print version) ISBN 978-91.7797-985-2 (web version) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3246011 Polyphonic : an acoustic and physio- logical (MRI) analysis and a first-person description of a unique mode of singing

1 2 3 Anna-Maria Hefele , Robert Eklund , Anita McAllister 1 http://www.anna-maria-hefele.com 2 Department of Culture and Communication, Linköping University, Sweden 3 Division of Speech and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract However, Miles did not leave any This paper describes a unique singing marked traces in musical history, alt- mode, tentatively labeled “polyphonic hough he was a local celebrity and even ”. In overtone singing released an album (Tongeren, the vocal of a stabile funda- 2004:161). Also in America, La Monte mental are filtered by the Young began to experiment with vocal singer in such a way that specific upper and started to use it as a musi- harmonics are amplified, and heard cal parameter, although it was not yet clearly, as a second musical voice. In the mature overtone singing (Tongeren, “throat singing” of () 2004:166). moving overtones usually occur over a In 1968 pub- stable drone. In polyphonic overtone lished for six vocalists, which singing not only the pitch of the over- can be considered the first composition tones are changed and moving, but also in contemporary with exact, no- the fundamental which results in two- tated vocal overtones, amplified through voice singing. specific (Saus, 2009:1). Further, Michael Vetter (Germany), Introduction who collaborated with Stockhausen The historical records of overtone sing- from 1969 (Tongeren, 2004:177), and ing (OTS) are fairly scarce. It is used in David Hykes “laid the solid foundations different ethnic traditions and musical for overtone singing as an independent styles. A well-known example is the vocal technique /…/ With their original “Tuvan throat-singing” (Levin & Edger- examples, overtone singing became an ton, 1999), which mainly occurs in Mon- art in itself” (Tongeren, 2004:175). golia and Tibetan temples (Smith, Ste- The Greek singer vens & Tomlinson, 1967). Singers in (1945–1979) also belongs to the first these regions employ a variety of throat- generation of experimental western singing styles, referred to as sygyt, overtone singers, and before his early chöömej and kargyraa (Grawunder, death he left his album Cantare la Voce 1999:22). Chöömej is also used as an (1978) with “vocal sounding overtone umbrella term for all central Asian tech- ” (Tongeren, 2004:175). niques. Trân Quang Hai (1944–), a Viet- In the west, the tradition of OT is not namese musician and researcher living as strong, and the development of the in Paris, got in contact with Mongol technique began during the last century. overtone singing in 1969 and he “collab- The earliest existing recording of west- orated in one of the first compositions ern OTS is from 1929, sung by an Amer- and public performances of OTS in Eu- ican country singer, Arthur Miles. rope after Stockhausen /.../ Apart from

91 Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019 his activities as a performer, Trân’s main The techniques contribution to the field of overtone In the western style of overtone singing singing are scientific and educational” a distinction can be made between the (Tongeren, 2004:171). so-called one-cavity-technique, where From 1983 and on OTS became harmonics get amplified through spe- popular also outside the field of experi- cific shapes and the so-called two- mental music and the knowledge about cavity-technique, where the tongue is the technique grew. Singing groups and raised and divides the oral cavity into overtone were formed for - two chambers. This results in ing, singing mantras or practicing over- very clear, whistle-like harmonics. The tone singing together, so it was not only differentiation between these two tech- performed by professional musicians niques was first performed by the ethno- (Tongeren, 2004:185). So called “World musicologists Tran Quang Hai and Hugo Music” gained popularity in the west, Zemp, based on physiological research which spurred an interested in overtone (Jentsch 2007:55). singing. Also enhanced by the Tuva En- The one-cavity technique enhances semble tours (Tongeren, 2004:187). To- the harmonics through changing the day western overtone singing is used in vowel shapes, mostly over a stabile fun- many different musical genres. damental. This is usually the first tech- From a phonetic perspective, the nical stage to learn in OTS. tuning and the adjustments of the articulators during OTS, are of inter- Results est both with regard to aspects related to Below different possibilities with OTS production and pedagogy. are explored. As seen in the Method and material in Figure 1, overtones can be clearly vis- ualized over a stabile fundamental. Note The study includes acoustic analysis of that a drone would have the same func- OTS performed by the first author tion. Below the spectrogram the simulta- (AMH in the following). In all spectro- neous MRI registrations are shown. Also grams the program Overtone Analyzer note the different and peculiar tongue (https://www.sygyt.com/en) was used. shapes used to enhance the partials. This The MRI recordings were made at Frei- is especially apparent in the initial burg University Hospital, using a 3T frames. The technique used for this anal- Siemens Prisma Fit scanner. MRI re- ysis is the two-cavity technique. cordings were completed in collabora- Another possibility within the two- tion with professor Bernhard Richter, Dr cavity technique is to move overtone and Michael Burdumy and the singer at an fundamental in parallel, or to leave the earlier date. The MRI-llustrations are harmonics stabile and move the funda- provided by the singer AMH. mental through the subharmonic series The singer as shown in Figure 2. By alternating the fundamental fre- AMH is a classically trained quency different overtones can be en- with a wide frequency range of around hanced as shown in Figure 3. Here two ~100–2000 Hz. She started with over- alternating fundamentals and their har- tone singing in 2005 and now cooperates monics are combined using the two-cav- with several musicians and composers to ity technique. increase knowledge about the musical possibilities of the technique. AMH is also teaching overtone singing in mas- terclasses around the world.

92 Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019

Figure 1. Harmonics 4-10 amplified in the two-cavity technique from fundamental C4. Figure 5 the spectrogram of the first phrase of “Sehnsucht nach dem Früh- linge” by W.A. Mozart is shown. The fundamental is not moved randomly but rather chosen within the overtone- and subharmonic series and within the singer’s voice range. Within these op- tions harmonics are chosen that deliver a harmony or create a counterpoint move- ment. This provides a context Figure 2. A stable harmonic and a moving fundamental. to the melody in OT.

Figure 4. Fundamental and overtones mov- ing in opposite directions, resulting in a mu- sical counterpoint. Figure 3. Overtones over two alternating fundamentals. To result in polyphonic overtone sing- ing, different combinations of move- In Figure 4 AMH illustrates how ments for overtones and fundamentals overtones and fundamentals can be are used. In the figure three combina- moved in opposite directions. This re- tions of movements for the overtones sults in creating a musical counterpoint. and the fundamentals are displayed. Thus, simple classical songs or folk mel- odies can be easily arranged for OTS. In

93 Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019

Figure 6. To the left overtones and f0 is shown while moving from /i/ to /u/ in one- cavity technique. To the right the same movement from /i/ to /u/ while whispering, Figure 5. Three combinations of movements illustrating filtering of the vocal tract. for overtones and fundamentals are shown. Discussion In this example it is the first phrase of “Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge” by W.A. In the present study OTS produced by Mozart. one singer using two techniques was an- alysed. Previously the enhancement of The physiology of overtone singing harmonics has been attributed to a nar- In the one-cavity-technique the vowel rowing of pharynx and the velar con- transition between /i/ and /u/ is used, as striction, adjusting the mouth opening in the slowly spoken words “oui” and and a tuning of F1 and F2 (Klingholz “you”. Here only the movement of the 1993). In this study we showed that the second formant is enhancing harmonics, formant tuning mainly involves F2 and see Figure 6. In the second panel of the F3 and that several other alterations are figure the same movement was executed involved, such as tongue elevation and but while whispering, to illustrate the ef- shape, lips and jaw position. Also the al- fects of the vocal tract. terations differ depending on whether a In the two-cavity technique the ele- one- or a two-cavity technique was used. vation and shape of the tongue creates Thus, OTS requires precision and timing two separate resonatory chambers. The of the motor control of the articulators tongue shape is similar to a /l/ or /ɹ /. The and a very accurate pitch . third formant is lowered and brought close to the second by a raised tongue. OT singing: A first-person account The 2nd and 3rd formant are coordinated When learning OTS, one learns to per- and moved through the almost ceive harmonics as musical notes or at the same frequency (Saus, 2016:450), pitches, while they are usually perceived amplifying the same harmonic. Also the as or different vowels. This also impact of other is lowered. leads to a more detailed perception of In both techniques, the first formant timbre and vowels, which is useful while is kept low to improve control and pro- learning other singing techniques or vide a larger range of options in the har- working with other singers. monic scale. In overtone singing melo- An improved perception and more dies are created by formant tuning, pri- precise control of your can lead to marily involving the second and third increased blending and enhanced intona- formant (F2, F3). The shape and eleva- tion. Learning overtone singing in- tion of the tongue, jaw position, lip creases the ability to control the first 3 rounding and spreading plays key roles formants precisely and autonomously. in this process. This could be a useful ability also in

94 Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019 other singing techniques in order to im- harmony”, making the end result similar prove specific resonance strategies. to AMH’s singing. Palestrina was con- In polyphonic overtone singing not sidered the “golden standard” of polyph- only the harmonics but also the funda- ony during his lifetime. mental is moved within the musical con- This links to the second argument text to enlarge the musical possibilities against the term, that the singing tech- of the technique. nique used by Hefele is not true polyph- When overtones and fundamentals ony, since “poly-” means “many", and are moved simultaneously a very spe- OTS can only produce two separate cific coordination is required. The clos- voices (Maxfield and Titze 2015:470). est analogy for me (AMH) as a singer is This argument has more merit since that of “juggling”. many make use of a “one, two, many” (singular, dual, plural) On terminology – what to call it grammar. However, the suggested terms On the note of terminology the term “biphonic singing” or “chant di- “polyphonic overtone singing” has been phonique”, while technically accurate, questioned, e.g. by Maxfield and Titze might be somewhat misleading since (2015:470), who write: “Ms. Hefele “biphonic(al)” or the more commonly dubs her technique “polyphonic over- used term diplophonic phonation is well tone singing.” In reality, like most over- established in pathological voice pro- tone singers, she selectively amplifies duction (e.g. Colton, Casper, Leonard, overtones to create a melody above a rel- 2011) commonly referring to abnormal atively stable vocal fold vibrational patterns (Sveç, (F0). While her F0 does move, it may be 2000) sometimes also including the ven- questioned whether its movement rise to tricular folds (Maryn, De Bodt, Van the level of an independent melody. As Cauwenberge 2003). The term is also such, calling her technique “polyphony” used to describe animal vocalizations – a musical style with its own rich his- (Wilden et al. 1998; Volodin & Vo- tory – might be a stretch. Stuart Hinds lodina, 2012), where it is a common in (2005) points out that he and other over- e.g. African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) tone singers are indeed capable of a style and dholes (Cuon alpinus). Also, and of overtone singing that could justifiably perhaps more importantly, biphonation be called polyphonic, but this practice implies that the sound source are the vo- seems to be an extension of the style and cal folds vibrating at different frequen- not the most common practice”. Ethno- cies or irregularly. This, of course, is musicologist Carole Pegg notes that very far from the precise control of the English terms for the practice include fundamental and the harmonics Hefele, “biphonic singing,” “split-tone singing,” and other OT singers use to create their “Jew’s harp voice,” and “throat sing- two-part singing. ing.” French terms are no less varied, in- It is evident that OTS, as performed cluding “chant diphonique,” “voix dé- by AMH, is distinct from Tuva throat- doublée,” and “voix guimbarde”. singing but what term best describes it is While it is (trivially) true that the set not entirely clear. of upper harmonics are defined by the fundamental frequency, this does not Overtone singing as a pedagogical tool completely rule out the use of the word Although interesting in and by itself, “polyphony”. Although composers such OTS can also be used in the teaching of as Palestrina (c1525–1594) were free, in general and acoustic analysis, theory, to put in any note in the upper as tested for years by the second author voices, he most surely would never had (RE). Very often it is difficult to make considered going outside of the “true students understand both that there are

95 Proceedings from FONETIK 2019 Stockholm, June 10–12, 2019 upper partials to voiced (alt- in Mitteleuropa. GRIN Verlag. hough students with musical experience Levin, T.C., Edgerton, M.E. 1999. The normally have no problem here), and Throat Singers of Tuva. Scientific that these upper partials can be both American, September 1999, 70–77. Maryn, Y., De Bodt, M., & Van strengthened and weakened by the reso- Cauwenberge, P. (2003). Ventricular nances (formants) created by the shape Dysphonia: Clinical Aspects and of the vocal tract. RE has found that if Therapeutic Options. Laryngoscope you let a student record three vowels, 113: 859–66 e.g. [i, a, u], at a stable frequency in Maxfield, L., & Titze, I. (2015). Overtone Overtone Analyzer (the software used Singing: In The News Again. Journal here), then applying a bandpass filter, it of Singing 71(4):469-471.. will show students that vowel identifica- Miles, Arthur, Lonely Cowboy. tion does not occur at the level of the https://www.discogs.com/Arthur-Miles- Lonely-Cowboy/release/9417772 fundamental, but rather “higher up” in Mecke, A., Pfleiderer, M., Richter, B., the spectrum. This seems to help most Seedorf, T. (2016). Lexikon der students grasp what is going on. Gesangsstimme: Geschichte - Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen - Conclusions Gesangstechniken - Interpreten. In the present study OTS produced by Laaber-Verlag one singer using two techniques was an- Saus, W., 2009. Karlheinz Stockhausen’s alysed. The stability of our findings STIMMUNG and Vowel Overtone needs to be further investigated. Singing. The Annual of Texts by Foreign Guest Professors. FF UK Acknowledgements Praha, ISBN 978-80-7308-290-1, S The fruitful collaboration with Professor 471–478. Smith, H., Stevens, K., Tomlinson, R. 1967. Bernhard Richter, Institute for musi- On an unsual mode of singing by cian’s medicine and Dr Michael Bur- certain Tibetan lamas. Journal of the dumy, University Clinic, Freiburg, dur- Acoustical Society of America ing the MRI registrations are kindly 41:1262–1264. acknowledged. Svec, J. (2000). On Vibration Properties of Human Vocal Folds. Groningen: References Rijksuniversiteit Gronin-gen. PhD Colton, RH., Casper, JK., Leonard, RJ. thesis, 67, 93. (2011). Understanding voice problems. Tongeren, Marc van (2004). Overtone A physiological perspective for Singing: Physics and Metaphysics of diagnosis and treatment: Fourth ed. Harmonics in East and West. Centraal Wolters Kluwer Health Adis (ESP). Boekhuis. Grawunder, Sven (1999). Obertongesang Wilden, I., Herzel, H., Peters, G., & versus Kehlgesang – Die Erforschung Tembrock, G. (1998). Subharmonics, eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs. Biphonation, and Deterministic Chaos Diplomarbeit am Institut für in Mammal Vocalization. Sprechwissenschaft und Phonetik der 9:171–196. Martin-Luther-Universität Halle- Volodin, I.A & Volodina, E.V. (2012). Wittenberg. Biphonation as a prominent feature of Jentsch, Alexander (2007). Obertongesang dhole Cuon alpiunus sounds. Bioacoustics 13:105–120.

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