Welcome

Welcome to my project for CSD 250, "Going For the Throat".

The learning objectives for this project are as follows:
1. To gain an understanding of the phenomenon known as Tuvan Throat (or Harmonic) Singing.
2. To understand what harmonics are and how they affect sounds we hear generally, and vocal sounds in particular.

To begin, please scroll all the way down to the post marked, "Video #1 - Please Start Here". Then work your way up through the blog.

Enjoy!

Additional example of Throat Singing. (My favorite but not the best for demonstration purposes...)

This singer uses all sorts of techniques to change the timbre of his voice.

Extra Video Example of Ventricular Fold use in harmonic singing

Here are two extra videos in case you are interested in hearing some different styles of harmonic singing.

Listen for the lowest notes in this example. They are accomplished by using the ventricular folds to lower the pitch. Additionally, notice that this singer sings a melody rather than a drone. But he uses upper harmonics on top of the melody and occasionally changes them when holding notes for longer periods.

References

References

Cope, J. (2004). How to ‘khöömei’ and other overtone singing styles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Levin, T. C., Edgerton, M. E. (1999). The throat singers of Tuva. Scientific American, 281(3), 80-88. Retrieved August 30, 2006 from Ebsco Host.
Lindestad, P., Södersten, M., Merker, B., & Granqvist, S. (2001). Voice source characteristics in Mongolian “throat singing” studied with high-speed imaging technique, acoustic spectra, and inverse filtering [Electronic version]. Journal Of Voice, 15(1), 78-85.
Lusk, J. (2000). By the throat. Folk Roots, 21(7-8), 27-31

In addition to the above print sources, I listened to the following recordings of throat singing:
60 Horses in my herd. Huun-huur-tu. Shanachie Records(1993).
Tuva – Voices from the center of Asia. Various Artists. Smithsonian Folkways(1992)
And various online harmonic singing videos from www.overtone.ru

The instructional videos were created using a standard digital camera (Panasonic FZ-3) and Apple Quicktime.

Thanks to Dr. Hooper for the enthusiasm, advice and support and to Thor and his Dad for the great reference article and to the fine folks at technical support for their incredibly diligent and prompt replies to my requests for help.

Thanks to Mark Schumacher in Reference at the Jackson library for help with the citation style. Thanks to the music libraries of UNCG, UNCW and especially NCSA for loans of music and other library materials.

Thanks to Greg Dailey for the loaner on the tripod and my wife for the loan of the digital camera...

And lastly, very special thanks to Meir Zavitz for posting the Tuvan singers at youtube.com and to the singers themselves for allowing their amazing talent to be shared in this way.

Video # 5 Tuvan Throat Singing and Harmonics Conclusion

Video # 4 -- Examples of Harmonics

Examples of harmonics in instruments and how they relate to Tuvan Throat Singing

Video # 3 -- Harmonics

A discussion of Harmonics

Video #2

Video #1 --- Please Start Here

An Introduction