Approaching Polyphonic Singing Practice

Greetings, fellow Earthlings!

I have been enjoying reading all the interesting and thought-provoking points of view expressed in this discussion group. Thank goodness for diversity! The type of harmonic singing we are drawn to is based on our individual personalities. For example, I prefer to listen to the type of overtone singing that to me sounds “angelic”. I find it soothing and relaxing. Though some of the deeper sounding styles may be difficult to take in, I believe they broaden our range of listening experiences.

I would like to propose that there are three main components common to all singing:

1. State of Being / Attitude – depending on our purpose
2. Breath Control – deep breathing from the diaphragm
3. Body Movement and Positioning – throat, palate, tongue, forehead, nose, and hands

Deep breathing from the diaphragm enables the singer to engage the entire body (physical and energetic) for those who choose to use singing as part of a meditation and/or healing practice.

To me the deep throat singing feels very earthy as if connecting us to nature and our physical bodies. Other types of polyphonic singing sound almost “disembodied”. I heard a recording of an Asian artist singing overtones where the foundation tone is not audible. I found it eerie but quite beautiful. I am learning to identify the different styles.

Recently, when I discovered I could produce overtones, I became so excited that I experimented for 2-3 hours. I tried it with different tones, intensities, volumes, rooms in my house, outdoors, etc. Since then, I have felt a shift in my physical and energetic bodies. There is no question in my mind that overtones have a powerful effect on our whole being. I would like to use sound / vibration as part of my healing practice once I become more proficient which is probably going to take years.

My first step in working on overtone singing is to strengthen my breath control. Toward this end, I am regularly practicing a yoga exercise called Long Deep Breathing or Yogic Breath.

I will post my progress.

Looking forward to reading your views.

DJ London, AP

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by DJ London on May 1, 2011 at 9:59pm

Hello, Everyone!

I forgot to include 'lips' in my previous post which are very important. For me at this beginning stage, keeping an open mind about techniques has been very important. It must be due to the unique shape and structure of each person's resonating 'instrument' that different techniques work for different people. For example, I have had better results with Western overtone singing (a term which I gather means creating overtones using a 'normal' singing voice) not by using my tongue (touching the tip of the tongue to the upper palate) but by adjusting the shape of my mouth and my lips, and controlling the breath and pitch. I will continue practicing.

Not only am I noticing overtones everywhere - specially machine / engine sounds - I am dreaming about practicing. This morning I dreamed I was experimenting with different techniques and suddenly - without thinking - I was at another level of overtones. Dreaming about overtone singing will hopefully help me find the best techniques for me.

Happy Resonating!

DJ London

Permalink Reply by Dan Zimmermann on May 9, 2011 at 9:11am

A lot of my breath control is acquired despite having been an avid smoker most of my life. I don't recommend it to anyone, as it has definite drawbacks. For instance, it limits the ability of your lungs to absorb oxygen and emit carbon dioxide; even with large lung capacity this reduces how much oxygen you can tease out of each breath, thus reducing how long you can hold your breath or how slowly you can breathe out to sing. This effect is cumulative over the years spent smoking, and I assume only eons of healthy living can counter that. Despite having quit some time ago now, I often have lots of air left when I run out of oxygen and my body goes into red alert to make me draw breath. Nonetheless, I have succeeded in extending my exhale to almost 45 seconds now. I am told that a whole 60 seconds is unbelievably long to hold a note, so I guess I can be quite proud of that. Even though most of my phrases are around 22-30 seconds long. With the tempo of most songs, this is still a LOT of bars... think what I could do if I had never smoked...

In fact, in a resting position I can hold my breath for well over a minute, but I obviously wouldn't use much oxygen just resting. Even just humming reduces the time interval between inhales to half that at maximum.

The real trick is to hold a note of consistent pitch, timbre and volume for that long. Surprisingly enough, when Central Asian style throat constriction is applied, the airway tightens drastically, facilitating low flow of air. Incredibly little air is needed to make sound this way, and through resonance and filtering, volume is not a problem either. All that works together to stretch your notes to Opera length...

Permalink Reply by DJ London on May 9, 2011 at 11:59am

Hey, Dan!

45 seconds is definitely a long exhale! Your lungs will continue to improve the more that time goes by. Good job on quitting!
Many years ago I smoked for a few years but quit when I could not sing without coughing. What a nightmare!

My choir teacher used to have us do an exercise where we place one hand over the diaphragm and feel it move upward as we exhaled slowly and steadily using an 's' sound to let the air out as slowly as possible. The idea was to exhale so little air at a time as to not blow out a candle if one were in front of the mouth. Excellent practice for steady controlled exhalation - making sure the shoulders are relaxed and not moving - using only the diaphragm. I was in 3rd or 4th grade at the time. I can still remember how hard it was for us to keep from giggling. We all thought it was quite funny at the time. :)

Permalink Reply by Dan Zimmermann on May 10, 2011 at 4:56pm

Funny is right... a little quote by a band from my area...

"So turn the television off
and I will sing a song
And if you suddenly have the urge
You can sing along
I touch your hand, I touch your face
I think the fruit is rotten
Give me lessons on how to breathe
Cause I think I've forgotten
I think I've forgotten" - Nickelback

I don't remember when I learned to exhale slowly like you describe, so as not to blow out a candle, but the exercise came really easy to me, so I must've already known how to...

Did I mention that prior to a year and a half ago I had no voice training whatsoever?

I will blog more later.

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