First Attempt Kargyraa, Sygyt

Comment by Dan Zimmermann on May 4, 2011 at 8:00am

You are serious? You were able to capture your first throat singing attempts? This is quite nice. I like your tone. This is shot with your built-in webcam and MIC, isn't it?
You are interesting...

Comment by Robert Towers on May 4, 2011 at 8:09am

Well, I obviously had done a bit of reading, listening and experimentation before I shot the video. I didn't just produce those sounds out of the blue... but it was my first time actually sitting down and trying to get something out that I could listen to and document my progress at this stage, which is quite exciting because I am improving so rapidly. And yes, I just set up my cheap webcam with the built-in mic and went for it. The video cuts off because I stopped it since I didn't think I was getting the sygyt right... because I didn't have the proper khoomei in the first place.

Comment by Dan Zimmermann on May 4, 2011 at 8:16am

Nice...
There are a bunch of us here who are collaborating to improve techniques and skills. Sort of a mutual feedback group of Tuvan style vocalists.
I myself record with a SONY Handycam and pull the audio from the files afterwards. I'm not too interested in people getting distracted by my less than dignified expression during practice and missing the audio...
Sygyt's a tough nut to crack. I think I can do it alright, but I am still unsure if it's proper or how to improve yet...

Comment by Robert Towers on May 4, 2011 at 8:45am

I notice that sometimes when I do the low pitched kargyraa, I get a note a fifth below the fundamental. That is, an octave plus a fifth. It seems to only work at low volumes, and I'm not sure if this will continue once my technique develops further - it seems to be a strange effect where the folds are sometimes vibrating at a lower frequency, which creates a perfect inverted fifth harmony! I haven't heard anyone mention this yet, so I don't know if it's a common thing or not...

Comment by Dan Zimmermann on May 4, 2011 at 9:12am

I once got angry and yelled out in anger far too loud and too long and strained my voice; as a result, one of my folds vibrated out of sync, but I didn't catch it on tape. It felt sore, of course, but I did Kargyraa anyway. It was the only style I could do at the time, and it sounded so weird. It wasn't a regular harmonic interval either, it was just off, perhaps a fourth, no way to tell now.
Other than that, at certain pitches I get better chest resonance than others, sometimes the effect feeds back into itself, meaning you change a little in constriction and that alone changes the sympathetic tissue vibrations. From what I can tell, the Tuvan singers have more or less a "sweet spot", a pitch they sing all their music in, give or take. I assume they naturally arrive at this pitch depending on whatever sounds best and/or goes with the instrument's tuning, if there is any. I also assume that this is an individually varying pitch. I haven't found this yet. I change the fundamental freely, sometimes unintentionally, and I have, strictly speaking, bad practice habits, so I am not one to be taking advice from.
I have noticed many changes while developing, very few traits however have been lost, aside from a couple of bad techniques I no longer do wrong. I mean, I have only added new skills, old ones have either remained unchanged or improved somewhat. I also play around a lot, combining techniques or changing between them, even Tuvan and non-Tuvan overtone singing. Doing Sygyt with a Metal death growl fundamental with a gliding pitch can sound very much like a feedback guitar or distorted siren. Using a metal scream instead of Xorekteer can yield very interesting overtones indeed.
I do this mostly for the sheer fun of it and because it feels good to do it.
Peace and Love

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