8/20/2019 Overtone Singing: The Key to Past Life Melodies

1/2

REHEARSAL BREAKS

Overtone Singing

he

Key

to

Past Life Melodies

Mu

ltimedi

a ex

amples

for t h is

interactive article are on the Web at

.

T

HE

POPULARITY of overtone

singing has exploded into

th

e

mainstream choral world in

re-

cent years, due ro Sarah H

opk

ins com

position, Past LifeMelodies.The reaction

of

audience members makes this particu

lar piece exciting to perform.

As

a result,

many choirs have decided ro study the piece

and have added

it

to their repertoire.

The basis of Past Life Melodiesl is the

harmonic overtone series .

s

the com

poser describes in the first pages of the

score, the chord clusters making up the

majority of the piece center around the

harmon

ic

seriesof he fundamental pitch,

By constructing the piece in such a

way, the ears

of

the audience

ar

e

tr

ick

ed

into hearing the upper partials of the se

ries as the sung pitches are dropped from

the choir. T his also sets up the final sec

cion

of

the piece where the choir and

soloists begin to sing harmonic overtones.

It

is

in this section that much of the

mystery

of

the piece is developed.

Un

fortunately, most people are nor fa-

miliar with this technique of singing, and

as a result many choir directors and sing

ers become confused.

One

should keep in

mind that the piece was

or

iginally com

missioned by the St. Peter s Chorale, a

high school choir in

Br

isbane, Australia,

directed by Graeme Mo rton. Although

Lawrence Wiliford earned a B.

M.

from

St. Olaf Co ll ege in 1999. H e is

currently a member of two profssional

ensembles: Ca

ntu

s, the all-mal e vocal

ensemble founded

at St

.

Olaf

Co

ll

eg

e,

and The Ensemble S

in

gers of

the

Plymouth Music Series o f Minnesota.

He is also a published arranger

thr

ough

Earthsongs.

OCTO ER 999

the group is talented, this composition

was written for young choirs and should

not discourage ambitious choirs

or

choir

directors.

s a soloist for

Past Life

Melodies with

the Sr. OlafChoir

, in 1997

on

tou

r to Australia

and

in

1998

on

tour to the West Coast, I

have been asked several times by choir

directors and singers how one can pro

duce such high, clear overtones.

It is not

difficul t,

but

it

is of

vital importan

ce that

one execute overtone singing c

or

rectly for

an effective performance. Sara

Ho

pkins

describes how to achieve the desired ef

fect with a short paragraph in rhe preface

to the piec

e:

Harmonic Singing:

On

a

long

sustained note in your middle to

low register, slowly open your

hum

out mm-o-or-ar

- rr-r

ee to

take

in the upper

pa

r

cials.

Play around

with the harmonics and

mouth

by Lawrence Willford

shapes, going from one ro the next.

Focus

your mo

ut

h shapes

to

produce dear bell-like harmonics.

For most people this

is not

a clear

explanation without someone demon

strating what to do. As a resu

lt

, often

choir directors and singers take this ex

planation to exclude good vocal habits.

T his is

not

the case . To produce the

clearest sounds, it

is

imperative that the

singer u

se

goodenergy and breathing tech

niqu

es, as

with all well-trained singing.

The

overtones

ar

e created by a combina

ti

on of

vowels, tongue placement, and

focus of the sung pitch (the fundamen

tal). By singing the fundamental pitch

and filtering the

vowels

through an Ameri

can [

r

sound (I often use the example of

the stereotypical pirate noise r r ) , one

is

able to isolate individual partials of the

overtone series. This

is

what is meant by

the composer

in

rhe reference to

mm  -

or

- ar-rr-ree. H igher partials are created

Make

oyful

Noise

At Cumberland College students

can choose

from

a

varitey o degree programs allset in a caring

and supportive environment.

• Bacheloro Arts in Music

• Bachelor o Music

in Church

Music

•

Bacheloro Music

in

Music Education

Cumberland

offers

studentsa

variety

o

vocalandinstrumental

ensembles

.

Cumberland College

Department ofMusic •7525

College Station Dr.

Williamsburg KY

40769

1 800 343-1609 •www.cumber.edu

P GE 43

8/20/2019 Overtone Singing: The Key to Past Life Melodies

2/2

with closed vowels such as

[e2]

and [i] as

in eee ) . Lower partials are

created with more open vowels such as

the open 0 as in awe )

and open

E,

[E] as in the word elbow) etc.

The other part of the technique that

many people misunderstand

is

that one

should

not

push down on the larynx

or

let the tongue get caught up in the back

of

the throat. These bad vocal techniques

cut the sound

off

and do

not

allow for

proper resonance

of

the voice. In addition,

the sound produced should not be placed

far back in the laryngeal or nasal pharynx.

It should be placed forward in the mask

as if smiling.

Finally, overtone singing

is

most effec

tive when one is able to control the over

tones produced.

This

comes

through

practice and slowly moving through the

different vowels, starting first with the

open vowels

and

proceding to the closed

vowels.

As

one practices this, they will be

able to hear the next overtone in the

ascending series. Try to listen for specific

intervals o ff the fundamental as indicated

in the overtone series progression below)

starting with the (8ve

+

perfect fifth

then the (8ve

+

major

seventh , the double octave,

the (8ve

+

ninth, etc., using brighter,

closed vowels. Next, try to start with the

(8ve

+

fifth and go down to

the (8ve + major third, then the octave

, and finally the true fifth

using darker, open vowels , all the while filtering them through

MICHIGAN

STATE

----------------------

UNIV RSITY

PAGE44

choral

conducting

raduate Programs

·Master s and

doctoral

degrees

·Choral ensembles available to graduate

conducting students

·Teaching Assistantships

and

Scholarships

Contact

Choral Program

Michigan State University

East

Lansing, Michigan 48824-1043

517/355-2140

http:

www.choral.msu.edu

Charles K Smith

Director

of Choral Activities

the [r] sound. Another hint: the sung

pitch should always sound more like a

french horn than a medieval shawm.

An

effective performance of

Past Life

Melodies

is

determined by the subtleties

within the piece. It should be performed

with rising anticipation-a wash

of

sound

that

vanishes into the mysterious and

magical sound of overtone singing. This

means the soloists and other singers must

practice outside

of

the choir rehearsal and

then work with the choir director to pol

ish and collaborate in the music making.

One final warning. This piece can be a

bit monotonous for the choir, due to the

nature of holding one or two pitches for

an entire piece. For their sake and yours,

explain the piece and how it fits together.

Tell them about the overtone series and

make the piece exciting for them and for

your audience.

NOTES

1

Past

Life

Melodies is available in both SATB

and SSAA settings through

Morton

Music, PO Box 24300, Fort Lauderdale,

FL 33307.

2

Past Life Melodies has been recorded by the

Sr. Olaf Choir on Advance Australia air

through Sr. Olaf Records-phone 888/

232-6523. It

is

also recorded by the St.

Peter's Chorale on Until I Saw

. .

phone

011 07) 377-6222;

fax

011 07) 371-9743.

]

CHORAL

JOURNAL