The technique of polyphonic singing is one that originated from south western Mongolia and is considered to be the most active place of overtone singing in the world. It is a fundamental practice of sound waves that depend on the singer’s use of the mouth pharynx and larynx. It initially creates a sound of multi tones simultaneously, which has been considered to sound almost “alien-like” due to the extremely unusual voice (or rather voices in this case) that is created.This method has become better known in recent years as videos and tutorials of this technique are now available online. Particularly by one practitioner named Anna-Maria Hefele. She released her demonstration video on YouTube a month ago which went viral with an extraordinary number of 6,855,037 views. The German soprano singer is described to have “wowed the Internet by singing multiple notes at once, changing the fundamental note and overtones and moving them in opposite directions.” Indeed after listening to her incredible talent, it was found to be quite surprising yet fascinating. This is definitely not something to expect from the average singer.
According to the author “The part starting at 3 minutes 25 seconds is truly astounding. It is highly recommended to watch the video with headphones to truly appreciate what is happening.” After observing the whole video several times, a noticeable difference did occur once listening carefully with the use of headphones. The harmonics in Hefele’s singing sounded more intense and at this point escalated to another level. When singing the scales with the overtones going in the opposite direction to the fundamental, it seemed almost impossible to not only have the capability to create that sound to begin with, however to have such an amazing musical ear to be able to demonstrate this without the guidance of a piano’s accompaniment. It was truly remarkable and understandable why “the skills she displays far outweigh what musicians thought possible for a human being.”
Given the description of polyphonic singing as well as a demonstrational video, it seemed like an appropriate time to attempt this. To begin with, a mono-toned note was sung progressing to the realization of the overtones formational dependency on the shape of the lips. As Anna-Maria’s practice has continued for the past 10 years, it didn’t seem noticeable that she was making a particular shape with her mouth in the video, most likely because she is very experienced and has obtained a lot of control. This observation wasn’t included in the article which should have been, as it is the most important feature of the whole technique. Furthermore experimenting with this, an over tone was created to a single sustained note, as well as succeeding in creating 2 voices with a movement in tone, however only in the fundamental. It seemed unmanageable to create a movement in both the fundamental and over tone note simultaneously, however “While Hefele's skills are “other-worldly,” they are actually not impossible – just incredibly rare and difficult to train.” So there’s potential for anyone who wants to attain the technique of polyphonic singing. It’s just a matter of practice
Bibliography
(2014 ). Overtone singing. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtone_singing.
Last accessed 1/11/2014.
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