Have you heard about overtone singing? I wouldn’t want to hear a whole concert of it, and can’t actually make listen through a whole song, but the idea of it is fascinating. Let me explain:
I studied music in college and just felt like the biggest phony. I liked music and singing but the technical stuff was just so beyond me. I was all ‘melody and alto line’, and when we had to hear and identify chords, anything beyond your standard major or minor was a no-go. ‘A diminished fifth? Isn’t that a kind of alcohol?’
I remember when we talked about overtones. Apparently every note has all these other notes wrapped up in it. You just hear the main note, but there is a third, a fifth, sixth and a bunch of other notes inside it. Our professor was talking about how you can hear them and everyone else was nodding their assent – ‘Sure, sure, of course’ – while I was certain I was being punked. I just don’t hear them.
So when I heard that you can filter out the overtones when you sing just by going ‘ooo-eee’ very slowly, I had to try it. The lady with the deep cleavage who makes the how-to videos said you should try in the car, so I’ve had many a solo car ride trying to mess around.
This isn’t my best, but it kind of shows it. Listen for the whistle sounds above the note. See how adorable my little captive is.
I can’t control the notes yet. Let’s watch deep cleavage lady show us how it’s done.
That’s some cleavage, eh?