WHAT!? Hey, how's it going? Welcome back to another episode of TwoSet Violin. Today, we're trying a new different type of episode, where we wanted to learn some different... obscure musical talents that exist in the world. And so we have a teacher in throat overtone singing. For those of you that don't know what overtones are, they're kinda like the harmonic series. You can probably look up about it. But this guy can make overtones with his throat, and that's pretty cool. Anyway, we are going to join a call right now. I'm a little bit nervous. Let's see how it goes. Hello! Hello! So we checked out a video of you doing overtone singing, and we thought that's the coolest- It's like a super power almost. It sounds so cool. And I wanted to ask... How did you get into this? How did you learn overtone singing? So I'm a music student studying composition, and I noticed this kind of overtone singing or you can call it throat singing. So I actually self-taught myself to do it. That's so cool! How long did it take for you to get the... to make your first overtone sound? I think it took me around half a year. - Half a year!
- Oh wow. How long did you practice a day for that? I practice only 15 minutes a day because this is very overloading for my throat. So if you over practice it, you will actually hurt your vocal cord. - Wow... Yeah.
- So you can't practice 40 hours a day. Only 40 seconds a day. Okay. Well, let's get started. - See if we can do it.
- Alright, How do we start? Yeah, so first of all, I will demonstrate. - Okay.
- Yeah. So okay... um... How do we do that? First of all, pick your most comfortable range. Open your mouth with an "ah" sound, and then sustain it as long, but as smooth and without any fluctuation of the tone. - Should we try it together or we...
- Yep. - Why can't I hold it in tune?
- He's not holding it! It's like... It's going up and down. Let's me try, let me try. Great job! My turn, my turn. Why can't I keep it in tune? You have to be very relaxed and with a more open posture. And very relaxed. Was that okay? Yeah. That's a good start. - Oh.
- Yeah. Thank you. The next step is try to train your mouth shape. So we will actually make use of the vowels. So we start from the most closed position, and then to the most open position but in a very slow motion. Okay? So the demonstration is something like this. - Alright, you go first.
- Alright. Ran out of breath! I heard it a little bit! - Did you?
- Yeah! Yeah. I wanna try again. - I can heard a little bit, yeah.
- A little bit? Yeah. You're getting a bit. Good job. Okay, so what's the next step? First of all, you need to use your... the tip of your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth. So like this. And you combine the step, previous steps together. Okay. - Let's try. Let's try.
- Let's try... Alright. So the effect will be... Alright, I'll try. Alright, my turn. I'm not getting it. I guess you're moving your mouth shape too fast. You should keep it as continuous as possible. - Oonga boonga...
- Oh! I heard it in the last one! Really? - Yeah, there is a bit.
- Brett: yeah. It's very quiet, but I can hear in the last one. I'm not very good at it. Oh, I heard it! - Bro....!!
- I heard it! I heard it! WHAT!? I heard it! Oh, now you just gotta pitch it. And you can... Dude, that's so cool! Is that it? Or is there any more steps after that? Yeah, there is a last step. So I usually use my right hand to cover it like this. You are not fully covering your ears but a bit in this angle. The reason why is because the overtone is coming from your nose, ears, and your head. So this means you can kinda use the hand as a playback device, and at the same time you can use it as a reflective material. One side or both sides? I usually use my left hand to indicate the pitches when you are controlling a lot of overtones. So you can try both. Nice! - Did you hear it?
- Yeah! I didn't hear it. No, I heard it. But I can't hear it! - You just gotta do the DJ thing.
- Oh, let me try DJ. I can't do it at the same time! *inhales* Dude, that's intense. So after you practice the overtones, you can actually use them to sing a song... sing a tune. I... usually I practice the Amazing Grace - Can you show us?
- Yeah, can you show us? Yeah. Wow... That was such a flex at the end. It's like "I can do a lot of pitches." Yeah, arpeggios. It's like a cadenza. And then when you did that, like the vibrato, the trill, - Yeah...
- your mouth go... I actually also try to develop a technique that is called contrapuntal overtone singings. So which means you can change your fundamental and overtones at the same time, creating counterpoints. I think we saw that in your video. I used that technique in my piece, so it's actually very similar to a passacaglia which you have the ostinato with the same bass pattern occurring again and again. So I put that bass pattern onto my fundamental. So my fundamental, kinda like... I keep having this motif, and then I manipulate the overtone sounds. So the effect will be something like... Dude, that's so cool! Thank you so much. Is there anything you wanted to add? Thank you so much for your invitation. Yeah, thank you so much, sensei Hippocrates. ...and showing us how this is worked. I'm sure a lot of people watching this will really appreciate it as well. Yeah, I'm proud of you guys. And I think you guys are fantastic students, and you probably can graduate soon from my studio. Alright! Thanks everyone for watching. That's it. Go practice!
