Overtone Singing
Wednesday August 20, 2008
About five years ago I performed a piece of music by Sarah Hopkins called Past Life Melodies. Having been singing works by Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms, Sarah Hopkins' work was a far cry from my normal repertoire. What made this piece of music unique was its utilization and amplification of overtone singing. I have two different recordings of this piece: one by my own choir and the other by Chanticleer. My choir performed the piece with a little bit faster tempo than Chanticleer, but Chanticleer does a fantastic job (far beyond what my choir acheived) singing it. Watch a YouTube Video of Chanticleer performing Past Life Melodies.
Comments
My brother can perform this type of singing, also known as “Mongolian Houmi singing”. It’s a little surreal to hear him do it! It was featured in a video on Mongolia, but I forget the name of the video. Maybe a google search…?
my high school choir did this,
and the audience was stunned.
The severely nasal singing required for the most prolific overtones could only be achieved by a few of our members,
but it was very ethereal and incredible.