Overtones

'The source - the vocal folds - provides the raw sonic energy, which the filter - the vocal tracts - shapes into vowels, consonants and musical notes '
( Scientific American, 'The Throat Singers of Tuva')

I've been singing a lot recently. Sometimes, and this has happened all my life, the song falls dead from my lips, strangled and swallowed up. At other times, the song seems somehow to engage the surroundings - the air, the water, the walls and the furniture - and is thrown high and wide and back to me.

After a particularly rich rendition of 'There was a Lady' I was reminded of IB's overtone singing. I reminisced and mused about it for some time in front of JC before glancing at him to guage his reaction to this marvel, and perhaps hear his analysis, but was instead greeted by his habitual blank expression.

I did ask IB at the time how he did it and he asked me what I heard and I said I believed he started from an 'r' sound and he said 'Oh, that's interesting, you heard an 'r' did you? ' and after a long pause he said, 'in fact it is more around m and l...'.

Above the plucking of the guitar and the throbbing waves of a vaguely Celtic rolling low sound, composed perhaps of ls and ms, rose four overtones, and they rose as four birds which flew to the roof of the cathedral and shrilled their melody, each tone stacked above the other. Their song was so juicy, so perfectly distinct from the accompaniment below that they could, at any moment have flown off in formation.

'What did you hear?' I said to JC, suddenly curious.

'Ah...something...'

How could he have missed it? How could he hear the distant buzzing of a bee, rather than the chorus of four birds? He told me he was feeling somewhat cut off that night, as he was mentally preparing to go back to work after the Christmas holidays, preparing to be the lone pilgrim in the grim grey world of banking, which I fully understand, but I thought overtone singing was purely physical, and that any who have ears to hear can hear it.

Some time later I talked to a great musician who claimed to be able to do a bit of the old overtones himself, and he said it IS physical, but that some people are more tuned equipment for "hearing" it than others.