What a sound! – Young Ensemble Dreden, Olaf Katzer, Jan Heinke

/0 Comments/in , /by

Such sounds cast a spell over me. Those who know me know how much contemporary choral music touches me. And as an overtone singer, I have been trying to bring overtone awareness to choirs for almost four decades. I am all the happier when composers who know something about overtone singing write choral music.

Jan Heinke is an absolutely exceptional musician. We have been friends for many years now, and Jan never fails to impress me with his deeply reflective worldview. His music is unique in the world, his playing on the steel cello he built, his ultra low bass and the virtuosity of his overtone singing. The Junge Ensemble Dresden under the direction of Olaf Katzer is one of the top chamber choirs in Germany and one of the select ones dedicated to contemporary classical music at the highest level.

You find the CD here: https://jungesensembledresden.de/cd

CD „Licht über Licht“
Performer: Junges Ensemble Dresden
Artistic direction: Olaf Katzer
Soloist overtone singing: Jan Heinke
Total playing time: 61:30

Jan Heinke: http://www.janheinke.de/, http://www.stahlquartett.de/

“Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” – for Overtone Singing and Piano

/0 Comments/in , /by

Noten aus dem Speyerer Gesangbuch 1599 - Es ist ein Ros entsprungen“Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is a Christmas carol from the Speyerer Gesangbuch 1599. Here as a version for piano (Michael Reimann) and overtone singing (Wolfgang Saus).

The challenge for overtone singers here is especially the intonation conflict of the natural overtone thirds with the equal-tempered ones of the piano. In this version, I have partially adjusted the overtones to match the equal-tempered tuning, resulting in “out of tune” fundamental tones. The alternative of intonating the harmonics in relation “out of tune” is found by some to be cleaner overall. An interesting experiment. Piano and overtones never fit together exactly because, except for the octave, none of the piano intervals correspond to the natural harmonic order. I think it sounds delightful nonetheless.

Free sheet music here.

Performers:
Michael Reimann – keys
https://michaelreimann.de/
Wolfgang Saus – overtone singing.
https://www.oberton.org/
Video – caelan, pixabay
https://pixabay.com/

Maria Walks Amid the Thorns (Maria durch ein Dornwald ging) – Overtone Singing

/0 Comments/in /by

“Maria durch ein Dornwald ging” is a German Advent hymn from the 19th century. The melody possibly dates from the 16th century (wikipedia). It was first printed in 1850 in “Geistliche Volkslieder mit ihren ursprünglichen Weisen – gesammelt aus mündlicher Tradition und seltenen alten Gesangbüchern”, [August Haxthausen]. Paderborn 1850. https://sammlungen.ulb.uni-muenster.de/hd/content/pageview/1931586

For overtone singing, the challenge is the minor scale melody. Because the singable harmonic series is tuned in major, you have to change the fundamental several times to be able to sing the melody. Michael Reimann improvises his piano part according to the demands of overtone singing. He can do that because he himself sings outstanding overtones. We are so well attuned to each other that we were able to improvise this version freely and record it in one take.

If you want to sing it, you can find the free sheet music in my sheet music collection.

Performers:
Michael Reimann – keys
https://michaelreimann.de/
Wolfgang Saus – overtone singing
https://www.oberton.org
The video is from jrydertr, Pixabay.

Beate Eckert, Barbara Luebben: sing 2 - Overtone Melodies for Women. Front cover.
Beate Eckert, Barbara Luebben: sing 2 - Overtone Melodies for Women. Front cover.

Free: sing2 – A Practice Book for Polyphonic Overtone Singing for Female Voice, English Version

/0 Comments/in , /by

 

It gives me great pleasure to present a book by two of my students and graduates of my overtone singing master class:
“sing2 – Overtone Melodies for Women”, by Beate Eckert and Barbara Lübben.

As the pitch increases, the number of singable overtones decreases. Polyphonic overtone singing therefore places high demands on women’s voices, as high voices have to change the fundamental tone more frequently than low voices in order to achieve certain melodic tones with overtones (→ Composing with overtone singing).

Barbara Lübben and Beate Eckert have published this booklet with polyphonic overtone singing exercises that specifically addresses the requirements of high voices and makes it easier for women to get started with polyphonic overtone singing. However, male voices can also transpose the melodies into their own register.

One of the challenges in learning overtone singing is the coordination of resonance and singing tone. The multitasking involved in concentrating on two melodies often initially leads to confusion between the two melody-generating principles in overtone singing. While the fundamental voice is produced by the vocal cords as usual, the overtone melody is created by changing the shape of the mouth and the pharynx.

Sing2 uses familiar melodies for the overtone part, which makes it easier to concentrate on two melodies sung at the same time. Even if you lose your bearings, which will definitely happen at the beginning, you will find your way back into a familiar melody more quickly.

I really enjoy the exercises myself and like to use them in my advanced courses.

The free English edition of sing2 was published in November of the coronavirus year 2020. The two authors have decided not only to make this edition available free of charge, but also to provide a download with sound files in which all the pieces are sung by the authors themselves.

If you like (and you definitely will), you can find a link on their homepage for a donation, which I of course encourage everyone who enjoys or benefits from the booklet to do. You can also buy the German edition in printed form together with a CD on the website.

 

https://www.polyphona.de/sing2-en.html

Wolfgang Saus at the Freiburg Stimmforum

Radio Feature: Between two tones – The art of overtone singing

/0 Comments/in , /by

You first have to learn to hear overtones. With this program you can do that. Whoever learns it will change his entire listening experience. This is because completely new insights into the essence of sounds and realities are opened up.

Radio Feature by: Tanja Gronde. Broadcast from 09.05.2020 on BR Bayern 2 and BR Heimat.

More about the broadcast [BR Bayern2 and BR Heimat].

Watch now for free: The film “Space – Sound – Voice” by Minghao Xu

/2 Comments/in , /by

Minghao Xu’s 2009 film brings us close to the mystery of overtones, which seems to become the stranger the deeper you look into it. The film illuminates the phenomenon from the perspective of some of the greatest experts in the field of overtone singing, with some exciting and well-researched scientific and philosophical backgrounds. This documentary film portrays seven international musicians and tells the story of the director’s personal fascination with ‘overtone singing’ and the fractal geometry of sound. An amazing journey into a mysterious world of sound.

With

  • David Hykes
  • Wolfgang Saus
  • Christian Bollmann
  • Danny Wetzels
  • Hosoo & Transmongolia
  • Jill Purce
  • Mark van Tongeren

Director and producer: Minghao Xu
2009 Traumzeit publishing house, David Lindner

You can buy the DVD of the film with some extras in German/English here.

Minghao Xu about his film (quote from facebook):

My first production – a documentary about overtone singing – was published in 2010. Now after 10 years I am making it available for free on YouTube.

A big Thank You to Danny Wetzels who introduced me to overtone singing, who was and is a musical inspiration and a friend to me throughout the years.

Big Thank You to Wolfgang Saus who has a deep understanding of the human voice, who is brilliant in teaching how to hear and sing overtones and who supported me massively in creating this documentary.

Thank You to David Hykes who touched me as a singer as much as an inspirational being.

Thank You to Christian Bollmann, Hosoo Dangaa Khosbayar, Jill Purce and Mark van Tongeren – without your presence, knowledge, voice and contribution this project couldn’t have manifested. And Thank You to David Lindner for your help to publish this project through the Traumzeit Verlag.

 

Silent Night with Overtone Singing

/0 Comments/in , /by

“Silent Night, Holy Night”, the world’s most famous Christmas song, was sung for the first time on 24.12.1818, exactly 200 years ago. On Christmas Eve 1818 the Arnsdorf village school teacher and organist Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863) and the auxiliary priest Joseph Mohr (1792-1848) performed the Christmas carol for the first time in the Schifferkirche St. Nikola in Oberndorf near Salzburg, Austria. (Wikipedia)

For this version for overtone singing, the brilliant pianist Michael Reimann has improvised a piano movement on the electric piano. The notes for overtone singing are suitable for beginners. At one point, however, a small psychoacoustic trick is used, because one of the melody notes is not actually included in the overtone series. Who can find it?

Michael Reimann: https://www.michaelreimann.de/
Video: Ljubljana Christmas Market filmed from the castle.

BBC Documentary about Wolfgang Saus’ Overtones in the MRI Tube

/0 Comments/in , /by

At the moment you can download the German version of the BBC documentation, e.g. with Mediathekview, from the ZDF Mediathek: 4th Episode, Wonders of Anatomy – Medical Record X – Borderline Cases of Science.
Note: Video and link currently only work from Germany.

Surgeon Gabriel Weston has spent many years studying the functioning of the human body. In the series «Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook» she presents people from all over the world with the most unusual bodies and abilities.

One of them is the unique body control required for overtone singing (from 10:40 min.). In November 2016, a film team from BBC Science Production, Emma Hatherley (production, direction) and Alexis Smith (camera), produced a film at the Institute of Music Medicine at the University Hospital of Freiburg with Prof. Bernhard Richter and Wolfgang Saus.

Live images from the magnetic resonance tomograph show the complex motion sequences in the mouth and throat that are involved in overtone singing. Interviews explain the scientific background of the phenomenon.

Pictures of the Making-of

BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, MRT, Wolfgang Saus
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, MRT, Wolfgang Saus
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Alexis Schmith
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Emma Hatherley
BBC: Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook Poster Ep 4, mit Wolfgang Saus Obertongesang
BBC: Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook Poster Ep 4, mit Wolfgang Saus Obertongesang

Links

→BBC Website

Spectacular MRI Video of the Tongue while Singing Overtones

/0 Comments/in , /by

“Ode to Joy”, overtone singing by Wolfgang Saus inside an MRI.

This spectacular dynamic MRI video shows how the tongue moves during overtone singing. The melody of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” is created by double resonances which are shaped by the tongue in the mouth and throat. Overtone singing is based on the combination of the second and third resonance frequencies of the vocal tract on a single frequency to increase the volume of a single overtone from the vocal sound.

The second resonance frequency is controlled by the base of the tongue along with the epiglottis. The third resonance frequency is regulated by the space under the tongue, which is larger than it appears in the video, because it also spreads to the side of the tongue frenulum, which covers the space in the image. Overtone singing requires constant fine tuning of the two resonance chambers.

BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, Prof. Bernhard Richter,Wolfgang Saus. Screenshot ZDF
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, MRT, Wolfgang Saus
BBC Doku 2017 University Freibrug, MRT, Wolfgang Saus

It is not easy to sing in the very loud magnetic resonance tomograph and even record the sound. The noise level is so high that I had to wear hearing protection and couldn’t hear my own overtones. I had to sing by feeling. That the right melody came out is spectacular in itself. It shows that it is possible to develop a body feeling for the exact pitch of the resonances that also works without acoustic control through the ear.

The team in Freiburg has developed highly specialized equipment for recording and filtering. Of course the sound is not HiFi.

MRT footage with kind permission and a big thank you to:
University Hospital Freiburg
Clinic for Radiology – Medical Physics & Institute for Music Medicine
https://fim.mh-freiburg.de/
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Richter
Prof. Dr. Dr. Jürgen Hennig
Prof. Dr. Matthias Echternach
(c) 2015

Oh, come, little children

/0 Comments/in , /by

“Ihr Kinderlein, kommet” im Satz für polyphonen Obertongesang in einer Neufassung mit Keyboard-Begleitung von Michael Reimann.
Als ich 1984 meine polyphonen Obertongesangsstil entwickelte war”Ihr Kinderlein, kommet” eines der ersten Lieder, die ich mit wechselnden Grundtönen sang.

Ich singe hier eine einfach zu lernende Fassung mit nur drei Grundtönen, die Du am schnellsten durch Mitsingen lernst. Die Noten dazu kannst Du Dir hier kostenlos herunterladen:

Noten Download

Text:

1. Ihr Kinderlein, kommet, o kommet doch all’!
Zur Krippe her kommet in Betlehems Stall
und seht, was in dieser hochheiligen Nacht
der Vater im Himmel für Freude uns macht.

2. O seht in der Krippe, im nächtlichen Stall,
seht hier bei des Lichtleins hellglänzendem Strahl,
den lieblichen Knaben, das himmlische Kind,
viel schöner und holder, als Engelein sind.

3. Da liegt es – das Kindlein – auf Heu und auf Stroh;
Maria und Josef betrachten es froh;
die redlichen Hirten knie’n betend davor,
hoch oben schwebt jubelnd der Engelein Chor.

4. Manch Hirtenkind trägt wohl mit freudigem Sinn
Milch, Butter und Honig nach Betlehem hin;
ein Körblein voll Früchte, das purpurrot glänzt,
ein schneeweißes Lämmchen mit Blumen bekränzt.

5. O betet: Du liebes, Du göttliches Kind
was leidest Du alles für unsere Sünd’!
Ach hier in der Krippe schon Armut und Not,
am Kreuze dort gar noch den bitteren Tod.

6. O beugt wie die Hirten anbetend die Knie,
erhebet die Hände und danket wie sie!
Stimmt freudig, ihr Kinder, wer wollt sich nicht freu’n,
stimmt freudig zum Jubel der Engel mit ein!

7. Was geben wir Kinder, was schenken wir Dir,
du Bestes und Liebstes der Kinder, dafür?
Nichts willst Du von Schätzen und Freuden der Welt –
ein Herz nur voll Unschuld allein Dir gefällt.

8. So nimm unsre Herzen zum Opfer denn hin;
wir geben sie gerne mit fröhlichem Sinn –
und mache sie heilig und selig wie Dein’s,
und mach sie auf ewig mit Deinem nur Eins.

Melodie:  Johann Abraham Peter Schulz 1794. Text: Christoph von Schmid 1798. Video: Falling snow by Matt S – CC BY 3.0, Artikelbild: pixabay CC0.