Of Overtones and Love Messages: How a Video Redefines the Boundaries of Vocal Control

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In a universe where Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday and World Sound Healing Day magically come together, a fascinating video reveals the hidden world of vocal sounds: a spectrogram of curious vibrations that look like letters and form the words “I LOVE YOU”. But what exactly is behind this amazing phenomenon?

Welcome to the world of the secret language of overtones, a realm that only a few have explored. As the author of this blog, I have probably mastered one of the most precise controls of human vocal resonance on the planet. Because let’s be honest, who else but me could accomplish something so masterful? (Of course, you are welcome to prove me wrong at this point. And I would be very happy if you did. Just give it a try!)

The voice, a miracle of nature, harbours more secrets than most people can imagine. Did you know that the true essence of the voice lies in the resonances of the vocal tract?

Yes, the overtone chord may seem like the star of the stage, but the real magic lies in the resonances that make our voices unique. This is just the beginning of an exciting journey I want to take you on. Are you ready to push the boundaries of controlling your voice? Then subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss a post. Because there is still a lot to discover in the world of vocal resonance.

Next Level Resonance Strategies – Singing Phonetics

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Recording of the webinar “Voice Masters Live” by Philippe Hall from Singing Revealed on March 29, 2022.
Recording of the webinar Next Level Resonance Strategies in the Voice Masters Live series by Philippe Hall from Singing Revealed, on March 29, 2022.
Sprache: English

 

Next Level Resonance Strategies – Singing Phonetics

  • What are formants?
  • What are resonances?
  • Why are vowels dependent on pitch?
  • What is formant tuning?

Philippe Hall talks to Wolfgang Saus about vowels and their importance for resonance strategies.

Resonance is a cornerstone of any vocal technique. However, the relationship between vowels, resonances, formants, harmonics and pitch is a complex topic and often confusing.

Wolfgang Saus shows participants how to use a vowel resonance chart to see at a glance why some vowels work excellently at a particular pitch and others not at all. Participants learn how resonances can be controlled by tongue movements and how they can optimize their resonances by using the right vowel nuances. After the seminar, they will be able to deal confidently with the terms vowel, resonance and overtones.

Voice Disorders - a Focus of Clinical Speech Science (in German)

Currently FREE: Voice Disorders – a Focus of Clinical Speech Science

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As the Federal Association of German Clinical Speech Scientists announced today, the jubilee volume on the occasion of the DBKS’s 25th anniversary, Voice Disorders – a Focus of Clinical Speech Science, is currently available free of charge in Open Access. “This is a reminiscence of our wonderful colleague and former DBKS board member Anke Bergt, who died far too early and who had acted as co-editor,” said the spokeswoman of the Department of Speech Science and Phonetics and director of the Institute of Music, Media and Speech Sciences, Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Susanne Voigt-Zimmermann.

I contributed a short text on the control of formants to the volume. You can read the volume online and download it as PDF.

→Voice Disorders – a Focus of Clinical Speech Science (in German)

Spectacular MRI Video of the Tongue while Singing Overtones

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“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