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