Beating a dead cat

[ivyfic]

We had to learn overtone singing at rehearsal last night. This is for the Tan Dun Water Passion - it's mostly done by Tibetan monks and the like. The point is to focus the voice so that the overtones pop out like a sort of silvery sound above the fundamental. Same idea as playing harmonics on a guitar, only a lot creepier.

It basically sounds like a dead cat yowling. The problem is, I can't hear the overtones. At all. I don't know what I'm supposed to be hearing, but I can't pick it out. So rehearsal was like staring at one of those stereoscopic pictures and not being able to make the image pop out and having everyone else say, "Can't you see it? It's the statue of liberty!"

We had to go around the room and try it individually so the teacher could coach us (say goodbye to those inhibitions). When I did it, everyone was like "Wow! That's really good! It's so loud!" And I'm like "What? What?!?!?!?!"

So apparently I'm really good at it. I guess that's good enough for the concert. But dammit, it's like trying to paint something blindfolded. In my experience with singing, if I can't hear exactly what I'm doing, I'm doing it wrong. Looks like this part of the concert will just be a leap of faith.

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember doing some of that overtone singing stuff in my Electronic Music class back in high school...of course, the teacher was just a little bit trippy. It was definitely audible on the tape, but I don't think anyone was really able to get it in the class.