as i understand tuvan throat singing, the key to doing it is to sing a vowel that is low in the vowel spectrum while somehow managing to produce another vowel that is high in the vowel spectrum. as i have mentioned in the post 'weird trick...', combining a brooklyn 'oo' with a french 'u' (exaggerated), works for me (i have a nine year old student who, demonstrating her understanding, came up with a combo of a nasal murmur and the french 'u'). i have uploaded a file to the file section of the archives that illustrates this.
'chiaroscuro' (light-dark) describes an aesthetic ideal of classical singing (i, immediately, think of robert merrill, ettore bastianini, leonard warren, pavel lisitsian, ludwig suthaus, ramon vinay, etc.). but, what is it? i think it is presence of strong high and low frequencies in a voice. to examine spectral readings of singers who exhibit what we think of as 'chiaroscuro', is to see strong bands around the 500hz. range as well as the 2500-3200hz. range, also known as the region of the 'singer's formant'.
achieving 'chiaroscuro' seems elusive for many singers, partly because so many descriptions of what it is are vague and also, because so many methods advertised to produce it, fail to do so. one reason i think a lot of singers have trouble is that they think they can either produce bright or, dark but, not the two together. we are all familiar with the wooly voiced baritone trying to pass as a bass (because he has no top). we are also familiar with the excessively bright voiced soprano who is often told how perfect her voice is for the twentieth century literature. often these singers are choosing one over the other when what they need is both. it is important to understand that 'bass' and 'treble', in reference to tone quality, have to do with pitch, specifically, areas of the spectrum that are highlighted. when you press the 'loudness' button on your stereo, this boosts both while lowering the mid range (hi-fi's answer to 'chiaroscuro').
the benefit to learning tuvan throat singing or, something like it, is that it requires producing low end and high end frequencies, at the same time. the practitioners of tuvan throat singing manipulate the vocal tract in order to produce what appears to be two different pitches (really just two different overtones). we can manipulate our vocal tracts to produce two seemingly opposing tone qualites, for the preceived same pitch, in the same manner, using the same principles. and, it can be as simple and easy as figuring out how to do some neat trick.
mike
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