Okay folks…this is going to be a weird post, but stay with me. I’m a collegiate choral director, so singing is big part of my life. The human voice constantly amazes me. As of late, I have been doing a lot of guest conducting with middle school age kids. This age group is a hoot. They are hungry to express who they are becoming and are excited to make music together. Voices are changing at this age and, particularly young men, are figuring out how their new voices work and what they can do. Speaking of what voices can do…

Overtone Singing

We are capable of singing two pitches at once.

Let me say that again: the human voice is capable of producing two distinct pitches at once. This is called overtone singing. Now – before I blow your mind with some pretty mazing video, let me give you a basic explanation of what overtones are. Within any pitch produced, there is a series of overtones. When I sing a note, there are actually a host of notes that make up the composite sound you are hearing. By manipulating the space inside your mouth, you can cause specific overtones to be heightened and easily perceived.

I know…it sounds crazy. Check out this guy singing Amazing Grace with overtones: I promise, that is actually him. He is clearly producing two pitches at once – a drone pitch that stays the same and the changing whistle pitches above.

Maybe only crazy choral conductors do this, but have you ever hit a note in a room or a stairwell and it “rings” more than any other note? You have hit the resonant pitch for that space. This singer, by changing the shape of the space inside his mouth, changes the resonant frequency causing different overtones to be highlighted. And that’s how he gets different pitches above his drone.

One Voice: Two Pitches

So this guy produces a static bottom pitch and is able to heighten any of the pitches in that static pitches’s overtone series. I won’t bore you with what those pitches are, but it is always a specific set relating to that bottom pitch produced.

What would happen if you changed the bottom pitch? Well, you’d have access to another set of overtones. Well guess what? There is a guy in Texas named Stuart Hinds who has training himself to change the bottom pitch while also being able to hit any note in the overtone set at will. This takes INCREDIBLE control. The result of this training? Mr. Hinds is able to sing in a round WITH HIMSELF! I promise, what you are about to see and hear is only one person singing. You will see a spectrogram, a visual representation of sound over time. The very bottom stream is the main, bottom pitch that Mr. Hinds sings. You’ll then see the overtones he wants to highlight as the very top stream of notes. Take a listen: Once again, I know it seems impossible, but those whistle tones are actually being produced by Mr. Hinds’s voice and only Mr. Hinds’s voice. There is no manipulation here. Once voice, two pitches. Pretty amazing.

For me, the most amazing thing about this is the capacity of the human voice. The variety is staggering. We can listen to a rock singer, a folk singer, or an opera singer. We can enjoy R&B and Country. Rap, Pop, Ska, and Jazz – the list never ends – all from the human voice. And think about this as you listen to all of this singing: a child that experiences music on a regular basis will have a deeper appreciation for music throughout her or his life.

Listen to Mr. Hinds with your child. Ask questions. Can they hear the overtones – the whistle tones? Ask if they can believe that it’s only one person singing! See if you can produce overtones. Check out Anna-Maria Hefele’s (another great overtone singer) How-to video. Explore the possibilities!