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TQH: Method of Learning Overtone Singing Khoomei A considerable amount of research has been for thee last 40 years carried out throughout the world into this vocal phenomenon, particularly as it is practised in Mongolia and Tuva.

In Mongolia and Tuva, thee word KHOOMEI means pharynx, throat, and KHOOMEILAKH is the technique of producing vocal harmonics. This most unusual technique, which takes the human voices to its limits, entails the production of two sounds simultaneously: a drone or fundamental that is rich in harmonics and reminiscent of the jew's harp (the reason why this technique is also known as "jew's harp voice"). This technique is strenuous for the performer according to Mongolian singers. The performer must tauten his muscles and swell his cheeks. Different sounds are obtained by varying
the air pressure across the vocal folds, the volume of the mouth cavity, and tongue placement. In this way, variable pitch harmonics are produced to form the melody. The fundamental is produced in the back of the throat, passing through the mouth, and exciting throught the slightly parted lips and to a lesser extent through the nose.
Research can be done in many ways: by means of obervation of native performers after on or more visits to the country concerned, or by means of practising instruments and vocal training aimed at a better understanding of the musical structure employed by the population being studied. My own research does not belong to either of these two categories since I have never been to Monglia and I have never learned the KHOOMEI style (Overtone singing) from a Mongolian teacher. What I am going to describe for you here is the result of my own experiments which will enable anyone to produce two simultaneous sounds similar to Mongolian and Tuvin overtone singing.

DEFINITION
The manner in which the Mongolian and Tuvin word is transcribed is by no means not uniform: HO-MI, HÖ-MI (Vargyas, 1968), KHOMEI, KHÖÖMII (Bosson, 1964: 11), CHÖÖMEJ (Aksenov 1973: 12), CHÖÖMIJ (Vietze 1969: 15-16), XÖÖMIJ (Hamayon 1973; Tran Quang Hai 1980: 162).
French researchers have used other terms to describe this peculiar vocal technique such as CHANT DIPHONIQUE or BIPHONIQUE (Leipp 1971), Tran Quang Hai 1974, Gilles Leothaud 1989, VOIX GUIMBARDE, VOIX DEDOUBLEE (Helffer 1973, Hamayon 1973), and CHANT DIPHONIQUE SOLO (Marcel-Dubois 1979).
Several terms exist in English such as SPLIT-TONE SINGING, THROAT SINGING, OVERTONE SINGING, and HARMONIC SINGING. In German, it is called ZWEISTIMMIGEN SOLOGESANG. In Italian, it is called CANTO DIFONICO ou CANTO DIPLOFONICO .
For convenience, I have employed the term "OVERTONE SINGING" to describe a style of singing performed by a single person producing simultaneously a continuous drone and another sound at a higher pitch issueing from a series of partials or harmonics resembling the sound of the flute.

HOW DID I COME TO THE OVERTONE SINGING ?
In 1970, at the Department of Ethnomusicology (Musee de l'Homme), Prof. Roberte Hamayon let me listen to her recordings made in Mongolia in 1967 and 1969. I was surprised by the extraordinary and unique nature of this vocal technique.
For several months, I carried out bibliographical research into articles concerned with this style of singing with the aim of obtaining information on the practice of overtone singing, but received little satisfaction.
Explanations of a merely theoretical and sometimes ambiguous nature did nothing so much as to create and increase the confusion with which my research was surrounded. In spite of my complete ignorance of the training methods for overtone singing practised by the Mongolians, the Tuvins and other Siberian peoples, I was not in the least discouraged by thé negative results at the beginning of my studies after even several months of effort.
I worked entirely alone groping my way through the dark for two whole years, listening frequently to the recordings made by Roberte Hamayon stored at the Sound Archives of the Department of Ethnomusicology of the Musee de l'Homme. My efforts were however to no avail. Despite my knowledge of Jew's Harp technique, the initial work was both difficult and
discouraging.
I also tried to whistle while producing a low sound as a drone. However, checking on a sonagraph showing that this was not similar to the Mongolian Xöömij technique. At the end of 1972, I got to the state that I was still a long way from my goal.
Then, one day in November 1973, in order to calm my nerves in the appalling traffic congestion of Paris, I happened to make my vocal folds vibrate in the pharynx with my mouth half open and while reciting the alphabet. When I arrived at the letter L , and the tip of my tongue was about to touch the top of the palate, I suddenly heard a pure harmonic tone, clear and powerful. I repeated the operation several times and each time, I obtained the same result; I then tried to modify the position of the tongue in relation to the roof of the mouth while maintaining the low fundamental. A series of partials resonated in disorder in my ears.
At the beginning, I got the harmonics of a perfect chord. Slowly, after a week of intensive training, by changing the fundamental tone upwards and downwards, I discovered by myself the mystery of the overtone singing style which appeared to be near to that practised by the Mongolians and the Tuvins.

ABOUT MY OVERTONE TRAINING METHOD
After two months of "research" and numberless experiments of all kinds, I succeeded in creating a short overtone melody. Here is my "recipe" to help anyone to get this first step of overtone singing.
1. Intensify the vocal production with the throat voice
2. Pronounce the 2 vowels I and U linked together and repeat it several times in one breath.
3. Make a nasal sound and tip of the tongue in a down position
4. In this way, it is possible to obtain both the drone and the upper harmonic line in descending and ascending order.
This is the first technique what I call "technique of one mouth cavity". this one is easy to do and anyone can produce the effect of 2 voices in one throat after one minute of practice.
The second "recipe" will help you to produce clear overtones in the Mongolian and Tuvin styles. I call it "technique of two mouth cavities"
1. Emit a throat sound of the vowel E` as long as you can.
2. Pronounce the letter L . Maintain the position with the tip of the tougue touching the roof of the palate. In this position, the mouth is divided into 2 cavities, one at the back and one at the front.
3. Say "LAANG" for the first exercice, and say "LONG " for the second excercice. When you succeed in making the harmonics come out of the mouth, you keep the tip of the tongue to the palate while you sing , and at the same time you modify the mouth cavity by saying from A to O and from O to A several times in one breath.
4. Make a nasal sound
5. In this way, you can produce clearly thé drone and a series of harmonics in the Mongolian style.
For the beginners, the harmonics of the perfect chord (C, E, G,C) are easy to obtain. However, a considerable amount of hard work is necessary especially to obtain a pentatonic anhemitonic scale. Each person has his favourite note or pitch which enables him to produce a wide range of partials. This favourite fundamental varies according to the tonal quality of the singer's voice.

NEW EXPERIMENTS ABOUT OVERTONE SINGING
Other experiments which I have been carrying out indicate that it is possible to obtain two simultaneous sounds in three different ways:
1. In the first method, the tongue is either flat or slightly curved without actually at any stage touching the roof of the mouth, and only the mouth and the lips move. Through such varieties of the mouth cavity, this time divided into a single cavity, it is possible to hear the partials but faintly and the highest harmonics cannot reach beyond 1200Hz.
2. In the second method, the basic technique described above is used. However, instead of keeping the mouth half open, it is kept almost shut with the lips pulled back and very tight. To make the partials audible, the position of the lips si varied at the same time as that of the tongue. The partials are very clear and distinctive, butthe technique is rather exhausting. The highest harmonics arrive at the zone of 2600 Hz.
3. In the third method, thé tongue si down, and the teeth bite the tongue while singing the vowels U and I with the contraction of muscles at the abdomen and the throat. The hightest harmonics can be heard at thed zone of 4200Hz
Other new experiments I have tried to show that I can maintain thé same selective harmonic level which is used as a drone while changing the pitch of fundamentals (e.g. C, F, G, C). I have succeeded in creating the fundamental line and the harmonic line in the opposite direction. In other words, I arrive to sing the fundamental line in ascending order, and at the same time, I create the harmonic line in descending order. This harmonic effect is quite unusual and exceptional.
In 1989, Dr. Hugo Zemp and I made a film called "THE SONG OF HARMONICS" showing X-ray and spectrographical pictures in real time ans synchronous sound about the overtone singing practised in different countries. This film produced by the CNRS - Audiovisual and thé French Society for Ethnomusicology, obtained 2 prizes (Grand Prize and Best Music Prize) at the International Festival of Visual Anthropological Film in Estonia in October 1990, a prize (Special Prize for Research) at the International Festival of Scientific Film in Palaiseau (France) in November 1990, and a Grand Prize of the 2nd International Festival of Scientific Film in Montreal (Canada) in 1991.
In Western contemporary music, groups of singers have also succeeded in emitting two voices at the same time, and vocal pieces have been created in the context of avant garde music and of electro-acoustical music. David Hykes with his Harmonic Choir, created in New York in 1975, use the overtones to link with the cosmic universe in his compositions. Demetrio Stratos (1945-1979) used the overtones to create the relationship between voice and subconscious. In my compositions for improvized music, I recommend the investigation of overtones to enrich the world of sound.
Other overtone singers like Michael Vetter, Christian Bollmann, Michael Reimann from Germany, Roberto Laneri from Italy, Rollin Rachele from the Netherlands, Josephine Truman from Australia, Les Voix Diphoniques , Thomas Clements, Iegor Reznikoff, Tamia from France have also used thé overtones in their works.
Overtone singing is also practised by a number of ethnic groups (Oirat, Khakass, Gorno-Altai, Bashkir, Tuvin, Kalmuk) of the republics of Russia bordering on Mongolia. In Rajasthan (India), in Taiwan among the Bunun ethnic group, in Tibet among the monks belonging to the Gyuto and Gyume monasteries, in South Africa among the Xhosa population, the practice of overtone singing style is known throughout recordings.
I hope that after this short introduction to the overtone world, you will have an idea concerning the existence of the overtones in different areas in the world, the possibility of obtaining the know how of singing overtones.

Bibliography
AKSENOV, A.N. 1973: "Tuvin Folk Music", Journal of the Society for Asian Music 4(2):7-18, New York.
HAMAYON, R. 1980: "Mongol Music", New Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians 12: 482-485, Stanley Sadie (éd), MacMillan Publishers,Londres.
LANERI, R. 1983: "Vocal Techniques of Overtone Production",NPCA Quarterly Journal 12(2-3): 26-30.
LEIPP, E. 1971: "Considération acoustique sur le chant diphonique", Bulletin du Groupe d'Acoustique Musicale 58: 1-10, Paris..
LEOTHAUD, G. 1989: "Considérations acoustiques et musicales sur le chant diphonique", Le chant diphonique, dossier n° 1: 17-43, Institut de la Voix, Limoges.
TRAN QUANG HAI & GUILOU, D. 1980: "Original Research and Acoustical Analysis in Connection with the Xöömij Style of Biphonic Singing", Musical Voices of Asia : 162-173, The Japan Foundation (éd), Heibonsha Ltd, Tokyo.
TRAN QUANG HAI & ZEMP,Hugo. 1991: "Recherches expérimentales sur le chant diphonique", Cahiers de Musiques traditionnelles : VOIX vol.4: 27-68, Ateliers d'ethnomusicologie /AIMP, Genève.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1975: "Technique de la voix chantée mongole: xöömij", Bulletin du CEMO (14 & 15): 32-36, Paris.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1983: "Note à propos du chant diphonique mongol", Catalogue de l'exposition Mongolie-Mongolie, Musée de l'Homme (éd), Paris.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1989: "Réalisation du chant diphonique", dossier n°1 Le Chant diphonique : 15-16, Institut de la Voix, Limoges.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1990: "Les Musiques vocales", L'Esprit des Voix, C.Alès (éd), La Pensée Sauvage: 43-52, Grenoble.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1991: "New Experimental About the Overtone Singing Style", (Nouvelles Expérimentations sur le chant diphonique), Nouvelles Voies de la Voix, 1ère partie, Bulletin d'adiophonologie 7(5&6): 607-618, Besançon.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1995: " Le chant diphonique: description, historique, styles, aspect acoustique et spectral", EM, ANnuario degli Archivi di Etnomusicologia dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, 2:123-150, Rome.
TRAN QUANG HAI, 1995: "Survey of overtone singing style", EVTA (European Voice Teachers Association, Dokumentation 1994 (actes du congrès): 49-62, Detmold

Method of Learning Overtone Singing KHOOMEI

Tran Quang Hai (france)

My story of water ...

Grown up in Murnau at the Staffelsee, Germany, my wish as a child was to become a scuba diver, saving money for a diving-suit. Then moving to Neuburg at the Donau. Instead of a diving-suit I bought a trumpet. 1970 moving to Morenhofen, a place with its own mill and a little lake. I invented the Aquaphon, a wind instrument combined with a trumpet, tubes and resonators for water. 1980 during my music study times at the university of Cologne I composed special water arrangements.

1986 „Vor der Flut“, music in the water collector Severin Cologne and Aquamorphose, a piece about the sound of water, together with Christoph Müller. 1994 first watsu experience in the Wassermannzentrum. In fall 2000 I had my first aquawellness and music workshop in Bad Sulza, together with Michael Reimann. Relaxing in the body temperatured water I suddenly got the impulse to bring in the sounds of my voice and turn into harmonic chant. A new form of inspired and deep work combining water and music was born.

About one year later, in fall 2001, I gave the first workshop in Bamberg/Weichendorf, called „flowing in water, sound and movement“ together with the shiatsu- and cranio-sacral therapist Nina Schimetzek. 10 participants had come to this innovating project. Of course the terrorists attacks in the US had an influence to the atmosphere. So we decided “to work hard“ on relaxation - not just for ourselves.

Besides our exercises in the water, we used the healing harmonical sounds of voice, water, sound bowls and gongs above and under water, we were also dancing and singing on the „solid ground“. We used especially the songs and dances of the native American indians to honor and acknowledge their spirit and their ecological and spiritual wisdom .

Saturday night we watched the video „ The White Hole in Time“ from Peter Russell. He used the building of the World Trade Center as a scale for the steps of evolutionary development. Half of the height of the World Trade Center it took evolution to develop just simple cells. There is a tremendous acceleration, especially in the last 100 or 50 years: it becomes clear, wherever we go , we really go fast !

After a time of intense technological development in the outside world the next step is to go inside, is one of Peter Russell`s thesis. We have all possibilities to change this planet into a blossoming island in our universe. There would be a need of 52 Billion Dollars to restore our mother Earth to provide world hunger, to help the sick people, to recover pollution, to take care of birth control, to make the third world countries debt-free. But in comparison with that, $ 780 billion are spent on the military by all nations-each year! The next step has to be a step of consciousness. There is too much at stake!

After some time for reflection I invited the group to the pool, where I had made up the room for an improvised concert. The light of a lightshow projector was directed to the water, projecting the movements of the water waves to the wall and the bottom of the pool. The group members were sitting at the edge of the pool, some feet in the water, moving the water from time to time. I did an invocation with shell horns, sound bowls and gong and then I blew with the didgeridoo on the surface of the water and noticed the amplification of the sound on several resonating points in the room. Then I played „Times in Space“, an arrangement from the project „Before the Flood“ in the water collector Severin in Cologne 1986. Drops are pulsating on sound bowls, plates of glass and metal. water drums and „the drop on the hot stone“ are resonating in this special room with a reverberation of 45 seconds.

It’s a galactic sound-time-structure, connected with my own heartbeat and the heartbeat of my yet unborn son David, with didgeridoo sounds and the sounds of a glass harpe, which I had composed in my studio at home before. What I discovered later was that this sound structure had the same tonality as my alphorn, that I played live with this arrangement – a connection of special sound- worlds- made for deep listening and inspiration.

In the following sequence of didgeridoo playing, inside of me arose a luminous vision: The water in the pool has a resonating relationship to all water on Earth - also to the water in the air and the water in our bodies. 70 % of the human being is water, also 70 % of the planet’s surface is covered with water. Ocean researches for whales and dolphins say that our seas are mighty antennas for the vibrations of the universe. Wales and dolphins receive this information and are the mediators to the humans. Why not to go the other way round and use the pool as an entrance, a collector and an amplifier for healing information through sounds – and to send this healing sounds on a journey around the world ?!


Healing waters – a global art event
. . . to suggest a postive Intention for the whole evolution and the spiritual field of our planet Earth in 2001, in times of a global crisis.

Water as one of the most intense organic mediator and amplifier of information, as „an element of life that carries changes and devotion“, water, we all came from, water, connecting all spirits and beings on this blue planet, water is the medium and the channel for the planetary network.

Researches of the Japanese Masaru Emoto confirm impressively the way water shows up with informations imprinted in an ice crystal .

The message from water
Music, prayers, healing sounds, and songs from different cultures will be consciously projected into water by all the participants and this mental intention will be sent on a journey into the water cycle round the world. The first start event has been a full-moon-concert in the Toskana Therme Bad Sulza, Germany, in November 2001, planned and directed by Christian Bollmann, together with »The Overtone Choir Düsseldorf«. The Toskana Therme has special possibilities for under water liquid sound arrangements, under water concerts with color light effects and also the possibility for healing aquatic bodywork (aquawellness, watsu, soundwatsu). It is an optimal space for a holistic project as this one is. There have been parallel events in Boulder, Colorado with Jonathan Goldman, Kapa, Kauai/Hawaii with Timory Koch, India, Ganges, with Aruna Sayeeram, Brazil, shamanes around Daniel Namkhai and many more.

At the same time, on the whole world concerts, events and meditations have taken place together with other artists, in and near by the water. Everything showed up, from the private devotion in the private bath tub up to a Pacific-open-air-event. Following events will take place each full moon.

Essentially the purpose is to create a ritual with healing sounds, music, dancing and spoken words. Facing the water, you formulate strong and clear:

• Peace for our planet Earth and the entire universe
• Love and Light and Harmony to all beings
• We ask you, the water to pass on our message to all water in the world.

»What’s that what is capable to do everything? This is the water. There is not one thing, that’s not rising out of it. Only those who use its principles well, can act in the right way. For the wise man the water is the key for changing the world. Therefore, the wise man doesn’t teach every single man, nor every single house to rule the world, but the water is his key.« (Tao Te King/ Laotse 25).

Blessings and baptizing are performed with water. Those powerful rituals are not only reserved for the clerics. Each of us can make holy water out of water.

© Photo by Cathy Frischknecht & Christian Bollmann

What will happen at a Peace Pool Event ?
The ritual can be just simple or even complex. Everything is possible - from the private devotion in your own bath tub up to a Pacific open-air-event !

Simple activities:
Sitting in front of a bowl of water, watching the water and becoming aware, that the water is connected by with the big water cycle of our planet by humidity of air. Remember, clouds, rain, Earth, sources, rivers, lakes, seas. We as well content 70% water, take water in and transmit it. Then we become aware that water is able to store information and also pass it on. The pictures of Masaru Emoto show this impressively.

Before this meditation you can tune in by special music, for example, »We all come from Goddess«, and finish it with for example »The River is flowing« to deepen your thoughts and the process.

Now the purpose is to call upon the water and pass on the message verbally:
»Peace to our Planet Earth and the entire universe, Love, Light and Harmony to all Beings. We ask you, the water, to pass on our message to all water in the whole world.« You can do this for several times, speak out all or single sequences. Subsequent to this meditation it would appear to sing, dance , use in any way the song Da Pacem Domine. Other songs, dances, music pieces or sound improvisations might follow.

Finally you hand over the water to the big cycle of life, get it back outside, into a river, lake or sea or pour it even on the ground.


Documentation of the peace-pool-activities by Christian Bollmann

22.09.2001 Weichendorf Workshop und Solokonzert
06.10.2001 Bad Sulza, Toskana Therme mit Michael Reimann
07.10.2001 Düsseldorf, Ständehaus Kunstsammlung NRW mit Markus Stockhausen.
30.10.2001 Bad Sulza, Toskana Therme mit dem Oberton-Chor

17.03.2002 Heiden CH Solowasserkonzert
28.03.2002 Nümbrecht Rhein Sieg Klinik Peace Pool Event
04.05.2002 Solothurn CH Solokonzert an der Aare
07.05.2002 Rhein Fall Schaffhausen CH
26.05.2002 Nümbrecht Rhein Sieg Klinik Peace Pool Event
31.05.2002 Bad Herrenalb 7 Täler Therme Peace Pool Event
03.06.2002 Weil/Rhein Laguna Bad Peace Pool Event
23.06.2002 Regensburg Frauenhof Open Air
24.06.2002 Würzburg Offenes Peace Pool Singen
25.06.2002 Staffelsee
26.06.2002 Tegernsee
27.06.2002 Chiemsee
25.07.2002 Köln/Rhein, Emototag Peace Pool Stone-Art
02.08.2002 Ansbach, Kaspar Hauser Peace Pool Konzert
11.08.2002 Lucmanier Pass CH, Sufi Camp Mountain Peace Pool
12.08.2002 Vals/Therme/CH
22.08.2002 Nümbrecht, Rhein Sieg Klinik Peace Pool Event
23.08.2002 Baden Baden, Caracallatherme
25.08.2002 Balver Höhle, Offenes Peace Pool Singen
11.09.2002 Bamberg, Memorial Friedenskonzert im Hain Open Air
16.-19.09.2002 Chiemsee, Oberton-Klangzauber-Festival
27.-29.09.2002 Weichendorf, Peace Pool Workshop

20.03.2003 Zürich /CH, Friedenskonzert zum Kriegsbeginn im Irak
22.03.2003 Heiden /CH, Peace Pool Workshop/Konzertevent Hotel Heiden
23.05.2003 Weichendorf, Peace Pool Workshop
30.12.2003 Nümbrecht Rhein Sieg Klinik, Aquarian Flow CD Präsentation

06.03.2004 Zürich/CH Migrosbad
13.03.2004 Heiden/CH, Peace Pool Workshop/Konzertevent Hotel Heiden
20.03.2004 Winterthur/CH Migrosbad
05.05.2004 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana, Klänge zur Mondfinsternis, erster Klangaufguss
30.06.2004 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana Eröffnung der Salzstolensauna
since 21.07.2004 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana Klangaufgüsse+Konzerte
25.08.-01.09.2004 Lesbos,/GR Milelja Inselgarten, Seminar Floaten, Tanzen und Wandern
29.08.2004 Lesbos,/GR Milelja Inselgarten, Peace Pool Konzert Event
15.10.2004 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana Klangaufgüsse und Soundfloating Seminar
12.11.2004 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana Klangaufgüsse und Soundfloating Seminar
25.-28.11.2004 Bad Herrenalb, Seminar Sieben Täler Therme, Heilende Klänge im Wasser,
26.11.2004 Bad Herrenalb, Sieben Täler Therme Aquarian Flow, baden in Klängen
31.12.2004 Neuseeland, Karamea Rongo, Hamer Springs, Muria Springs

Summer 2005 Köln/Bensberg Mediterana Klangaufgüsse &Konzerte
17.07.2005 Nümbrecht Eröffnung des Elemente Schwimmbades
30.12.2005 Nümbrecht, Badenin Klängen zum Jahreswechsel

04.02.2006 Bad Herrenalb, der Kongress geht baden
28.06.-12.07.2006 Lesbos,/GR Milelja Inselgarten, Seminar Floaten, Tanzen und Wandern
09.09.2006 Bad Pyrmont, Staatsbad Hufelandtherme, Wellness-Kunst-Event
20.09.2006 Bad Abbach, Kaisertherme Wasserklangevent
21.09.2006 Bad Göggingen, Liemestherme Wasserklangevent

16.03.2007 Bad Pyrmont, Staatsbad Hufelandtherme, Wellness-Kunst-Event
30.04.2007 Nümbrecht, Baden in Klängen, der etwas andere Tanz in den Mai
30.12.2007 Nümbrecht, Baden in Klängen zum Jahreswechsel


02.03.2008 Baden (Schweiz) - Baden in Klängen, 1001 Nacht im Wasser - Thermalbad Baden
17.05.2008 Bad Pyrmont, taatsbad Hufelandtherme, Wellness-Kunst-Event
09.-23.07.2008 Lesbos,/GR Milelja Inselgarten, Seminar Floaten, Tanzen und Wandern
30.12.2008 Nümbrecht, Baden in Klängen zum Jahreswechsel