Welcome to the Choral and Vocal Resources page! Here, you will find many links to choral and vocal organizations, opera, overtone & throat singing, and helpful resources such as rehearsal technique ideas, warm-ups, listening resources, free sheet music, etc. If you would like submit a link to be posted, please email me. I hope that you will find this page useful : )
OVERTONE SINGING - GENERAL INFO, ARTICLES and INSTRUCTION
Be careful when using the term "throat singing". Some groups, such as Tibetan or Tuvan singers, call their style throat singing and it is a type of overtone singing using deep and low pressure on the throat and cords to prodice the fundamental pitch upon which they manipulate overtones by shaping vowels and the mouth, etc. Other types of throat singing include the INUIT style which incorporates a lot of repetitive grunting and short "huffed" (a throaty whispered sound) phrases with alternating a closed and open mouth. This style of singing communication is done with two people facing each other. It does not often involve true overtone singing and songs are often short (in my small experience of hearing them). It is probably the most demanding type of throat singing because of the huffed technique and the fact that BOTH the exhalation and the inhalation are pitched, yet vary between full phonation, partial phonation, and non-phonation in addition to vowel changes. Another type of legitimate throat singing is Bulgarian throat singing which is a technique of using a pushed chest voice to produce a very loud and occasionally strident tone. It can also be quite demanding and in witnessing a folk high school's rehearsal once, I noticed that they needed a vocal break after the WARM-UP! Most consider it somewhat "flat" and I have heard them describe Bulgarian and Romanian choral singing as flat and harsh, BUT I am here to tell you that a good choir that is used to practicing throat singing culturally, will usually lock into their chords and it is in tune - in tune with each voice, each section, and the ensemble. Western ensembles often do not properly mimic this style of throat singing and even if they do, it is not always 100% of the ensemble and therefore isn't as unified as, say, a choir from Bulgaria. However, there are a number of American groups that specialize in non-Western singing styles of folk music and with this constancy of repertoire, coaching and practice, they sound and they are authentic. - Caroline's opinion : )
