How-To Throatsing

Here are three descriptions of 'how to throat sing'. First, is a step-by-step method; second is a description of the various methods of throatsinging by Finnish throatsinger Sami Jannsen, and thirdly, a series of techniques described by Michael Emory, from Friends of Tuva.

How To THROAT-SING

STEP 0: Introduction
There are two important things you must master to be able to throat-sing: Firstly, the correct shape of your mouth, including your tongue and lips. Secondly, vocalization. You can master elementary throat-singing just by following the directions given in the seven steps below. For each step, the method is written based on my personal technique, so I hope you find them useful as a guide until you find the technique which best suits you. Here we go...

How To Throat-Sing STEP 1: The shape of the mouth
Relax the muscles of your jaw and lips. Keep your mouth open with about one centimeter between your upper and lower teeth. (Dan Bennett adds: you may need to stiffen the muscles in your lips and tongue later on when you're working on the quality and pitch of the resonance.)

STEP 2: The location of the tip of the tongue
Place the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, as if pronouncing the letter "L". Slide the point of contact slightly away from the roots of your top teeth. Press the tip of your tongue quite firmly against the roof of your mouth. In Japanese, we don't use the "L"-sound at all. (The closest sound we have is like ["L" + "R"]/2. That's why we can't tell "L" and "R" apart.) If you have "L" in your native language, at least this part of the instructions is well understood!.

STEP 3: The mouth as a resonator
The characteristic sound of throat-singing actually comes from strong harmonic resonance in the mouth, which is achieved by establishing a resonant chamber. This resonator is made up of the roof of your mouth and your tongue. Keep the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as described in the previous step. Then drop the main body of your tongue to increase the volume above it. The sides of your tongue should touch your side teeth (molars), forming a seal. Make the capsule round and airtight so that you can't breath through your mouth.

STEP 4: A small vent-hole
Make a small vent-hole between one (or both) side(s) of the root of your tongue and the roof of your mouth (or your side-teeth). In other words, a small portion of the contact zone between the tongue and the roof of the mouth (or side-teeth) is now opened. The air goes through the vent and passes by some of your grinding teeth. If you hold your nose now, you'll be able to breathe through this vent only. Keep this vent hole as small as possible. If you breathe now, you will hear a sound like "hu" of the English word "human", with "pink noise" instead of your voice. Your oral cavity has just become an "instrument" for throat-singing.

STEP 5: The volume of the resonator
The melody part of throat-singing is produced by changing the volume of the resonant chamber. To do this, move the central part of your tongue up and down without detaching the side parts of your tongue from the roof of the mouth (or side-teeth), except of course for the vent hole you made in the previous step. Don't collapse the chamber completely: you just make it flatter or rounder. Try to change the volume as mentioned above while making the "hu"- noise (pink noise) constantly. You will hear the pitch of the noise changing. (Dan Bennett adds: the volume of air in front of the tongue is also involved in resonance. This means that some styles of throat-singing rely on the position of the lips for adjusting the pitch of the melody.)

STEP 6: Vocalization
THIS WILL BE YOUR FIRST STEP AS A THROAT-SINGER! While maintaining the shape of the mouth as described in the previous steps, try to vocalize the sound "oooo" (the vowel in "cool"). If all's well, you'll hear a flute-like sound. The waveform of this sound is close to a sine curve which is produced at the resonant frequency of the chamber in your mouth. A voice consists of many kinds of pure sine-wave at different, but related frequencies. These are the harmonics of your voice. The aim of throat-singing is to emphasize chosen harmonics by tuning the resonance in your mouth. In this case, the sound should have a tone more than one octave higher than your "oooo". You must be very careful not to miss the flute-like sound you made beyond the "oooo" voice. On your first attempt, the flute-like sound will be heard very weakly. Most people actually succeed in making this sound on their first attempt, but cannot discern if it appears or not! Try to change the volume of the resonant chamber and the shape of your lips very carefuly to seek the proper resonance point. You will find several resonances at different musical pitches. You can play music using these sound. DON'T WORRY IF YOU CAN'T DO IT! There are some helpful hints in the next step.

STEP 7: Hints and Tips
If you couldn't make the flute-like sound, there are two possible causes. They are very important because they are directly connected with the way to improve your throat-singing. Firstly, your mouth chamber may not have a proper shape or volume for resonance. Change them carefully according to the instructions in STEP 5. Slow and careful changing of the chamber will help you to find the resonance. Try to change the shape of the front of your mouth too. Secondly, it's quite possible that your vocal "oooo" doesn't contain sufficiently strong harmonics that can resonate in your mouth. (Is your "oooo" very soft and calm?) Beginners sometimes give up before getting the hang of this. The sound wave which resonates in your mouth has quite a high frequency. Thus all you have to do is vocalize an "oooo"-sound which contains sufficient high-frequency sound energy. I don't mean that you vocalize "oooo" one octave higher! I mean that you should vocalize with as bright a throat-sound as possible. (If Louis Armstrong had tried throat-singing, he'd have been successful!) To get the proper "oooo" sound, imagine the following situation: when you're practising throat-singing, some one comes up to you angrily shouting "Be quiet, man!" and strangles you. Naturally, you keep practising. This would result in a strong, bright tone from your throat. You got it! You are "oooo"-ing with an ideal voice sound. Once you've got this voice with rich high-frequency components, the volume of the "oooo" itself may be reduced. This helps the flute-like sound to be heard more clearly. In this case, the voice which is kept while throat-singing sounds like a drawn-out "we" in English, or "oui" in French, which is written in Japanse as the letters shown in the background of our pages.

Excerpt from:
A miraculous method of singing On Throat Singing of South Siberia Sami Jansson narrates

On chömei-methods practised by the Tuvinians and their neighbouring tribes: introductory directions
There are three basic Tuvinian throat singing methods: chömei, kargyraa, and sygyt. These are further embellished to at least five submethods. The word "chömei" means "guttural" in English and this is a general name for Central Asian throat singing, as mentioned above. However, a certain method is also called chömei, and it is a little easier than the rest. This is how you can learn to sing chömei: if you utter a vocalization with constrained false vocal chords (Notice that the vocalization must have power yet be constrained at the same time) and then contract the opening of your lips with open mouth cavity and pharynx, you will have a resonating chamber in the mouth. With different positions of the lips and the tongue you will soon discern flute-like overtones whistling along the borduna (that is, along the fundamental tone). Of course, in the beginning your overtones will be weak or hardly exist. But do not give up. In fact few people can produce a borduna strong enough for clear overtones at their first attempts. But if you practise your voice well every day you will certainly get used to this kind of singing. After a few months of practise you will achieve a valid chömei-voice.

"Sygyt" has its roots in the chömei-method. To practise sygyt you must start with chömei. Sing chömei with a half-open mouth, place the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth as if pronouncing the letter "L"; then press sides of your tongue against the molars. Now you may be puzzled to realize that you no longer can utter a sound. However, if you keep your tongue in the described position you have a resonating chamber in your mouth again. If you now make a little opening to the seal between your tongue and your palate and utter a strong, constrained sound you will hear a clear flute-like overtone – a harmonic of the borduna. This miraculous overtone is actually as clear as the sound heard when a wineglass is clinked! A few people, who are not familiar with this sound, hardly believe that what they hear is a human voice. At your first attempt you will certainly notice that keeping the tongue in that position and simultaneously trying to utter a constrained sound is extremely difficult. However, a constrained voice character is a necessary condition without which you will not be able to utter any distinct overtones. For such a voice contains more material for overtone singing than a soft and ordinary voice.

"Kargyraa" is an extremely low sound: to get an idea of kargyraa imagine a voice that resembles the roaring of a lion, the howling of a wolf, and the croaking of a frog – and all these mixed together. The Tuvinian word "kargyraa" means "hoarse voice". You can also learn to sing kargyraa: when you start speaking, don't you often hawk and clear your throat? This is the desired trick: for kargyraa is nothing else than a deep and continuous hawking. This hawking must rise from the deepest part of the windpipe; consequently low tones will start resonating in the chest. Overtones are amplified by varying the shape of the mouth cavity and the position of the tongue. Other methods are derived from the above mentioned. The Mongolian musical tradition is essentially similar with that of Tuvinian. The Mongolians know throat singing methods that can be identified with the Tuvinian sygyt and kargyraa. Also Tibetan Gyoto monks chant their prayers in a very low register that resembles the Tuvinian kargyraa method. However, the monks have not developed as many variations as Tuvan and Mongolian musicians.

Khoomei - How To's And Why's by Michael Emory
During the past year I have learned techniques of some throat-singing styles as practiced in Central Asia. With guidance from Maj. P.C. (Ret.), and access to his collection of vocal recordings from that part of the world, I have experienced fair success in executing the forms described below. The following is intended to offer instruction to anyone with interest and patience enough to learn a way to refine self-generated sound. Previous voice training is not required. I would be delighted to hear of someone able to throat-sing while having listened to no recordings. Much of learning to throat-sing is dependent upon the recognition of an existing subtlety of one tone among many. When you hear this and find where it is and is not, you may listen as it gains clarity and power. In this manner I was able to produce two harmonics with melody soon after hearing the khoomei-borbangy of Mr. Kaigal-ool Khovalyg. I already had been ending medleys of style with the required position simply because it felt correct.

Variation in the character of throat singing styles is dictated by careful positioning and movement of the tongue, lips, and jaw. These control pitch, timbre, and (in one case) suppression of harmonic overtones. Also necessary is a tightening of throat muscles to restrict the fundamental (lower, normal) tone. This allows generated overtones to dominate that which is heard. A faint harmonic melody can be produced above a relaxed and normally sung tone. With recognition of this possibility comes a realization that many singing styles consciously utilize harmonics for dramatic effect. The style of kargyraa differs in that another vibration is required of the throat.

Khoomei, Basic:
Begin by producing a long, steady note with an open, relaxed mouth and throat. by altering lip and tongue positions to say vowels, ``oooo... ohhh.... ayyy.... ahhh..... eeee....'', you will hear different overtones in ascending pitch. Cupping a hand to your ear may help you to identify these initially. Maintain one tone as you tighten your throat and stomach muscles slightly. If you choke, try a lower fundamental. If you begin coughing, go into this tightening over a period of time to avoid damage to your voice. Hard coughing is punishing to vocal cords. You should now be making "electronic'' sounding vowels. If any of these are extended with subtle changes to the tongue, lips, or jaw (changing one element at a time as in any controlled experiment), separate overtones will gain definition. The sounds you create are feedback leading to finer mouth control. It may be difficult to sort out the overtones created by each position. Discover them as you work out a scale above one steady fundamental. Eventually simple melodies will emerge within a limited range. As you consciously create melody, avoid the temptation to alter the fundamental. This is basic khoomei.

Sygyt:
With your throat tightened, sing an "e'' vowel at a comfortable pitch. Shift the jaw slightly forward and partially close the mouth with lips protruded. You should hear a drop in the pitch of the harmonic. As the sides of the tongue are held against upper premolars push sound between tongue and palate. By adjusting your lips different notes will emerge. Flexing the middle of the tongue up and down lends a wider range, greater definition and more drive to produced tones. Keep the tongue sides in contact with teeth to maintain a separate upper cavity in which overtones are generated. This is the position for sygyt used by Tuvan singers. A similar style places the tongue higher on the palate or with the tongue-tip folded back. I believe that Mongolian singers favor this position.

Khoomei-borbangy:
If you are able to produce a very relaxed and clear khoomei melody by varying tongue position but without jaw or lip shifts, you may begin hearing a second overtone. This is audible at a pitch between the fundamental and the melodic overtone. A third, higher, ringing overtone may also emerge (most people find it a painful curiosity only, some people think that of all throat-singing). Tongue movement to create melody must remain low in the mouth to avoid interference with the lower, more subtle harmonic. It is simplest to keep the tip rested at the base of the lower incisors while gently flexing the middle of the tongue. With practice comes greater freedom of movement. The jaw should be held forward and fairly rigid as the lips are held loosely at an "ohh'' position. On the verge of relaxation your lips should quiver lightly and rapidly. A slight opening or closing movement of the jaw may help initiate this movement. This fine balance is an elusive state and should be allowed to happen passively on your part. If it once happens, simply try to recreate the conditions which led to its occurrence. Warm up by singing in the other styles, your lips may respond more readily. Fine control will take time to develop. The result is a pulsating overtone adding richness to a remote sounding, fluting melody.

Kargyraa:
This style relies upon vibrations other than those normally produced by the vocal cords. A low fundamental is used to create a powerful percussive sounds. Harmonics are created in an open mouth as in basic khoomei. Use jaw and lip changes freely. It is easy to combine this with sygyt to create chylandyk. While able to perform kargyraa, I cannot explain the mechanism used in its production. A tightening of part of the throat is involved as is a push from the diaphragm. [Forcing more air through a restricted passageway would accelerate it and may act to overload the vocal cords, changing their vibration frequency?] As my singing practice continues I realize that an ability to relax the lower portions of the throat allows surfaces deeper in the chest to resonate and enhance tonal quality. Sygyt singing is a very good warm up for kargyraa. Kargyraa may be learned by "huffing'' air forcefully at the lowest pitch you can create, or at some level below that recognizable note. In time you should feel a regular percussive movement. When you find that you can engage that "motor'', rise the pitch until clear overtones emerge. The amount of expelled air needed to sing passages of length may seem daunting at first. With practice you will expend less breath in generating desired sounds and can sing for longer periods. Achieving the correct throat movement is the more difficult aspect of kargyraa. As I shift from a normally sung vowel into this movement, I tighten my throat and stomach slightly, As I go from khoomei to kargyraa, I open the upper throat.

Last Update: Tuesday, 11 September, 2001