Subvocal

What is it

Subvocals, also known as undertones is what you hear when the voice breaks. It is a frequency below the fundamental, below the sound that the vocal chords are making. One of the most interesting things about the technique is that all harmonic frequencies double and when sung smoothly it just sounds so good! In classic opera singing it is shunned but in Mongolia and Tuva it is an accepted style that they call kargyraa. Buddhist monks make extensive use of undertones and in my opinion this is the most beautiful form. I am not aware that they have a specific name for their style. Tantric chant maybe? I don't' know.

Another try

Up till recently, I have done very little with these techniques. I found it very hard to sustain because my mind was too restless. This is also the reason the Buddhist monks are so good at it. It is more meditation than music. And then, when I tried it over a longer period, it got painful for my throat. I decided to leave it for what it is and concentrate on the overtones. I was not ready

Ready

I feel ready now. Not that my mind is at rest. I use the trick to only sing the undertones when they occur by themselves. This can happen after having sung for a while and my mind does indeed come to rest along with my breathing. Everything slows down. Then, when it happens, comes the hard part of ignoring my own surprise and keep my attention preferably very low to where my feet are. I listen and do not care whether I stay in the undertones or not. We become friends and have some fun reverberating. Until I drop out of the play and go on in other directions.  The tension on my throat, I keep light. This is what went wrong before, I applied too much tension and after a short while my throat started to ache. With light and very exact tension the throat does not suffer at all.

The Sound

So how does my technique sound like. The below YouTube clip is not my earliest try, but it is the longest time I could sustain the undertones and at the same time apply overtones as well. So I gave it the name: SubVocalisms.

SubVocalisms

In this clip I am taking my sweet time to reach the undertones. A beginning is made at 1:53 but my creaky friend is off again. However, at 4:30 we fool around for a bit and it is brilliant. But there is something funny about this clip isn't there? This is because it is the raw unedited sound whereas most of the time when I posgt a song on YouTube, I add a cathedral effect which makes the sound much more spacial. From 5:42 onward you can hear the cathedral version.

Small beginnings

This is definitely a keeper in my toolbox. I'm already dreaming (yes, literally dreaming) about making a full, long song in undertones. It may take a while since it is not the kind of technique you can force into sounding good. It takes a gentle approach.