I began a natural kargyraa and khoomei by imitating the fallow deer that I raise. The males use a deep kargyraa during mating season that travels for miles. I was delighted to find that a culture had developed this to the Tuvan level. I was able to develope quickly in a week and love the harmonics. I was always amazed that my deer never get hoarse but rather get louder and crisper as the weeks of the rut go by. The key is to tolerate the discomfort until the vocal chords can tolerate full abdominally generated, intrathoracic pressure. This takes continuous conditioning much like learning the didgeridoo and the harmonics are similar. I think the masters have simply learned how to drive incredible pressures through small spaces in their throats and I intend to get there. Initially you will cough like hell, have a really sore throat, tons of secretions, and be forced to take a few days off from time to time until the desire once again overcomes the pain. It is well worth the cost to rejoin our past and once again be close to nature and feel and hear the life force that comes from within you.
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Hello. Is it possible to learn it on your own without taking face to face with somebody who knows how to do it?
but not very successfully. I learnt some years ago at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan.
Last week, I was walking home taking a short cut through a ‘traboule’ (labyrinthine passage-ways that connect 2 or more streets), when I heard the familiar sound rising out of the darkness. I could not see ‘him’ and he did not see me. I kept walking but joined the chant and the combination of our two voices in the darkness produced a wonderful disembodied echo.
I think I had a breakthrough with my kargyraa style the other day. Evidently I found the standing wave of my living room… got a nice deep rumbling going on and was able to modulate it by changing the shape of my mouth. Even shifted into sygyt for a minute and then back to that same kargyraa frequency.
More practice practice practice!
(I think it’s starting to frighten my cat)
So, I’ve gotten to the point where I can do something akin to Sygyt, though creating melodies with the overtone is still mostly beyond my control. With guided practice I could see being able to sing in this style; however, I can not for the life of me figure out how to do Kargyrra which is sad because I’m sure mine would be monstrous as I have a naturally deep bass voice to start with. Everytime I try I end up either short of breath or with a raspy painful throat (akin to when I do too many death-metal vocal impressions). Any tips? Kargyrra is a much better party trick after all…
