Throat Singing Tape

A little while ago I ordered a throat singing instruction tape from a guy I found online, called Arjuna. It arrived over the weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that he not only sent me the tape, but also a copy of his CD, Spirit of the Bear. He uses various kinds of throat singing on the CD, but not in a Tuvan sort of way. It's very New-Agey, with gongs and synthesizers and digeridoos and whatnot, so not really the sort of thing I'll be inclined to listen to much. I appreciated the gift, though, especially since the tape turned out to be a bit on the short side. But it's still helpful. Most of what he taught for overtone singing I had already figured out, though it made me realize that it actually works a bit better with a higher fundamental than I had been using. That hadn't occured to me, since I figured that a lower fundamental would leave more "room" for overtones above it in a comfortable range. I was much more interested though in the part on subharmonics, which I haven't experimented with much yet. In this case, the short section of the tape devoted to it wasn't really enough. I kind of understand the concept, but it still feels like there's something he's not telling me about how to make it work. I suppose I'll just have to plug away at it for a bit until it "clicks." It probably will at some point. Lots of things are like that.

Speaking of the random things I spend my time learning, I'm still working on this Rubik's cube. I can solve two whole layers on my own fairly easily now, and I can do the whole thing pretty reliably if I use the instructions for the complicated last steps. So now I want to figure out how those steps actually work so I can understand them. Understanding is fun.