Fun and/or Interesting
The Mathematical Magic Behind Overtone Singing
Have you heard of polyphonic overtone singing?
First, I came across this video on YouTube. I expected to hear a pretty voice. Instead, I heard this:
I sent it to Number Two Son, a composer, and he introduced me to something called the “harmonic series.” He did his best to explain. I couldn’t get it. So he sent me this:
That helped some. I still don’t understand it well enough to explain it. But what struck me most about this second clip is the fact that these vibrations are not arbitrary. They follow a precise mathematical order. The universe is, in this sense at least, ordered.