Tuvan throat singing is, in a very small nutshell, the art of producing one or more pitches over a fundamental pitch.
Tuvan throat singing can be a pretty otherworldly sound, and admittedly some might worry that if you don't know what you are doing when you try it, you could do yourself some serious damage. I'd say don't try this at home...except I'm about to tell you to try it at home! Carefully.
There are many techniques and substyles within Tuvan throat singing (and many other styles of throat singing, for that matter, including Canada's own throat singing innovator,Tagaq). And it's a highly involved, incredible artform.
Still, that doesn't mean it's not fun to try and get some sense of what it might be like to produce that eerie sound. And this five-step game should give you at least a sense of what it feels like to throat sing. (Plus, it's fun, and strangely mediatative too.)
How to pretend you can throat sing, in less than five minutes:
1. Produce a held note, with your mouth open.
2. Change the vowels from ooo to ahhh etc.
3. Now tighten your throat and produce an "e" vowel. Move your jaw forward and close your mouth part way; hear how the pitch changes. Try going "oo-eee oo-eee a few times, sending the sound into your nose.
4. Experiment with moving your lips around and voila, various overtones should start appearing.
5. Now try moving the middle of the tongue up and down -- but keeping sides of the tongue in contact with teeth. You should be able to manipulate the overtones in each tongue position to start creating scales. And then make simple melodies.
Did it work for you? (I admit I am still working on #5.)
For a detailed account of how to release your inner throat singer, read this article on Tuvan Throat Singing. And check out any recording or video you can find of one of the world's most famous Tuvan throat singing ensembles, Huun Huur Tu.