#s coincide with audio practice tracks.
Rewind tracks for alternate exercises marked with *
Rewind tracks for alternate exercises marked with *
- Don't try to follow the recorded exercises into a range that feels uncomfortable for your voice - sing as high or as low as feels comfortable for you, dropping out as needed.
- Choose the exercises that feel best for you each day - it isn't necessary to sing all of the exercises listed below each day you practice.
In addition to the exercises provided below. Follow the buttons for more specialized vocal practice: (In Progress)
COORDINATING BREATH AND TONE - Consistency and efficiency exercises
#1) Ah-Eh-Ee-Oh-Oo
- Sing on a single pitch.
- Focus on taking a good breath, and maintaining a steady stream of air.
- Connect each vowel to the next (avoid any break in air flow, or any wayward vowel sound). Make sure that the pitch does not waver. As you are seamlessly connecting the vowels, visualize that you are doing the same with the pitch.
- Keep your vowels pure. Pay attention to the shape of your mouth and tongue. Maintain a sense of your tongue relaxing forward. This will help with vowel clarity, consistency of tone quality and pitch, and a general ease of resonance and tone production.
- Same as above, but start each vowel sound with a hum. Try to maintain the same consistency of pitch, airflow, and vowel quality with the addition of "Mm."
- Focus on taking a good breath, and maintaining a steady stream of air.
- Sustain a note on a single vowel. Choose any of the Italian vowels: Ah [a], Eh [ɛ], Ay [e], Ee [i], Aw [ɔ], Oh [o], Oo [u].
- If vibrato is present in your sound, shoot for a consistent rate of vibrato throughout.
- Try to maintain a consistent dynamic level (volume) until the moment you choose to end the sound.
- Try ending the note by inhaling silently.
#2) Yah - Slide up and down a Perfect 5th: 151
- Keep breath supported and connected between notes.
- As an alternate approach, try this exercises with legato, but without glissando. (Seamlessly connecting the pitches, but without sliding.
- Try to do all of the work with your breath support (as you ascend, push down with diaphragm and maintain an expanded rib cage). Try to keep your throat open, and your larynx stable (try not to let it ascend with the pitch). Relax your tongue forward. Keep your jaw comfortably open and free to adjust as you move through registers).
- Use the hard “G” sound before the [u] (“oo”) vowel to help work on adducting (closing) your vocal cords efficiently. This should help make the onset of the tone clean, clear, and focused. This helps us depressurized our vocal folds by placing the pressure at the G above our folds and the small mouth shape of OO increasing inertance (acoustic back pressure). When we release the G into a sung pitch, we feel like our air is moving right out of the gate (we are less likely to have a hesitant / tense onset). It helps get the arytenoid cartilages and their surrounding muscles to work together to adduct the cords more completely and more efficiently. This means, you’ll have to work less hard (healthier) to make a clean, balanced sound. Aim for ease of production combined with a steady tone. Start at a comfortably moderate dynamic - how gentle can your approach be and still have a consistent tone? Your dynamic level might need to increase as you sing higher but see how much mouth shape, throat space, and steady airflow can help you before giving in to loudness and muscle. As you do this, make sure you are not tensing up or gripping your throat muscles, especially on ascents.
- Trill/vibrate your lips while singing up and down a comfortable range. On a single breath, shoot for uninterrupted air flow, uninterrupted lip trilling, and tension free neck and shoulders.
ONSET EXERCISES
#17) Oo (aspirate), Oo (glottal), Oo (balanced)
- Separate each vowel with a quick “fill-up” breath.
- Feel the difference in glottal closure and air pressure on each of the different onsets.
- Soft / Aspirate = Air passes through open vocal folds before tone begins.
- Hard / Glottal = Air pressure builds up under vocal folds and pushes through folds to start sound.
- Coordinated / Balanced = Air flow and vocal fold closure are coordinated so air is neither wasted nor over-pressurized.
- Separate each vowel with a quick “fill-up” breath.
- This is an onset exercise to sync up the connection of the breath with the vibration of the vocal cords. You will need to be more aware of starting the vibration of the vowel at the moment the breath starts moving. Use an imaginary [h] at the beginning of each vowel to start phonating with a healthy, precise, and balanced onset (not too glottal and not aspirate).
REGISTER BLENDING EXERCISES
Register blending warm ups with a nosy, focused hum:
- Puppy dog whine - mimic a puppy dog whine (a nosy hum). Now try to extend that sound and slide from head voice to chest voice.
- Creaky door slide - mimic a creaky door sound (a nosy hum). Now try to extend that sound from low chest voice through to high head voice.
- Lip Trills - starting in chest voice, ascend on a lip trill. You should naturally shift to a "mixed voice" as you sing higher.
- "Hey!" - as in a friendly, energized greeting. Try higher and higher in your range without getting louder. The resonance should be forward, and focused.
- "Oh" - inflect a spoken "oh" upwards at a medium volume without getting louder into the higher pitch. Mimic a Fargo accent and make sure your lips are rounded.
- "Wah!" - mimic a baby's cry - shoot for a quiet to medium volume, and an obnoxious sound that feels focused in the front of your face (the "mask").
- Vocal Fry - lead into a pitch in your low register with vocal fry. Try to keep the sung note as low pressure and effortless as the vocal fry lead-in.
#22) Register jumping - 1 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 8 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 3 (x2)
Chest chest, chest mid, chest head, chest mid, chest chest
Aim for agility and pitch precision while jumping between registers.
First, aim for a clean distinction between registers (don't worry about a smooth transition).
Second, aim for a smooth transition between registers - only after you feel the pitches are precise, the vowels are placed well, and the registers easy to maneuver between.
Chest chest, chest mid, chest head, chest mid, chest chest
Aim for agility and pitch precision while jumping between registers.
First, aim for a clean distinction between registers (don't worry about a smooth transition).
Second, aim for a smooth transition between registers - only after you feel the pitches are precise, the vowels are placed well, and the registers easy to maneuver between.