How to Do Vocal Exercises

You want to make the most out of your voice and have an even tone from the top to the bottom of your range. Regular daily exercises will help you achieve this. Please read "How to Prepare Your Body for Singing" and "How to Do Breathing Exercises" before doing these exercises.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Vocal Exercise

1. Say "le" and "la" out loud, with the vowels pronounced in the Italian manner (say "le" rather than "lay-ee" and "la" rather than "la-uh").

2. Join the vowels "a" and "e" together with the "l" in an arc of sound, flicking your tongue briskly to make the "l" sound as short as possible.

3. Practice this exercise for a few minutes.

4. Say the Italian vowel sounds a, e, i, o, u, prefixed by the lip consonant "m".

5. Pronounce these sounds in the following fashion: "ma" as the "a" in father; "me" as the "a" in gate; "mi" as in machine; "mo" as the "o" in more; "mu" as the "oo" in school.

6. To produce the right "m" sound, spring your lips apart to allow the vowel sound to flow and be projected.

7. Keep the flow of your breath constant throughout the exercise.

Vocalizing

8. Sing the melody of a familiar song, using the Italian vowels from above instead of actually singing the lyrics. This is called vocalizing.

9. Here is one: Somewhere over the rainbow/Way up high/There's a land that I heard of/Once in a lullaby/Somewhere over the rainbow/Skies are blue/And the dreams that you dare to dream/Really do come true.

10. Vocalize this song on "la" and "ma," keeping a steady flow of breath.

11. Memorize the lyrics.

12. Finally, sing the song using the actual lyrics. Try not to look at the words; pretend that you are looking at an audience in front of you instead.

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to recordings of the songs you like to sing, but try not to imitate the singers, as much as you might like their particular renditions. Imitating may be fun for a while, but if you are serious about learning to sing, it will eventually just strain your voice instead of bringing out its full potential.

on 11/22/2005 Sing a half scale (e.g. c, d, e, f, g) with the word "voley" (pronounced VO-LEE). Use the VO for c, lee for d, vo for e, lee for f, vo for g, lee for f, vo for e, lee for d, vo for c. Repeat this a good few times and really move your mouth (exaggerate it). Pronounce the VOLEY very clearly. It opens up your vocal folds.

on 11/22/2005 To train for controlling breathe and holding out notes longer, take a deep breathe without raising your shoulders. Immediately begin to count out loud "1,2,3..." letting out a controlled amount of breathe as you go. Fight the urge to count faster and faster (Tip: use a metronome). As soon as you feel you need to take another breathe, do so. If you feel dizziness or any discomfort, you are holding your breathe too long. Note which number you ended on. Repeat, and set yourself goals to work up to. This conditions your diaphragm so you can hold out those killer long notes.

on 11/22/2005 I recommend singing the following songs for warm-up. They have a great range: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, A Whole New World, and Ray Boltz' Watch The Lamb. Excellent material for practice!

on 11/22/2005 In order to get a clearer sound, press your tongue against the back of your teeth. And, when warming up, do not clear your throat - this only hurts the vocal cords.

on 11/22/2005 Keep your head up high, shoulders back, and eyes and mouth open. Say, 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2, and so on and so on. Do this fast and in the right order. This will warm you up for singing.