Fox Music’s Solo Vocal Academy
Voice Training Exercises
It is important to understand that “exercising” the voice and “warming up” the voice are two completely different activities and should not be confused. Choral directors warm up their choruses by vocalizing in ways that help the singers breathe together and homogenize their voices into the desired choral sound. Soloists also might “warm up” their voices before singing in public. Usually the solo warm up consists of a short period of vocalization that helps the singer focus on a healthy tone production and provides a sense of how well their voice is working that day. For choral singers and soloists alike the warm up might also include running through certain difficult passages in the music about to be performed. This routine can be very helpful in the moment to prepare a singer for performance, but the singer must be careful not to tire the voice before performing.
The purpose of vocal exercises is to develop strength, balance, and coordination of the muscles involved in singing over an extended period of time. As in all muscular development, muscle tissue grows by being broken down (slightly stretched and torn) through a significant, yet appropriate amount of exercise. At the end of a vocal workout the voice will be somewhat fatigued. This is normal and to be expected, just as after any other physical workout. You probably won’t choose to sing in public immediately after exercising your voice because a tired voice won’t function at its best. As the muscles recover after each workout through a period of rest, they grow stronger. Fox Music recommends that vocal students start off by exercising once each day followed by as much vocal rest as possible before the next day’s workout.
Be careful that you don’t overdo the exercises because you can wear down the muscles beyond their ability to recover in a reasonable amount of time. Over-exercising will set you back more than it will help. It is not uncommon for singers to lose their voices for several days due to overuse, and long-term overuse of a voice can lead to much more serious problems. Just use caution, let Fox Music’s voice teachers guide you, and you won’t have any issues. For beginners who are just starting out with an exercise routine Fox Music suggests the following programs.
Women: 1, 2, 14, 15, 18, and 19a Do each exercise one time each day.
Men: 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 55, and 19b Do each exercise one time each day.
Before beginning any additional exercises BE SURE to schedule a private lesson with one of our voice teachers for recommendations about which exercises to add and more importantly, how to do them correctly. Doing any exercises incorrectly will cause more harm than good. The best use of your first private lesson is to have the teacher assess your current level of vocal development, provide an exercise routine for your own unique vocal situation, and explain how to do each exercise correctly. As you follow your teacher’s instructions and exercise your voice consistently over time, the muscles will begin to develop. You will want to meet again with the teacher for additional private lessons whenever you feel that you are ready to move forward with additional exercises and instruction about how to do them correctly. Keep in mind that the exercises are progressive and that the more advanced exercises won’t work until you have developed some muscular ability through the basic ones.
Key to Phonetic Symbols Used In These Exercises
[i] = “Ee” as in Meet, Feet, Greet
[æ] = “A” as in Cat, Sat, Fat
[ɛ] = “Eh” as in Fed, Wed, Bread
[ɑ] = “Ah” as in Father, Top, Stop
[ɔ] = “Aw” as in Paul, Thaw, Raw
[u] = “Oo” as in Food, Mood, Loose
[j] = “Y” as in Yellow, Yacht, Yahoo
*Don’t let the pitch ranges such as (Bb4 – C#5) in the exercise descriptions confuse you. They are for our teacher’s to use. You can just ignore them.
Head Voice – Women
All of these head voice exercises should be done on an [ɔ] vowel, with the jaw dropped, and with the mouth in head voice position.
Basic Head Voice – The purpose of these exercises is to isolate as pure a head voice as possible and to begin its development.
1. Single notes around Bb4 – C#5 (try for pure head voice without any chest voice participation. Breathy, hooty, light, inefficient. Blow lots of air.) The piano will play each note multiple times so that you continue to hear the pitch, but sing the note only once and hold it while the piano repeats the note.
2. 5 tone scale starting (Ab4-Eb5) ascend to (Bb4-F5) (Aim for pure head voice – as in exercise #1, only now on a running scale pattern)
Moose Call – The purpose of these exercises it to strengthen the head voice and to expand its upper range. (These exercises may also be used to help lighten a heavy registration – In that case do them on a lip trill. If done using a lip trill be sure to lower the larynx and raise the soft palate even though the mouth opening cannot be as tall.)
3. 5 tone scale starting (Ab4-Eb5) ascend to (C5-G5) as in exercise #2, but a little higher now. Sing in head voice but be louder, particularly on the high point of each scale pattern. Be careful not to shift into chest voice on the low notes. The larynx should be down – soft palate high.
4. 5 tone scale starting (Ab4-Eb5) ascend to (Eb5-Bb5) as in exercise #3, but even higher now. Sing in head voice, but sing very strongly with the larynx down and the soft palate high.
Reverse 5 tone scale for lower extension – The purpose of these exercises is to strengthen the lower part of the head voice while keeping the chest voice out. Do not let the chest voice participate in these exercises. Be sure to hold out the final note in the exercise as the piano repeats it three times. (Advanced students may use Exercises 5-7 to keep the ring in the lower extension. If so a teacher will need to guide you to use varying vowel patterns instead of [ɔ] as in exercises 21-26.)
5. begin (E5-A4) descend to (D5-G4)
6. begin (E5-A4) descend to (Bb4-Eb4)
7. begin (E5-A4) descend to (F#4-B3)
Whistle – Women
The purpose of these exercises is to explore and develop the whistle voice and the transition between head voice and whistle voice. Most voices should use an [ɔ] vowel. For voices in which the chest voice is overly dominant it may be better to use a lip trill rather than an [ɔ].
5 tone scale – Moose Call to Whistle –Aim for a very powerful head voice and allow the voice to crack – even encourage the voice to crack so that you can find and build the whistle voice. The goal is to find the “easy spot” meaning a way to do this without any strain or tension. Don’t do these exercises if you get tight. Tension will hurt your voice not help it grow. When starting to use these exercises the hardest part is to allow the sound to be ugly. Ease is much more important than beauty right now.
8. Start at (A4-E5) and ascend to (F#5-C#6)
9. Start at (A4-E5) and ascend to (Bb5-F6)
10. Start at (A4-E5) and ascend to (Eb6-Bb6)
Octave Arpeggio – Whistle – This should start in head voice, become whistle on the top, and come back to head voice as it descends. The high note should be held and kept strong. The piano repeats the high note 3 times to encourage you to hold the note and keep it strong, but sing the high note only once and hold it. Do not hit the note 3 times. Try to maintain the power that you have in the high note as voice descends. It is also very important to listen and be sure that you sing the pitches accurately.
11. Start (A4-A5) ascend to (C#5-C#6)
12. (Bb4-Bb5) ascend to (F5-F6)
13. (Bb4-Bb5) ascend to (Bb5-Bb6)
Chest Voice – Women
The purpose of these exercises is to develop strength in the lower part of the chest voice. Pulling the strength of the chest voice as low as possible allows the chest voice to provide power without interfering with the middle and upper vocal ranges. Use an [æ] vowel. Try for a very strong sound without overblowing or straining. If it is done properly this will probably not be a pretty sound. Aim to keep the strength and ring in the sound as you descend lower and lower.
14. Basic – 3 tone scale (Bb3-D4)(B3-D#4)(C4-E4) only
15. Down to A – as above, but add (A3-C#4)
16. Down to G – as above, but descend through (G3-B3)
17. Down to F – as above, but descend through (F3-A3)
Vocal Fry – Women
The purpose of this exercise is to pull the chest voice down as low as possible. By working the vocal fry, the low chest will expand downward. Eventually there will be a seamless transition from chest voice into the vocal fry without any “dead spots”.
18. Single notes into fry – Begin on A3 and descend to A0 – Begin the exercise in low chest voice. Use an [æ] vowel. As the notes descend allow the vocal fry to occur whenever it becomes necessary. Do not let the sound become breathy. Rather try to keep the sound strong and resonant as it transitions into the vocal fry. The piano plays each note multiple times so that you can continue to hear the pitch, but sing the note only once and hold it as the piano repeats it.
Octave Pop
The purpose of these exercises is to separate the head voice and the chest voice. That means pulling the chest voice out of the head voice and pulling the head voice out of the chest voice the make them as distinct as possible. As the ability to separate the registration develops, students can work with their teacher to optimize the balance between head voice and chest voice on every note in their range.
19. 5 Tone Octave Pop – The exercise consists of 5 notes to be sung on one consistent flow of breath. Each note is an octave jump from the preceding note. Sing the lower note of each exercise in pure chest on an [æ] vowel. Pop (or crack) to head voice on an [ɔ] vowel for each high note. Pop back and forth between head voice and chest voice for a total of 5 notes. It is important that the chest voice is strong and ringy for each low note, that the sound breaks completely free of chest voice into an easily produced head voice for each high note. (This is not supposed to sound pretty!)
a. Women (B3-B4) up to (Eb3-Eb4)
b. Men (Eb3-Eb4) up to (Ab3-Ab4)
20. Octave pop with 5 tone scale – Women – The purpose of this exercise is to free the head voice of a chesty sound by cracking, and use the freed head voice into the upper range without interference of the chest voice. The exercise should be sung strongly with a break (crack) between the head voice and the chest voice. The breath should flow strongly without ceasing as the voice pops between notes. Do the whole exercise on an [ɔ] vowel. Begin on (Bb3/Bb4 –F5) ascend to (Eb4/Eb5- Bb5)
Vowel Modification for Consistent Ring
The purpose of these exercises is to modify your vowels in order to maintain a consistently vibrant tone (ring) throughout each vowel. To do this you will need to pronounce your vowels differently than in speech, rethinking each one and making whatever modifications are necessary to keep the ring yet still resemble the intended vowel sound. The long- term goal is be able to keep the ring consistent throughout all of your singing whether in exercises or in songs. – As you do these exercises the teeth should be separated enough to put a wine cork between the upper and lower molars. Once in that position the jaw should not move. Don’t be rigid – just keep the space between your teeth regardless of the vowel. At all times keep the tip of the tongue gently touching the lower teeth just like in a comfortable resting position. The rest of the tongue must do all the work as you learn to modify the vowels.
21. [jɑ jɑ jɑ jɑ jɑ] on single notes
a. Women begin on C5 ascend to Eb5
b. Men begin on C3 to Eb4
22. [jɑ jɑ jɑ jɑ jɑ] on 3 tone scale, 2 notes per syllable
a. Women
b. Men
23. [ jɑ i ɑ i ɑ ] on single notes
a. Women
b. Men
24. [ jɑ i ɑ i ɑ i ɑ i ɑ] on double 3 tone scale
a. Women
b. Men
25. [ji jɛ jɑ jɔ ju] on single notes
a. Women
b. Men
26. [ji – jɛ – jɑ – jɔ – ju] on 3 tone scale, 2 notes per syllable
a. Women
b. Men
Head Voice – Men
The purpose of these exercises is to isolate as pure a head voice as possible and to begin its development. All of these head voice exercises should be done on an [ɔ] vowel, with the jaw dropped, and with the mouth in head voice position.
27. Single notes around Eb4 – G4
28. Basic 5 tone scale up to G4 – Bb4
29. 5 tone scale down to F3
30. 5 tone scale down to D3
31. Reverse 5 tone scale down to Bb2
Chest Voice – Men
The purpose of these exercises is to develop strength in the lower part of the chest voice. Pulling the strength of the chest voice as low as possible helps to anchor the voice. This is a pre-requisite to healthy coordinated head voice. (powerful, yet easy high notes). Aim for a very strong sound, without overblowing or straining on ALL of these chest voice exercises.
Basic
32. 3 tone scale, start D3, descend to Bb2. Use an [æ] vowel
Descending – Try to keep the strength and vibrancy (ring) in the sound as you descend lower and lower. Use an [æ] vowel
33. Reverse 5 tone scale down to A2
34. Reverse 5 tone scale down to G2
35. Reverse 5 tone scale down to F2
36. Single notes A2 into fry
Ascending – The goal is to keep the larynx down and the soft palate up while maintaining a vibrant tone. This will be increasingly difficult the higher you get. Use an [æ] vowel. (Some students might be better off with an [ɔ] vowel, particularly those with a dominant chest voice.)
37. 5 tone scale up to Bb3
38. 5 tone scale up to C4
39. 5 tone scale up to D4
Octave Arpeggio – The goal of these exercises is to keep the larynx down and the soft palate up while maintaining a vibrant tone. This will be increasingly difficult the higher you get. Use an [ɑ] vowel on these exercises. The piano repeats the high note to encourage you to hold the high note strongly. Do not repeat the high note, just keep it strong and hold it out. Try to keep the intensity of tone consistent throughout the entire exercise particularly as you descend to the low notes.
40. Up to Bb3
41. Up to C4
42. Up to D4
43. Up to Eb4
Vocal Fry – Men
The purpose of this exercise is to pull the chest voice down as low as possible. This also helps to strengthen the ability to keep the larynx down and the soft palate up. By working the vocal fry, the low chest voice will expand downward. Eventually there will be a seamless transition from chest voice into the vocal fry without any notes in between that do not work.
55. Single notes into fry – Begin on C3 and descend to A0 – Sing using an [æ] vowel. Start the exercise in low chest voice. As the notes descend allow the vocal fry to occur whenever it becomes necessary. Do not let the sound become breathy. Rather try to keep the “bight” in the sound as it transitions into the vocal fry. The piano plays each note multiple times so that you can continue to hear the pitch, but sing the note only once and hold it as the piano repeats it.