Practical Vocal Exercises
As you practice your singing technique, you need to be consistent in your vocal exercises. These exercises are important to be done in order because you need to warm up your voice. Nothing will damage your ability to sing properly more than bellowing out a song at full voice without first warming up.
Begin with a single sustained tone by singing the 'ah' sound alone in the middle of your range. Then step up in half steps higher and higher. Your mouth should be shaped like you might yawn which will put your tongue in the correct position. Don't go up very high at first. After going higher in tone, then go down lower in the same half steps.
Next do the same thing by starting to use different vowels. Intermingle 'oo' and 'o' sounds doing the same half steps going up and then down. Again, you are not to go to high or low. The goal here is to just warm up your voice, and you need to do it gradually. Keep in mind that you need to be making sure that you have a good tone with the breath forced against your chest which provides good support. It may help to do this by watching yourself in the mirror.
One thing to be aware of is that you must not force your voice into doing something unusual here. As I have said before, it is critical that you not damage your voice, and forcing it to do something that doesn't feel right in this stage will do a lot of damage. In all of these vocal exercises, you should being piano, and then crescendo as you get warmed up. If you start to feel your throat, then you are forcing it, and you will need to back off. You should not consciously feel your throat.
This process should be about 3 or 4 minutes. Then you move on to step 2.
Begin on the low notes and you will do the same exercise, except that you will be doing some vowel combinations. The most common and useful is to combine an 'ah' sound with a 'y' sound. Imagine a sailor saying "aye captain" for example. Go through the entire range of your voice on each sound, then switch to another vowel combination such as 'oo' and 'y'. You can also use combination's such as 'oo' and 'ah', then 'oo' and 'o'.
Another thing to keep in mind here is to be cognizant of your muscle's ability to relax. If you are singing too hard and strong so that your vocal muscles tense up, then you are pushing it to hard and you need more warming up exercises. This goes back to the forcing the breath through your throat.
In all exercises you need to go as low and as high as your voice will allow without straining. Then always take some small pauses to rest between them, even if you are not tired. As you practice, then you will get much better at increasing your range and detecting when things aren't going so well. You should also see how greatly the compass of your voice can be extended. Further information can be found on our website at http://learninghowtosing.net.
All during the vocal exercise portion, you will not be complete until you have exercises all tones in your range. Not just singing them, but also singing them well, so that they sound good. Don't rush this process, and be a perfectionist in getting the tones good.
The warm up process should take at least 6 to 8 minutes. At the completion, then you can being singing song with words, but again, keep things slow and piano at first before you start singing forte or louder.
Begin with a single sustained tone by singing the 'ah' sound alone in the middle of your range. Then step up in half steps higher and higher. Your mouth should be shaped like you might yawn which will put your tongue in the correct position. Don't go up very high at first. After going higher in tone, then go down lower in the same half steps.
Next do the same thing by starting to use different vowels. Intermingle 'oo' and 'o' sounds doing the same half steps going up and then down. Again, you are not to go to high or low. The goal here is to just warm up your voice, and you need to do it gradually. Keep in mind that you need to be making sure that you have a good tone with the breath forced against your chest which provides good support. It may help to do this by watching yourself in the mirror.
One thing to be aware of is that you must not force your voice into doing something unusual here. As I have said before, it is critical that you not damage your voice, and forcing it to do something that doesn't feel right in this stage will do a lot of damage. In all of these vocal exercises, you should being piano, and then crescendo as you get warmed up. If you start to feel your throat, then you are forcing it, and you will need to back off. You should not consciously feel your throat.
This process should be about 3 or 4 minutes. Then you move on to step 2.
Begin on the low notes and you will do the same exercise, except that you will be doing some vowel combinations. The most common and useful is to combine an 'ah' sound with a 'y' sound. Imagine a sailor saying "aye captain" for example. Go through the entire range of your voice on each sound, then switch to another vowel combination such as 'oo' and 'y'. You can also use combination's such as 'oo' and 'ah', then 'oo' and 'o'.
Another thing to keep in mind here is to be cognizant of your muscle's ability to relax. If you are singing too hard and strong so that your vocal muscles tense up, then you are pushing it to hard and you need more warming up exercises. This goes back to the forcing the breath through your throat.
In all exercises you need to go as low and as high as your voice will allow without straining. Then always take some small pauses to rest between them, even if you are not tired. As you practice, then you will get much better at increasing your range and detecting when things aren't going so well. You should also see how greatly the compass of your voice can be extended. Further information can be found on our website at http://learninghowtosing.net.
All during the vocal exercise portion, you will not be complete until you have exercises all tones in your range. Not just singing them, but also singing them well, so that they sound good. Don't rush this process, and be a perfectionist in getting the tones good.
The warm up process should take at least 6 to 8 minutes. At the completion, then you can being singing song with words, but again, keep things slow and piano at first before you start singing forte or louder.
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