Weird Vocal Exercises that Blend Head and Chest Registers

Remember those annoying voiced consonants I warned you about in a previous video? Well, today I'm going to teach you how to use these things in a very strategic series of

vocal

warm-up

exercises

. If performed correctly, these

exercises

can help you clear

vocal

pauses, add vocal resonance, loosen vocal tension, and expand your tension-free vocal range. And yes, like many good vocal exercises, they are

weird

. The vocal exercises that I am going to teach you today are the ones that I use constantly with all my singing students. I call them voiced consonant exercises. And because they don't require specific pitch accuracy, they work for both singers and non-singing speakers.

How do they work? These exercises stretch and work the tissues and muscles of the throat canal, also known as the vocal tract, which is an F-shaped tube that runs up the throat from the larynx and branches into the postnasal drip area leading out of the larynx. mouth and nose, or as an article from the National Medical Library describes it, the nasal, oral and laryngeal pharynx. Here is a photo of my course, Power Path and Performance. Doing these exercises correctly will also stretch your sinuses and Eustachian tubes, which open toward the top of your pharynx, to the point where you may experience a rush of drainage or your ears may burst.

It's all a good sign that you're doing them correctly. Okay, so what can they do for your voice? It's a bit like kneading bread dough. These exercises will make the tissues and muscles of the throat canal more elastic and capable of performing more complex movements. This will give your voice access to more interesting tone colors and free it from tension in the jaw, neck and face that can limit the automatic functioning of the vocal apparatus. These exercises

blend

the

head

and

chest

registers

throughout the passaggio or register breaks in the middle of your vocal range, therefore

blend

ing and extending your vocal range in both directions effortlessly.

So if I've convinced you, let's do it, shall we? Well, I want you to know that for best results, how you do any vocal exercise is much more important than how many you do. Below are some tips to make the form suitable for these cases. My favorite word for vocal technique is PULL, which is the opposite of PUSH. Perform these exercises 45 degrees toward the balcony above and behind you. It's not a great move. It's just a subtle little turn up and open. My other favorite word for opening the throat is MORPH, which means shapeshifting. As you do these exercises, actively transform and release voiced consonants and syllables by making gentle circles with your jaw as you release it. like chewing gum and talking with active, not numb, eyes.

Additionally, flexibly balance your

head

back on your tailbone or heels. And lastly, don't lift your chin or headbutt because that's pushing. Well, here we go. I'm going to start with what I call the cow vocal sound because it sounds like the beginning of a moo. You will recognize it. Raise your eyebrows, drop your jaw. Tilt your head back slightly and say, mm. Okay, I'll show you again. It's making the sound right. MMM OK. Now that you're doing it right, we'll do it twice and each time relax back to the center so you can stretch again. So don't rush down the middle and let's go from the

chest

to the head and try to erase that break in the middle by going 45 degrees across it.

Alright guys, you can start much lower. You don't have to reach as high as I do. The tone doesn't matter. Simply go from chest voice to head voice. And if you don't know what the lead voice is, it's kind of a cartoon voice. Think of it that way. Alright. Repeat after me. mm-mah, don't forget, drop your jaw. Raise your eyebrows and draw them back a little twice to relax in the middle. Again mm-mah, don't lift your chin. Well? Next is mm-may. mm-mee Now before you do that, make sure your E is vertical, not horizontal. Like a kazoo.

Me. Me. So repeat after me. mm-mee. mm-moh.Any shade. Just play with it. mm-moo Okay, now let's move on to N. When you do the n, you want to place the tip of your tongue on the back of your upper front teeth, so that the bottom part is released and the base is relaxed, so that you can stretch your tongue and then relax. You know, go back to the center and then turn it into a syllable. So he repeats after me. First, let's do the N. Okay. And then he continues with n-nah. And if you find yourself yodeling, no, you're probably trying to take lead too early.

Don't be in a hurry to get through the middle, let it stretch upwards and yawn into a lead voice. n-no, try again. N-no. Start from the bottom, go up. n-nee... n-noh... n-noo Okay, now let's try it using an R, okay? Try not to make an R sound like a pirate sound, rr. Instead, create the R or articulate the R more in the front of your mouth, r, okay? It will be a bit like ra for the first syllable. Very good,   repeat after me. rays r. And I sang a little bit, so I'd do it again and try to pull it a little softer: ra-ray.

You try. ra-rah. ra-ree forward. Ra roo. Ra roo. Forward. And ra roo. Don't purse your lips about it. Ra roo. Just open your jaw. Okay, now let's cross down from top to bottom. Let's go in the opposite direction, from head voice to chest voice. For this, we'll use a Y. So, again, don't create it on the back. Believe it up front. Here we go, from top to bottom. Yes Yes. It doesn't matter how high or how low. Just cross. Yes Yes. Yes Yes. Try that one. Yes-yoh, and yes-yoo. Okay, now try to do a random mix of these different syllables.

Come on, mm, bah. Forward. Mmm-moh. Forward. Maybe take the R down. ra-ree And maybe   take the Y up. yee-yoh Just mix it up, always dropping your jaw twice and pulling like I'm pulling your ponytail up on the balcony above and behind you. Well. What did you experience when doing these exercises? Did the freedom of the jaw seem strange to you? Perhaps you experienced a burst of discharge or a burst of ears? Again, good. Does your voice feel a little warmer and more open? Did you find that your vocal pauses were a little less noticeable or even disappeared?

The more you do this exercise, if you do it correctly, the more they will happen. Well. Try singing something. Do you notice anything different in the way your voice feels or sounds? You can use these exercises as preparation for any vocal practice or performance, including other vocal exercises. Let me know how this works for you in the comments or contact me on my website. And don't forget to subscribe to receive more free singing lessons like this. If you like them and want to go further, book a lesson with me or purchase my Power, Path and Performance vocal training or my Speaking Voice Technique course.

I'll leave links in the description and notes. Well. This is Judy Rodman. And we'll see you next time on All Things Vocal, the podcast of voices with messages that matter.