Vocal Training

Vocal Training

Handout from Hank Hammer AC&C 2003

BREATHING Posture
Purpose is to align and prepare the muscles in the body involved in the breathing process.

Feet are shoulder length apart, one slightly in front of the other. The weight is shifted forward onto the balls of the feet. Arms are naturally down to your sides. The chest is raised by not rigid, and there should be no activity with the shoulders.

Inhalation
The proper intake of air (the "singer's breath")

Lie on your back, place a book just below your rib cage on your abdomen, then practice breathing, trying to raise the book,. Attempt to isolate the muscles involved.
Stand against a wall, keep back flat against the wall while knees are bent slightly. Have another individual place a fist just below your sternum while you take your singer's breath. There should be noticeable pressure against the fist during the intake of air.

Place hands on your sides, just below your rib cage. During the inhalation breath, focus expanding the area all the way around like a balloon.

Exhlation
The purpose is to familiarize yourself with the muscles involved in breath control, and support.

Take a singer's breath, then sustain on a "pssst". Resist the collapse of the expanded area. Check individual time, and then work toward improvement.

Now try sustaining on a "Humm", first for 5 seconds, then continue to add five second intervals.

SINGING WITH SUPPORT Phrase Control
Developing breath control from the initial attack to the end of the phrase.

Once the correct inhalation breath is taken, be sure to initiate the diaphragm before the attack. This can be felt as a kind of "tug". Then, be careful not to allow these muscles to collapse, but rather to use the same kind of "tug" sensation to finish the phrase.

The Open Throat
Creating the yawning sensation

When you create a controlled yan sensation, the throat is open, relaxed, and free from tension. It allows the soft pallet to raise which opens additional chambers for proper resonance.

Singing In The Mask
Focusing the tone in the mask is done by placing the sound in a traingle area. It's apex is at the bridge of the nose.

Place your index and middle fingers from each hand on each side of the nose bridge. With proper breath support, and an open throat, sing a "humm" sound until you feel a; buzzing sensation in the mask area. Be certaint to keep the jaw dropped and relaxed, and the teeth separated. Try to think of the sound as coming out of the top of your head.

WARM-UP EXERCISES Vocal Warm-ups
The purpose is to tie breathing, suppport, & resonance drills into one exercise to prepare the instrument for proper use.

Start on a "G" and using 5-4-3-2-1 (Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do) pattern, with a focused, supported, resonant mask sound on a "Humm"< sing the exercise, then lower 1/2 step each time. Once mastered, repeat exercise starting on "G", then raise 1/2 step each time until mastered.

Starting on a "C", sing the "Humm" sound on a 1-3-5-8-5-3-1 (Do-Mi-Sol-Do-Sol-Mi-Do) pattern. Attempt to keep all sounds the same color. Raise 1/2 step each time. Once mastered, lower 1/2 step each time.

Isolation Exercises
Helps the singer work on interval accuracy (Intonation)

Pick any iterval in the scale, for this example we will use the 1-5 (Do-Sol). Using the supported, masked, open throat resoant "Humm" sound, start on "F" and sing the pattern 1-5-1-5-1-5-1, then lower 1/2 step each time. Focus on keeping both tones the same color and placed in the mask. Once that is mastered, do the exercise and raise 1/2 step each time. Upon master, move on to another interval.

Target Vowel Intonation Exercises
The purpose is to find the correct mouth (lips), teeth, and tongue position for each vowel sound, and to sing the exercise with pitch accuracy.

Use any of the previous exercises, only using single target vowels , striving for pitch accuracy and proper vowel formation

Now move on tot he following patterns:
1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1, 1-5-4-5-3-5-2-5-1-5-4-5-3-2-1
or
1-2-1-3-1-4-1-5-1-6-1-7-1-8, 8-7-8-6-8-5-8-4-8-3-8-2-8-1
Strive for mastery. Incorporate all aspects of good singing technique, like breathing.

Phonetic Chart - Target Vowels
ah - high
ee - see
oo - soon
oo - put
aw - law
ih - sit
eh - let
ae - hat
uh - love
ur - church
aye - day
oh - low
or - for
oy - boy

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