What type of vocal exercises should I be looking for?
Are there any temporary influences to the vocal range, like having had a drink?
asked May 13, 2011 at 23:28
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2So, since some years have passed: Did the accepted answer help you extend your range? If yes, how much so?– polynomial_donutCommented Feb 8, 2019 at 15:49
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7 Answers
If what you want is to improve your vocal range, I would recommend these exercises:
- Warm up. Always warm up for a while before starting the actual exercise, doing easy vocalise in the middle of your vocal range.
- Scales, Thirds and Fourths. All types of scales that go through your entire vocal range. Practice them as often as you can. This will gradually strengthen both your current vocal range and its boundaries.
- Hum. While practicing the scales mentioned before, try to hum them. This has proven to be the most effective exercise for this to me, specially for higher pitched notes.
- Push the boundaries once in a while, but not too much. You don't want to end up with a raspy voice at the end of your practice time.
- Try to sing it right. Breathe with the diaphragm and use your breath to support your singing.
Finally, remember to take into account your physical limitations. You might be able to widen up your vocal range a bit, but there's always going to be a limit. Good luck!
answered May 14, 2011 at 0:48
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how can you talk about vocal range without mentioning mixed voice? shouldn’t that be the way to gain around 2-3 notes up? Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 21:14
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according to my understanding, mixed voice is just blending chest voice and existing head voice; it says nothing about the actual range of your head voice. Commented May 2, 2023 at 20:03
Always warm up in the middle of your range and gradually approach the limits of your range with upward and downward moving repetition of motifs.
e.g. C3 D3 E3 D3 C3--- | D3 E3 F3 E3 D3--- | E3 F3 G3 F3 E3--- | and so on...
Even a single warm up with ascending and descending exercises will temporarily increase your range for a time.
Exercises that cross vocal registers are also helpful (and arguably even more important)
answered May 14, 2011 at 22:24
Which part of your voice do you want to expand on?
It really depends, as each register is different. For example, are you looking to work on fry, chest, head or whistle?
There are different techniques for each register, and the thing is, everyone has a huge vocal range, no matter what voice type, tessitura they have as their vocal instrument. Honestly, everyone has around 4-5 octaves of range at least if you use the right techniques.
If you are looking to do vocal fry, it’s really the sound you make when you wake up, “grunt” then get out to bed. It’s the grunting sound you make, so pretty much everyone has it. It can be a bit uncontrollable at times. If you are looking on how to control fry, the key element required is really time. Like whistles, they may take years to perfect.
As for chest voice (the register you use when you speak, for lower notes) use the exercises / techniques mentioned above amounts. For example, sing C4-D4-E4-F4-G4 , G5-A5-B5-A5-G5 etc.
Head voice - Try mixing (it’s quite an advanced technique though) and control it by using your diaphragm muscles. Remember, don’t strain too much as vocal damage can be easily done here,
Whistle - This register is by far the hardest to perfect out of the few mentioned above. All women have the “whistle” element in their voice, but in men they are replaced as falsetto. Whistles don’t take much power, but they are difficult to truly grasp. Think of it as super head voice. I don’t have anymore advice on this, if you want to know about the whistle element google it.
It takes time to expand. Be patient.
Similar to humming, another type of practice that makes you comfortable while singing is praticing akaras, eekaras, oookaras, like you sing aa...a....in akaara practice, eeee....eeeeee in eekara and ooo....oooo.... in oookara practice. As all languages cover the words with these or any one of these syllable or sound, this enables singing all kinds of langauge in the world. This has worked out the best for me.
What has helped me a lot is singing your range through a stiring straw. Plave the stiring straw between your lips and then make ooh sounds while practicing your range
I was always told to be think of my high notes coming from my head rather than my throat, so I sing a little more airy on my higher notes.
Sing at your highest note after warming up, then try going one note above. Keep trying until you get it. If you can't, then you may have just reached the extent of your range. Also, drink tea or warm water before singing. That helps loosen and relax your vocal chords.
