Transcript
Hi. I’m Anya Singleton, and this is my friend and accompanist, Matt Gallagher. We’re going to do a couple of vocal exercises to help you improve range.
The important thing, before we start, that you want to stress, is that if you’re doing a vocal exercise and it feels like you’re straining or your voice hurts, then that’s probably a good time for you to stop, take a breath, and come back to it later. It may not be the right range for you or maybe you’re not quite ready to go there yet. You never want to feel like you’re pushing or straining. Here we go. This is a simple vocal exercise to improve range.
The important thing about that, we basically spanned 2 octaves. We started on a low G and ended on a high G The important thing to note there is it’s very tempting to focus on the bottom note and the high note, and you are going to go there mentally because that’s what you’re thinking about, but it’s the middle notes that are the challenging bits. We all try to gloss over that and get through it as quickly as possible. I know I didn’t do it as perfectly, but that’s okay, because you’re making sure that you’re working through in order to get the high note and get the bottom note. That is how you would work on improving vocal range. Basically, making sure you’re listening, again, you’re in tune, you’re not pushing anything.
When you’re doing anything to increase range, it’s about the breathing. You really want to make sure, especially the higher you go, that you’re taking enough breath in and that you’re supporting. You’re breathing from your diaphragm, so no raising your . . . it’s very tempting to raise your shoulders and want to raise your chin, that’s what a lot of people do when they’re trying to hit a high note because you’re projecting up, but all that does is increase tension, both in your neck and your throat. You want to keep those open so that as you get higher, everything’s relaxed and it’s easier for you.
