SINGING SIMPLIFIED #2: Greater Range, Power and Control

This lesson is about improving your ability to create space in the back of your throat and opening up more in general, to improve your voice in every way!  The most open vowel we sing is AH. 

This cool trick will help you hear yourself better when singing, so you don’t strain at all.  

Let’s strengthen your power amp with this new vocal exercise specifically designed to do so!

Let’s have fun with this one!  This exercise helps you to learn to flatten that tongue out even more. 

This trick will help you greatly improve your posture while singing!

This lesson will teach you how to allow some breathiness and/or softness in your voice while still singing correctly and keeping your voice in the right spot (head and mask).

This lesson will help you to better understand the tongue’s roll in singing the vowels, and show you how to sing that difficult vowel sound, EEE (as in “Me”) much more easily.

This lesson will help you to better understand the tongue’s roll in singing the vowels, and show you how to sing that difficult vowel sound, OOO (as in “You”) much more easily.

In this lesson we’ll be singing through ALL of the basic vowel sounds in ONE exercise!

This lesson will help even more with singing the vowel EEE (as in “me”) by connecting it to the vowel AY (as in “hey.”)  You’ll be able to sing it more open and with much less strain. 

This lesson will help even more with singing the vowel OH (as in “Yo”) by connecting it to the vowel AH (as in “Haha.”)  You’ll be able to sing it more open and with much less strain. 

This lesson will help even more with singing the vowel OOO (as in “You”) by connecting it to the vowel OH (as in “Yo.”)  You’ll be able to sing it more open and with much less strain. 

This lesson will teach you the details of pitch and vibrato and how they are related.  You'll also learn an exercise to help you develop your vibrato!

In this lesson we’re going to learn a new and challenging scale called “The Long Scale,” and get more practice with the most open of all the vowel sounds, AH. (as in “Haha”)  

Let’s keep mixing it up!  In this lesson we’ll be singing “Me’s” and “You’s” with the Major 3^rds Exercise.

This lesson will help you practice the tougher vowels EEE and OOO by singing two of the most popular words used in song lyrics: "ME" and "YOU".

Let’s take a break from the more difficult vowels and sing a NEW exercise (The “Minor 3rds” Exercise) with your favorite vowel sounds, using the words HEY, YEAH, LA, MA etc…

Having trouble singing a certain part of a song?  Maybe you think the note is just too high for you?  Actually, often the issue is not the note itself, but the difficulty of the lyric. i.e. the vowel or the consonant sound in that specific lyric.  Here’s a great trick to help!

You will get frustrated. You will get stressed.  It’s OK!  I promise - we ALL deal with it.  Every singer living on the planet has dealt with some sort of frustration with his/her voice at one time or another.  It’s a human instrument.    ;)

In this lesson you'll learn about some of the stereotypical characteristics of Pop singing and how to emulate that style!

In this lesson you'll learn about some of the stereotypical characteristics of Soul/R&B singing and how to emulate that style!

In this lesson you'll learn about some of the stereotypical characteristics of Country singing and how to emulate that style!

In this lesson you'll learn about some of the stereotypical characteristics of Rock singing and how to emulate that style!

Let’s take a moment to do a system (full body) check!

In this Section we’ll be working on the Micro Songs!  Good times!  Singing isn’t just about the notes you sing, half of the story is dealing with the lyrics.  Certain vowels and consonants are much more difficult than others.

Here’s our first Micro Song!  The lyrics are: Baby if I made you mine, everything would be just fine. Try singing it in the Pop Style we learned back in Lesson 5.2

Another cool Micro Song!  This one is in the “old-school” Soul singer style.  The lyrics are:  Can you feel my heartbeat?  I’m beginning to overheat.  Try singing it in the Soul/R&B Style we learned back in Lesson 5.3. 

Howdy!  Here’s our Country Micro Song. The lyrics are:  You’re the river that I follow, to find my way home.  Try singing it in the Country Style we learned back in Lesson 5.4.

Are you ready to rock!?  Here’s our Rock Micro Song. The lyrics are:  Don’t panic now, this time is here to stay.  Try singing it in the Rock Style we learned back in Lesson 5.5. 

It’s time for you to be creative and have even more fun with the Micro Songs!  Put in your own lyrics into all the Micro Songs we did this week. Notice what words are more difficult to sing.  Analyze them.  Is it the consonant?  The vowel?  

This lesson talks more about “belting” and how to do so without pushing air too hard and straining your voice.  It’s also another way to strengthen the diaphragm with these quick diaphragmatic contractions - as if you were barking.  WOOF!

This is great exercise for tongue autonomy.  We’re going to sing “NAY NAY NAY…” so you can practice keeping the jaw from “chewing” its way through the melody.

Here’s another excellent, and more challenging exercise for tongue autonomy.  It’ll also give you more practice on those vowels OH and OOO.

This is a great exercise to practice keeping that soft palate up while the tongue and mouth move to get different sounds.

Mix voice is basically a “whine” that helps us sing into the higher range without strain.  It’s more of a primal way to get high notes!

After a good amount of singing, make sure you warm down.  It’s basically the same idea as the warm-UPS we’ve done in the past, except that you do them at the end of your singing practice.  Think of it as stretching out before and after a workout at the gym.

In this lesson you'll learn about Breath Compression and how it helps us to avoid pushing air out too hard and upsetting the vocal cords.  Pushing too much air through the cords causes them to swell and not vibrate as well.  Breath compression helps us get more vocal control, stamina, and a greater vocal range!

This lesson is all about strengthening and improving your Falsetto voice.  Falsetto is the lighter voice after the “break.”

This lesson is all about the Glottal Stop technique.  Basically they are breath holds that happen by closing the vocal cords completely.  Glottal stops are great for staccato singing and a cool vocal trick.

In this lesson we’re going to blend all the registers together!  Chest Voice (Like your speaking voice), Mix Voice (whiney kid voice), and Falsetto Voice (after the break).  We’ll be doing this using slides, which are a lot like the “Scoops” we did in Singing Simplified #1.

Vocal Licks / Vocal Riffs / Vocal Runs – they are all the same thing.  In this lesson we’ll be practicing a couple NEW, super fun, and more challenging vocal scales.  These types of vocal licks are used in all styles of music and actually come from Blues scales – like so many vocal melodies do.  

If you’re considering singing professionally on any level, it’s important that you get used to taking care of your voice and your body in-between performances.  Your body and your voice are so interconnected.