Contents & look inside

Part 3 Singing technique

9. What is singing technique?

• A unique instrument
• ‘You either got it or you don’t’
• Muscle training
• Observing how your body feels
• But I can do it just fine in the shower…
• Work on your technique
• Freedom
• Technique versus interpretation
• Classical versus pop/jazz

10. Practicing singing technique

• Doing singing exercises
• Classical exercises?
• About the exercises in Part 3
• Harmony
• The connection between the exercises
• Tips for practicing
• Overview of the exercises in Parts 2 and 3
• Exercises in Part 2
• Exercises in Part 3

11. Long-tone exercise

12. Open your mouth and throat

• Open your mouth
• Open your throat
• Constricting
• The tongue
• The connection between tongue, jaw and larynx
• Exercises
• Step 1: tension – relaxation
• Step 2: speaking exercises
• Step 3: singing exercises
• A few more tips

13. Sound, overtones, resonance and vowels

• Introduction
• Resonance
• Sound color, overtones and formants
• Vowels
• Overtone singing
• Vowel modification
• Nasality
• Twang

14. Registers, register break and blending

• What do we mean by a register?
• In practice
• Modal register
• Falsetto register
• The register break
• Using your break for musical effect
• Avoiding your register break
• Blending
• Exercises for blending
• Training the registers

15. Sound

• What do we mean by sound?
• A pop sound or a jazz sound?
• Developing a pop/jazz sound in the mid-range
• Singing with power
• Heavy modal: a powerful, open sound in the mid-range
• Twang
• Belting
• Growling

16. Pronunciation and articulation

• Articulation and technique
• Vowels and consonants
• Vowels and melody
• Consonants and text
• Connecting sound and meaning
• Syllable stress (accents)
• Varying the intensity of your articulation
• Pronunciation
• Singing in English
• Exercises

17. Vibrato

• Introduction
• Theory
• Why use vibrato?
• Vibrato exercises

18. Warming up

• Warming up with vocal exercises
• Other ways to warm up
• Your body
• Concentration
• If you’re not feeling your best
• Sing-along recordings
• Your own sing-along CD
• When there’s no opportunity to warm up

19. Troubleshooting

• Articulation
• Breathing too high
• Constricting/pressing
• Feeling out of breath
• Flexibility
• Hoarseness/breathy tone
• Jaw problems
• Nasality/low palate
• Placement, vocal onset
• Problems singing legato
• Problems singing staccato
• Register problems
• Resonance problems
• Running out of breath too soon
• Singing out of tune (poor intonation)
• Sound
• The inhalation is very audible
• Vibrato
• You’re breathing ‘the other way around’