Free vocal studio · Nathaniel School of Music
Warm up, train and sing in tune.
123 vocal exercises from bel canto to belting, riyaz to riffs. Kanth plays the piano, climbs each exercise through your range, shows the notes as you sing and tells you how in tune you were. Teachers build their own and run live classes.
Teaching? Build an exercise · Open a live class · Send homework
123exercises
14ready-made routines
8singing styles
7voice types, or your own range
₹0free, no sign-up
Routines
Press play and Kanth moves through the whole set.
Daily ten minutesThe everyday routine for any singer: buzz, breathe, scale, arpeggio, vowels, cool down.8 exercises · about 10 minClassic studio warm-upThe order most studio warm-ups follow (and Jacob's Vocal Academy's sessions use): trill, onset, resonance, scale, arpeggio, agility, vibrato, cool-down.11 exercises · about 14 minMorning riyazWith the tanpura: settle Sa, the first varisais, three alankars, kharaj and meend.9 exercises · about 12 minPop and beltTwang, bratty belts and runs for pop, rock and musical theatre.8 exercises · about 10 minJazz earsIntervals, echo singing, chord tones and enclosures.6 exercises · about 8 minBreath firstFor long phrases: breathing, then holding a line with control.6 exercises · about 8 minChoir warm-upHum, solfa, vowels and clean onsets, ready for rehearsal.6 exercises · about 8 minCarnatic foundationsThe first lessons every Carnatic student sings, in Mayamalavagowla with the tanpura: sarali varisai 1 to 7 and janta varisai 1.9 exercises · about 12 minCarnatic next stepsSarali varisai 8 to 14, then janta varisai 2 and 3.9 exercises · about 12 minHindustani paltasOmkar, hakaar, the NIOS paltas, a vakra palta and merukhand.11 exercises · about 14 minRiffs and runsFrom three-note riffs to full runs: chord riffs, pentatonics, turns and gospel melisma.10 exercises · about 13 minMusical theatre beltSpeech-like calls into belt, then one belt colour across every vowel.8 exercises · about 10 minBel canto basicsLamperti and Garcia: blending the registers, sustained tones and messa di voce.8 exercises · about 10 minNSM originalsExercises designed at Nathaniel School of Music: sargam meets solfa, konnakol on pitch, and more.7 exercises · about 9 min
The library
123 exercisesWarm-ups 9
Lip trills, hums, straws and sirens: easy sounds that wake the voice without strain.
Lip trill · five-note scale
The buzzing lips hold back a little air, which takes the load off the vocal folds.
Lip trill · slides on a fifth
A slow slide up a fifth and back stretches the folds smoothly from note to note, with the lips doing the work of steadying the air..
Lip trill · octave and a half
Up the chord past the octave, then down the scale: the long line carries the voice through its register change on an easy sound.
Hum · five-note scale
Humming keeps the lips closed and the sound buzzing in the face, so you feel where a good tone lives before you open the mouth..
Straw sirens
Phonating through a straw is the best-studied voice exercise there is.
NG siren into AH
NG (the end of "sing") keeps the back of the tongue up and the soft palate down: the easiest path for a siren.
ZZ buzz arpeggio
A voiced Z is another semi-occluded sound.
Sigh from the top
Starting high and sighing down lets the light top of the voice lead, so the heavy chest voice does not drag upward.
Hum across a ninth
A gentle hum that slides up a ninth and back.
Breath 4
In, hold, release. Steady air is what every other exercise stands on.
Farinelli breathing
Equal counts in, hold and out, getting longer each round.
Hiss and suspend
A thin, steady "sss" shows at once whether the air is even.
Breath pulses: S and SH
Short, sharp pulses on S wake up the muscles of the belly that support the voice; long S and SH test the steadiness in between..
The growing phrase
Each phrase is two notes longer than the last, so the breath has to last a little longer every time.
Onsets 8
How a note starts: breath and closure arriving together, not a cough or a sigh.
Staccato triads on "ha"
Short notes on "ha" teach the breath to start each note.
Bip, bap, bah
Twice short, then once smooth on the same arpeggio.
Balanced onset on "oo"
A balanced onset is neither breathy (air before voice) nor glottal (voice before air).
H vowel ladder: hee hay hah hoh hoo
Each note starts on H, so the air moves first and the throat cannot clamp.
"Yah" on every note
The Y glides into the vowel from a closed tongue position, which gives a clean, balanced start on every note without a hard edge..
Fry to tone on "yaw"
Starting each note with a light creak (vocal fry) and letting the clear tone grow out of it.
Breathy to pressed on "ee"
Elizabeth Gerbi's "spectral" exercise: the same small phrase sung very breathy, then a little less, then balanced, then pressed.
Bounce and flow: staccato into legato
Up in short, bouncy notes, then down in one smooth line.
Scales 9
Steps up and down the scale, for evenness and pitch.
Five-note scale on "ah"
The basic scale every singer starts with.
Octave scale on "ah"
The full major scale in one breath.
Nine-note scale
Going one note past the octave takes the voice through its upper bridge and back in one movement, which keeps it from locking at the top..
Minor five-note scale
The same five steps, but the third is lowered.
Chromatic climb to the fifth
Every semitone between the tonic and the fifth and back.
Counting back to one
The scale grows one note at a time and always comes home to 1.
Solfa scale
The major scale on do re mi fa sol la ti do, up and down.
Major bebop scale
The major scale with one extra note between 5 and 6.
Two names, one scale: sargam and solfa
The same five notes sung in sargam, then in solfa.
Arpeggios and leaps 10
Chord shapes and jumps, so the voice moves across its range without a gear change.
"Nay" arpeggio
"Nay" keeps the larynx steady and the sound forward.
Octave arpeggio · 1 3 5 8
The chord tones up to the octave and back: the most common warm-up arpeggio in choirs and studios.
"Gee" octave-and-a-half
The G closes the back of the throat for a moment before each vowel, which keeps the larynx from rising as the arpeggio goes past the octave..
"Goog" arpeggio
The dark "oo" and the G on both sides keep the voice from spreading and shouting as it climbs, especially for singers whose voice cracks at the bridge..
"Mum" arpeggio
The M on both sides of the vowel brings the buzz to the lips, so the tone stays forward even as the mouth opens..
Five short "mee", one long
Five short notes, then one held note on the same vowel.
Third, fifth, octave from 1
Each leap goes out from 1 and comes back.
Solfa: do mi sol do
The chord in moveable do, the system choirs and the Kodály method use.
Lamperti: arpeggio and glide back
From G.
Lamperti: do mi sol mi do, slowly
Lamperti's easier version of his blending exercise, for when the leap to the top note is still hard.
Agility, riffs and runs 16
Fast notes, runs and ornaments for pop, gospel, jazz and classical alike.
Fast five, twice
Fast notes need a still jaw and a steady breath; the notes move, nothing else does.
EE and AH runs
Switching vowel on every note makes the tongue move while the throat stays still: the coordination fast runs need..
Pentatonic run down
Most pop and gospel runs live on the major pentatonic (1 2 3 5 6).
Blues run
The minor pentatonic with the blue note (the sharpened 4th).
Turns on every step
A turn (above, home, below, home) on each note of the scale.
Riff builder: 1 3 5 3
The first of Aussie Vocal Coach's riff exercises: up and down the chord twice.
Riff builder: 1 3 5 3 5 4 3 2 1
Up the chord, then down the scale: the chord-then-scale shape inside most pop riffs..
Riff builder: up to the octave
The same chord shape stretched to the octave.
Neighbour-note run down
Each step of a falling scale gets a quick note above it.
Minor pentatonic riff: ee, ay, ah
A minor pentatonic riff falling through an octave with turns on the way.
Minor pentatonic up and down
The five notes of the minor pentatonic up and back.
Three-note riffs, growing
Runs are built from small pieces.
Scat call and response
Short scat phrases with the syllables jazz teachers use (doo-vah-doo-dat, dah-bah-dah-dat), sung back by ear.
Konnakol on pitch: fours and threes
Carnatic rhythm syllables sung on pitch: four to a beat (ta ka di mi), then three to a beat (ta ki ta).
Moving accent
An accent that moves one note later in every group.
Gospel turn ladder
A small turn that steps down one note each time, from 5 to 1.
Range and registers 10
Chest, head and the bridge between them: sirens, slides and mix.
"Woo" octave slides
A slide from the bottom of an octave to the top and back on "woo" passes through the register change without stopping, so the break smooths out..
"Boop" head voice
Starting at the top and coming down on a silly "boop" lets head voice lead.
Twang on "nya"
A bright, slightly nasal "nya" narrows the space just above the vocal folds.
Bratty "nay" belt
Belting is loud, speech-like singing.
"Hallelujah" belt
A real word with a strong vowel at the end.
Vowel tuck through the bridge
Near the register change, a wide "ah" spreads and cracks.
Octave leap on "yah"
A jump to the octave asks the voice to change register in one move.
"Yeah" power calls
Short, strong calls on a bright vowel: the rock singer's basic sound.
"That's mine!"
Say "That's mine!" like you mean it, then sing it on 5 down to 1.
"Hey, taxi!"
Calling a taxi across the street on 1 5 1: a free, easy call that becomes a belt.
Vowels and resonance 6
One tone through every vowel, and the forward buzz that carries.
Vowel walk: mee meh mah moh moo
One breath, five vowels, one tone.
Hum into the vowel
Find the buzz on a hum, then open into "ah" without losing it.
"Mommy made me mash my M&Ms"
A tongue twister full of M sounds keeps the tone buzzing on the lips while the words move fast.
EE to AH octave drops
From a bright "ee" on top to an open "ah" an octave below, with the tongue staying forward.
Unifying belt vowels
A slide up a fifth on a bright "ya", then down the scale on "oo".
"Gyuug" 5 3 1: high, middle, low
The same 5 3 1 sung three ways: bright and small (a high larynx), normal, and dark and deep (a low larynx).
Dynamics and sustain 5
Soft, loud and the journey between: messa di voce, swells and vibrato.
Vibrato trigger
Swinging between two notes a semitone apart, faster and faster, until the swing becomes a natural vibrato on the long note..
Messa di voce
Soft, grow, soft on one note: the classic test of breath and balance from the bel canto school.
Swell over the scale
Get louder up the scale and softer coming down.
Long note, fading
Fading a long note without losing pitch or tone is harder than getting louder.
Garcia: sustained tones, half step by half step
Manuel Garcia's first study: single long notes of equal strength, moving up a half step at a time, so every note of the range gets the same care.
Pitch and ear 11
Intervals, echo singing and chord tones: hearing a note before singing it.
Every interval from 1
Every interval of the major scale, measured from the tonic: a second, a third, all the way to the octave.
Echo: hear it, sing it back
The guide sings a short phrase, then stops, and you sing it back from memory.
Echo: leaps
The same echo game with jumps instead of steps.
Chord tones over ii–V–I
Singing the notes of each chord as the harmony moves (ii, then V, then I) is how jazz singers learn to improvise: the line follows the chords..
Bebop enclosures
An enclosure surrounds a chord tone with the note above and the note below before landing on it.
Steps from Sa with the tanpura
Sa, then each swara, then back to Sa, all against the tanpura.
Kodály: so, mi, la, do
The Kodály method starts with so and mi, then adds la, then do: small, singable steps before the half steps.
Pitch accuracy: 1 1 1 2 3 2 1
Three repeated notes, then a small turn.
Chord-tone ladder
Michele Weir's improvisation method: sing the root, then root and 3rd, then the triad, then the seventh chord, then the whole scale.
Guide tones over ii–V–I
The 3rd and 7th of each chord are its guide tones.
Echo in raga Yaman
Short Yaman phrases (Ni Re Ga, Ga Ma Pa with the sharp Ma) sung back by ear against the tanpura.
Indian riyaz 33
Sarali, janta, alankars, kharaj and meend with the tanpura.
Settling Sa (Sa lagana)
Every riyaz begins by placing Sa against the tanpura until it is perfectly still and in tune.
Sarali varisai 1
The first lesson of Carnatic music: the raga Mayamalavagowla (melakarta 15) straight up and down, one swara to a beat.
Sarali varisai 2
Sa-Ri repeated three times before running up: the first exercise that makes the voice turn back on itself, in Adi tala..
Janta varisai 1
Each swara twice, the second one given a small push.
Alankar in threes (S R G, R G M…)
A three-note cell walked up the scale and back: S R G, R G M, G M P… The alankar moves inside the raga, not up by semitones, which is how Indian riyaz builds evenness..
Alankar in thirds (S G, R M…)
Skipping one swara each time (S G, R M, G P…) trains the voice to leap a third accurately inside the scale..
Alankar in fours (S R G M…)
Four-note groups overlapping up the scale.
Alankar: S R G R S
Up two and back two from every swara.
Kharaj: the lower octave
Kharaj riyaz is slow, sustained singing in the lower octave (mandra saptak).
Meend: gliding between swaras
A meend is a slow, continuous glide from one swara to another, passing through every pitch in between.
Sarali varisai 3
Sa Ri Ga turned back three times before the climb: the voice learns to circle a small group cleanly..
Sarali varisai 4
Four swaras sung twice, then the full scale.
Sarali varisai 5
Pa is held for two beats before dropping back to Sa: the first held note in the series, and the first leap down a fifth..
Sarali varisai 6
Up to Dha, then straight back to Sa: a leap of a minor sixth that has to land in tune..
Sarali varisai 7
Up to Ni and hold it, so the leading note sits right under the upper Sa without going flat..
Sarali varisai 8
Up to Pa and straight back down: the first line that turns around in the middle..
Sarali varisai 9
A small zig-zag at the top of each line (Pa Ma Dha Pa).
Sarali varisai 10
Long held Pas against the tanpura, then a full turn.
Sarali varisai 11
Starts on the upper Sa and works down.
Sarali varisai 12
Repeated swaras from the top (Sa Sa Ni Dha, Ni Ni Dha Pa): each repeat a clean new note, never a slide..
Sarali varisai 13
Neighbour-note turns all the way up (Ri Ga Ri Ga, Ma Pa Ma Pa).
Sarali varisai 14
The last sarali: up, a pause on Pa, a climb to the upper Sa and the full scale down.
Janta varisai 2
Pairs of swaras in four-note groups that climb one step at a time, then come back down.
Janta varisai 3
Each group of pairs turns back once before moving on (sa sa ri ri ga ga ri ri, then sa sa ri ri ga ga ma ma).
Palta: pairs (S R, R G…)
Overlapping pairs walking up and down the scale: Sa Re, Re Ga, Ga Ma… The simplest palta, and the first one the NIOS syllabus teaches after the plain scale..
Palta: five-note groups
Five swaras at a time, each group starting one step higher: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Re Ga Ma Pa Dha… Longer groups mean longer, steadier breath..
Palta: fourths (S M, R P…)
Leaps of a fourth up the scale: Sa Ma, Re Pa, Ga Dha… Wider than the thirds palta, so every landing must be heard before it is sung..
Palta: S R S G, R G R M…
Step up, step back, then leap a third: the voice turns inside every group.
Vakra palta: S M G R
Vakra means crooked: leap up a fourth, then step back down.
Merukhand: S R G in every order
Merukhand takes a few swaras and sings them in every possible order.
Merukhand: S R G M, all 24 orders
Four swaras give 24 orders.
Omkar: a, u, m on Sa
Omkar sadhana: "aa", then "oo", then a hum, all on Sa with the tanpura.
Hakaar to aakar: "ha", then "aa"
Sing a phrase with an "h" on every swara (hakaar), then the same phrase on pure "aa" (aakar).
Cool-downs 2
Gentle sounds to bring the voice back to speaking after practice.
For voice teachers
Build on the spot
Type or tap any pattern: steps, leaps, sharps and flats, held notes and rests. Pick the syllable, staccato or legato, a crescendo or a swell, the chords and the tempo. It plays the moment you change it.
Teach a live class
Share a six-letter code. Every student's screen follows yours, starts with your Play and plays the sound from their own phone, so nothing lags on a video call. Their scores come back to you.
Send homework
Pick exercises, add a note, and send one link on WhatsApp. Students open it and practise with the piano in their own range. No accounts, nothing to install.
Every way of naming notes
Numbers, sargam, solfa or letters, on a real staff in the right clef for each voice, transposed to every key the exercise climbs through.
Hear how in tune they are
The microphone draws the singer's line over the exercise and scores every key, with a note on whether they sing sharp or flat.
Always growing
New exercises are added to the library regularly. Each one names where it comes from: a tradition, a teacher's published lesson, or our own studio.
Questions
Is Kanth free?
Yes. Every exercise, the builder, homework links and live classes are free, with no sign-up. Kanth is made by Nathaniel School of Music in Bangalore.
Do I need a keyboard or a piano?
No. Kanth plays the piano chords, the starting note and a guide voice for you, and climbs the exercise up and down your range on its own. You only need a phone or a computer and headphones.
How does Kanth know my range?
Pick your voice type (soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass or child), or press "Find my range" and sing your lowest and highest comfortable notes. Every exercise then starts and stops inside that range.
Does it check whether I am singing in tune?
Press "Sing with mic". Your voice is drawn as a green line over the exercise and each key gets an in-tune score, with a note on whether you tend to sing sharp or flat. The sound never leaves your device.
Can a teacher make their own exercises?
Yes. Build lets a teacher type or tap any pattern of notes, choose the vowel or consonant, staccato or legato, a crescendo or a swell, the chords and the tempo, then save it, send it as a link or add it to a homework set.
How does the live class work?
The teacher opens a class and shares a six-letter code or link. Every student who joins sees the same exercise, key and tempo, and when the teacher presses Play everyone starts together, each with the sound coming from their own phone. Scores come back to the teacher's list.
Does it have Indian classical riyaz?
Yes: Sa lagana, sarali and janta varisais, alankars (paltas), kharaj and meend, with a real tanpura drone tuned to your Sa, and the notes shown in sargam.
Which styles does it cover?
Classical and bel canto, Indian classical, pop and R&B, jazz, rock, gospel, musical theatre and choir. Every exercise lists where it comes from.