Warm-ups · Beginner · Every style
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.
How to do it
- Lips together, teeth apart, tongue loose.
- Hum up five notes and back, feeling the buzz on the lips and nose.
- Go up a semitone each time, through the bridge notes, without changing the hum.
Remember Teeth apart inside the hum. Feel the lips tickle.
| Numbers | 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 |
|---|---|
| Sargam | S R G M P M G R S |
| Solfa | do re mi fa sol fa mi re do |
| Notes | G A B C D C B A G |
| Sung on | mm – – – – – – – – |
Where it comes from
More warm-ups
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.
Straw sirens
Phonating through a straw is the best-studied voice exercise there is.