USING THE 2 OCTAVE ARPEGGIO EXERCISE

HAPPY AUTUMN, y’all!!

With the arrival of the new season, you may be thinking about adding some change to your practice regimen. Well, how about giving your vocal workout an additional challenge by phonating on a two octave arpeggio pattern? It’s a great way to continue the work on range extension, strengthening the mix, and evening up the scale. In the following videos, I demonstrate using the ‘agh’ vowel (as in ‘sat’) with tongue extension as well as the ‘way’ syllable.  It’s helpful to use a mirror to watch for any unnecessary tensions or overdone vowel shapes.

Trust me, you’ll enjoy it and will feel more secure with traversing your registers shifts with more sturdiness.

DON’T FORGET THE COOLDOWN!

Bonjour!

The voice was a little tired today after teaching lessons and the lack of sleep this week. So I just wrapped my usual routine of a vocal cooldown. SINGERS – DO NOT SKIMP ON THE COOLDOWN!! It is extremely important to vocal health and longevity. Having a regimen specifically tailored for your voice by one’s own vocal coach can’t be overemphasized as it is with the warmup. If you need that kind of direction, book some sessions with me to develop your vocal toolkit. Contact me at earlharvillevox@gmail.com or 562 387-8025.
UNLEASH YOUR VOICE, UNLEASH YOUR ARTISTRY

Morning Vocal Warmup with Earl Harville

You want to get your voice usage off on the right foot to accomplish your vocal tasks for your busy day. Prepare it correctly with a gentle and thoughtful warm-up with these exercises. This includes body and tongue stretches before actually starting to vocalize. Remember that when preparing the voice, our first priority is RELEASE. Then connection of registers and power are more readily attainable.

Now grab some water and get to it! HAPPY VOCALIZING!!

If you are looking to book lessons for yourself or a loved one, head over to the CONTACT page on this site.

‘BING-BING-BING!’

I will often grab some additional warm up or workout time in between lessons and try to remember to catch it on video as self-evaluation. I will be sharing these clips to hip you to effective and fun exercises that you may want to try out for yourself.

I adapted today’s scale from the classic cartoon “Ricochet Rabbit”, which I loved as a kid. I took his call to arms and vocalize it on a 3-5-8 pattern. It is another way to practice phonation on the ‘NG’ sound, which is great for good vocal fold closure and experiencing some great ring. This one has been helpful for those clients of my who have a harder time with that exercise sound. Ah, the benefits of watching classic animation…. 

Try it out for yourself and let my know how you feel about it in the comments section. HAPPY SINGING!

My Pre-recording Warmup 1

Happy 2019!! I hope you are recharged and hyperfocused on your voice and artistry.

I, for one, started the year wrapping production on my new album. In the following clips, I share a portion of my vocal warmup before getting behind the mic. I utilized two semi-occluded vocal tract (SOTV) exercises, which I have talked about in previous posts (and which I will posting about again very soon). They help to establish good breath flow, reducing subglottic pressure, while giving us wonderful backpressure from the lips that allow the vocal folds to close more efficiently (supraglottic pressure).

Give them a try for yourself and leave a comment about your experience.

MERRY SINGING, EVERYONE!!

 

 

 

The Puffy ‘OH’ Exercise Revisited

Here is a clip I recently shared with other voice teachers about my approaches to using the ‘Puffy OH’ sound in my exercises. Great for warming up /cooling down as well as building strength and coordination in the mix.

 

 

21st Century Commercial Singer’s Skills Toolkit

 

 

This is not your father’s music industry anymore. The landscape has changed tremendously and is morphing continually. Singers are having to adapt a lot to survive in the world of contemporary commercial music (CCM). It is no longer enough to have vocal chops. Vocalists have to think more holistically as musicians and creators to navigate the waters of the biz.

 

Where I have had periods with few of my students thinking of serious careers as singers, the past couple of years have seen the turning of the tide again. I am now having lots of discussions with those who are looking to attend college programs with CCM emphasis or who are looking to get their music out to the public and hit the stage soon. They possess a lot of talent, great discipline, and passion for the craft. Here are some of the things that have come up in our conversations about what the modern vocalist needs in terms of skills, knowledge, and temperament.

 

1. Treasure your vocal technique.

Singing is, of course, about communication and connection. That should be our aim. BUT in order to be freed from hindrances and to keep the vocal instrument healthy, it is imperative that singers honor their voices by developing really good technique and keeping it sharp. I remind them that they should look at this as a career-long endeavor. Some voice lessons every so often over the years even when active as a performer will be really helpful. I always say “the work never ends…..”.

 

2. Remember that you are a vocal musician.

I used to talk with my middle school choir students about not being ‘the dumb musician’ as a singer. I admonished them to learn as much about the language of music as their friends in band and orchestra. I have that talk all the time now with my current private students who are pursuing singing careers seriously. I stress the need to learn theory and harmony. Learn to sightread. Learn the language of music in terms of dynamics, tempo, and expression. They will garner much more respect from their instrumentalist peers.

 

3. Learn to play piano or guitar.

I think this a huge deal. For one, it makes understanding music theory and harmony so much easier. It also practically allows the singer to be more independent, not having to rely on other musicians so much. It facilitates  the development of songwriting skills. And it’s just plain cool to be able to accompany one’s own singing.

 

4. Write your own music!!!

I think it’s very important for artists to have as much stake in their own music in this modern music industry model. For artistic and financial reasons, I challenge my singers to explore the art of songwriting.

 

5. Embrace music technology.

Again, it is vital for a modern singer to not only sing well but to also have at least working knowledge of the tools that are such huge part of the creative process. They should become knowledgeable about the digital audio workstations (DAWs) that are commonly used in recording music today. It is good to have functional familiarity with at least a couple of the most popular ones such as ProTools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Studio One, and Performer.

 

6. DON’T BE A JERK!!

Good people skills can never be over-emphasized. Great chops and musicianship may get them the first gig or two, but they won’t get called for the next big tour by a huge artist if people can’t stand to be around them for 4 weeks of rehearsal and 3 months on the road. They need to know that they can be replaced quickly and easily.

 

7. Know who you are.

I admonish my singers to be comfortable in their skin. Learn to love their quirks and uniqueness. I want them to accept what are their natural vocal/musical strengths and know how to feature them while continuing to challenge themselves by working on their weaknesses.

 

8. Be flexible.

I challenge my students to try a lot of different styles of music and learn from them. It will be important for them professionally, especially if they are sidemen and sidewomen.

 

9. Background singers are the ultimate vocal athletes.

My students know that I adore backing vocalists for their versatilty and range. I remind them that it is not just a way to get one’s foot in the door, but can be a very lucrative career path in and of itself.

 

10. Remember to thank me on your liner notes and when you win your Grammy.

 

I kid, I kid………..

 

HAPPY TEACHING!!!

More on the Pharyngeal Voice

An excellent look at a still misunderstood concept.

Petersen Voice Studio

I thought I’d throw in a couple of historical connections regarding the pharyngeal voice.

The first person to coin the actual word in print was Edgar Herbert-Caesari, but he also acknowledged in May 1950 in the Musical Times that there was no such thing as a pharyngeal voice. (Semantics, semantics!)

Herbert-Caesari asserted the idea came from the Italian term voce faringea and was taught to him by Riccardo Daviesi. According to Herbert-Caesari,

The discovery of the pharyngeal dates back about three hundred years (c. 1650) and was employed by church tenors all over Italy. Subsequently, it was taught by all exponents of the old Italian school. Riccardo Daviesi, my singing teacher in Rome, was the greatest Sistine Chapel ‘contralto’ of the nineteenth century.

Herbert-Caesari goes on,

When properly developed, either as a natural gift or as a result of considerable exercise, the pharyngeal mechanism dovetails perfectly into the basic or chest mechanism-just like…

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BAM!! POW!! HI!! : The Singing/Speech Connection- Part 2

Hello….and Happy Spring!!!

Here is the video with demonstrations and further explanations of the exercises I introduced in my last post. Remember to warm up before trying them out. ENJOY!!!

Be on the lookout for my “UNLEASH YOUR VOICE” vocal exercise series coming very soon.

BAM!! POW!! HI!! : The Singing/Speech Connection- Part 1

We all know that balance is the name of the game when it comes to good vocal production. We are aware that yelling is not optimal to the health of the instrument. Neither is an anemic, unenergized way of singing. Both can lead to undue tensions in the throat and be evidenced by a high larynx. I find that clients can achieve a good sense of vocal equilibrium by becoming more aware of how they use their voices when they speak or call out (not yelling) and how healthy chest voice is important for the voice as a whole. Let’s face it- when people think about singing, they often screw things up by trying too hard to make it sound one way or another. Approaching vocalizing from a place of just making sound can keep the student from overthinking and, perhaps, let their production become more reflexive.

Here are some exercises that I am using more often to help students make the mental and physical connections between speech and singing functions. I find them helpful for pullers and timid singers alike.

1) ‘POW’- It’s very natural for a student to make a very energized, physically engaged sound with this one. I have the singer to speak the word several times as if they were mimicking the sound of an explosion or a punch (think the old “Batman” TV series). I find it helpful to have the client place their fists in their sides or two fingers at the solar plexus to get an awareness of how the body supports itself naturally when making an energetic declamatory sound. After saying the word a few times, we move on to singing it in a comfortable pitch range. I tell them not to actually think singing at this point, however, because it tends to take them out of a strong but unforced sound. I want them to focus on ‘sounding’ and not ‘singing’ yet. Depending on the singer’s tendencies, I either take them up in range by half steps on single notes with a short sustain, or go with either a 1-3-5-3-1 pattern or a five note scale. They are not allowed to increase volume as they ascend. I remind them that the sound will thin a bit as they travel from chest into middle voice. For the hard core pullers, I have them to monitor the movement of the larynx and the base of the tongue with their thumbs.

2) ‘BAM’- The approach with this one is largely the same as the previous word. I will sometimes start the singer in middle or head voice, with a child-like pharyngeal production (think Bam Bam Rubble from “The Flintstones”). We then work downwards towards chest voice then ascend again. When I ask students to rate the difficulty of this sound ( On the ‘Dial of Difficulty, 1 is super easy and 5 is ‘call an ambulance- I think I tore something), they seem surprised that they don’t have to go past a ‘3’ for a very solid but free sound.

3) ‘HI’- I user single tones almost exclusively with this sound. I have the client to speak ‘HI!’ then immediately sing it on an assigned pitch. Again, I like for them to think that even the sung tone is really just elongated speech. I take them up by whole or half steps from near the top of their speaking range through their middle voice, at least. They are reminded to let the pitch of the spoken ‘HI!’ start to rise as if they are increasingly excited. For some, it helps to have them think child-like if they feel like effort is increasing. Some of my strongest chest pullers are noticing less strain getting through the first bridge.

I will be posting a video soon to share demonstrations of these exercises.

HAPPY SINGING!!!