Hi,and welcome to my free training session. You can find everything that's here and lots more  in the Ultimate Voice training for Singers home study  program, available from this website. The following exercises are taken directly from the program; they represent different levels of progress. I'm showing different exercises for men and women on this page just to give a more thorough example of what the program offers, but for the most part all exercises are included in both the men's and women's versions of the program. Note: for our purposes "women" also includes younger girls, and "men" includes teen boys whose voices have gone through or are going through the change. Younger boys can use the "women's" program as well. One more thing...as I'm sure you realize, the sound quality over the internet is not like that of the original, but we're getting there! Let's get started.

Stand or sit in an upright position and place your hands against your diaphragm; your stomach area, just below the ribs. Shout the word hut like a football quarterback, and feel the pulsing there. Now practice slowly pushing your stomach out while taking a deep breath in; as you continue through the inhale, your chest will begin to lift and expand. Keep your chest held comfortably high while humming a long note (any note); also keep your clenched fist against your firm diaphragm. This will help develop breath control. Your chest will slowly drop on its own as your breath runs out, but try to keep it up as long as you can. Your shoulders should not lift significantly, just your chest. Think of your chest as an expanding balloon! If you place your hands against your lower back during this breath, you will feel it "expanding" as well. Practice this method until you get the feel of it, then begin

Exercise 1. During all these exercises, each time you take a breath, do it this way - you will begin to build up speed as it becomes more natural. Let's move on to Exercise 1. For all these exercises, remember:

GETTING STARTED: BREATH CONTROL

With any vocal exercise, only sing in a range comfortable for you; be patient - you will begin to feel a greater ease, flexibility and "lightness" to your singing voice as it begins to balance, but it takes time; you must never force any note.

EXERCISE ONE: "OPENING UP"
Learn to "open the throat" by practicing yawning while doing single-note vocalizations in head voice. Use the sound "woooooo" or "weeeeee", and let the note descend like a sigh. Then try it in an excited fashion, such as you might cheering at a ball game. try it while bending forward, so that you're facing the floor, and feel the extra push from underneath. Once you've mastered the feeling, you'll find it easier to sing into your higher range immediately. For Exercise 1 we're using the sound of "koo" for women and "bub" for men. Do the exercises with a slight "yawn" feeling in your throat, almost like you're just about to yawn.

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 1..."boo" (women)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 1..."boo" (women)

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 1..."bee" (men)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 1..."bee" (men)

EXERCISE TWO: SUPPORT AND RELAXATION

One of the greatest warm-up and training exercises for vocalists is the lip roll. Simply place your index fingers into the hollows of your cheeks, as demonstrated at right, and allow your lips to slowly bubble as you vocalize over any scale pattern, making sure that your volume and overall "feel" remain consistent from the lowest to the highest part of your range. You'll feel a slight downward "push" on your diaphragm as you ascend, but your neck and outer throat muscles remain relaxed.

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 2...the lip roll (women)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 2...the lip roll (women)

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 2...the lip roll (men)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 2...the lip roll (men)

EXERCISE FOUR: BRIDGES; INCREASING USABLE RANGE
Do this next exercise just as if you were talking at a normal volume; no louder on the high notes than on the lows. Your neck muscles remain relaxed, the "lift" into your upper register feels natural, and the sound doesn't change drastically as you ascend. You will always feel the lift to upper register, but when the exercise is mastered, the listener hears what appears to be one "connected" sound. If you start to feel "tight" at all in the higher range, try rocking your head back and forth as if you were saying "no"; all the way to the left and all the way to the right, while singing the exercise. Remember, don't force it at all, just relax and let it "break" if it has to...this takes time to develop, and everyone's natural singing range is different.

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 3...mum (women)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 3...mum (women)

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 3...mini(men)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 3...mini(men)

It's important that you learn to relax the muscle under your tongue, (so tricky tongue movements don't pull you out of balance) as well as your outer neck muscles (so you don't "clinch" for the top notes)...for simple vocalization, you should be able to relax these muscle groups... Here's a great exercise: try sticking your tongue out and down , (like at the doctor) exaggerating at first, while vocalizing the sound "aaaaa...." as in "hat" through your complete range. As you ascend, don't allow your tongue to pull back in; just concentrate on it sticking out. As you reach your first bridge, or break, let it ascend into your upper register, but try and develop as smooth a transition as possible, with no exertion or manipulation from your outer neck muscles. Once you've done it a few times, try the same with your head rocking back and forth as if you were saying "no"; now you've distracted tongue and neck muscles completely. Note: there's only the women's version on this page right now; men can do this one an octave lower.

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 5...haaaa (men and women)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 5...haaaa (men and women)

 You can also do this exercise with other vowels, of course...heh (head), hih (hid), huh (hut) etc...

EXERCISE FIVE: SUSTAINS
Remember to maintain a relaxed feeling in your neck and throat, and keep your chest comfortably high while performing this exercise. I have different exercises here for men/women; try them both for fun...but they are both included in the men's and women's programs.

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 6..."single note crescendo sustain" (women)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 6..."single note crescendo sustain" (women)

Click Here for demonstration to Exercise 6...ah sustained (men)
Click Here for your performance Exercise 6...ah sustained (men)

 You can also do this exercise with other vowel sounds, of course.