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This is a transcript of the entire Sing Thing 2 for reference
or to print off. 

A more challenging series of exercises for singers who know their voice well; designed to improve vocal flexibility, accuracy and aural understanding of the scales and intervals used in western music.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to this second CD in The Sing Thing series. If you’re familiar with the original, then you should be aware that this CD is quite different. As the cover suggests, it’s aimed at singers who already know their voices well and who can take responsibility for their range and register changes. This doesn’t mean to say that it will be of no benefit to the novice but the exercises will prove difficult if you’re not experienced and care will need to be taken over the range they cover. 

There is much less hand holding on this CD, rather I hope that you will learn the exercises and then choose for your self how you want to apply them. In the section titled Other Stuff, I give pointers as to what to avoid and the different ways in which you might approach the exercises. 

Some people may find some exercises or parts of them very difficult. I want this CD to be challenging, some exercises will be too fast for you to do at first but this gives you something to work towards. The range covered is wide; this is so that all voices are stretched a little. If it’s just too wide for you, there are ways round it such as changing octave. The intervals on the later exercises may be awkward to pitch at first but again that’s what this CD is about. Trying to pitch difficult intervals quickly over a wide range won’t be easy initially but practise over time makes perfect. 

Approach 

Here’s how I suggest you approach this work.

First of all listen to the examples to get an overview of the CD, bear in mind the examples are run at a slower tempo than the actual exercises to accommodate the learning process. Don’t sing along at this stage I suggest -rather, just listen and absorb. Try not to become disheartened if the exercises seem beyond you. Remember little by little. I would listen to the examples a few more times, gradually getting a feel for the work. You will need to train your ear to the scales and intervals used. Most people are familiar with the major scale, which forms the basis for exercises one to six but may not be so familiar with the chromatic intervals used in exercises seven to ten. The tritone intervals and the whole tone and diminished scales featured on the remainder of the CD may be even less familiar to some. If you need to brush up on the basic scales, then visit the hidden page on the website where the scales are written out and saved as a 'gif' file for you to download.

Once you’ve got your head round the constituent scales and intervals you will need to learn the actual melodies of the exercises – these are pretty much the scales but often with some non-scale notes to enable a musical turn around for the key change. The Whole Tone Blues for example has some chromatic intervals at the end to facilitate a musical sounding modulation. You must be able to hear what you’re trying to sing in your head to stand a good chance of vocalising it accurately.  Don’t skimp on this part of the process. Take your time and use the examples, which I repeat are at a slightly slower tempo.

The exercises are recorded in two sections one with the melody played quite loud and then again with no melody present. As you start to sing along with the melody you may feel that you’re not producing your usual wonderful tone. Don’t worry too much about tone at the moment, you’re probably concentrating hard and controlling your voice with a bit of tension, you can look at letting go of this once you’re confident with what you’re doing. Don’t struggle too much if you find the tempos a bit brisk, take a rest, stop the CD and sing the melody at your own tempo, then try again. Give yourself time; you need to work yourself up to speed. Remember some of us may never be able to do some parts of some exercises cleanly, it’s not a big deal take responsibility for what you feel you are able to achieve at a given time and be happy.

If an exercise goes to high or too low – and some surely will – change octave, this is good practice in itself. Learn to plan and hear ahead, get to know your voice. Judge in advance whether you’ll have to change octave on any particular cycle. Again I stress it’s for you as an experienced singer to take a hold of the exercises and use them for your own purpose. With all the exercises, aim to do them on the air rather than on the throat. 

Ex. 01 Up A Bit Down A Bit.

In this exercise we go up the major scale by three notes then drop back down to the first note of the scale, then do the same pattern starting on the second note. We aim to keep it fairly light agile and bouncing on the air. Keep feeding the air through try not to squeeze in the throat as it gets higher. Lightly go through to head voice or falsetto when you need to. Aim to be free and accurate.

Ex. 02 Halfway Up Slowly.

Half the major scale from the first note to the fifth but returning to the first, every other note. Try to keep centred here, there’s no need for your head to nod up and down with the notes. Regulate the air to get the notes, not the throat. Again we’re after freedom and accuracy.

Ex. 03 Halfway Up Quickly.

This one is tricky; make sure you learn the melody. It’s quick and quite long so take enough air. Try to maintain an open throat, do it slowly without the CD if need be.

Ex. 04 Going Down Slowly.

Dropping down the major scale from note eight to note one but returning to note eight in between each descending note. Allow the notes space to drop; don’t hold the position of the first note through the others, allow the mechanism of the voice to be flexible and float, re-adjusting itself. Make sure you get the energy for the top notes from the air.

Ex. 05 All The Way Up.

Here we go all the way up and down the major scale repeating the first note in-between. Quite tricky, let the air through and try not to go up and down on the larynx but once again let the air do the work.You can probably feel by now that the air supply needs to be willing, flexible and supportive if the air is to bear the workload and set the larynx free. This is what a number of the original Sing Thing exercises look at.

Ex. 06 Jumping and Sliding.

We’re looking for accuracy and comfort on an octave leap and freedom on the slurs down, trying not to hold on to the position of the high note as we descend. This melody will require you to slide through your register change at some point, so do so as smoothly as possible. Again, do it on the air not the throat.

Ex. 07 Little By Little.

We introduce the chromatic scale. This one is really about accuracy; make sure the semitones are semitones. Keep your voice quality light but not breathy. It can be difficult going through the change in your voice on this melody, so stay happy.

Ex. 08 Happy/Sad Blues.

Up on a major triad – that’s 1, 3 & 5, come down on a minor triad, which is 5, b3 & 1. The five is not repeated but serves as a turning point. This melody is quite tricky; make sure you can hear the notes first. Be sure to make the distinction between the major on the way up and minor on the way down. The exercise repeats round a twelve bar blues cycle that gets higher each time. You have the added bonus or challenge - depending on how you view it – of being able to choose in which octave you sing each phrase. You’ll need to develop an awareness of your vocal range and judge beforehand whether the upcoming phrase will be too high or too low and need altering. All the subsequent exercises use the twelve bar blues cycle and are a little more challenging.

Ex. 09 Sad/Happy Blues.

Similar to the previous exercise, but this time ascending with a minor triad and descending with a major. For some reason most people find it harder this way round.

Ex. 10 Tritone Blues.

No interval is inherently difficult for the voice if it’s in a comfortable range. The difficulty often lies in hearing it accurately, so it’s a brain thing. The flattened fifth interval or tritone is notoriously awkward to sing and some people find it an ugly sound – it has been described as the devil’s interval – but we’ll have none of that here. Just get your ear used to it and banish your tritone troubles forever.

Ex. 11 Wholetone Blues.

This scale suggests a 6/8 rhythmic feel. Every interval in the scale is a tone, the melody here however employs some semitones, just so things don’t get too easy. You’ll need to learn the melody of this one before you get down to serious practice. The final phrase in each cycle is quite long so remember to breath properly.

Ex. 12 Diminished Blues.

Based on the diminished scale that alternates semitone and tone intervals, this one starting with a semitone. Again there are some variations to keep things musical so you’ll need to learn the melody.

Other Stuff

Do these exercises on any vowel EE, EH, AH, OR, OO. Pick one and stay with it for the duration of the exercise, next time choose a different vowel. You’ll find some easier than others so try to keep tension at bay on the harder vowels.

You can do these exercises ‘on the larynx’ or ‘on the air’. On the air is better but harder, on the larynx can be ok but you need to be careful also it’s probably not a good habit to develop.

Decide how you’re going to handle notes you find high. Some days practice pushing your full voice, on other days practice floating through into head or falsetto, another time you might practice dropping an octave in mid phrase.  Don’t tire your voice at the top; let the air do the work, if you feel your voice getting tired, stop. You may be doing it badly or you may need to build up strength gradually, it could be that you’ve simply been doing to much singing

At times you might find the CD useful for warming up, not paying too much attention to accuracy but just using it as something to sing along to, however when doing this don’t get lazy with your support. I always remember the words of my first singing teacher Katarina Valenquez Rodriguez. She would say to me “Anton recuerda, cuando cantas, tu cerebro y tu laringe residen en tu vientre.” - but her voice was somewhat higher than mine - which means; Anton, remember, when you sing your brain and your larynx reside in your abdomen. To me this means that you must think of and initiate the note from this low centre in your body. This is true practically speaking. The note forms in your thought first but the path of its physical birth begins with the contraction of the abdominal muscles. Try not to let the larynx and throat pull your attention away from the driving seat.

I’m going to take my leave and let you get on with the exercises, be inventive with them. Try to do them accurately and freely, take responsibility for your voice, encourage it, and yourself and have fun and don’t forget to visit the web site every now and then.