#1: Expand your lungs and get your blood moving
Through experience I have discovered that a little cardiovascular exercise, followed by a brief rest, can help you get the most out of your practice session. I suggest going for a run or a brisk walk, and cool down by stretching until your heart rate has returned to normal. The stretching will also help you relax your muscles.
Take this step farther than just cardiovascular exercise by combining it with your breathing technique and proper posture. Beginner Pilates exercises will do all three for you.
#2: Start with a sustained-note exercise
A sustained-note exercise is one that holds any given note for a period of time. For example the ee, ay, ah, oh, oo exercise you learned earlier. This exercise also has the additional benefit of addressing each of the major vowel sounds, so I highly recommend it. During your first exercise, sing gently and don't be alarmed if your voice cracks - just gently sing your way through. If the cracks become bothersome, stop and take a drink of water. The whole point of warming up is to let these "cracks" work themselves out. To make this exercise more difficult, sing a tongue-twister on a single note. Make sure that you can do this while maintaining properly formed vowel sounds.
#3: Move up and down the scale
Next, practice moving up and down in consecutive notes (no intervals yet). Try exercise #1, below. Increase the difficulty of singing scales by increasing the tempo and changing the vowel sounds. For example, sing ee on the way up and ah on the way down. You can also use this exercise as a way to challenge your breath control by singing up the scale, holding the top note for 5 sec, then coming back down the scale still on the same breath. Increase the difficulty as necessary by increasing the time held on the top note.
#4: Intervals
Intervals are jumping from one note to another that skips notes in between. For example, singing middle C to F (you skipped D and E). Try exercise #2, below. The difficulty of interval exercises is increased simply by increasing the size and frequency of the intervals. The Royal Conservatory vocalizes are perfect for this.
#5: Songs
Once you are warmed up and comfortable, you are ready to work on a song. What type of song you sing to work with is important. If you are a beginning singer, I do not recommend working on pop music. It encourages a great deal of ornamentation, as well as promoting a nasal sound, which is undesirable. What you should be working on at the moment is sustained notes. Choose something very simple, that you enjoy. Sing through it slowly, making sure you have each note at the correct pitch. One of the worst things you can do as a singer is practice a song incorrectly, because it can be very difficult to relearn.
More Singing Exercises
Exercise #1: 5's
Fives are simply a five note scale repeated on each vowel sound. Starting on middle C, for example, you would sing "ee" on C-D-E-F-G-(and down again)-F-E-D-C. Then repeat for each of the other vowels. Move up a semitone, and repeat. Aim for repeating all five vowel sounds on a single breath.
Exercise #2: Arpeggios
An arpeggio is singing the DO MI SO DO of a scale and down again. Go through the arpeggio of middle C (C-E-G-C-G-E-C) on each vowel sound, without breaking the stream of air in between each note. Then repeat for each key up and down the scale within your range. Try starting softly, gaining volume, singing the high note the loudest, and then decrease your volume back down.
Exercise #3: Nasal Cavity
Vocal resonance in the nasal cavity is a common problem (i.e. singing through your nose). This will help you find the feeling of the sound when it is NOT resonating in your nose. First, on any comfortable note, sing the word "sing". Hold the sound not on the "ih" as you normally would, but instead hold the "ng". As you close off your air flow with your tongue (feel how your tongue is pressed to the roof of your mouth?) feel the buzzing in your nose? This is where the vibration is placed when you are singing nasally. Now, without breaking the air flow, drop your tongue to your bottom teeth and sing "ah". Allow the sound to flow through your bottom teeth, and drop the sound in pitch (sing down the scale 3 or 4 notes). You should feel a profound difference in vibration placement from "sing" to "ah". Repeat this exercise on several different starting pitches.
Keeping A Practice Journal
- Keep track not only of what exercises you did, but in what order and how they made you feel.
- Pay attention to other factors, such as how much sleep you got the night before, time of day, and the weather
- If you have problem areas in an exercise or song, keep track of them so that you can practice just those parts until they improve. There is no point in singing an entire song just to practice the two bars that are giving you trouble. Concentrate your efforts for quicker improvement.
- Make your journal even more valuable by also keeping track of performance experiences. Where you were, what you wore, what problems you had, how you warmed up, what feedback you received, etc. This can help you reflect on many things, including which songs were received well by the audience.
