Day 12: Vowel Strategies Moving through Registers

From: 14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram
by Abram Poliakoff
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Description:

Today let's talk about 3 different vowel strategies for moving through registers; Vowel stretching, neutral vowel release, and vowel glides for helping us bridge the gap between registers. Many times the most challenging moment for a singer is getting in and out our mix seamlessly. Think of this lesson as a way to prepare each register to move into the next and  integrate everything we have worked on so far in Part 2 into more fluid and immediate gestures. 

Exercise 1: Wah, Weh, Wee 1-8-1 chest up 

First let’s talk about vowel stretching from our chest voice upwards into a mix. I’m using 3 different vowels, starting with a Wah, then a Weh, and lastly a Wee. Try to make the vowel change mostly with the heel of your tongue and keep the front of your face as relaxed as possible. The W with each sound will help you relax your jaw down and build up some resonance to start shaping.

Now let’s try internally stretching each vowel towards an UH as we go up to our highest notes. Breathe in the vowel shape and let it just feel like your facial muscles are floating or like you are a ventriloquist with an Uh. If you want a little more of this feeling try making a bubble cheek for a second. Then let it just pop open. Let the resonance shape do the work!

Our mouth is just draped around the vowel shapes. This will give you that important and reassuring feeling of space so we can start surfing the resonance better. It will also help us avoid trying to overcompensate and start shouting.

Exercise 2:  WEE/OO to UH 56-865 head down 

This exercise is the opposite strategy that we just learned and is a way to move from a narrow vowel back down to more chest dominant resonance. First we start out in head voice and sustain here for a moment. Then let your voice drop the shape of the vowel to start drifting downwards. 

Let your face completely relax and land back into chest voice. You can take any vowel and make it more neutral like an Aye can become an EH and an EE to an IH or OO becomes an Uh.

Think of this as your ability to undo and vowel shape and soften your facial muscles. IT clears the resonance palette and allows you to stay flexible. The neutral vowel UH can be a default space to get you ready to transition into any register! Let's work this some more. 

Exercise 3: Huh - Yah Sigh 5-8, 10-8, up then down 

For this next exercise we are going to use our Y glide, but particularly for the process of finding a balanced mix very quickly on an unprepared high note. This is one of my favorite tricks and it allows you to just pick a note out of the air and drop in from seemingly nowhere.

Use a neutral vowel to get ready to stretch upwards towards your mix. Then allow the Y sound to defy gravity and help your voice drop into the highest note from above. The first part of the glide pulls in high partials from the resonance, especially if we think of it like the tall EE that incorporates the cover of an oo vowel like we did in the last exercise. 

Keep the vowels tall and don’t let the Ah vowel spread too much as you fall back down. Find that feeling of buoyancy and don’t let your overall volume get too loud. Keep your support grounded, but be careful not to push too hard here, just go for a floating expansive feeling with a low and centered breath. 


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14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram 12A
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Instructor: Abram Poliakoff

Abram Poliakoff is a singer, guitarist, pianist, teacher, conductor, and composer. He received a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Arts from USC’s Thornton School of Music and has been teaching music for 8 years. He is currently both the Associate Artistic Director and a tenor in the L.A. Choral Lab, which recently released its first studio album Sonic Visions in the fall of 2019. Abram teaches and performs a wide range of genres including Classical, Jazz, Folk and Popular music in the Los Angeles area. He has also sung with the San Francisco Opera and Pocket Opera in the Bay Area. His teaching mission is to help his students utilize vocal technique to find their authentic and healthy voice while maximizing genre flexibility and a naturalness of expression.