Day 13: Advanced Sweeping Exercises

From: 14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram
by Abram Poliakoff
Upgrade To Full Access To Get All Lessons!

Description:

Today we put much of what we have learned in Part 2 together into more advanced sweeping style exercises. I call an exercise “sweeping” when it covers multiple registers of the voice with one single pattern. They often involve a sequence, or repetitive pattern that moves both up and down a musical scale. You will want to sing the sequence in one full breath and then we take these entire patterns and move them up and down our range. Once put together they require agility, flexibility, and strength to accomplish. 

Each pattern will take some time to learn and put together so make sure you slow down at first and understand the pattern with a gentle mix before we attempt to put any extra energy into them or stretch up to our highest notes. 

Exercises like this are a great way to test your limits and I recommend attempting them after a solid warm-up or technical practice in each part of your range independently first. If you haven’t taken some time to wake up your voice, then I strongly recommend that you do this now before moving on. This will ensure that you don’t overly fatigue your voice or hurt yourself by reaching or straining. Just know that in any moment when you have hit your limit you can always drop out and immediately let go of your voice. Never try to push through any pain or discomfort. Stop and pay attention to how you feel and take a moment to recenter before attempting the exercise again.

Exercises 1: Zah-11th (1,123,345,567891011 etc.)

For the first exercise we will cover an interval of an 11th up and down. Before you try this with me let's break it up into some different parts.  Try it out and feel that support activity as you hit the 3rd and the 5th. This will feel a similar staccato pulse feeling from our warm up on day 1. Next we make a big ascent to the 11th. 

Here is where we want to make sure we have enough space and a more rounded or covered vowel to hit our highest note. On the way back we pulse every three notes in a symmetrical way to how we started the exercise. The last part allows a faster release down just like how we get up to the highest note. 

Notice how this covers a pretty wide area of our range from low chest voice eventually up into that light bouncy mix. We want to use a light or balanced mix at the very top because there is so much quick motion and other styles like belting will get too heavy and slow us down or get stuck and tight.

Exercise 2: Zah jumping arpeggio with turnaround 1 (135878987654321)

This next exercise involves leaping to get to our highest notes. Jumps from one note to the next, while seemingly more intimidating, actually allow us to transition registers with more ease assuming we know how to shape our vowel and manage our breath pressure appropriately. Give it the wrong shape or too little or too much breath pressure and the whole thing falls apart. 

 First we arpeggiate a chord upward. Jumping like this will help us stay light. Try to prepare your breath with the space and registration for a more belted and sustained top note. The next part is a turnaround. We relax our support a tiny bit back down to keep our support dynamic. Then immediately engage your support again to bump up to the highest note with a healthy belt. 

The last part is a very rapid release all the way back down also to avoid too much tension. The goal here is to allow our support and vowel shapes to relax just at the right pace so that we can have a brief and audible moment on each note in the scale. 

Exercise 3: Zah jumping arpeggio with turnaround 2 (121,343, 565, 898 and down)

This next one involves more jumping and a lot more turnarounds. We use the arpeggio of a chord and at each interval we move up and down a scale degree. Map this out again with me, first with a light mix.

Take note of when you switch into a mix and when you need to eventually use head or chest voice. The goal is to create a smooth transition of timbre using all the resonance tricks we have used so far. In sum total you might start to feel the C or backward J shape that many experience as the resonant strategies switch back and forth from head to chest resonance. Just follow the sensation and stay flexible and receptive. 

Awesome work! It's sweeping exercises like these that have helped move past both mental and physical barriers with my voice. There isn't a lot of time to dwell on any one sensation so you have to start learning to trust your muscle memory. They are great to add as an end cap to your vocal practice. You don’t need to do them too many times, so be careful not to overwork yourself. Just use them to get a sense of how far your voice can stretch with one phrase in rapid succession. 

Outside of vocal drills and range extension. I’ll often use sweeping exercises to free up my voice when working on a difficult moment in a song. They help me remind myself that my voice often has more space and options above and below whatever I’m working on. Lastly, it's a great way to boost your confidence and get pumped before a concert. 


Audio:

14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram 13A
14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram 13B
14-Day Range Extension Course With Abram 13C

Lessons:

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.