Day 3: SOVT’s Into Vowels

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

When we speak and sing we are constantly moving from an SOVT into and out of a vowel formant. This gives us less time to make sure that we have a proper connection between our lower abdominal pressure and the resonance building into our vocal tract. 

When slowing down any word, you will notice that your mouth goes from a closed to an open space and back. If you pause long enough on the consonant you can start to feel pressure and resonance building.

The goal for optimal efficiency is to use these SOVT positions to help us transition into a more stable vowel. We want to catch and ride the pressure and resonance as we open up to our vowel. Not enough pressure and the air rushes out making my voice fall flat (demonstrate).  

So be mindful of not over supporting your consonants and under supporting your vowels like this (demonstrate). Instead, flip it around and feel how your SOVTs help you transition to your vowels if you use them correctly (demonstrate). 

Exercise 1: Mah/Nah Slide to vowel 1-5-1

Start with an M or an N, slide up and then open to an Ah vowel. Notice that kick out sensation from your abdominal muscles as you move from your SOVT to the vowel. You are welcome to use any SOVT and vowel combination that you like best. It’s best to explore them all. I’m going to alternate between M and N starting with an M. 

Exercise 2: Hungah 5-1-5

Sometimes we start with an open vowel and then move into an SOVT. Be careful not to press with the back of your tongue. Instead allow the position to help you build lower abdominal pressure and get a feeling for where to place that resonance. If you are doing it right, the resonance will feel like it shoots into the back of your head.

Exercise 3: 
Make More Magic 1-5 stepwise 3-1 minor
Let Love Last
Gonna Get Going

For our last exercise, let’s try singing some simple word phrases. The goal here is to feel out which SOVTs in each phrase are most useful for our voice. Ever sing a song with a lot of fast words? When we are singing some words run together and some SOVT’s have to be weaker than others for it to sound and work right. If we over use this SOVT technique on every closed space, then we start to chew our words too much. This can slow down our voice, sound awkward, and eventually lead to unneeded tension. 

Try these three phrases with me on this simple minor pattern. Each one emphasizes a different zone where we can form an SOVT position. When singing full words we get a lot of extra stuff in there and this can distract us from properly using the most important SOVTs. Try them again and notice which SOVTs are more useful. Alright let's move it around our chest voice a bit more in an exercise. 

Audio:

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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.