Description:
The first step to blending our registers is to access them, and not get stuck only singing in chest voice or only singing in head voice.
Exercise: Octave jump Nah oo-ah 181 E
Begin with a jump of an octave. I like Nah and oo, but if you have another favorite syllable for chest voice or head voice, feel free to use that instead! Again, we’re going chest to head back to chest.
Exercise: MUM 8531358531
This time, we’ll start high and end low. That may mean you start in head voice, but depending on your range and the pitch, you may start and end in chest voice. Prioritize singing what you hear on the piano, even if it means your voice “cracks” or sounds weaker on some pitches.
Exercise: Zoo Fwee Yah C
Let stretch the range a bit more by singing a 10th. It’s Zoo on the bottom note and then all the way up to Fwee and back down a third to Yah. Stay light and use the rush of air in the F sound to soften your transition between register. Let’s take it up and note how you will switch registers in different places depending on how high or low we start this exercise.
In the next lesson, we’ll practice sliding, rather than jumping, between registers.
Audio:
Lessons:
- 1: Welcome!
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2:
Warmup
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3:
Wide-range Exercises
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4:
Sirens & Slides
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5:
Open Vowels
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6:
Conclusion
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.