say, dance, play your way into singing
aka: get back to the basics to build your singing voice with ease
Welcome to The Resonant Voice! I am thrilled you have arrived here & if you are not subscribed, I would love to help you with that:
Let’s set the scene…
Imagine that you want to work on your singing voice, so what do you do first?
Perhaps you start researching singing teachers in your area.
Maybe you find one that you are interested in.
Then you reach out & who knows you may even get to meet them.
You like their teaching style, so you decide to start lessons.
Your first lesson day arrives & your teacher dives into your lesson by having you explore the range of your speaking voice, stick your tongue out while humming, & then they have you anchor your body & do dynamic movements while making sound. Maybe that’s what you do for almost the entire lesson.
Is that what you would expect a voice lesson to be like?
For many students, especially students that have come to me with previous voice training, they are often in a state of mild discomfort when our first “voice” lesson doesn’t revolve around their singing voice. Sometimes we don’t even sing in the first lesson, more often than not we will focus on their speaking voice, moving the body, & exploring playful sounds. In my training as a general music teacher, the Orff-Schulwerk teaching model says that “sing, say, dance, & play” is the pathway towards quality music education & I wholeheartedly agree except I would order it as “say, dance, play, then sing.” I firmly believe that these elements are the first work for any age of voice student. Not only because it sets up students for transferring these skills into vocal technique concepts, but also because speaking, moving, & playing are some of the most accessible entries to voice work. My youngest students are 3 years old & our first work is speech & body work. Does the speech & body work for a 3 year old look the same as the body work for a 45 year old adult student? Honestly, probably not, but with differentiation they both experience this as their first voice lesson work. Now you need to try some of these ideas out for yourself!
speaking voice exercises
To dive into speech work, students speak the alphabet slowly & clearly one letter at the time. A lot of times, students will want to start singing the alphabet song rather than just speaking it. This is such a great moment in lessons because it reminds students that their speaking & singing voices are the same voice. To do this exercise, students start by finding their own tempo to speak the alphabet. Eventually, we set a tempo for the student to keep steady. Once the alphabet feels good in their speaking voice & at a set tempo, we add a note pattern to transfer the exercise from speech to singing. The inspiration for this exercise comes from Jennifer Hamady’s book The Art of Singing: Discovering & Developing Your True Voice. Want to try it out for yourself? Push play below & see what you notice.
body work exercises
Having a background in yoga, many avenues present themselves for how to incorporate body work into voice lessons. However, I like to start with the awareness of our body in space through stillness & subtle dynamic movement. Try out the following practices of anchoring, hip circles, & qigong swings in combination with humming.
playful voice exercises
One way to bring play into your voice exercises is through exploring the modes of your voice. You can do this while speaking the alphabet from the speaking voice exercise above. Try speaking the alphabet in a lower mode of your voice, called mode 1. Next, try speaking the alphabet in a higher mode of your voice, called mode 2. Lastly, try speaking the alphabet at a given tempo while sliding between your mode 1 & 2 voice. Now, what if you did that same exercise with the lyrics of the song you want to sing? Start by speaking the song lyrics completely in mode 1, then mode 2, & finally sliding between both modes. From there, try singing the song & see what you notice.
If you loved trying out the above exercises & are eager for more, come check out The Resonant Voice Studio or book a FREE 15 minute Singer Session. I’d love to meet you & your voice!