In this article I want to share my top 5 vocal exercises for singers that give the best “bang for buck”!
These top 5 vocal exercises for singers really helped me to increase my range and learn how to mix my voice in the middle of my voice so I could eventually sing notes in the “cash register”.
With all these exercises, it’s important to sing properly, i.e. using correct support, or singing from the diaphragm. If you are unsure what this looks like, please click on the link to view an article I wrote called How To Improve Your Voice Using Support.
I will also assume that as an aspiring singer, you already know what a major scale is, and can sing one quite happily.
So, with all that in mind, let’s get started….
My Top 5 Vocal Exercises For Singers
Exercise # 1 – Fives
This exercise is a simple one, and the first exercise I sung when I first started to how to sing properly.
Basically, to perform this exercise, start around F3 on a piano for males and F4 on the piano for females, then sing up to the 5th of the scale and then descend back to the root note. For the male, you would sing from F3 to C4 (middle C), then descend through the major scale back to F3.
You can then sing the same scale on the next pitch etc and keep ascending until you start to struggle with the top notes.
This is one of the great vocal exercises for singers learning correct singing technique, as it is so simple, the singer can focus on supporting properly rather than what notes they are singing.
Exercise #2 – The Hum Octave Jump
This is the vocal exercise that helped me access my head voice and sing those high C’s!
To perform this exercise, close your mouth and hold your lips lightly together, then inhale, support, and sing a pitch, starting around Bflat3 for males and Bflat4 for females. After you have sung the first note, continue supporting then sing then jump up to the same pitch an octave higher (Bflat4 for males and BFlat5 for females).
When you hit the higher note, you are looking for a resonate ring in the sound. You should have the same vibrato in the sound as you would with the mouth open. If you achieve this, then you are essentially singing in your head voice correctly.
As mentioned previously, this is one of the great vocal exercises for singers looking to increase their range and also to help a singer learn how to mix or blend their voice in the middle register. The reason for this is that it teaches the soft palate to stay away from the back wall of the throat, essentially keeping all the resonance chambers open.
If you would like more information on resonance, please click on the link to view a post I wrote called How To Improve Singing Power and Tone.
Exercise #3 – Fives & Eights
This exercise starts off like the fives exercise, but adds an extra dimension that makes it a bit trickier.
As the name suggests, start off doing the fives exercise, but after you return to the root note, ascend all the way up through the major scale one octave higher, then descend through the major scale back to the root note.
It would look like this in C Major: C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, F3, E3, D3, C3, D3, E3, F3, G3, A3, B3, C4, B3, A3, G3, F3, E3, D3, C3
You need to do this all in one breath, so make sure when you inhale you breathe deeply to ensure you don’t run out of steam half way through the scale.
This is a great exercise for running the voice, and help ng the singer increase their range from the bottom up. It also is useful for helping the singer to mix the voice as they ascend up through the middle.
Again with this exercise, only go as high as you feel comfortable, but as you are only staying on the pitches a short time, you can push the boundaries a bit.
Exercise #4 – The Hum Octave With Descending Major Scale
This exercise is a twist on the hum octave jump.
Start off performing the hum octave jump, but instead of descending the octave to the bottom note in one go, descend back down through the major scale until you reach the bottom pitch. It is important with this exercise to make sure that you maintain support while descending, so your voice doesn’t jump out of line.
It would look like this in C major: C4 jump to C5, B4, A4, G4, F4, E4, D4, C4.
For females this would be same but one octave higher.
This is a great vocal exercises for singers looking to mix or blend the voice, as it attacks the problem from the top down, which is sometimes easier to do that attacking the problem from the bottom up.
Exercise #5 – Chromatic Scale
Our last exercise is a bit trickier, but is very valuable none the less.
The chromatic scale is like the major scale, except that we are singing through every pitch between the bottom and the top notes, and the same while descending. Basically we are ascending and descending in half steps or semitones.
It looks like this in C major: C3, C#3, D3, D#3, E3, F3, F#3, G3, G#3, A3, A#3, B3, C4, B3, A#3, A3, G#3, G3, F#3, F3, E3, D#3, D3, C#3, C3
This is one of the great vocal exercises for singers wanting to learn how to mix the voice as the singer has to sing every note on the way up and down, giving the voice plenty of time to learn how to coordinate properly, especially in the middle register.
You can also combine this exercise with the hum octave jump for descending back to the bottom note rather than the major scale.
Summary
Well, there you have it – my top 5 vocal exercises for singers that get you started and give you great bang for buck. I hope you have found this article informative and you now have a place to start if you want to look at practicing some vocal exercises.
I wish you success in all your singing endeavors.
Andy Barnes
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