Consonants for Expression

Humming

Start by humming mmm..   Vocalize up the scale feeling the vibration resonate in the back of your palate, your nasal cavity and your eyes (the mask).

Slide humming from the bottom note up to the highest and then back down. Do this 5 or more times. This is the same exercise used for a warm-down after a singing performance has finished.

Grunt Uhh

Grunt uhh uhh rather than ahhh. Grunt uhh (forced staccato) up the scale from your lowest note up the scale to your highest, or use the five note tune up method. This will give your diaphragm a workout.

Stuttering Ds

This has the effect of momentarily making your vocal chords shorter. This loosens up the tongue. Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth.

A cartoon voice will also shorten the vocal chords.

Nay

This will produce a nasal sound. This will produce a pitched sound and will help with adducting. Say it like you have and with English accent.

No

This will produce a more head quality tone. It will stop you forcing your chest voice.

Mum

This will lower the tonal output into the chest voice.

Ya

This will give the chest a boost and keep the tonal output lower, but at the same time allowing you to go higher in your range.

Goog and Gug

These are trigger sounds. The G’s in the sound help keep the cords together.

For this to work well you need to keep yourself from breaking into head voice or falsetto. If you find that you cannot keep yourself from breaking into head voice or falsetto, then back off your air pressure but don’t go whispery, just make the tonal quality less loud.
When first learning to adduct, often time the cords aren’t coordinated enough yet to resist against the air in the new position.

Keep at it working your way up to normal pressure. If there is a particular voicing that doesn’t work, do what does work and come back to the troubling one another time.

Slide with grunt

Slide the grunt adding the above consonant sounds. This helps smooth out the transitional breaks of registers. use the same air pressure for high notes as well as the low notes.

Smoothing out the Bridges

Larynx Control –

vocal 1

vocal 2

vocal 3

vocal 4

Warmdown exercises