Standard Tuning

STANDARD TUNING

OBJECTIVE

This conditions you to sing in the 12 scales. This warm up is mainly to coordinate the diaphramic pressure with the vocal cords vibration but also  loosen up the cavities under the frontal cortex and the upper nasal cavity loosening the soft palate.  As you vocalize your resonance should be focused there.  Humming naturally stimulates that area.  Scales also condition the subconscious. Scales are important.  

No one sings at 0 perfect pitch.  When you start tuning up your notes will be off around 4 cents sharp or flat.   By tuning up you sharpen your accuracy to less than 2 cents sharp or flat.

Most of the time the sheet music is written in the scale of F or G for easy piano playing with only one sh or one flat.  Compare   to 4 sharps in the key of E (guitar tuned to E).  An E scale is 4 scales off from a "simplified" scale.  If you have practiced singing to the original song in the original key, and the piano player is playing the simplified scale sheet music, you will have to adjust your singing notes to that simplified scale and not fall back on your memorized notes in the original scale of your song.

HOW    15 min

Go to your lowest note and play the chord of that scale. Then correctly finger the whole scale while singing going up. Take a breath. Then finger and sing that scale going down.  Move up a semi tone. Play the chord of that scale. Then finger that scale up, take a breath, then finger the scale down. Repeat this until you reach an octave.  Take a breather break, then do the higher octave.

Objective is matching the tone from your vocal chords with your breath (the different speeds of the air flowing out on the different notes).  Your diaphram needs to push out a different pressure for each different note.    This is the reason people think they can't sing.  As you are coming to the end of your exhaling breath, curl your diaphram up under your lungs for the last amount.

Sound should not waver and have good tone.  This is the third reason you tune your voice.  Remember to focus your resonance to the frontal nasal chamber under the frontal cortex.  Note duration is half notes.  Whole notes are better.  Keep the inner smile as you do this.  Feel the vibration in the nasal cavity while at the same time opening up the chamber in the back of the mouth (raising the soft palate) and resonate that also.  Sound is produced from the larynx so keep the path after it wide open to the resonant chambers of your mouth.  Tilt your head back slightly.

PRO TUNING

Do the same as above but tuning is extended to two octives in length continuous.  Note duration is quarter notes.  

Make the "yy" sound right before the target vowel sound to make the vowel sound formed accurately after tthe previous vowel sound.  This prevents sliding up.  

Two octaves.  Do twice a day.  After a week you will notice it's effect.

Short on Time

Tune the first two octaves in a vowel sound.  Move up a half step to do the second two octave set, but this time change the vowel sound.  Change the vowel every time you step up the half step to do the next two octaves.

Boring

After doing two vowels you can do melody tuning on a song you are working on.  Then come back and tune to another vowel or two.  Then back to melody tuning.  

TUNING APP

You can use a tuning app to see how accurate you are when singing the notes.  You can record your tuning on a DAW that has pitch correction to see your accuracy.

Before a Performance

Before a performance you should always tune your voice.