FIND YOUR VOICE – MINI COURSE
Session 4 – Physical Stretches and Range
What We Will Cover:
In this session we will look at physical stretches and simple vocal range warm up.
Physical Stretches
Physical Stretches for Singing – Really?
“I thought singing was just about the voice-box”, some might say, but we actually use the whole of our bodies to sing. So let’s start with an important warm-up – stretching out physically.
We use the whole of our bodies to sing.
You may even wish to think of singing as an athletic sport.
Become more aware of:
- Your shoulders
- Abdominal muscles
- All of your body. Even your eyebrows!
Physical Stretches – some examples
NB: If these [or any exercises we do together] cause pain or shorter breathing,
please stop, sit down and if you feel you can, revisit in your own time.
- Walking to balance.
Walk on the spot. Slowly bring your walk to a standstill to balance your body.
- Breaststroke.
Swim in mid-air. This is a great stretch for your shoulders and your back to warm-up your upper body muscles. Enjoy that stretch ?
Other warms-ups available on the full course include:
- Breathing demos
- Working on our diction or articulators and
- Range – which is next up on this Find Your Voice Mini course.
Technique – Range
Range is about how high or how low can you sing. Start with lower peaks to build confidence.
Technique ‘range’ practice is usually based around arpeggios and scales.
Arpeggios are great in working on your ‘Range’ technique as they take us quickly from the bottom to the top.
Tip:
As another great vocal coach Seth Riggs says,
‘don’t feel you need to sing the whole piano!!’.
I’d suggest you work to find the stretch outside your comfort zone yes,
but if it gets too high, either drop the octave and join me there
or simply pause until the next scale.
Vocal Scale
Now let’s use the ‘nay’ sound and sing it over an octave and a 5th for range coverage.
You can also use the vowel ‘ee’ as this is a soft sound and doesn’t put that stress on the voice.
Range extension will not happen in a day.
It is a gradual process. Be kind to yourself.
Keep up the good work with these physical stretches, scales and arpeggios. Try to add these to your regular vocal warm-up routine.?
