- Part of the challenge of learning to sing using YouTube
is often the singing exercises that you come across
are relatively easy and pitched at beginners.
But every now and then, it's good to challenge yourself
with something a little more stimulating.
Something you can really sink your vocal folds into.
So today, we're going to test your voice
with three rather difficult singing exercises.
I wonder how your voice will cope,
especially the third exercise.
It's a real doozy.
- [Technician] Sound check.
(feedback whining) Check one, check two.
(crowd cheering) (upbeat, melodic music)
- We are going to dive straight
into the practical stuff today,
but as not to be rude to new visitors to my channel,
allow me to quickly introduce myself.
G'day, my name is Dr. Dan
and I'm a contemporary singing voice specialist.
When you subscribe to my channel,
you gain access to over 450 learn-to-sing videos
as well as a growing community
of like minded singers who,
just like you, want to develop their voice.
Voice Essentials is the YouTube channel
where everybody sings.
I hope you'll join our merry crew.
Now, the first challenging singing exercise
I want to show you is taken from
my first singing exercise collection, "Voice Essentials 1".
And to be honest, if I had my time over,
I'd probably have placed this activity
into "Voice Essentials 2", because it has proven
to be rather tricky for many beginner singers.
Let me show you how the exercise goes,
and then I'll talk you through the various hurdles
your voice needs to leap over
to successfully do the activity.
(vocalizes)
Okay, so several things are going on here.
Firstly, it moves at a rather quick pace,
so the voice has to negotiate the accuracy of each note
as the phrase slowly but surely rises in pitch.
Each phrase employs five vowel shapes
and if you're not careful,
these individual vowels can morph into one another,
leaving you with a resonant (laughs) mess.
Finally, and perhaps this is the biggest challenge of all,
each phrase is performed on a single breath.
And if that's not enough, you have the briefest of moments
to inhale sufficient breath for your next phrase.
Now don't be fooled.
I've been doing this exercise for more than two decades,
so it might appear easy enough when you hear me do it,
but trust me when I say you'll need to do it yourself
to really experience the challenge.
Now, this exercise isn't introduced
until module eight of my online singing course.
The "Voice Essentials 1" online singing course
includes 10 modules covering 18 singing activities,
each with their own challenge and difficulty level.
So check it out by the links in the show notes below
if you'd like to learn more.
The first module is free to preview.
You won't find the next two exercises
in "Voice Essentials 1" however.
But they are available
as a part of the "Voice Essentials 2" exercise collection.
The first of these two activities
take our voice and our ear to a somewhat unfamiliar place.
Exercise 24, the natural minor scale,
otherwise know as the Aeolian mode,
requires our voice to navigate interval patterns
that our voice may not be accustomed to.
But funnily enough, in my humble opinion,
this is not the most challenging aspect of the exercise.
You see, when I constructed this activity,
I purposefully reduced the time allowed
between each phrase to an absolute minimum.
This means you'll have virtually no (laughs) time
in which to take a well managed breath
to efficiently sing the subsequent phrases.
Let me show you what I mean.
(vocalizes)
That's a lot of fun because it really is a challenge
to consistently release the abdominal wall
for enough intake of air each and every time.
It's even harder when you're (laughs) sitting down.
So I highly recommend that you stand for this activity.
Indeed, I always think that when possible,
your singing practice should be done while standing up.
I hope you're enjoying the video thus far.
I've saved the hardest till last.
So I hope you're ready for an activity
that even I'm feeling a little nervous
about performing for you.
But before we hear how my voice stacks up,
take a quick moment to hit the thumbs up button
to give me and your voice the boost
I know I'm going to need (laughs) to do the final exercise.
Exercise 31 in "Voice Essentials 2" exercise collection
is titled "Double Octave Major Scale".
That's right, this activity requires the voice
to sing through two octaves.
Now given that many contemporary singers
generally only use between one and a half to two octaves
of their vocal range,
this exercise really pushes the limits
of your singing capacity
and it's going to push my limits right now
as I show you how it goes.
(vocalizes)
(laughs) Wow.
If you're looking to challenge your voice,
then this is it.
It's going to challenge your range,
your breath, and your registration transitions.
This activity has got it all,
but the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.
My singing exercises are designed
to develop your voice technically
so that your vocal performance becomes reliable, consistent,
and above all sounds great.
One of the skills required for all three of the exercises
we covered today is breath management.
So I highly recommend clicking on this video
to learn about what it takes
to develop better breathing for your singing.
I'll see you again soon!
I'm Dr. Dan.
Sing well.