hey singers if you're a busy New Yorker
like me it can be tough to find time to
practice but you know you've got to do
it so drop whatever you're doing and
practice this
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hey singers I'm Justin Stoney the
founder of New York vocal coaching
joining you for episode 111 of voice
lessons to the world today's question
comes from Jamel M in Manila Philippines
Jamel writes dear Justin I want to
improve my singing but I'm not sure what
to practice help me
we'll have no fear Jamel because today
we're going to explore some practice
essentials that I think are really gonna
bless you so let's start with breathing
do you want to improve your breath
well then practice this
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breathing is of course essential for
good singing
so let's actually start by doing it
wrong go ahead and take a few high
breaths or clavicular breaths for me
looks like this let's try it here we go
up you go inhale and exhale right inhale
up exhale down last one inhale up exhale
down
now with this approach we get tons of
air and also quite a bit of tension plus
we don't need this much air in the first
place
tons of breath actually makes singing
harder not easier instead we want a
moderate amount of air so place your
hands on your lower ribs and take a
breath you should feel a sideways
expansion remember to keep your upper
body calm don't lift the chest show me a
few of these that's it right inhale
expand that's it
last one inhale expand mm-hmm now next
place one hand on your abs one hand on
your lower back take a breath you should
feel some expansion not in a forceful
way in a gentle relaxed way give this a
try
inhale that's right inhale expand let it
out last one inhale expand that's it now
that you've felt these inhales let's go
for an exhale I want you to exhale a few
times on an SH Shh sound as you do this
make sure that you keep some of the
expansion in the ribs the belly the low
back you ready to try it here we go
inhale and SH
right inhale expand sh-shh keep that
expansion go go go go go
last one inhale expand and Sh keep that
expansion go go go go go go go and
awesome next do you want to make sure
that your voice gets off to a great
start each day if you do then practice
this
some singers like to have a big vocal
warmup for others it doesn't take too
much either way I do highly recommend
doing a little something to get your
voice going here are some sounds that
make for a great warm-up nasals like em
hmm
n hmm and ng hmm trills like lip trills
mm or tongue trills fricatives like Z or
V we're gonna try this now on a
descending octave slide it sounds like
this or this or this remember that you
can practice any of these sounds and as
I mentioned you can alternate between
them let's try it together guys are
gonna be down here and ladies up here
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and here we go
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that's it right for you
can alternate or keep it the same
sounding great
right on yes
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two more
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last one
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excellent next do you want to increase
your vocal strength then practice this
pup
vocals strength means your chest voice
your thyroarytenoid dominant production
your m1 whatever you want to call it
basically means that your vocal folds
are beefy they're strong heavily
connected the easiest way to find this
is through a healthy stage speaking
voice should come from the deep parts of
your breathing system and feel like a
strain free shout let's practice first
in the speaking voice repeat after me
yeah I kind of wanna practice chest
voice now yeah I want to practice chest
voice mm-hmm
yeah I really want to practice chest
voice then there we go now we're talking
now a big key is that we don't take this
very high it's only meant to establish
your core strength to your low notes and
to your middle notes taking chest voice
really high isn't very good for you and
it might actually damage your voice over
time so we keep this in the middle in
this exercise we're going to start off
with the guys and then we're gonna bring
in the ladies like this yeah yeah now
remember it's got to be bold it's got to
be tough and it's got to be confident
and here we go starting off with the
guys down here yeah yeah good guys right
yeah yeah that's it right let's bring in
the ladies yeah yeah excellent great
lose the guys now right just the ladies
uh-huh nice and tough ladies right on
come down good for you
here's the guys back with guys yeah yeah
great a few more that's it and last one
yeah yeah
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yeah and that's some rock and vocal
strength the vocal strength is nothing
without vocal flexibility so that's why
we need to practice this vocal
flexibility means your vocal folds
stretch to the back and get longer when
this happens they lose most of the
weight thickness and beef of chest voice
they move into critical theory dominance
head voice falsetto flajolet em - whoa
this is a super important skill if we
practice this we might end up with the
following things increased range in
every vocal register better vocal health
better vocal stamina easier access to
vibrato improved agility more accurate
pitch I could go on and on but many
singers avoid this kind of work because
it doesn't know we sound all that great
and it's not as satisfying that's kind
of like an athlete who refuses to do any
stretches just wants to lift a bunch of
weights all the time we can't make that
mistake with our voices the flexibility
exercise I want you to practice is an H
W sound sounds like this hmm hmm give
that a try
that's nice good now in this exercise
we're gonna have the guys and ladies in
the same octave sounds like this drop
out if it starts getting too high for
you but also challenge yourself as we go
up and here we go nice
that's it for you it's beautiful now
keep this tiny don't push it right
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lovely nice and small wonderful pure
that's it small and last
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yeah now that we've gotten you all
stretched out it's time to blend it all
together I know you want a great mix
voice so you guessed it you gotta
practice this the mixed voices every
singers dream come true it's a
purposeful blend of vocal strength and
vocal flexibility it means staying
strong without getting louder and louder
means using lots of head resonance
without switching to head voice it means
learning that the vocal folds have lives
of their own they can consciously decide
the degree to which they would like to
hang on or give up so I'm gonna give you
a mix voice exercise to practice it
sounds like this getting in the minimun
now the G consonant is gonna help the
vocal folds hang on a little
meanwhile the a vowel and the end sound
are going to give us some head resonance
and nasal resonance perfect balance for
achieving a great mix we're gonna start
with the guys and bring in the ladies
switch to falsetto or head voice if it
gets too high for you and here we go
getting in
right
that's right getting in and then bring
in some ladies
good stuff use that G get independent in
then that's it
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awesome
highest great right on your name amen
amen
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keep it up
two more last one Guinea ininin immonen
total glory you've already built a
better mix now last do you want to fall
in love with your singing voice then
what should you do say it with me now
practice this
joy is the lifeblood of the singing
voice singing not only brings joy but it
thrives on joy sadly though that's not
always our experience many times our
vocal lives are filled with fear
self-loathing frustration
procrastination now there's nothing
wrong with feeling those things nothing
at all but let me remind you that these
things are not the natural state of your
vocal life your natural state is joy so
are you afraid then I encourage you to
practice your boldness and practice your
courage identify one thing about singing
that you're afraid of and try it for
example if you're scared of singing in
public practice by singing in front of
one friend or if you're scared of riffs
and runs try finding an easy one and
practice it until you own it with each
little victory joy will replace fear are
you feeling frustrated then practice
setting good goals if you've got a goal
to be an international superstar in the
next two years
you might easily get discouraged but if
you set achievable goals for yourself
you'll stay joyful for example I'd like
to learn two new songs per month or I'm
determined to practice five days a week
for 30 minutes
excellent goals do you despise your
voice and constantly bash your self then
I'd like you to practice self kindness
think of five things that you like about
your voice and write them down
remember criticizing yourself makes
vocal mastery take longer staying
positive sparks joy and helps you get
there faster and procrastination well I
think we solved that today you don't
have to wait any longer all you've got
to do is practice
yes here are some more things to
practice on your vocal journey we are
pleased to announce the upcoming release
of Justin's Tony's new book same like
never before for more information visit
sing like never before calm for voice
lessons our skype lessons with NYBC
staff visit us at new york vocal
coaching comm if you'd like a vocal
course that you can do at home check out
the voice lessons to the world both of
course this twelve part program takes
you on a singing journey from beginner
to master level vocal exercises you can
find it at voice lessons to the worldcom
or if you'd like free vocal tips sent to
you each day sign up at daily vocal tips
calm and now here's justin with this
week's vocal benediction
my friends may vocal practice never feel
like a chore may it be a time that you
truly look forward to each day a time
carve-out just for you to explore the
beautiful gift that God gave you now
it's not perfect but it's yours it's
special and it's good so as you practice
this remember that
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you