The Singing Studio Ep. 8: A Tale of Two Registers Part 1 (Plus Chest Voice Exercises)

A Tale of Two Registers

The tale of two registers.

Hi you guys and welcome to The Singing Studio! And yes, today we are going to be talking about our lower and higher register, or our chest voice and head voice. Just like a lot of these cool videos where I do exercises, there will be a supplemental video so be on the lookout for that, as well.

So we’re going to talk about the chest voice today. That is our lower register. In our next video I’ll be talking about the head voice, which refers to our higher register. It’s really cool to think about our voice in terms of it being an instrument because it does have these cool registers that we can utilize and do cool and fun things with. We can add more of a classical style, or we can have more of a contemporary taste to our voice. It’s really, really awesome all the wonderful things we can do with our voice, but in order to do all those fun, stylistic type things we need to understand our different registers and the abilities that we have within those registers, as well as how to strengthen those registers.

The chest voice is typically the easiest register for us to sing in. And I think that has to do with the fact that our chest voice is mainly sort of the register we speak in. So when we are singing in our chest voice we can feel a lot more comfortable. However, sometimes we tend to get lazy with things that we already think that we’re good at or comfortable at. So here are some tips and things to remember as we do these chest voice exercises.

First off, always have good breath support. I’m always going to mention this because breathing is the foundation of singing. You’ve got to breathe. With these chest voice exercises we can tend to get lazy with them because they’re a little bit more comfortable on the voice and in a register that all of us are sort of used to. So using that breath support is most important so that we don’t get complacent or lazy with our singing.

The next thing that you need to remember is to keep things nice and light and to really relax your jaw. We don’t want any sort of tension in our throat. As we’re going down the scale and we’re going down lower into our lower register, sometimes we have a tendency of putting a lot of pressure as we go lower. So make sure that we’re thinking light, we’re thinking open, and we’re thinking relaxed.

And then finally, make sure you’re drinking that water. Drinking water is really important as we do a lot of these exercises. I just wanted to kind of give you that friendly reminder that you should always be drinking water. So with that let’s get started.

The first exercise that we’re going to do are some humming sirens. Similar to the sirens we did in our warm-ups video, we’re going to be doing that kind of call and response except it’s going to be humming and it’s going to be in our lower register. So it kind of sounds like this.

So nice and forward and light. Those same principles as a siren except we’re humming. The reason I like doing this humming exercise specifically in my chest voice is to sort of wake up the voice and get it ready to sing lower. Getting those humming sirens down in our lower register is really going to help sort of loosen up those vocal cords and make it nice and relaxed. Anytime that we’re doing any sort of exercise, we’re really trying our hardest to relax that voice. So in the supplemental video, I’ll do a siren hum and then you’ll repeat it back. Similar to what we did before with sirens. So again, it sounds like this.

I like to think of my favorite food as I do it because I think it’s sort of fun to imagine my favorite food and go “mmm”. You can do whatever works best for you, but that’s essentially the exercise.

Our next exercise is some really fun “he he he he he’s”. I’m going to demonstrate it for you and then I’m going to tell you what should be your sole focus for this particular exercise. So we’re going to start a little lower and this is what it’s going to sound like.

So think about this for a second. What are some characteristics you heard in my voice as I was singing that? And what do you think I was doing the entire time? If you’re thinking about breath support, you’re thinking correctly because this exercise really does take a lot of really good breath support. “He he he”. I’m really focused on making sure I’m filling up that inner tube full of air so that I can get those “he he he’s” out. It’s sort of like you’re pushing out these “Hes”; “he he he”. I mean I like to sort of think of Santa Claus and when he goes “ho ho ho”. It’s very similar, but we’re going “he he he he he”. And also as you’re doing this make sure not to put any sort of strain on the voice. Don’t push out the sound. In fact, if you find yourself pushing out the sound, you’re not doing it correctly. It should be nice. It should be very relaxed, but use that breath support to really punch out those “he he he he he’s”.

Now we’re going to do some nice “ah’s”. And as we’re singing on an “ah” vowel make sure we’re not going “oh”, make sure we’re going “ah”. If you just want to, before you begin this exercise, practice going “ah” to kind of get our jaw and our mouth ready for this vowel, I would totally suggest doing that. So this is what it sounds like.

Now as you’re getting lower sometimes singing that “ah” can be really hard. So you can choose another vowel. You can choose an “ooo” or a “wee”. Whatever makes you most comfortable. But really try to do it on that “ah”. It really just helps us open up that throat in our chest voice. It helps us really utilize and remember to use that breath. I know this exercise seems pretty simple but if you’re doing it correctly you should be thinking about a lot of things as you’re doing it. Is my jaw relaxed? Am I breathing? Am I doing the vowel correctly? Do I have any strain on my voice? These are all things that you should be considering as you do a simple exercise like this.

I’m really excited for this exercise because we’re singing about one of my favorite foods: pepperoni pizza! Woohoo! I know I always sing about food. Maybe it’s because I’m always hungry or maybe I just really love food! I don’t know, but we’re singing about pepperoni pizza you guys. So this is what it sounds like.

So this exercise is really fun, like I said, because we’re singing about pepperoni pizza. But the main focus for this exercise is we really need to focus on our diction and getting those consonants. So “pepperoni pizza”. And when we go to the “zah” make sure we’re not going “zoh”. Make sure we’re going “zah”. “Pepperoni pizza”. Also make sure that you’re utilizing that good breath support because as you’re going down lower, again like I’ve said a million times I’m sure in this video, we have this tendency to just forget about that good breath support.

That’s all for our video today. Be sure to check out the supplemental videos that have me playing the piano and demonstrating them for you. Can’t wait to see you in our lesson in our next video and I hope you have a wonderful day!

I do these videos every other week, but if you still want more musical theatre, check out my newsletter! It’s called “Beyond The Score”, and it just takes a closer look at musical theatre history. You can find that at jskstories.com.

Chest Voice Exercises

Hi you guys! Welcome to our chest voice exercise video today. This is the supplemental video to the episode titled, A Tale of Two Registers Part 1. So if you haven’t watched that, go ahead and check it out right now before diving into these fun exercises. And with that, I hope you enjoy this video.

Chest Voice Exercise 1: Hum Sirens
Listen to Carlee’s sirens and copy what you hear.
Remember to have good breath support & posture.
LISTEN
COPY

Chest Voice Exercise 2: He He He

Chest Voice Exercise 3: Ah

Chest Voice Exercise 4: Pepperoni Pizza

Thank you for watching! These exercise videos are made to guide you through your practicing! Be sure to take breaks if you are feeling tired and make sure to drink water.

Make sure to like this video!