As I have said before, I believe in onset exercises. This week’s vocalise is one I developed to eliminate breathy tone while also training balanced (non-breathy non-glottal plosive) onset. However, by modifying it slightly, it can prove useful to anyone, especially for working out fast inhalations.
So when working on this vocalise, demand lots of voice but little hiss on the [z]s. I am always amazed at how well this works at clearing up someone’s tone. Also try to avoid gasping at the breaths (I got the idea for this exercise from Miller’s The Structure of Singing
, and I believe that he is correct about silent inhalations). Be sure to try different pitches, different voiced fricatives like [v] (I am indebted to Dr. Martha Rowe at New Mexico State University for her original suggestions about voiced fricatives), and different rhythms. Demand that the tone come out fast and have some vibrato to it (yes, even on the consonants!) and that the breaths be quick.
Enjoy!
