Ian Sidden

Subscribe

Vocalise: Simple Quarter Notes

By

It is easy to get caught up within and impressed by complexity. Sometimes, though, we just need to keep things simple and reduce tasks to their most basic functions.

This vocalise is just four quarter notes with breath marks in between. All your focus should be on the ease of your breath and the accuracy and cleanliness of your onset. It helps me to place a hand in front of my mouth so that I may hear my breath and onset more clearly.

I won’t include a Scorch embed this week since you could potentially practice this on any note.

Vocalise: Third, Fifth, Ninth, Eleventh, Thirteenth Scale

By

If you’re a singing glutton for punishment, then this scale pattern is for you.

Mainly, the length and range is what’s tough about a pattern like this. Rather than start with the whole pattern, start with small chunks and put them together. Take it slowly and add some breaths. The ultimate goal is to keep it steady and sing it on one breath.

[sibembed score=”http://beginning-singer.iansidden.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Third-Fifth-Ninth-Eleventh-Thirteenth-Scale2.sib” height=”896″ width=”604″ align=”bottom”/]

Vocalise: Third, Fifth, Ninth, Eleventh Scale

By

This is an extension of last week’s vocalise adding the little third scale at the beginning. Work your breath!

[sibembed score=”http://beginning-singer.iansidden.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ThirdFifthNinthEleventhScale.sib” height=”896″ width=”604″ align=”bottom”/]

If you access Beginning Singer in a feed reader, you’ll have to come to the site to access the embedded Scorch file.

Vocalise: Fifth, Ninth, Eleventh Scale

By

This is a pattern that I was reminded of after rereading Placido Domingo’s section in Great Singers on Great Singing. Exercises like these are great for blending registers, strengthening your breath support, and simply becoming more familiar with scales and intervals.

The top lyric is my preferred vowel, and underneath are the sounds that Mr. Domingo uses in the book. I love that he uses those loud and forward vowel sounds. Zing!

Practice Guidelines

  • Maintain an expanded feeling in your torso.
  • If the pattern is hard, then break it up into shorter chunks and then combine them.
  • Keep steady with your metronome. Start slowly and gradually build up speed.
  • All of the notes are clearly articulated.
  • If you have to breathe, then find a quick place for a catch-breath, but ultimately, one should be able to sing this on one breath.
  • The register transitions should sound very smooth.
  • Try a variety of vowels.

[sibembed score=”http://beginning-singer.iansidden.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Fifth-Ninth-Eleventh-Scale.sib” height=”896″ width=”604″ align=”bottom”/]

If you’re reading this in a feed reader, you’ll have to come to the site to use the embedded Scorch file.

Vocalise: “Here’s a to do to die today”

By

What Did You Do to Die Today

This is an articulation poem that my mother taught me when I was a child. I’ve used it regularly by myself and in classrooms where I turn it into a call and respond. The version I’ve learned looks like this:

What did you do to die today at a minute or two ‘til two?
A thing distinctly hard to say and harder still to do.
At a minute or two ‘til twenty ‘til two
A rat tat tat tat tat tat tat tat tat too,
And the dragon will come when he hears the drum,
At a minute or two ‘til two today at a minute or two ‘til two.

You’ll see several different versions if you look for this poem online, and for awhile I thought that it was something of a folk poem. However, thanks to Jed Hartman’s Neology blog, I’ve learned that the poem comes originally from an opera called Merrie England (1902) by Edward German. You can hear a bit here from the Wal-Mart website (track 10 CD 2).

You can hear it on Spotify (added May 31, 2015):

 The words come from the refrain, and they are slightly different:

Oh! Here’s a to-do to die today
At a minute or two to two;
A thing distinctly hard to say
And harder still to do.
For they’ll beat a tattoo at two to two,
A rat-a-tat-tat tattoo-oo-oo,
And the dragon will come when it hears the drum
At a minute or two to two today,
At a minute or two to two.

So I’ve included two versions for pure rhythm and diction practice. The first (top) is as I’ve learned it and the second has the proper words from the opera, though I’m sure the rhythms are slightly different from the original score. Try it at different tempos and have fun!

Here's a To Do to Die Today

Oh yea, Happy Thanksgiving!