Welcome to your Singer’s Survival Pack!

These tools have been carefully curated to aid you in your journey toward singing with more functional vocal freedom. But these tools are not enough…

In fact, you’re probably wondering “What’s so special about these corks?

Honestly, nothing!

But used in combination with specific exercises, these tools may just turn into your most prized possessions when it comes to taking care of your voice. Curious what I mean? Let me explain…

Video one: Welcome + The Mask

Video one Cliffs Notes:

A FEW DISCLAIMERS

  • These videos are not a replacement for one-to-one coaching as they are generalized and do not speak to your specific experience in your body with your voice

  • If anything hurts or causes pain… STOP. These exercises are meant to create more freedom. If they feel funny, that’s ok, but pain is always a sign that something isn’t working quite right. Seek one-to-one coaching to explore.

  • If you experience chronic pain or discomfort in your voice, or you feel like something has shifted significantly, consider seeking medical attention from an ear nose and throat doctor, specifically a laryngologist in your area.

THE MASK

  • We are going to use the mask to create a “semi-occluded” exercise, or partially closed.
    (If you are a voice nerd, like me, check out this google search and learn all about Ingo Titze and what semi-occluded exercises really do.)
    In short, this means we are closing off the airway to create a build up of resistance and pressure. This helps alleviate constriction and tension in the swallowing muscles of your throat and also can reduce swelling in tissue that is inflamed.

  • Place the mask over your mouth and cover the hole with either your fingers or your palm. You do not want to close it completely, but the more resistance the better.

  • Vocalize, beginning in your speaking voice rang, starting with short slides like a major second or third. Move slowly up and down.

  • Move to your head voice, or higher in your voice

  • Then move onto larger intervals, eventually sliding between chest voice and head voice, or from the lower part of your voice to the higher

  • 5 minutes in total with the mask is ideal enough!

Video two: The Straw

Video two Cliffs Notes:

THE STRAW

We will learn three types of exercises with this tool, the first two are similar to the mask in that they are semi-occluded.

Exercise No. 1

  • For the first exercise, you will need a cup of water, 1/3rd of the way full

  • Place the straw in water and vocalize through the straw, creating bubbles… just like you did in your milk as a kid. This exercise is incredibly gentle on the voice and perfect for days when you feel fatigued or tired.

  • Begin with small intervals in your speaking voice range, or if you are familiar with your chest voice, start there. You can do slides like we did with the mask or you can do scales. Slowly move up and down, not going too far in either direction.

  • Eventually, make the leap to your head voice, doing the same sorts of scales or slides.

  • In total you should do this exercise for three to five minutes.

Exercise No. 2

  • For the second exercise, we will just use the straw by itself and perform similar exercises to the make and as we did with the straw in the water.

  • Vocalizing with small intervals starting low in the voice, eventually moving up and then back down.

  • You can increase resistance by placing your fingers over the tip of the straw. More resistance is often better as long as you are not forcing anything, pushing hard or causing discomfort and/or pain.

  • You can even vocalize the melody of songs through the straw, which may help create more ease when you sing the melody with words.

  • Puffy cheeks are ok!

Exercise No. 3 (Please note: This exercise is the most will have the most variation between singer. If you feel confused, please seek one-to-one coaching)

  • For the final exercise we will use the straw by placing it over the bottom teeth and underneath the tongue.

  • The mouth should look like a smile or a puppy dog on a hot summer’s day.

  • It is important that you hold the straw with your hand and not grip it with the tongue. The goal of the exercise is to relax the tongue over the straw while you vocalize.

  • Begin by vocalizing in your speaking voice range on “Eh” as in “Heaven” with small slides, usually a major second or major third as demonstrated in the video. Slowly move up and then back down.

  • Your tongue may retract in your mouth. See if you can allow it to relax forward. If your tongue feels tired, take a break.

  • Progress to bigger slides and/or bigger scales.

  • Eventually move to staccato or short notes that move quickly between intervals, like 1-3-1 or 1-3-5-3-1 or 1-3-5-1-5-3-1 as demonstrated in the video. Please note, this exercise is particularly advanced, so if it feels difficult, stick to slides and scales.

Video three: Corks

Video three Cliffs Notes:

CORKS

  • You will find four different sizes of corks, each used best with certain vowel sounds.

  • The vowel sounds eligible to use with corks are: “Ee” “Ih” “Eh” “Aa” “Ah” (“Oh and “Oo” are note helped by corks”

  • Begin with the smallest cork, placing the smallest end between your front teeth.

  • Vocalize on an “Ee” vowel, just as you did in the previous exercises, beginning in your speaking voice range on either small slides or scales. Slowly moving up and down, not too far in either direction.

  • Focus on keeping the mouth quite relaxed and “happy” or “smiley.”

  • Ultimately, the cork is useful in finding the optimal shape for your mouth and your throat, while singing this vowel. It takes the pressure off the jaw to hold things in place. If it causes additional stiffness, take a break.

  • Eventually switch to your head voice or higher range, not going too high, as the highest notes require your to open your mouth.

  • Switch to the next size larger cork and perform similar exercises using either “Ih” as in “him” or “Eh” as in “heaven”

  • Then move to the next cork and use the vowel “Aa" as in “cat.” If you are familiar with the transition between your head voice and your chest voice, this vowels is particularly useful in trying to transition between the two more smoothly. In exploring this, slides are your friend. Please note, this can be very tricky and best worked out in one-to-one coaching,

  • Finally, if it doesn’t feel too large or cause discomfort, use the largest cork to explore “Ah” vowels as in “father.” Again, if this causes more tension in the jaw, feel free to size down to a smaller cork.

Phew! That’s a lot.

Who knew you could do all of that with these funny little tools? Well, I did, and I guess now, you do, too. :)

When in doubt?

Sing through the straw.

It’s a life saver, especially on days when you feel tired, fatigued, or are getting over sickness.

And remember, If it hurts, it’s bad.

Seriously, listen to your body. It’s always telling us tons of amazing information… we just have to learn to listen to it.

Finally, if you want to really up your game with these tools, consider getting Custom Vocal Warm Ups so you can know exactly what pitches and ranges are best for you to utilize these exercises in.