Vocal Control: The Complete Guide to Gaining Vocal Control

Have you always wanted to improve your vocal control? Have you been singing flat, or flipping into falsetto, or even want to expand your vocal range but don't know how?

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Introduction: 0:00
Step 1: Sing in Tune: 2:37
5-tone scale: 3:22
Step 2: Sing in Chest Voice: 4:52
5-tone "GUG": 6:15
Step 3: Sing in Head Voice: 7:32
1.5 octave "WEE": 9:25
Step 4: Sing with Mixed Voice: 10:42
Octave repeat "NAY": 11:53
Step 5: Keep your Larynx Balanced: 13:35
1.5 octave "MUM": 14:25
Step 6: Sing with Vocal Effects: 15:34
Diaphragm Pulse: 17:00
Step 7: Sing Songs: 18:22
Use a "Friendly" Exercise on the Melody: 19:35

The truth is vocal control is something that every singer wants, but it's very hard to define. Vocal control is a catch-all term that refers to being able to sing with all of the singing fundamentals and even being able to apply them to songs.

In today's video, I'm going to show you my definition of vocal control, and give you seven different exercises to improve your vocal control and apply it to a song.

In my experience, vocal control is the ability to master the singing basics or fundamentals. But rather than being vague, the singing fundamentals I’m referring to are as follows:

In the first step, you will learn to improve your vocal control by singing in tune. Singing In Tune is the first step in gaining vocal control, because if you can't sing in tune, then you won't be able to sing any song well. So my first exercise for Singing In Tune is to sing the 5-tone count scale where you're singing a five tone major scale on the words one, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one.

The next step to improve your vocal control is to sing in the different vocal registers. In this case, we'll start by singing in chest voice. Chest voice refers to the notes at the bottom part of your voice and it's the first place that you have to start if you're singing breathy. In the second exercise, I'm going to give you a five tone count scale where you replace each note of the scale with the word “gug”, as in gut.

The next step to improving your vocal control is to sing in your head voice. Head voice refers to the range of notes at the top part of your voice. In the third exercise, you're going to sing an octave and a half arpeggio on the word “wee”, like week. This is going to help you release into your head voice.

The next step to improving your vocal control is to blend these different vocal registers together into a mixed voice. Mixed voice means being able to sing from the bottom to the top of your voice and back down without any breaks or strain. In other words, every note has some chest voice and every note has some head voice. In the 4th exercise, I'm going to have you sing an octave repeat arpeggio with a bratty “Nay”.

The next step in improving your vocal control is to begin singing with a resting larynx. The bottom line is that when you're first learning how to sing, it's very common to start singing with a very high larynx. This takes some time to improve since the larynx is just moving in a nervous system reaction to what you're singing. However, one of my favorite exercises to start relaxing your larynx is to sing with an “uh” vowel as in “other”. In this exercise, you're going to sing an octave and a half arpeggio on the word “mum”, like “mummy”.

The next step to improving your vocal control is to sing with vocal effects like vibrato and legato. In this case, I'm going to teach you to sing with vibrato because vibrato is a vocal effect that will really help you balance your voice and gets used all the time and singing. In the sixth exercise, I'm going to give you an exercise to find vibrato by pulsating your diaphragm.

The final step to gaining vocal control over your voice is to sing songs. However, you'll notice that singing songs is much more difficult than just singing a vocal exercise. That's because things in songs are constantly changing, the melody, vowels, dynamics, are changing all the time. So in the final exercise, you're going to sing part of the song that's giving you a hard time on a friendly vocal exercise. Simply take one of the exercises that was working really well for you earlier, and then sing The Melody of the song on that exercise. Finally, go back to singing the lyrics but try to keep some of the same feeling you got on the exercise.

Getting more vocal control is something that every singer wants. However it takes a little bit of time to develop. Continue working with these exercises every day and you'll be amazed how much your vocal technique improves.