Let’s All Sing Along!

You are in your car cruising to work or school and you turn on the radio. Who can resist singing along to an 80s hair band or some classic rock or the current top pop tunes? We all have our favorites… but have you ever considered doing vocal exercises or scales and arpeggios instead?

Wait… what? Why?

I drive a lot and sometimes wish I could warm up or practice flute while scooting down the road. While driving to a gig with a vocalist friend, we began talking about how she can warm-up her instrument in the car when time is short. I was kind of jealous, but it also got me thinking. Remembering my own voice lessons from years ago (wisely required of all music majors at the time), I was reminded that the mechanics of singing and fluting are nearly identical! Breathing, support, tongue position… all incredibly fundamental. If I could warm-up some of my mechanics in the car then my flute warm-up might be more effective and efficient.

I began the experiment by quietly humming a bit while driving, first doing some slow scales and arpeggios with a nice dropped jaw for resonance, eventually expanding to vocalizing bits of my actual flute warmups. (Warning: I would recommend not attempting anything too complicated as it could easily distract you from driving… which is dangerous.)

Try really hard not to scoop up to the pitch or fall into it from above, both of which have a sort of jumping motion in the back of the tongue – aim to nail the note exactly on pitch. This will require a bit of breath support. The tongue also needs to remain low so that breath support can get you between your pitches – if you scoop to the pitch or flick the back of your tongue while singing, you might also be doing it when playing similar intervals on the flute. No, really… try it and see! Sometimes our tongue reacts strangely when it doesn’t have enough air pressure or breath support behind it, and tries to help by “pushing” or scooping us into our note.

Perhaps while you are walking across campus or from the parking lot to your building try singing a portion of the sonata or concerto you are currently studying. Think about how the fingerings feel at the same time you are concentrating on singing the correct notes of your piece or scale. You will likely discover that you are unsure of a few notes here and there, and that you must really know the pitch and be hearing it in your head before you sing it accurately. Check your music later to see if any notes you missed while singing are also sections where you sometimes have a sloppy fingering. If you cannot sing the correct pitches then your hands might be leading your ears and not the other way around. Let’s say that one again together – If you cannot sing the correct pitches then your hands might be leading your ears (and brain) and not the other way around.

Let’s face it… most of us do not have perfect pitch and singing in tune can be difficult. Ear-training takes practice. Keep in mind that this exercise will help with your overall intonation on the flute as you become more aware of actual intervals, pitches, and ranges and not just seeing and reacting to the dots you read on the page. This is exactly what your college sight-singing classes were trying to teach you.

–Euterpe’s Piccolo