Introduction to Scale Patterns for Singers

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In my years of teaching, I have seen how being unfamiliar with scale and arpeggio patterns can get in the way of making the most of a lesson. They might be intimidating at first, but don’t worry, I’m here to ease the worry and prepare you for what’s to come.

These patterns will feel easy in no time!

Below you’ll find practice recordings of the 3 most commonly used scale patterns for you to listen to right here, or download to your device so you can practice them on-the-go.

Let’s start with this video to see what these patterns are all about.

The 3 Most Used Scale Patterns for voice lessons

What are The scale patterns?

Scale and arpeggio patterns are a specific order of pitches and intervals that form a repeated melodic sequence.

1. 5 Tone - uses the scale degrees 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. We will use this for your vocal assessment and other exercises.

2. Octave Repeat - uses the scale degrees 1 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 5 - 3 - 1. This one gets used a lot for a variety of exercises.

3. Octave and a Half - uses the scale degrees 1 - 3 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 7 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 1. This one is usually the trickiest, but just keep listening and either humming or lip trilling along like I demonstrated in the video. I would not attempt this one with numbers.

Scale Pattern Practice Recordings for Singers

How to use the practice recordings

• For each pattern there are two versions, one set for higher voices, and one set for lower voices.  Use what feels most comfortable for your voice.  

• When you practice the patterns, just focus on getting the pitches, so that you’ll be free to explore your voice and technique once you get to your lesson.

• As I demonstrate in the video, you can sing along, hum along, use numbers, or even a lip trill while you get familiar with these patterns.

• If ever it feels too high or too low, just drop out, no big deal!

Higher Voices

Lower Voices

What is Mix?

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This is the last of a three part series exploring chest voice, head voice, and mix (or mixed) voice.

With so many terms to learn about the voice it can get a little confusing. These three are the foundation of the voice and a great place to get started. Let’s jump into mix voice, and why it is so important to find yours!

What is Mix Voice?

This is where we are able to blend the chest voice with the head voice, so that we can sing from the bottom to the top of our range without a sudden change in quality, and without strain, breaks, or cracks.

If we take just the head voice, we can go really high without too much effort, but there isn’t much power or intensity.  

Then we have the chest voice which has intensity, but on its own, it can’t go up that high without causing a lot of strain and tension.

So we need to be in the middle of them and use a mix of both, so that we have the strength and intensity of the yell (or chest voice) and the flexibility of the whoop (or head voice).

We need the CT (head voice) muscles to thin out the chest voice, so we can sing higher without straining or breaking. When the chest voice and the head voice muscles can coordinate and work together, we can sing through our whole range without it sounding like two different voices!

We get that great “mix” sound where we sound like ourselves, no matter where we are in our range.

Book a lesson with me to explore your chest, head, and mix voice!

What is Head Voice?

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This is part two of a three part series exploring chest voice, head voice, and mix (or mixed) voice.

It can get confusing with so many terms to learn about the voice. Another one to get familiar with is head voice because it is used often and sometimes misunderstood. Let’s learn a little more about how to find it and what you need to know about the role it plays.

That’s your head voice. Head voice is associated with your upper register.

Did you notice where you felt the sympathetic vibrations?

Most people feel them in their head. That’s why it’s called head voice.

How do we produce head voice?

That’s just a fancy way of saying there are muscles that need to activate for us to sing higher.

These muscles are outside the vocal folds, and they stretch and thin the vocal folds allowing us to go up in pitch.

The cricothyroid (CT) muscles are associated with our upper register and are dominant in the production of head voice.

What?! Aren’t they the same? NOPE.

Falsetto is breathy and weak compared to head voice. It can still be a great stylistic choice though. It can be beautiful and haunting like in The Weekend’s Rolling Stone at 1:30 for example, or Billie Eilish’s Everything I Wanted, also at 1:30.

Head voice is stronger than falsetto. An example of head voice is Maroon 5’s She Will Be Loved in the chorus at 1:18 where he goes up to a B5 on “be”, or the very first line of Arianna Grande’s no tears left to cry. You can hear these examples have a little more strength and aren’t breathy.

Here is the thing. The muscle coordination between falsetto and head voice is different.

In a balanced chest voice, there is still a little bit of that CT (head voice) muscle activation, especially as we go up in pitch.

Same with a balanced head voice, there is still a little bit of TA (chest voice) muscle activity, more or less depending on how intense of a sound we are getting.

When we are in falsetto, the TA (chest voice) muscle essentially let’s go, and we have no thickening or shortening of the vocal folds happening, so we get a thinner and more breathy sound.

As you sing through your range, at any point, there will be a whole range of choices in terms of how much TA or CT you are activating. This is all a version of mix, which we will talk more about in the next blog.

Let me know if you have any questions! Or, drop in some other examples of head voice and falsetto that you like!

What is Chest Voice?

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.

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This is part one of a three part series exploring chest voice, head voice, and mix (or mixed) voice.

There are a lot of terms in the singing world that can often be misunderstood or are not explained well. Chest voice is one that will come up frequently that you should know when it comes to singing. Let’s go over what part it plays with your voice.

Do you feel the vibrations?

That’s your chest voice. When you sing with it, it will have the same qualities as your speaking voice.

Chest voice is associated with the lower register of your voice. It’s the voice we use when we speak or when we yell.

Most people feel the sympathetic vibrations in the chest, which is why it’s called chest voice.

If the chest voice isn’t strong enough, then your voice will be breathy, and lack power and intensity.

Now, keep in mind, everyone’s voice is different! Tori Kelly has a lighter and brighter sounding chest voice than Adele, for example. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. They are both unique and well-developed.

How do we produce chest voice?

These muscles are inside the vocal folds, and they shorten and thicken vocal folds.

They are primarily associated with our lower register and are dominant in the production of chest voice.

Next week we will explore head voice!

Singing Pop After Classical Training

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Let’s See Some Tools In Action During A Live Lesson

Meet Lisa.  Lisa was classically trained and had a wonderful opera career on the big stage in Europe for 20 years.  She currently teaches classical singing, and some contemporary styles, so we focused on finding a more contemporary “pop” sound using Adele’s song “Skyfall”.

Lisa is a Mezzo soprano, so she naturally had more depth in her lower register and her chest voice has a little more weight in it. 

Watch me demonstrate some acoustic strategies, vowel adjustments and tools that helped her even out her range, keep more resistance in her mix, and find a more divergent vocal tract shape.

Lisa’s Lesson

0:55 - Lisa’s singing background

2:00 - Beginning of live lesson

3:10 - Adding a "cry" to the high notes

4:15 - Using the Pharyngeal or Twang sound

4:55 - Using a straw to even the range and balance airflow

6:05 - Describing chest voice and where you feel it

6:35 - Why talking the lyrics helps connect chest voice to the high notes

7:20 - Using the Pharyngeal to "NUH" and "NO"

10:10 - Optimizing vowels

13:45 - Final take!

14:25 - Lisa's thoughts

Tools I used with Lisa

Twang or pharyngeal 

You can find this by making witchy, bratty or nasty sound. Often times it’s used in vocalizes by using a bratty NAY.

• Tends to be on a bit of a raised larynx or at least neutral

• Thins out the folds

• Thickens falsetto

• Assists in moderate adduction to smooth out the connection

Ring

In a mezzo soprano it can be common to use an acoustic “Ring” to cut through the orchestra. This is also called “squilo” in Italian.

On a physical level the root of the tongue is pulled back slightly which narrows the opening of the space right above the glottis or vocal folds.  By making this space slightly smaller it resonates higher frequencies and can really carry the sound.

This same strategy can be used in pop, but we want to make sure it’s not too much or it can start to sound classical or manipulated.

Cry

This is just what it sounds like. You add a little cry or pout while you sing.

• Tends to lower the larynx without imposing it and it thins the folds

• Maintains adduction while allowing the larynx to rest

• Thins out too much weight

• Thickens up lighter/breathier vocal production

• Reduce airflow and air “push” 

Straw Exercises

I used the straw to thin Lisa out at the vocal fold level and also find a more consistent vowel, so she would feel more connection between her lower and upper registers.

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Would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions or thoughts you’d like to share!