# Voice — Western singing

> Room home: [`index.html`](index.html) · Classroom: [`pitch-time-words.html`](pitch-time-words.html)

This book is the **practice** side of Western voice: breath, pitch, rhythm, tone,
harmony, and first tunes. Charts live on [Western theory](/theory/western/).
Ear and long reading live in [Ear training](/tools/ear-training.html) and the
[sight-reading gym](/tools/sight-reading.html). Eastern riyaz stays on
[Singing](/singing/). That room’s sidebar ends with **Western singing**,
the same way this book ends with Eastern singing.

## The course

The sidebar uses the words a singer would look for. The order is the lesson.

1. **Before you sing** — stand and breathe, warm up, shape the vowel, hold one note.
2. **Sing the notes** — [Pitch, time, words](pitch-time-words.html): do re mi through Hot cross buns.
3. **Make it musical** — loud and soft, then chest, mix, and head.
4. **Sing with people** — a second part, in a group, five songs.
5. **Make it yours** — strong high notes, blues and jazz, sing it your way, read the notes, then the [vocal lab](lab.html): Labs A–F, minor then modes, with key and BPM at the top.
6. **If you are curious** — how the voice works.

If you are new, start at [Stand and breathe](ready.html), not on this page.
The short version is in [`pitch-time-words.html#course`](pitch-time-words.html#course).

## Solfege

The pitch in the bar is **do**. You sing the vowel. The consonant only starts it.
The recordings on [Shape the vowel](vowels.html) are a person speaking those
mouths, in the key of C. oh is in D♯. Hear them, then sing the syllables here
in your key.

| Syllable | Say | Mouth |
|---|---|---|
| do | doh, as in go | lips round |
| re | ray | open |
| mi | mee, as in meet | a small smile |
| fa | fah, as in father | jaw loose |
| sol | sohl, as in sold | lips round |
| la | lah | jaw loose |
| ti | tee, as in tea | a small smile |

On the page, **Listen** names the syllable you are holding and says whether it
is in tune. Headphones keep the drone out of the mic.

### First, only do

1. Press Drone. That sound is do. Listen for three seconds.
2. Hum “mmm” until the hum and the drone blend. A wah-wah wobble means the two pitches are apart.
3. Open the hum into “doh” and hold it. The check should say **do · in tune**.

### Then re

Re is the first step up. Say “ray.”

1. Play do–re–do and listen. Do not sing along this time.
2. Your turn: “doh, ray, doh.” Hold “ray.”
3. **do** means you are still on the drone. **mi** or **me** means you stepped too far. **re** with “a little flat” or “a little sharp” means nudge it until it says in tune.

With the mic off: drone on do, you hold re. Two separate pitches a small step apart. If they blur, you are still on do. If they growl, you are between the notes.

### Then ti

This ti sits a half step under your do. Say “tee.” A dot under the syllable means below do, the way a dot over do means the octave above. The ti in the scale has no dot. That one sits just under the high do, so it is above the drone.

The line is do · tị · do.

1. Play. The middle note drops under the drone.
2. Your turn. Hold “tee.” The check should say **tị · in tune**, with the dot under it.
3. A plain **ti**, with no dot, means you went up to the ti under the high do.
4. **tẹ** means you dropped a whole step. **do** means you never left the drone.

Ti is wandering when the name flips between ti and te, or when “a little flat” never clears.

### The major scale

Sing this after do, re, and ti sit still. One breath holds four syllables.

Up: doh, ray, mee, fah — breathe — sohl, lah, tee, high doh.
Down: high doh, tee, lah, sohl — breathe — fah, mee, ray, doh.

The ti in this scale has no dot under it. It is the higher one. The dotted tị is the one below the drone, and it does not appear in this scale.

1. Play, and listen once through.
2. Your turn. The check should name the syllable that is lit.
3. Then metronome at 60, one syllable per click.
4. If the check says te on ti, or do on re, go back to that pair.
5. Hide the names and sing the scale again. The check is the only syllable you get.

Then practice it in pieces: neighbor groups (do–re–do, re–mi–re, on up), the scale in thirds, and do up to sol and back. Minor gets the same five-note line with me in the middle.

### Natural minor

Same do. **mi** (mee) becomes **me** (meh). **la** becomes **le** (leh). **ti** becomes **te** (teh).

| Degree | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | do | re | mi | fa | sol | la | ti |
| Natural minor | do | re | me | fa | sol | le | te |

On the third note the check should say **me**. If it says mi, you are still in major. Then hold do–mi and do–me. The check names which third you sang.

### Modes

A mode is a thaat you can sing. An alankar is one pattern in that set of notes. Jazz, folk, and contemporary singers practice modes. A classical lesson usually stays on major and minor.

Do stays put. One step moves. Mixolydian is major with **te**. Lydian is major with **fi** (Kalyan’s tivra Ma). Dorian is minor that keeps **la**. Phrygian lowers re to **ra**. Natural minor is the mode called Aeolian. Locrian lowers sol too, and songs almost never sit there.

Sing them on [Lab F](lab.html#lab-f). The names are on [Western theory](/theory/western/#modes). Bilawal beside major is on [East beside West](/theory/compare/#bridge).

Also watch: [major scale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEo958KBniY),
then [natural minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlT1O4EvnIY).

## Intervals

Sing do, leap, then come home to do. The drone stays on do. If the leap misses,
walk the scale up to that syllable, then leap it again.

| Name | You sing | Find it by |
|---|---|---|
| Second | do – re – do | the first step of the scale |
| Third | do – mi – do | skip re |
| Fourth | do – fa – do | fa wants to fall back to mi |
| Fifth | do – sol – do | the leap at the start of “Twinkle” |
| Sixth | do – la – do | “lit-” in Twinkle |
| Seventh | do – ti – do | ti wants to rise to high do |
| Octave | do – dȯ – do | the same syllable, higher, then home |

Minor leaps from the same do: me, le, te. If the check says mi, la, or ti, you are still in major.

Name the leap with the names covered: do, sol, mi, la, ti, do. The check names each one.

1. Listen to one row. Sing do and hold it until the check says do.
2. Sing the second syllable and hold it. The check should name that syllable.
3. A wrong name means walk the scale up to it, lock it, then leap again.
4. The leaps down come home to do. Home should read do, in tune.

Then mix them: do out to mi, sol, la, ti, and high do, home between each. And the reverse: start on each degree and fall home to do.

Also watch: [30 Day Singer — intervals for beginners](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7owrdMDujTM).

## Meter

Turn the metronome on. 60 is a good start. A **quarter** lasts one click. An
**eighth** is half a click, so two eighths fill one beat.

### 4/4

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4

1 & · 2 & · 3 & · 4 &

The “&” sits halfway between clicks. Keep the clap on the numbers.

### 3/4

1 · 2 · 3 | 1 · 2 · 3

1 & · 2 & · 3 &

1. Metronome at 60. Count “one, two, three, four,” one word per click, and clap on the numbers.
2. Then sing “doh” on each number. The check should stay on do. If the name changes, lock do and put the rhythm back.
3. The “&” is a second “doh” between clicks. Same work in 3/4.
4. A hold is one “doh” for two clicks. A rest is silence, then a new do. A dotted do lasts a click and a half; re takes the leftover half.
5. 6/8 is six clicks. Clap on 1 and 4. That is the count for Row, row, row your boat.

Then put those rhythms on moving pitches: a hold inside the scale, a rest between notes, and four eighths into a held sol.

Also watch: [Saher Galt — quarters, then eighths](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_27Gc28ls)
and [Sarah Stockton — 4/4 and 3/4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGGtadUAGDc).

## Legato

The pitch moves from do to re. The vowel stays on the same breath. Play is one tone that slides across the two syllables. The dash on the line is that slide. A fresh “h” on re means you started the note again.

do——re · re——mi · mi——fa · fa——sol

Then the same pairs, short. A tiny “h” in front (“ha”) keeps the folds from slamming.

do re do re · mi fa mi fa

1. Listen to Play. The pitch moves, and the tone stays through do and re. Then Your turn: “doh” slides into “ray” on that same breath.
2. The check should move do, then re, with no third name in between.
3. Short pairs are each a small “hah.” Then one connected pair again.

Then four notes on one breath (do–re–mi–fa, and sol–fa–mi–do), and a line that switches between connected and short.

Also watch: [Elizabeth Prince — staccato, then legato](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzy7KdmnX8o).

## Dynamics, vibrato, agility

Full drills on [Tone & agility](tone.html): soft/loud, crescendo/decrescendo, vibrato (pitch shimmer) versus tremolo (volume pulse, or the same note struck again), eighth-note agility.

## Range

do · dȯ · do — high do lighter, no chin lift. Vibrato comes when the tone is free; do not force it.

## Chords

These three notes are the major chord of your do. The scale used every syllable between them. Here you keep only do, mi, and sol, and you leap: do jumps over re, mi jumps over fa.

Do is home, the same pitch as the drone. Mi is the third. It is the note that makes the chord sound major, the do–mi you already held. Sol is the fifth, the leap that opens “Twinkle.” This is the chord a song sits on when it is home. If the check says re between do and mi, you stepped. Leap again.

The line climbs do, mi, sol, then comes home through mi to do. You hear the third on the way down, and you finish on the drone. Sung one note at a time, this outline is an arpeggio. Count it 1, 3, 5, 3, 1. Further down, Play sounds do, mi, and sol together. Hold do against that chord.

The second line is the same shape with me in place of mi. That one vowel is the minor chord.

do · mi · sol · mi · do

1. Hold each syllable until the check names it: do, mi, sol, mi, do.
2. On the minor shape the second note should say me.
3. Leave the major chord running and sing only “doh.” The check has to keep saying do.
4. The [backing band](/tools/backing.html) is for when you want the chord to change under that held do.

Also watch: [Dots Singing — 1–3–5–3–1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LUGFjrIJWY).

## Harmony

Quick line: mi · sol · mi · do. Full lesson: [Building harmony](harmony.html) (triads, I–IV–V, and singing a third while the other part keeps sounding). Parts: [Ensemble](ensemble.html).

## Diction

The vowel is the note. The consonant is the edge.

Unvoiced starts (h, t, p, k, s, f) are air, kept tiny, then the vowel. Voiced starts (m, n, l, d, v) are already buzzing — don’t hum a different pitch before the vowel opens.

On do, two clicks each: hoh, moh, loh, noh, doh, toh. The check says do every time. Then the same hoh walks do–re–mi–fa–sol, and the scale words (doh, ray, mee, fah, sohl, lah, tee) sit on their own pitches. Then the exits: ahm, ahn, ahl, aht. The vowel rings; the consonant lands as you leave.

Hot cross buns, first phrase: Hot is mi (h is the puff), cross is re (ss at the end), buns holds do (n and s at the end of the hold). “One a penny” is four do’s on one breath. A fresh h between the words chops the line.

## A song

**Hot cross buns.** Three pitches you already know: mi, re, and do. Listen once
and do not sing. Then Your turn: sing the syllable in the box that lights. On
each long do the check should still say do. Then Play the words on those same
notes. “Two” is still re. If a word moves the check, go back to the syllable
on that spot.

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syllables | mi | re | do — | |
| Words | Hot | cross | buns | |
| Syllables | mi | re | do — | |
| Words | Hot | cross | buns | |
| Syllables | do | do | do | do |
| Words | One | a | pen- | ny |
| Syllables | re | re | re | re |
| Words | Two | a | pen- | ny |
| Syllables | mi | re | do — | |
| Words | Hot | cross | buns | |

Also watch: [30 Day Singer — how to sing a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2D0RsSvwD0).

## Sight-singing

Five lines. Treble clef. For this exercise the **bottom line is do**. The bar
holds four quarters: do, re, mi, re, do. The staff figure is on the
[interactive page](pitch-time-words.html#sight).

1. Point at the first note and hold it until the check says do.
2. Move your finger only after the check agrees.
3. Then sing the five notes from the noteheads alone.
4. More lines are in the [sight-reading lessons](/theory/western/sightreading.html)
   and the [sight-reading gym](/tools/sight-reading.html).

Also watch: [Saher Galt — sing a line, then check it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CorjNdGT2Z4).

## Keep training

[Ear training](/tools/ear-training.html) · [Sight-reading lessons](/theory/western/sightreading.html) · [Sight-reading gym](/tools/sight-reading.html) · [Advanced theory](/theory/western/advancedtheory.html)