High, Forward Placement with Animal Sounds

Want to find high, forward vocal placement? The solution might be sillier than you think – let’s use some animal sounds to find it!

Today’s exercise is a fun one, but it really works. We’ll use a cat-like “Meow” and a cow-like “Moo” to balance forward and tall resonance. Every choral singer has heard the advice to bring the sound forward and for many singers, it’s resulted in a sound that is really jammed into the nose and has lost some of its beauty. This exercise will add some height and headiness back into the mix so the resulting sound is balanced and lovely. Give it a try!

How to Create High, Forward Placement with Animal Sounds

1. Begin by finding your forward ping – inhale and say “meow” in your most feline manner. It should be VERY nasal and not at all a “finished product” type of sound – we’re finding the extreme end of the forward side of the spectrum.
2. Next, find your high hoot – inhale and say “moo” with a very round, spacious mouth and lots of air moving through. Be ABAP – As Bovine As Possible. Again, this sound will not be performance worthy: it will be free and hooty, but will lack forward ping. Now you’ve found the other end of the spectrum – the high, heady side.
3. It’s time to sing some pitches. This exercise is a simple downward octave scale. As you move down the scale, the Do-Ti-La-Sol will be four “Meows,” all very nasal, and the Fa-Mi-Re-Do will be one long hooty “Moo.” So the exercise will go, “Meow-meow-meow-meow-moo-oo-oo-oo.”
4. As you begin, try to keep the two sounds very different and at opposite ends of the spectrum. Now repeat the exercise, moving up or down by half steps.
5. As you repeat the exercise, you will eventually start to become less diligent at keeping the sounds so extreme, and this is a good thing – the nasal and hooty sounds will start to move nearer one another in resonance, and the resulting sound will have a balance of ping and hoot. That’s the sound you can take into your rehearsal, and you can have fun playing with the percentages – you get to decide how much front edge and how much heady spin you want, and then mix up the right cocktail for the repertoire at hand.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this exercise – sometimes doing something a little silly can actually help you move outside your normal comfort zone and help you find some new noises. Enjoy, and thanks for practicing!

Psst!! Your chance to do exercises like these, and to grow your understanding of how your voice works is coming up on June 26th – I’ll be holding a workshop where we’ll work through a full voice maintenance routine so you can reconnect to your breath, cope with the challenges of practicing quietly at home, and build your confidence. Register here.