Here’s a fresh look at forward vocal placement. This exercise is an antidote to narrow, compacted, nasal singing and creates a full, rounded tone. Enjoy!
How to do the Mimi Exercise
- With two hands, lift the flesh of the cheeks upward and out toward the ears. You should feel a sensation of opening on either side of the nose, similar to one of those anti-snoring strips.
- Holding the cheeks with the hands, sing down a five note scale (Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do), singing “Mimi” on each scale step.
- The first time you try this, you may feel some strong muscular action pulling the cheeks down and working against the open sensation you just created. Try again, maintaining the lifted, open feeling throughout, especially on the final note (Do).
- Now, we’re going to add a second repetition of the scale without the hands, matching the openness and airflow to what you felt when you were holding the cheeks. So first with hands, sing, “Mimi-mimi-mimi-mimi-mimi.” Inhale, and repeat without the hands. That is the full exercise.
- Modulate upward or downward by half-steps. Every time you modulate, you’ll do the same scale twice, first with cheeks held, then with cheeks released.
This exercise works well in most of the range and can be used as a one-and-done warm up by itself.
Most importantly, you are building the ability to sense and create that openness even when you’re not holding up your cheeks. So that second repetition, done very mindfully and watching especially for openness on the final note, is the most essential step of the exercise.
That’s it! I hope you’ll enjoy this exercise and your new, fuller, open forward tone. If you want to experiment further with various ways to unlock a stuck forward placement, try this one.
Thank you for practicing!
