Musical Theater Exercises: Women

1. The Octave Connection exercise ascending from A flat to A flat encourages more head register in the otherwise belting notes from A flat above middle C to C. This is accomplished by varying the vibrato and connecting into a brighter ‘ay’ vowel with rounded mouth position.

2. The ‘Ma” exercise strengthens the lower/chest notes and creates greater flexibility and control of tones by alternating straight tone and tone with vibrato.

3. The Chest Crescendo exercise builds and strengthens the gap between the head to chest transition from D flat to F.

4.The Staccato “ee ay’ exercise connects the abdominal muscle support with a wider, more open production of sound.

5. The Arpeggio ‘Wee’ exercise promotes flexibility and connection. This exercise may also be used with other vowels or in combination.

6. The Major ‘Wee’ exercise enhances the ability to change pitch rapidly.

7. The alternating straight tone to vibrato exercise allows the voice to go from a tense position of a particular pitch to a free position of the same pitch (not to be done with extreme intensity).

8. The Low, Middle, High Crescendo exercise establishes a hardening shift of the vowel from dark to bright in various pitches of the registers.