This is a collection of scales and practice ideas that you can apply to your vocal warm ups or vocal exercises.
This page is still work in progress, so please forgive me if there are some typos or inaccuracies. Let me know if you find any, and I’ll fix them promptly!
Ascending and Descending Patterns
These are some basic scale patterns:
| Common Name | Range | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Three note scale | 3rd | 1-2-3-2-1 |
| Four note scale | 4th | 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 |
| Five note scale | 5th | 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 |
| Eight note scale | octave | 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 |
| Nine note scale | octave + 2nd | 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 |
| Twelve note scale | octave + 5th | 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-… |
These scales can be a great warm up too if done in one register without transitions. For example, I like to do a five note scale on an open Ah in G3-D4 range to warm up my chest voice.
Even thought these scales are so simple they are surprisingly hard to do well, especially in the middle of your singing range (in the passaggio area). I find that these patterns work best later on in the practice when the voice is already warmed up.
Because it is impossible to cheat on these scales, I use them as a check to ensure the voice is aligned properly.
Interval scales
Interval scales are easier to do than ascending and descending scales above, but it is also easier to cheat on these.
| Common Name | Range | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth | 5th | 1-3-5-3-1 |
| Octave | octave | 1-3-5-8-5-3-1 |
| Octave Repeat | octave | 1-3-5-8-8-8-8-5-3-1 |
| 1.5 Octave, Rossini, long scale | octave+9th | 1-3-5-8-10-12-11-9-7-5-4-2-1 |
| Double octave | octave+octave | 1-3-5-8… |
These scales are great for warming up the voice. Don’t worry to much about how you sound, especially on top notes of each scale. Let the sound happen, and as your warm up progresses you will find that the voice is becoming stronger and more confident on those higher notes.
One tip that helped me to work with these particular scales comes from Lucas Meacham who likes to think of each scale having a destination that is not the top note, but rather a starting note. Try that, it really works especially on longer scales!
Descending Patterns
Descending scales are a cournestone in top-down approach to developing the voice.
| Common Name | Range | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Four notes descending | octave | 8-5-3-1 |
| Five notes descending | 5th | 5-4-3-2-1 |
If you feel like your voice is heavy and you can’t get rid of that heavieness as you go up the scales you need to change your approach to developing your voice! Doing it top-down is the way to go!
I like to use these descending patterns in lip trills, falsetto, and open mouth hum exercises.
Skips/Yodels
Skips and yodels are great for releasing the outer muscles, and also for learning to transition between registers.
| Common Name | Range | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Skips in 5ths | octave | 1-5-3-8-5-3-1 |
| Skips in 3rds | 5th | 1-3-2-4-3-5-4-2-1 |
Skips and yodels are best done on the same vowel with nothing changing but the pitch. These patterns were used extensively by both Seth Riggs and Berton Coffin.
Practice Ideas
Practicing scales can get boring really quickly, so to spice things up try the following strategies!
Change vowels. You can ascend on one vowel and descend on the other.
Repeat the scale back to back. You can do this on the same vowel, or vocalise, or change it on the second go.
Combine scales. Another idea is to combine multiple scales and sing them back to back. For example, Caruso was known for starting with smaller interval scales and then adding longer and longer interval scales, and executing them all on one breath. This is really hard to do, but it is a great exercise to increase the stamina of the singing voice.
