Day 15: Start Slow to Sing Fast
Welcome to Week 3!
This week, everything starts moving. Until now, we’ve focused on clarity, tone, and range in mostly stationary ways—pitch matching, held notes, small adjustments. Now we shift into motion.
Agility isn’t just about riffs or runs. It’s about control while moving. That means clean transitions, precise direction changes, and the ability to stay accurate without slowing down to recalibrate.
We’ll unpack that more tomorrow. Today, you start with one deceptively tricky pattern that will act as your baseline. Don’t speed through it. Don’t “guess and go.” The goal is clarity at every step.
You can think of it in three sections:
- Climbing with consistent stepwise motion and short reversals
- Ascending through repeated figures
- A final return to tonic that reinforces pitch memory and placement
It’s not about speed today—it’s about accuracy at every pitch.
How to Practice
- Start in a comfortable key—not too high or low.
- Sing on your favorite vowel. /ae/ is a great choice if you don’t have one. Keep it consistent.
- Use a metronome if it helps. Try setting it around 120 bpm (one pitch per beat) for breath pacing. If needed, go slower to stay accurate or pause for a breath midway.
- Record yourself if possible. Your ear catches more on playback than in the moment.
- Ask yourself:
- Did every pitch land cleanly?
- Was there a tendency to rush or drag?
Why This Matters
Most singers try to move too fast, too soon. That’s where things fall apart. If you can’t navigate a pitch pattern cleanly at a slow tempo, speeding it up will only magnify the mess.
This is the foundation. Every agility pattern you meet this week builds from this one. Use today to train your accuracy—not your speed.
Tomorrow: What Is Vocal Agility, Really?
We’ll break down what agility actually means, where it shows up in real singing, and how to build it on purpose—not by accident.
