Day 18: Where Agility Breaks, and Why
You’ve now sung the same agility exercise in both directions. But the real training happens when you start paying attention to how it breaks down.
Today isn’t about adding a new exercise. It’s about using the descending agility drill to notice what’s going wrong—and why.
Common Issues in Ascending Motion:
- Going flat as pitch rises
Often caused by resisting the shift toward head voice (thinning the vocal folds). Instead of adjusting, singers try to carry chest coordination too high. - Insufficient muscular activation
Weak breath energy or poorly engaged support can make the voice feel sluggish. Review Day 1 if needed. - Tongue drop
The dorsum (back) of the tongue may fall as pitch rises, which darkens resonance and throws off intonation. - Larynx not rising slightly with pitch
As pitch ascends, the larynx typically rises slightly. Keeping it frozen or too low can interfere with tuning.
Common Issues in Descending Motion:
- Overshooting half-steps
This is often an ear-training problem. You may overshoot small intervals, especially when moving quickly. - Sudden shift into TA dominance
If you start high and descend, you may flip back into chest voice coordination too abruptly, destabilizing the line. - Tongue drop
The dorsum of the tongue may collapse as you descend, which darkens the resonance and compromises tuning. - General pitch instability
Unlike ascending lines, descending motion often feels less “anchored.” This can cause inaccurate pitch placement unless carefully tracked.
Speed-Related Errors:
Fast doesn’t mean fluent. If pitch, rhythm, or clarity fall apart at higher tempos, that’s not progress—it’s noise. Back off the speed. Precision builds fluency.
What to Do Today:
Keep practicing the descending agility drill from yesterday. But this time, do it with a checklist.
- Where is pitch unstable?
- What part of your range is most fragile?
- Do you feel tension changes or vowel distortion?
- Are you actually hearing the interval before you sing it?
Slow down. Diagnose. Rebuild.
Tomorrow, we take on agility with larger skips—intervals like 4ths, 5ths, and octaves that demand a whole new level of precision.
