Vocal Ensemble Workshop Session 1: Saturday February 7, 2026 3:30-5:00pm

Preparatory Exercise: Durational singing and the single breath

Goal: To hold a single pitch in tune for at least 15 seconds, without wavering or needing another breath.

Our vocal work will begin with a series of slow moving, swelling, modulating unison notes and chords. A key feature is the durational aspect of the singing, which consists of single notes that are held for long periods as drones and harmonies around a fundamental pitch.

To get better at being able to sing long-held notes without interruption, we need to work with the breath, the diaphragm muscles, and our vocal chords.

Here is a beginning exercise to get you started over the next few weeks:

Choose a tonic pitch (a fundamental note) that your voice is very comfortable singing in tune. You should not need to strain or alter your normal singing voice to hit this note, it should be very natural and easy. Try to choose a note that you can also sing in a higher or lower octave so it has some range and dynamics.

Play a sustained drone of that note on your instrument or on your computer/phone and sing along in key briefly to get yourself in tune.
Take a long, deep, slow inhalation breath and bring the air all the way past your chest, down into your diaphragm and stomach cavity. Feel your diaphragm inflate like a balloon to make sure you are breathing into it.
While the drone continues to play, begin singing the note again by very slowly allowing an exhalation, budgeting your air carefully to not spend it too quickly, and see how long you can hold the note before you completely exhale out all of the air and run out of breath. Notice any shaking or wavering in your voice and gently attempt to stabilize it.
Use a stopwatch or a timer and start timing yourself to see if you can start stretching out the duration with more practice. Work on getting up to 15-30 seconds if you can. There is no requirement, just do your best and don’t over-strain, create too much discomfort, or allow yourself to get dizzy! Make it a calm, focused, and safe practice that is joyful and meditative.
Advanced exercise (optional): After a few days, once you’ve gotten comfortable singing a fairly long single note, begin to play with the pitch and sing harmony notes along with the drone such as the 5th, the 7th, the 3rd (major and minor). If this gets easy, feel free to sing the second, the sixth, or higher/extended notes of the scale. You can work with chromatics and microtones as well if you understand those pitches and places in the scale also.
That’s it for now! Just enjoy working with your breath about 10-15 minutes at a time with a few attempts at these long duration notes and then start stacking them up, one after another.
You can play with dynamics as well: singing softer and louder, more shrill and more warm, from the chest or from the throat, etc- see how many different sounds you can achieve while singing the same pitch.

Vocal Ensemble Workshop Session 1: Saturday February 7, 2026 3:30-5:00pm

Preparatory Exercise: Durational singing and the single breath

Goal: To hold a single pitch in tune for at least 15 seconds, without wavering or needing another breath.

Our vocal work will begin with a series of slow moving, swelling, modulating unison notes and chords. A key feature is the durational aspect of the singing, which consists of single notes that are held for long periods as drones and harmonies around a fundamental pitch.

To get better at being able to sing long-held notes without interruption, we need to work with the breath, the diaphragm muscles, and our vocal chords.

Here is a beginning exercise to get you started over the next few weeks:

Play a sustained drone of that note on your instrument or on your computer/phone and sing along in key briefly to get yourself in tune.

Take a long, deep, slow inhalation breath and bring the air all the way past your chest, down into your diaphragm and stomach cavity. Feel your diaphragm inflate like a balloon to make sure you are breathing into it.

That’s it for now! Just enjoy working with your breath about 10-15 minutes at a time with a few attempts at these long duration notes and then start stacking them up, one after another.

You can play with dynamics as well: singing softer and louder, more shrill and more warm, from the chest or from the throat, etc- see how many different sounds you can achieve while singing the same pitch.