The two exercises here are the next step in being able to use your Better Voice on different notes as you speak.

First, with the help of the consonants ‘m’, ‘n’ and ‘w’ in the friendly phrases, you will master changing from one note to another without humming. In the second exercise you will practise moving from singing phrases on more than one note to speaking them.

Warm up for these exercises by doing some simple humming first.

Exercise 26: Many, many next-door notes

If you’re not a singer, don’t worry about the notes being ‘in tune’.

• Pick a comfortable note (we’ll call it note 1) then think of its next-door note slightly higher in pitch (note 2).
• Switch on note 1 and sing Many.
• Slide gently and slowly along your horizontal line of notes and sing many on note 2.
• Slide gently and slowly back to sing men on note 1.
• Start by doing a slurred version of the phrase, then gradually make the words clearer and move more quickly between the two notes.

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• Do the same exercise again, but this time moving to a note that is slightly lower in pitch, and back again (e.g. note 2 to note 1 back).

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• Repeat the same sequence using other friendly phrases until the sound you make is smooth and flowing on all of them.

Exercise 27: Spoken next-door notes

You are now going to speak the exercise you have just sung. If you achieve the same sound quality, that shows you are producing your voice in the same way as when you were singing.

Experiment until you find a starting note that’s at a helpful pitch in your speaking voice.

• From that starting note sing a friendly phrase (e.g. Why O why O why) on two notes, just as in the previous exercise.
• Keeping the feeling of moving between those two notes, speak the same phrase.
• Then speak a similar phrase from everyday speech on two notes. Pick something with friendly ‘m’, ‘n’, ‘w’ and ‘y’ sounds (e.g. Where are you?).
• See how you can use the notes to get different shades of meaning into what you’re saying.

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