Ning-ah Ning-ah Exercise

Weekly Teaching Tip of the Week – Feb. 27, 2012

I have been having great success with an exercise I was given years ago from a voice teacher at the University of Nebraska. She got it from a teacher that claimed she could teach anyone to sing. I have been using it with my students who have had difficulty establishing and maintaining a connection in their head voice. It is simply a ning-ah ning-ah sequence you can use with any of the established exercise scales.

It is important that the ning is very pharyngeal and the ah very round. I usually have my students diphthong the ah a bit with an uh. As they become more proficient slow up the exercise so they can drop or relax ther jaw on the ah . I then try to arrange the exercise so the highest note ends on an ah for a sustain.  That sometimes means adding an extra ning before the ah.