What you are training
Half of the songs you love are in a minor key, and the natural minor scale sounds different enough from the major that singers who only drill major go flat on minor melodies without knowing why. The lowered third, sixth, and seventh each sit a half step below where a major-trained ear expects them, so the exercise trains the ear as much as the voice. This exercise plays the natural minor scale and follows your pitch up and down through it, marking the degrees where you drifted toward the major note. Most singers find the lowered sixth the hardest to hold, which is exactly the note that gives minor melodies their pull. A few minutes here makes the next minor-key song feel like it is in a key you actually know.
How to do it
- Sing the natural minor scale up and down.
- Notice how the mood shifts from the major - the lowered 3rd, 6th, 7th.
- Use "la" on each note. Move up by half step.
Minor keys are everywhere in popular music. Training your ear-voice connection on minor patterns opens up emotional range in your singing.
After this exercise, the plan: The daily plan alternates major and minor scale work, and adds interval drills on the lowered third and sixth where your minor pitch drifted.
If singing hurts, stop. Pain, hoarseness, extra effort, loss of range, or repeated throat clearing that lasts more than a day is a reason to see an ENT or laryngologist, or a speech-language pathologist who specializes in voice. It is not a reason to practice harder.