Here’s a game-changing truth most singers don’t hear enough: your speaking voice and your singing voice are the same voice. 🎤💡 And learning how to tap into the natural sounds you already make every day can completely transform your vocal technique.
In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10 with Amber Mogg Cathey, I’m breaking down what I call the “1 Voice” concept—and how it can help you build a more confident, consistent sound across your range. From strengthening your low notes to accessing more freedom in your high notes and creating a seamless mix voice, this episode gives you practical tools to start singing like the most aligned version of you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
00:00 – Understanding the 1 Voice Concept
02:30 – Low Register Exercise
04:00 – Upper Register Exercise
06:00 – Mix Voice Exercise and Development
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Hello everybody. Welcome to Vocal Tips in 10. I'm Amber Mogg Cathey. I hope you were doing great and I so appreciate you being here with me. I wanna jump right into today's topic, which is a topic that I talk to singers about all day, every day. So I thought it was time that I talked about it here. It's the fact that we have one voice and you might listen to this and go, well, of course, Amber, I know we have one voice. And yet I have singers talk to me all day, speak like normal and then they go to sing.
contemporary commercial music styles because that's what I specialize in. So everything from pop to rock to R &B to country to folk to soul, throw in anything else non-classical there. And they use this completely different voice. I don't really have like a big full low end, even though they were just talking to me using this nice full sound, completely effortless, tension free. And then they go to sing and it's this very disconnected feel.
I also think it's really important to talk about this in terms of vocal health. And really last episode was all about how to manage your vocal budget, which really just means juggling all the tasks that we have to do as vocalists and guess what? As humans, as speakers, every voice task that we have. I think when we really fully realize that the singing voice and the speaking voice are the exact same thing. We have one voice, two vocal folds.
That really helps us with our vocal budgeting too, Last episode, if you want to hear more about that, really talks about vocal budgeting. Today, what I want to talk about is
how we can use the foundation of speech, play sounds we already know how to make to make us better singers, use those to help us tap into qualities of our voice that we already have.
So let's do the low end that I first mentioned. low end for me is completely based in our speaking voice.
Right, I don't speak just in quote unquote chest voice and I don't really love those terms anyway, but that would be me kind of speaking here. I speak in more of a mix, but you can definitely hear it is connected to my body. It is a thicker, fuller sound. That's where almost all of us speak these days. So we just wanna take that speech and take that into our low end singing. That's the foundation, not only for our low end, but again,
Speech is the foundation for everything that we do as singers because it's the same voice. So I love to pretend like you are calling out to somebody from across the street, right? Let's say, yo, am I gonna say yo if I call out to somebody from across the street? Maybe, probably not, but we're gonna pretend. So I'm gonna say, yo, yo. So that's speech that also, by the way, is low register, quote unquote, chest voice. So let's take that to an exercise on one,
Five, one, I want you to speak on pitch because this is what I see Singers go, yo, yo, and then they go, yo, yo, yo, and there's nothing wrong with that. but when we are doing purposeful low end work, we wanna work that shortening, thickening muscle because it not only gives us better low notes, it's our power source for our entire range. So we want that muscle.
Think about it as the equivalent of a bicep in your arm. It's our vocal bicep. We want that muscle to be strengthened so we can go lower and we can have power when we want it. So I'd like to take this exercise and take it down as far as you can and up as far as you can. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, super.
speechy, right? I'm using my natural speech and my body knows how to call out to somebody if I want to get their attention.
That's my low end. So that is my gateway in to building my low register. And not just a gateway in, I love to come back to this exercise over and over again when singers just need to find that foundation of, okay, there's my speaking voice, there's my chest voice, that thick, shorter vocal fold sound, there's my power house. Now let me go the opposite direction, which is where I wanna go right now, which is our upper register.
The only thing that's opposite about it is that as a muscle that's responsible for stretching and thinning out the vocal folds. So it's really the source of vocal agility, Flexibility throughout our entire range, which I will have singers tell me, I don't really, I don't use those notes Amber. Well, one, I'm a big believer that you probably don't use them because they don't feel great. People will tell me, no, I don't like them. Well, you don't like how they sound and feel right now. I can't think of a singer who if they have access to more range that feels good and sounds good, that would be like,
pass, I'd like to stay more limited, right? So we want good high notes. We want to be able to be as stretchy and have access to as much range as possible. And also working that thinning stretching muscle gives us more flexibility and therefore agility throughout our entire range. something for upper register would be a kid on a swing. Whee! Or I use a vocal siren, which is all that is,
So think about a car alarm, God forbid. I know, but woo, woo, or a fire engine or a police car, Those different sirens. Now all we're gonna do is put that on two pitches. If you go to put this on two pitches and that stretchy, free upper end sound just gets squeezed to death, go back to the stretchy free sound.
live there a little bit longer, get comfier there. So I'm gonna do the interval of a third. So I'm still gonna have that vocal siren, that nice slide, which is great flexibility. I'm just gonna add the element of control here. So that's a starting pitch.
a pitch I'm gonna move to and an ending pitch, right? But I'm gonna keep that siren just like a kid on a swing.
or a siren.
That is your upper register. I promise you guys, if you separate it from your singing voice, which so many times I see singers do, well, Amber, I know you say they're the same voice, but we don't approach things the same. Singing's totally different. Singing's controlled. Well, if we start from this place of control and then it's totally different, we're just squeezy and it feels disconnected and it feels more difficult than it needs to. So let's start with the voice that you have. And all we're going to do is play with sounds you already know how to make.
and then see how those connect you to your singing. Again, even though this exercise is a gateway in, I use a sliding third interval for my upper register on the daily. It feels great for me.
And then I want to give us a mixed voice exercise. Cause that for so many singers feels like, okay, you're right I have low end. It's my speaking voice. It's based in that. I have upper end. I know how to make those sounds, but I can't mix for the life of me. And what I find to be the case so many times, it's because singers are thinking about
What do I have to manipulate? How do I squeeze my vocal folds and lift my soft palate and relax my tongue? I'm like, eh, to all of those. Because all that makes us do is get really squeezy. Not saying that those aren't things. Never do I want you to squeeze your vocal folds, but not saying that releasing your tongue and being aware of your soft palate, those aren't great things. Those are not a place to start. Start with sounds you already know how to make because I promise you
you mix at some point in your life. Meow like a cat for me. Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. That's mix. That's not upper end. Whee! Or lower end. Yo, yo, yo. On their own. It is those muscles working together. But today for an exercise, I want you to give me a waa waa waa waa waa like a baby. Yes, it's a little bit annoying. And I am not a...
Believer that we have to use all like hyper annoying sounds for mix. Sometimes they work great. Sometimes they don't. But for this, we're just talking about sounds we already know how to make. And every single one of you can either meow like a cat or waa, waa, waa like a baby. We're just going to take one of those sounds on a five note descending scale. I like to start it kind of right under where the break is and then take it up over it.
Wham, waa, waa, waa, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. I am mixing. Both of those are mix sounds. Again, you might be like, well, I want this quality of mix. Awesome. This isn't the end goal, but that's a great gateway in. And again, it's an exercise that I use and many singers that I work with use.
on the daily that helps them lock into that spot. So you've got an upper register exercise, you've got a lower register exercise, and you've got a mixed voice exercise that I guarantee you, everybody here who's listening, if we get out of our own way, we realize we have one voice and we play. Talk like you're calling out to somebody across the street. Give me a siren, give me a fire truck or a kid on a swing. Don't think about singing because then you're going to try and squeeze and push and manipulate things.
Go with natural sounds you already know how to make, and then give me a crying baby or a meowing cat. You've got low register, upper register, and mix voice that you can work with.
If you found this helpful, I hope you will share it with a friend, share it with another singer, share it with another voice user. I would love it if you find this helpful too. Shoot me a quick review. It would help me so much. Just have more people be able to listen to this podcast.
and I hope that you will be back for next week's episode. Happy singing everybody.
