You’ve probably heard the term “SOVT” floating around in the voice world—but what does it actually mean, and why does everyone swear by it? In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, I’m breaking down what SOVT (aka semi-occluded vocal tract) exercises are, why they’re so effective for vocal health and technique, and how to actually use them. Plus, I’ll share some of my go-to SOVT exercises you can try today to warm up, cool down, or reset your voice mid-session.
Your best voice might just be one straw or hum away. 😉
00:00 Introduction to SOVT Exercises
04:40 Using Different Types of Straws
08:50 Popular SOVT Techniques
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Why do them? And then I want to give you examples of many SOVT exercises that you can try in your own voice.
So number one, SOVT stands for Semi Occluded Vocal Tract, which really just means a partially closed mouth. Your vocal tract is the tube that starts above your vocal folds. So your vocal folds are housed here in your larynx. Your vocal tract is truly just the tube that starts above the vocal folds. It ends at your mouth. So that is your vocal tract. If you want to semi occlude, partially close that tract, that tube, you partially close your mouth.
So that's all that that means. Why do we wanna do this? So we all have pressure underneath our vocal folds, that is the air from our lungs that fuels our sound. When we have a partial closure of the mouth, a semi occluded vocal tract, that puts some resistance, some pressure on top of the vocal folds.
So what that does is it helps balance the pressure out,
which really helps those vocal folds set up as optimally as possible as that pressure balances. The great thing is once those vocal folds are set up and functioning as ideally as they can, tension that might be happening around them as they're a little wonky and the body's always trying to right the ship, so certain areas get tense trying to help them out, as they are set up ideally, that tension can help release.
so we can get tension release, we get an ideal setup for the voice, which really sets us up for singing success. and the great thing is there are so many different examples of SOVT exercises that also give you additional benefits. So I feel like try a bunch of them.
and do whatever feels best for you. You're gonna come up with your favorites. I have mine, I'm gonna share them with you. And then you're gonna come up with ones that really help you get to the place you wanna get, depending on what you've got going on that day, how you're feeling, what you're working on. So let's jump into it.
So the mother of all semi-occluded vocal tract exercises is a straw into water.
voice scientists much more knowledgeable than myself have done studies about this where they can genuinely measure the pressure and the benefit of these different SOVT exercises. And the one that comes out head and shoulders above everybody else is the straw into water. Here's the key that I think people get wrong. They get a big old cup of water, they just take a straw and shove it down at the bottom and they're like, huh, Amber, that doesn't feel good.
I would imagine that doesn't feel good. The resistance here is coming from the straw into water. So when we put our mouth around the straw, that becomes the end of our vocal tract. So you know how I said the end of your vocal tract is your mouth? Sorry, you guys can hear playing my straw. It's a metal straw and a metal cup. I'm like, that's great for a podcast. Just like make loads of noise, Amber. So when you wrap your lips around a straw, now the end of the straw becomes the end of your vocal tract.
That's an important part, I think, that people need to think about. Then you're gonna put that end of the straw into the water, maybe a half inch to an inch to try it out. I like the bigger size straw, boba tea to smoothie size. You can use drinking sized or larger. Go with what feels good for you. You wanna take your straw, put it into the water,
half inch to an inch, and what you really wanna focus on is feeling buzz or hearing buzz around your lips. ⁓ Hopefully you guys can hear that. If you wanna see it, you can watch this on YouTube. Like you can watch all episodes on YouTube. You will also see that I just splattered water right onto my face. I've got a full cup here, but it feels so good. Here's why the straw into water is the mother of all SOVT exercises.
Like I said, all of these that I'm gonna give you are semi-occluded, a partially closed mouth, which helps give you pressure on top of the vocal folds to balance out that pressure underneath, to help set up the vocal folds ideally, and then in turn, help release some surrounding tension that might be happening. And then they all have additional benefits. The straw in the water is the only one that genuinely massages your laryngeal tissue and your vocal folds, which is a huge benefit. So especially if you are feeling tired, like I am feeling today,
Strawn water is so great, it's also, I think, the best cool down. because you've been using your voice at this high athletic level. The straw and water is not only helping everything set up ideally, move back to speech, but it's massaging everything. So you will wake up the next day very likely feeling better when it's time to sing again.
So, straw in water, one of my favorites. I use it with frequency and especially if you are feeling tired, if you are getting over illness, I think you just can't beat it.
So I mentioned before some of the smaller straw sets like this singing straw I have a singing straw silicone that I'm going to be using today. I love this one.
all the singing straw is, it's a smaller diameter straw that was sized specifically for voices so that you can get that really good resistance. This set comes with three in a set. Usually one straw feels good for me, not always. If I'm feeling tired, I use two straws. So what does that do? The smaller the space, the more resistance. So when I use two straws, I have a bigger opening, it's less resistance. Three straws, even less.
Let me point out, I work with so many type A singers who immediately heard that and thought, well, then I'm gonna do one because one straw means I'm a better, stronger singer. It doesn't, you guys. It just doesn't. Everybody's body is made differently. If you are using one straw and it feels like you're being strangled, you are helping nothing. What it should feel like is resistance, some pressure, but that good pressure So I can feel resistance. I don't wanna feel like any other part of my body has to get engaged. If I do,
too much resistance. also don't want to feel like I'm just blowing and there's no resistance at all. That's what happens to me if I'm using like a bigger smoothie size straw and I just sing through it into the air. I don't really feel a great benefit to that. What you can do, side note, if you've got a larger straw, you don't have a small straw, you don't have water is take your finger and cover the end of it.
and you're gonna have to play to find the coverage that feels good for you and that will give you more resistance. That feels pretty darn good. But I love my singing straw. I use this thing with great frequency. I am an affiliate of theirs, I will point out, so I can get you a discount. I'll put that down in the show notes. There's lots of other great things to try too and you don't have to have a tool like this. I have like every singing straw set that they make because they make it so easy for me. I can be in the car and driving and I can do a quick warmup, a quick...
I did it right before I jumped on today. Just really helps set my voice up efficiently.
So let's talk about now SOVTs where you need nothing but your own self, your own body. And I wanna give you a few different ones that will all give you different benefits. I love an SOVT that helps me lock in resonance. I'm a sucker for resonance. I think that as singers, it's just a huge, huge, huge piece of the puzzle,
your resonance really dictates the quality of the sound that your listeners hear. Also locking into resonance can help our voice function so much easier and sound so much better for less work. And those are.
always the things I'm going for. I'm always working with vocalists to help them feel as great as possible and sound as great as possible for as little work as possible.
So two of my favorite SOVT exercises for resonance. One, the smiley V. You're gonna put your teeth on your bottom lip like you're gonna say the word van, van. And you're just gonna hold out that V. ⁓ it feels so buzzy and good on my lips already. Again, you can take this on one note. You can move it into intervals. Arpeggiate an octave.
the Smiley V, one of my favorites. You can use it for anything. The other one that I love for resonance is called the Blowfish, or some people call it a straw without a straw. Woo, woo! Can you guys hear that great buzz? I know I'm such a nerd, but I'm like, oh, I love it so much.
So the blowfish is like you're gonna say the consonant W. Let's say the word win, but we never move to the I-N.
Blowfish can be tricky for people. It makes the cheeks puff out. So another benefit of the blowfish in addition to resonance is it helps release some tension in the facial muscles. We can carry a lot of tension in the cheeks guys. So this is a great one. But if you find the blowfish tricky, I like to try the pinky trumpet or the thumb trumpet. It's nothing that major. All you're gonna do is put your thumb or your pinky in your mouth loosely so you could move it around if you needed to. And you're gonna blow like you're blowing a trumpet.
You can feel and hear that great buzz against your thumb. If that feels better for you, rock it like that. Or you might want to start like that and move the thumb out. Those are just some modifications that I feel like help make the blowfish much more successful for a lot of people when they're first trying it out.
Then the SOVT that most people know, I think the most famous, the lip trill. This one's so great for a number of reasons. A big thing that it does in addition to the benefits that all the SOVTs give us, it's great for breath management like many of these are. It helps really get the lips, which is a big articulator ready to go and helps release tension in the facial muscles. I love the lip trill. Again, you can take this on any exercise into any song.
What can be tricky for some singers with the lip trill is getting that seal. So you'll feel that brrrr brrrr brrrr brrrr doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. The little helper for that is take a finger on each side of your face on either side of your mouth. I can't go too close to my mouth. You're going to have to play with your own body and voice and see what works for you. But I always tell people kind of mid cheek around where dimples would go. You want to press in first and up.
So I look like, if you're seeing me on YouTube, I totally look like the Joker, right? Where the cheeks are up because he's been dipped in acid. Yes, I'm a nerd in that way too. I totally look like the Joker, but it makes it so much easier.
And then I feel like I'm getting ready to go over my 10 minutes guys, but I wanna let you know ones that really help release tension in the tongue. Cause that can be a big deal for a lot of us as singers. Two of my favorites, a raspberry. So that's the tongue out. Like you're sticking your tongue out at somebody. So the tongue is trilling along with your bottom lip.
That one is so great, again, for setting up the vocal folds efficiently, like all of these are, for help releasing surrounding tension like all the SOVTs do. It's great for breath management and it's really great for helping you relax that tongue.
a raspberry, I do almost daily.
And the other one is a tongue trill ⁓
That one feels so good too. probably makes the most singers the most batty Because I feel like people can either roll an R or they can't. I am sure you can go to YouTube or pay somebody for a program to learn to roll an R. I just always feel like, why? There's other stuff you can do. If you can't roll an R, oh well, don't do that one.
Do a raspberry. If the raspberry doesn't feel good, do a hum with your tongue out. You're literally gonna just relax your tongue onto your bottom lip, blah, close your mouth. Mmm, it looks like a tongue sandwich. Your lips are the bread and your tongue is whatever you fill that sandwich with. Mmm. You don't have to be able to do all of these. You just wanna find the ones that feel best for you. And there are many more than these. I just wanted to let you guys know a little bit about what.
talking about when you're at SOVT. What a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise really means. What does it do? Why are they beneficial? They are so beneficial.
they feel so good and they can do so much in one exercise,
So play with these, go with the ones that feel best for you. There are many more for you to play with and try out. Like always, I've got multiple freebies for you guys, a free training, two weeks free of Vocal Pro, a free consultation. all of that will be down in the show notes. Happy singing everybody and I hope to see you in the next episode.
