Name: The Most Versatile Vocal Drill: The Circle Drill
Uploaded: 2021-08-03T15:35:26.000Z
Duration: 7 min 35 s
Description: This is a drill I teach all of my students. It can be used to work on literally any vocal concept you can think of. Getting the notes down can be a little tricky, but once you have them this drill can be your secret vocal weapon.

This is a drill I teach all of my students. It can be used to work on literally any vocal concept you can think of. Getting the notes down can be a little tricky, but once you have them this drill can be your secret vocal weapon. 

Singing

Hello and thank you for stopping at my teacher profile. I have been a private music instructor for over ten years and have helped many student achieve their music goals through private instruction and group classes. I have been a musician all my life. I started singing at age three for a school Christmas Play and never stopped. I have been in competitions, participated in musicals and bands, been a paid performer, and even have written and produced my on music program. Currently I am teaching music in my local school district to students in Pre-K through 5th grade. I still perform and am constantly learning new music ideas and concepts. I would love to help you start or continue your music journey! If you have questions, feel free to ask using the "Ask Me A Question" tool. I hope to work with you soon!

The Most  Versatile Vocal Drill: The Circle Drill

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Musical Theater

Christian Gospel

Audition Prep

Piano

Music Performance

Classical Voice

Euphonium

Flute

Vocal Training

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Taught an array of students all ages and skill levels including special needs individuals.

Voice Teacher

I taught the teen band how to play as a group. I also taught a little music theory to help them grow as musicians. By assigning homework I was able to help them understand worship in the Bible a little better and why we worship in the church today. By having one on one sessions, I was able to help each person grow individually as well.

Youth Band Director

I created a fun music program that used all kinds of different activities to explain music concepts to children ages 3-12. This included original music, books, crafts, games, and skits. I not only wrote this program myself. but I was able to produce it ad perform it several times before ending the program in the summer of 2022.

Program Director

As part of the music program I created, I wrote four children's books. "The Music Alphabet", "The Staff", "Treble Clef", and "Bass Clef" are the names of my books and each one teaches a basic music theory concept to children in a way that is easy to understand.

Author

This started as a small hobby to get out some of my creativity. It became a staple of my teaching for quite a while. I arrange music for my students frequently. Many of my compositions and arrangements are aimed at beginner and easy piano, as well as flute. I have arranged several intermediate pieces as well. Currently I am working on writing my first musical!

Composer/Arranger

I am a music teacher for my local school district. I am responsible for teaching pre-k through 5th grade music. This includes basic music concepts, beginning vocals, beginning instruments, and simple music history. Engaging students in a fun and informative way that keeps them interested and growing in their music education.

Long Term Music Substitue

english

spanish

Technique is the key to unlocking your success as a singer. Whether you're a pop star, rocker, rapper, belter, or screamer, a solid foundation and support system will increase your performance potential to their peaks. If you choose to work with me, I will help you achieve your goals by designing a lesson plan and strategy for you. I will teach you what you want to know and use your musical tastes to do it. This is a more general class, so I will be aiming to expand your exposure to new music and expand your general technique. Contact me to talk about your music preferences, goals, and to set up your first lesson.

William is an amazing teacher to my child, he is very passionate with his work of art, my child has learned how to play Piano, my child  has improved so much with William. I'm very satisfied with William he is very passionate, caring, understanding and has a lot of patience. Thank You William!

Unfortunately, our experience with William was quite disappointing. When the scheduled lesson time arrived, we attempted to join the session, but the screen displayed the message "Class not ready yet." We made repeated attempts to connect for a duration of 18 minutes, both from our browser and mobile, but without success. Finally, after 10 minutes, the session started, but to our dismay, there was no one present. We received a message from the teacher, which was sent 10 minutes prior, stating that the lesson had been canceled by the teacher. It would have been more considerate if he had waited for the additional 5 minutes that we had actually paid for. Instead, he simply left. This experience left my son feeling deeply saddened and disappointed.

Will is an amazing and patient teacher. I've learned a lot, and I've noticed a significant change in my vocal abilities.
Lessons with him have always been a highlight of my week.

Excellent teacher, with an ability to focus pointedly on your strengths and where you might need help. He then offers specific drills to perfect your singing. Gentle but realistic style of assessment. I highly recommend William P.

Will is knowledgeable, thorough and kind!  He is a great instructor.

He’s been amazing with my middle schooler for euphonium!

Very Patient during the lesson and also can adapt to your learning style. He is also very clear with his directions.

I enjoyed the lesson. Very helpful and patient with teaching.

I enjoyed my lessons with Will.  He is patient,  professional, warm and encouraging.

Couldn't ask for a better teacher, worth your time and money!

Let's learn to read the lines and spaces of the Bass Clef together.

Music Theory

Bass Clef

Phrasing is a musical sentence. When it is used properly, phrasing changes a good performance into a great one. Let's learn more about phrasing.

Vocal Phrasing 

Singing low notes can be a real challenge. Our unstinct is to push to reach notes. Unfortunately, this is the opposite of what we need to do to hit the low notes we are seeking. This video will get you started on working on low notes.

Disclaimer: Every vocalist naturally has a different range of notes. This means that the low notes in this video may be too low or not low enough. The technique on how we reach the low notes in our respected range is the purpose of the video. 

Singing Low Notes

Let's learn how to read the treble clef together! All you need is a piece of paper and a pencil. We will draw a staff, draw the treble clef, and label the lines and spaces with the correct notes.  

Treble Clef

Just like singing intervals on a major scale, singing intervals on a minor scale will train your ear so that you can learn the melodies to songs quickly and give you the ability to add unexpected sounds in your own music.  We will be using the melodic minor scale for this video because we are focused on learning melodies. 

Minor Scale Solfege: do re me fa so la ti do do te le so fa me re do

Notice that we have changed the mi to me (meh) for the minor scale. We only change the ti to te (teh) and la to le (leh) on the way down the scale.

Interval Drill: (UP) do re do, do me do, do fa do, do so do, do la do, do ti do , do do(high) do

Interval Drill: (Down) do te do, do le do, do so do, do fa do, do me do, do re do, do do(low) do

Drill in Rapid Succession: (UP) do re do me do fa do so do la do ti do do(high)

Drill in Rapid Succession: (Down) do te do le do so do fa do me do re do do(low)

This is not an easy drill, and most students never have the opportunity to work with the minor keys with solfege. Take you time with each drill and aim for pitch accuracy. 

Singing Intervals on a Minor Scale

One of the hardest things to do for singers who are just starting out is to identify the intervals they are hearing in a song. An interval is the distance between two notes and it can be very tricky to decipher which interval is which if we do not practice singing them to begin with, The first thing we must do is sing a major scale. We will use solfege for this (Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do). Then we should practice jumping up and down each interval. (Do-Re-Do: Do-Mi-Do; Do-Fa-Do; Do-So-Do; Do-La-Do; Do-Ti-Do; Do-So-Do). The last thing to do would be to sing them in rapid succession up (Do Re Do Mi Do Fa Do So Do La Do Ti Do DO) and down (DO Ti DO La DO So DO Fa DO Mi DO Re DO Do). Practicing these intervals will make you a better singer and allow you to pick up on new melodies much quicker. 

Singing Intervals on a Major Scale

To get a clear and warm tone to our vocal sound, we need to learn to lift the soft pallet. The soft pallet is the upper back part of your throat. When we are told to drop our jaw, we are also lifting the soft pallet and creating a more open space for our sound to resonate. Let's practice lifting our soft pallet using the simple Ya-Oh drill. 

The Soft Pallet

If you are finding the basic breathing drill to be too easy, this drill is for you. The advanced breathing drill is a 5 part drill that I teach my students to help expand their lung capacity and train their diaphragm. The drill is meant to be completed in 1 breath. I view each part as a different level. This means if level 1 is difficult, you may want to focus on only the level until you are comfortable to add level 2 to you practice. Every singer needs to maintain good breathing practices to sing their best. 

Level 1- Full Scale Up and Down with 1 Breath

Level 2- Level 1+ Full Scale with an added 9th Up and Down with 1 Breath

Level 3- Level 1+ Level 2+ Full Scale plus 3 Notes (Up To The 12th) Up and Down with 1 Breath

Level 4- Level 1+ Level 2+ Level 3+ 5 Note Scale Up and Down with 1 Breath

Level 5- Level 1+ Level 2+ Level 3+ Level 4+ Triad Up and Down with 1 Breath

If you master the 5th level and want to keep challenging yourself, slowly decrease the tempo each time you practice this drill. Singing the drill slower will force you to use more air. 

DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL UNTIL YOU ARE READY!!

I am emphasizing this point simply because breathing drills can be dangerous if you are forcing yourself to advance too soon. The point is to build lung capacity, so if you need a breath please take one. It is better to spend more time on building your lungs than it is to pass out. 

Advanced Breathing Drill

One of the struggles many of my students face is singing low notes. We tend to be comfortable with the feeling of pushing down on our diaphragm for to achieve higher notes, but relaxing for low is extremely out of our comfort zone. We want to "feel" like we are in control. This drill will help you get into your low note area, whatever that may be for your voice part. 

One of the more difficult things to work on when students are first starting out on their singing journey is learning to control vocal dynamics. In this video we try out the siren drill to find out what our natural tendency is when we are singing dynamics. We will use the 5 note natural dynamic drill to help us control those dynamics as well. Bonus: there is a little tip on how to keep the back of the throat open as we sing the different dynamics. 

Vocal Dynamics

After a practice session, it is important to warm our voice down. Adding this to the end of the your practice time protects you voice and can even help lock in the work you did during you practice. 

William P.

The Most Versatile Vocal Drill: The Circle Drill

William's Singing videos