How do I train the tone of my voice?

Is there a "perfect" vocal exercise for my voice?

• range, larynx position, breathing, tone, glottal attack, trill, humming, silence, inward singing, sirens, arpeggios, octave hellos, ng tongue positions, inner smile and soft palette motions, balancing and discovering resonators, adducting the vocal cords, etc etc etc there's something to do for everything, but at the same time I'm supposed to "Take it easy" on the voice. ha. Is there a better way? I was able to hit the D below E only a minute or two ago when testing my range, but since I can't now, maybe there's an issue. I'm going with "E below middle C". If I'm ascending in chest voice, I begin to "feel" the e flat and the e (above middle c), but it takes a greater if not exponential increase in effort of the throat for me to produce every half note higher than that. F isn't so bad, but if I ascend to A flat and A it's tough. In chest voice, sometimes B flat hurts even (a new post laryngitis pain similar to fear-internal). Still-- now that I've been doing these exercises it has become harder to even try singing in chest voice that high--i hate it. It used to be easy for me, but I didn't know I was "Belting", yelling on pitch, not singing. I enter the "middle" voice area? or bridge? around Eflat to F above middle C and can go as high as I'm willing to risk hurting myself-- i used to belt a 10th above that--to a high G...i know--stupid and painful. I have through some exercises, but not every time, been able to get something that might be "the mix", where I respect and lay off the breath pressure but am still loud. When I'm connecting the high voice to chest voice, it's cool and I'm at my best (not very good yet of course). Unfortunately, it seems like I'm having to re-learn how to sing in the ringing head voice every time I sing. Sometimes I'll figure it out, but other times my falsetto is taking over and I can tell....why can't I create the "tickle" like buzzing resonance in the nasal cavity that I know can be made? My lower speaking voice has always made me a mumbler, so I'm practicing my Octaves then saying "Betty bought a bit of bitter butter". I'm not trained, so I'm having to trill my lips and say "Uh" or sing upwards while opening and closing vowel combos. To make what could be a longer story short, I've just went out and bought "Entertainer's Secret" spray for the same reason I want to find a more effective warm up exercise, one that does all of these things: a)passes safely through vocal registers improving/expanding the range in which I can produce rich, tonally accurate vocals without losing my voice or vocal presence. b) improves tonality/pitch/precision as I am slightly flat or sharp a lot but cannot tell unless "playback" is available c) helps master vibrato / effective use of lung capacity / ability to quickly breathe in, etc. d) establishes control of resonance (depth/warmth) so that I can "raise/lower the volume" on less air Does anyone have such a safe and effective exercise (or short warm up routine) that can train the backward mumble of my deep (for now) voice to move forward, sound good, and hit the good sounding notes that I've hit before? I'd love to just snap my fingers and have a bright tone and clarified speech--but instead I'm singing 500 warm ups and losing my voice before I even get to practice at the piano. B. Joel, B. Hornsby, E. John, P. McCartney all seem to have acquired the sound quality i'm after. as their voices seem to soar over any piano they're playing. Another symptom I need to cure: when head voice actually disappears--i have falsetto and chest but head voice doesn't produce any sound.

• Answer:

  I'm a music major/educator and went through a time of voice damage. Dont try to work from the bottom up- it's causes more pain and so often kids dont do it right. Start with a high sigh and on exercises work down not up. Inhale deep and blow out. In music school the average prof makes you do it until you can exhale 30 seconds, HS kids 15 and Middle school 10 (Max for little ones). For ever I've beaten my profs and they go nuts when they clock me around 56 mins... but I'm an oboist, so used to conserving air.