Warming up by speaking through a straw: semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not a singer, so I had not heard of semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE) – which I mentioned in my previous post. They are discussed in an undated article by Lori Ellen Sutton at OperaCarolina titled How voicing through a straw can save your vocal folds. She links to a five-minute YouTube video by Dr. Ingo Titze. There is another article by Julia Belluz at Vox on June 20, 2015 titled How blowing into a straw can save your voice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, there is another six-minute YouTube video by Jim Chandler at Rock Your Best Vocals on April 9, 2021 titled MYTH BUSTER SPECIAL: “Straw Singing” is BUTTS**T – WARNING!!! He discusses how, as shown above, you can take apart a ballpoint pen to use instead of a straw.  

 

Still another article by Stacey Menton on January 17, 2023 titled Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercises has a thirteen-minute YouTube video. Yet another long article by Philippe Hall at SingingRevealed on March 2, 2023 is titled Best Vocal Exercises! Using SOVT’s Semi Occluded Vocal Tract.

 

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE) have been discussed in numerous magazine articles. A recent one by Adrian Castillo-Allendes, Lady Catherine Cantor-Cultiva and Eric J. Hunter in the Journal of Voice for November 2021 titled Acoustic effects of vocal warm-up: A 7-week longitudinal case study has over fifty references!