3 Vocal Exercises That Fix a Weak, Breathy Singing Voice

A breathy, weak singing voice almost always comes down to ONE thing: your vocal cords aren't closing fully. No amount of pushing harder or singing louder will fix it… In fact, that usually makes it worse. In this episode, you’ll discover the 3 specific exercises that target vocal cord closure and transform a weak, breathy voice into a strong, clear, controlled one.

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Why Your Voice Sounds Breathy

Here’s something important to understand: if your voice sounds weak or breathy, it’s not necessarily your voice itself that’s the problem.

It can have a lot to do with vocal cord closure.

Working on how your vocal cords come together can help you release some of that breathiness and create more strength and stability in your sound. And today, we’re going to practice three techniques that can help you do exactly that.

These are the kinds of vocal practices we work on every month inside the Vocal Freedom Practice Hub: you hit play, sing along with me, and train your voice. Whether you have two minutes, ten minutes, or a full hour, the idea is to make practicing your voice something you can actually fit into your day.

Now, let’s get into our first exercise.

Exercise 1: Vocal Fry

The first technique we’re going to use is vocal fry.

You know that slightly creepy, crackling little sound?

Ahhh…

Think frog. That’s the sound we’re looking for.

Start by making a relaxed vocal fry. Then, we’re going to move directly from that fry into a comfortable note:

Vocal fry → note

Choose a pitch that feels comfortable in your chest voice. You can follow my pitch in the episode or choose another one that feels better for your voice.

Once that feels comfortable, we’re going to add another element.

Take Your Vocal Fry Into a Slide

Start with your vocal fry, move into a pitch, and then slide through the notes.

In the beginning, this might feel relatively easy because we’re working in the chest voice. But as we move higher toward your mix voice and head voice, it can become much more challenging.

And that’s the purpose of the exercise.

We’re training your voice to maintain that coordination as you move into different parts of your range.

If you struggle with this one, that’s okay. It’s a pretty advanced exercise. Come back to this practice regularly and notice what happens.

The more you repeat these exercises, the more familiar these techniques and ways of singing can become.

Exercise 2: The Glottal Onset

The second technique we can use to work on vocal cord closure is the glottal onset.

There are different kinds of vocal onsets, but for this episode, we’re going to focus on applying this one rather than diving deeply into all the theory behind it.

Give me an:

“Uh-oh.”

That clear beginning to the sound is your glottal onset.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have a breathy onset, where you hear more air at the beginning of the sound.

Can you hear the difference?

For this exercise, we’re keeping things super simple. Repeat:

Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

We’re deliberately training that clear glottal onset.

Now Put the Technique Into an Actual Song

Once you can create the glottal onset on its own, it’s time to bring it into an actual singing phrase.

In this episode, we use a familiar Britney Spears phrase and begin it with a clear glottal onset.

Then comes the challenge.

Instead of starting with the glottal onset, switch to a fry onset.

Can you hear and feel the difference between the two?

Keep alternating:

Glottal onset → fry onset → glottal onset → fry onset

This gives you an opportunity to experience both techniques within an actual singing context instead of only practicing them as isolated sounds.

And that’s where things start getting really interesting.

Why Repetition Matters

At this point, we’ve worked with two techniques: vocal fry and the glottal onset.

Both exercises are focused on helping those vocal cords come together and reducing some of the breathiness you may be experiencing in your voice.

But don’t expect yourself to master everything immediately.

These exercises can be challenging, and repetition matters. The more regularly you come back to them, the more familiar those vocal coordinations become.

So if something feels difficult today, keep practicing.

And now, we have one more technique to add.

Exercise 3: Get Dramatic With the Cry Technique

Our third exercise is all about cry.

For this one, imagine that you’re crying.

Yes, seriously.

I want you to exaggerate it. Make it dramatic. Make it almost ridiculous.

We’re going to use the sound:

“Mum.”

Think about how your voice might sound if you were talking while crying, and bring that quality into the exercise.

Mum, mum, mum…

Keep the drama!

The idea is to exaggerate that cry quality rather than trying to make everything sound perfectly beautiful.

Notice What Happens to Your High Notes

As you move higher with the cry exercise, pay attention to how those notes feel.

You may notice that a surprisingly high note comes out much more easily when you use the cry technique.

During this episode, we work our way up to an F♯5—which, for many singers, is a considerably high note.

Yet with the right coordination, it can feel much easier than trying to push your way up there.

That’s exactly why we practice these different vocal techniques. We’re looking for ways to coordinate the voice instead of simply adding more force.

Keep Coming Back to These Three Exercises

If you want to work on a weak, breathy sound, these are the three techniques I want you to keep practicing:

1. Vocal fry to work on vocal cord closure and carry that coordination through your range.
2. Glottal onsets to practice a clear, connected beginning to your sound.
3. Cry to explore a stronger coordination while making higher notes feel more accessible.

Don’t worry if these exercises don’t immediately feel easy. Come back to this episode again and again and practice alongside me.

That repetition is where the magic happens.

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