SOVT Exercise: The Kazoo Pufferfish

SOVT exercises are awesome, but what if you stink at lip trills and you don’t have a straw? Try the Kazoo Pufferfish!
The Kazoo Pufferfish is a great way to warm up, cool down, stay forward, ping your support muscles, or practice quietly.
It’s part of the Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract family of exercises, which create balanced pressure around the vocal folds to allow them to re-calibrate their vibration. By their nature, SOVT’s are both extremely therapeutic AND they allow you to practice while your baby naps - win, win!
How to do the Kazoo Pufferfish:
1. Blow out with puffed cheeks, like you’re really exasperated.
2. Sustain the exhalation without allowing the cheeks to deflate.
3. Add some phonated noise - just noodle around, or try . . .
4. Slide down and back up a Sol-Do interval, keeping the air flow steady the whole time (like in the Candle Blow exercise), and keeping the cheeks puffed the whole time.
You can probably feel that singing this way allows you to tap into full, low support, but without making a lot of noise. This is a much better alternative to just trying to sing quietly, which often ends up under-supported or over-tense.
You can absolutely practice repertoire like this, or just use it to get started or restore ease after a hard vocal workout.
This is a terrific exercise I learned from Melanie Tapson (Melanie Tapson Voice Care) in a class taught by Elissa Weinzimmer (Voice Body Connection). Both are tremendous voice educators, and if you like what I teach, be sure to check them out on Instagram: @melanietapsonvoicecare and @voicebodyelissa.
I’ve learned so much from both of them, and you will, too!
Mentioned in the Video:
Candle Blow Exercise: • No More Wobbly Last No...
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[@VoiceBodyConnection]

A friend just let me know you mentioned me in this video! Thanks so much for the shout out Laura, Melanie and I appreciate it and send you love ❤

[@planetag310]

Didn't know this exercise had this specific name. I always do it while pinching my nose off for extra occlusion and I get a more defined and forward sound that way.

[@theweeklywarmup]

Oh I love the idea of combining this with a nose hold. I’ll try it in my next practice!

[@carolm.ferreira3699]

😊😊😊 I love to make this exercise!!

[@magdalenasieluzycka5971]

Thanks for sharing! I'm gonna use that with my students :)

[@faithemmavaz6311]

Thank you 🫶

[@ithiopiamckinney5096]

Great exercise, thank you so much

[@theweeklywarmup]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful for you.

[@haguitar]

Thank you for sharing. It helps a lot. I would like to ask if it is allowed to practice if the mouth is leaking at the beginning? If I practice my mouth more, it won't leak?

[@theweeklywarmup]

Hi! I believe you're asking if air should actually be leaving your mouth and YES, it should! Otherwise, it's just a hum with puffed cheeks. So don't try to stop the "leaking," keep it up!