This singing exercise will help you develop awareness of vocal onset. Vocal onset basically consists of two parts:
1. The degree to which your vocal folds are open or closed
2. The amount and force of air you send through the vocal folds
Every note you sing should begin with your vocal folds starting in a closed or “zipped up” position. It’s possible to zip them too tightly, so cultivate awareness around this sensation.
On the other hand, if the vocal cords are open when you begin a sound, you’ll wind up with a breathy, out of tune timbre.
The idea is to begin with closed vocal cords but not closed with too much force.
Next, you want to experiment with the amount of air you send through your vocal folds and the amount of pressure you send it with. This is something you’ll need to play around with. You’ll be able to feel how too little air with too little pressure doesn’t engage the vocal folds sufficiently to send them vibrating. Likewise, too much air/pressure will “pop” the vocal cords out of the way and force them open.