Minor triad

The broken minor chord.

Arpeggios
Level: Intermediate
Melodic pattern
♩ 100
Repetitions: 25
Syllable: “noh”
about 2 min

One repetition of the pattern. In the app it is transposed to your vocal range and scored note by note.

The minor triad broken into notes: root, minor third, perfect fifth, minor third, then a two-beat root. It's the exact shape of Major triad 1-3-5-3-1 with the third lowered by one semitone. That single note changes the whole color from bright to dark, and hearing that difference is the exercise. The syllable 'noh' has a rounded vowel that fits the shade. Each repetition is a semitone higher, until you're near the top of your range, then the pattern comes back down the same way.

How to do it

Listen to the piano play the minor chord; notice the smaller first leap.
Sing on 'noh', letting the vowel stay round and the sound a little darker.
Watch the third on the roll; it sits one row below where the major third would be.
Each pass is a semitone higher than the last, until you're near the top of your range, then it works back down the same way.

Coach's tip: Minor third – darker, don't sharpen it.

What to watch out for

The minor third wants to drift up toward major, especially if you've just sung the major triad. It shows as yellow on the high side. Keep it deliberately low. The fifth is the same as in the major triad and still tends to come out flat after the leap. Don't let the dark color turn into a swallowed, throaty sound; the tone stays forward. Any tightness means lower the range.

Who it's for

Beginners can take this on right after the major triad; intermediate singers use it to sharpen their ear for chord quality. Do it in the main block, right after Major triad 1-3-5-3-1 for direct comparison. Minor scale extends the same color across an octave. No preset program lists it; pick it from the Arpeggios category.

Practice this exercise

Opens the app in your browser. Free to start, no account needed. Put on headphones first.