- Home
- All exercises
- Warm-up
- Flow warm-up “yo”
Flow warm-up “yo”
A short rhythmic phrase on a few neighbouring notes of the minor pentatonic, like melodic rap. Warms up your voice and your sense of the beat at once.
A short rhythmic phrase built from the root, the minor third and the perfect fourth, three neighboring notes of the minor pentatonic scale. It's made of eighth notes with one rest and a long note at the end. The exercise warms up your pitch and your sense of pulse together. The syllable “yo” starts with a soft “y”, so every note begins gently, with no hard attack, close to the way you'd speak.
How to do it
- Listen to the first repetition, then sing along with the piano in “Along with piano” mode. Keep the voice light and speech-like.
- Sing every note on “yo”. Let the “y” start each note softly instead of pushing it out.
- Nod your head slightly on each beat. The metronome only counts you in, so the pulse has to live in your body.
- Watch the piano roll. The line should reach each note quickly and stay flat until the next one.
- Each repetition moves up two semitones. Stop when the top feels like effort, not play.
Coach's tip: Sing it light, close to your speaking voice, and nod to the beat. The “y” at the start of the syllable gives a soft onset – no hard attack.
What to watch out for
The most common slip is the minor third: singing it too close to the root makes it sound like a major second, so it turns red below the target. Another is rushing the eighths after the rest. Count the rest silently and come in on time. If you press on the “yo”, the notes get heavy and flat. Slow the tempo with the slider. Stop if your throat tightens.
Who it's for
A good first step into melodic rap singing, at any level, and a natural opener before faster flow work. Use it at the start of a session, after a few easy hums. When it feels comfortable, try “Fast diction “ta ka di mi”” for clearer syllables, or move on to “Triplet flow” in this same style, Hip-hop / melodic rap.
Opens the app in your browser. Free to start, no account needed. Put on headphones first.
Related exercises
- Hum on one note Closed lips, an “mmm” you feel in the lips and nose. Four seconds, calmly.
- Hum 5-4-3-2-1 Five notes downward on “mmm”. Warms up without loading the folds.
- Lip trill – siren Lips buzz like a motorboat, the sound slides an octave up and back.
- “Oo” siren (octave) Smooth glissando up and down on “oo”. Connects the bottom and top of the voice.
- Minor pentatonic The minor pentatonic up to the octave and back, the basic scale of R&B and soul runs. The minor third and the seventh give it a darker color than the major pentatonic.
- Minor pentatonic to the fifth Root, minor third, fourth, fifth and back – the lower part of the minor pentatonic, the scale of runs in R&B, rock and blues. A small range and a calm tempo: a good first step before the full scale.