Many singers rely heavily on a vocal coach or teacher to guide them through exercises and scales, typically moving up or down by semitones to fully train and explore their voice. But what if you’d like the independence to train yourself without needing to learn piano or another accompanying instrument?

Introducing Numbiano—the singer’s new best friend! The Numbiano is made up of 36 number buttons, and each number represents a musical note. The number 1 is the tonal centre (or root note), and all other musical sounds are numbered based on how they relate to it. Red numbers represent major intervals, while blue numbers represent minor intervals. The number 1 with a red circle around it shows the octave above. To use it, simply copy the numbers written in the Numbiano notation directly onto the Numbiano instrument. It’s intuitive, colour-coded, and great for vocalists.

I recently came across a brilliant vocal exercise shared by vocal coach Kurt Wolf in this YouTube short. The exercise is designed to help singers build their mix voice, which is the bridge between chest voice and head voice. This is a vital area to train if you want vocal power and agility across your range.

I’ve transcribed the Kurt Wolf exercise into Numbiano Notation so you can follow along without needing a piano or vocal coach to guide you. Simply follow the pattern, sing the numbers with the correct vowel sounds, and slide the pattern up or down a semitone as needed to match your vocal range and goals.

Happy Singing!