I’m breaking it down so you don’t breakdown (or want to give up!).
Runs. Riffs. Agility. There are a lot of names for that thing singers do when they move through a flurry of fast notes in a single breath – and if you’ve ever tried to learn one and felt lost, you are not alone.
The tricky thing about runs is that they sound effortless when your favourite singers do them. But behind that effortlessness is a process and before you get discouraged about the word “process” I want to reassure you that this is a lot more learnable than you think.
I learned runs by mimicking my favourite singers – Whitney, Mariah, Celine – usually just following along by ear until something clicked in for me.
And while that’s still one of the best things you can do (seriously, put on your favourite singer and try to follow along), I’ve also developed three specific tips that I use with my students to make runs more accessible.
Here’s my process of how I approach riffs and runs:
Tip 1: Find the number of notes
Before you try to sing a run at full speed, your first job is simply to figure out how many notes are in it. Count them out!
Slow the song down, listen carefully, and tally up each individual note in the run. You can sing along slowly, pause and replay, or just listen and mark it however makes sense to you.
The number itself becomes your anchor – it’s something concrete to hold onto before you try to make any of it sound pretty.
Once you know the number, you have something to work with. You know where the run begins and ends. And that leads me straight to tip two.
Tip 2: Draw a doodle
This one might surprise you, but it’s one of my favourite tools – and my students love it once they try it.
You are going to visualize the run. On your lyric sheet, right next to the word(s) where the run happens, draw a little doodle of what you think that run looks like. Is it going up? Down? Does it swoop and come back? Draw the shape – bumps, waves, swoops, whatever feels right to you.
Here are some examples from over the years of teaching – to get you inspired:
It doesn’t have to be perfect or technically accurate. The point is to create a visual map of something that’s usually invisible.
I’ve looked at students’ lyric sheets and they look like all kinds of wild and I love it, because they know exactly what every mark means. When they see it, they can sing it.
When you do this, your eye and your voice start working together. They’re literally meet on the same page!
Tip 3: Slow it way down
Now that you know the number of notes and have a visual picture of the run, it’s time to actually sing it. S L O W L Y.
Strip out the music completely and sing it acapella. Don’t worry if you lose the pitch. Don’t worry if it sounds nothing like the original. That’s not the point yet. The point is to map it out in your body – to feel where the run sits, where the vibration is, which resonators it’s moving through.
And while you’re doing it, physicalize it. Clap once for each note. Count on your fingers. Tap your chest. Move with it.
Getting your body involved does two things: it helps you fully internalize the number of notes, and it releases tension – because (and this part is HUGE for riffs and runs):
Everything should feel relaxed and free when you’re doing a run, and NOT gripped or forced.
Once the slow acapella version starts to feel familiar in your body, you can gradually bring the tempo back up.
You’ll find you have something to hold onto now – a shape to look at, a number to count out, a physical memory of the phrase – and the run will start to feel much more familiar the more you embody it.
A note on mimicking
Please please sing along with singers you love. It’s such a great way to enter into the world of riffs and runs!
Find a song with runs that excite you, put it on, and follow along as best you can. Do it over and over. Your ear will start to learn the shapes and your voice will start to follow.
Mimicking is not a shortcut, it’s actually one of the most effective long-term tools for building agility.
Combine that with these three tips and you’ll be surprised how quickly runs start to feel less like a mountain and more like something you can actually do. You’ve got this!
Want more support with your technique?
Book a session with me and we’ll work on runs, agility, and whatever else your voice is ready to tackle.
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