Two pitches can be connected by a smooth vocal slide or by a series of separate notes. Comparing the journeys draws attention to what happens between the starting and ending points.
Choose a small, comfortable range and a quiet level. If singing is uncomfortable, use an instrument or an available sound tool you already know, or follow the exercise by listening rather than producing the sound.
Draw two routes first
On paper, connect a low point and a higher point with one continuous line. Beside it, draw a staircase joining the same endpoints. These are visual prompts, not precise musical notation.
Try the continuous journey, then the stepped one. Keep the overall duration roughly similar so that the manner of travel becomes the main change. Do not stretch your voice to reach a larger interval.
Ask a listener to describe where they noticed separate beginnings. Their answer may reveal that a supposedly smooth version contained an interruption, or that the stepped version blurred together.
There is no need to declare one route more expressive. Use the difference as a compositional choice: a rising gesture might feel continuous in one version and deliberately counted in another. Save the drawings with a short note about the sound you intended each to invite.
Editorial illustration from this site’s image library; not documentary evidence of the example or object discussed.