Warming up the voice can often be unpopular. But whether you do it through sequential repetitive patterns, or the song you’re belting, you can’t escape the warm-up process.
(3-minute read time)
Photo by Stepan Kulyk on Unsplash
Like warming up a car engine before you put it under workload, strategically preparing the voice for the workload of a song will mean that it “drives” better and you can focus on artistic development and stagecraft.
To be completely clear, your voice has to go through this process no matter what. Periods of inactivity (such as sleep) shift soft tissue and muscles to a rest state with less blood flow. This leads to reduced flexibility and means you could injure your voice if you go from zero to 60 straight away. So the question is not whether you will warm up, but how you will warm up.
WARM-UP EXERCISES VS WARM-UP SONGS
You might wonder if it really matters whether you use songs or exercises to warm up?
I think the benefits of using exercises to warm up instead of songs are:
- You are more likely to cooperate with the voice’s state of “coldness” by beginning with smaller range patterns, eg 5 note scales. It is hard and uninspiring to organise your songs in order of range span and always sing them in that sequence. Exercise lists can do that work for you and serve as an easy doorway into the song work that matters to you.
- Singing songs usually recruits a certain level of expectation concerning style and volume. Whether you realise it or not, you expect it to sound a certain way. There’s a good chance you will push for that voice quality and could harm the voice by putting it under strain when it is less flexible.
- You could draw the wrong conclusions when problems occur in a song. If something isn’t landing how you want it to, it could be due to the voice not being warmed up and ready. However, you could confuse that for a different technical problem. This could lower your confidence and lead to unnecessary worry.
Ok…hopefully I have your attention. Now let’s take a few steps back and build more context.
WHY WARMING UP IS IMPORTANT
Singers are small-muscle athletes! Unlike other musicians, you only have one instrument for your lifetime. Developing a routine of vocal warm-ups prior to practice and performance will encourage healthy and efficient vocalising while also preventing fatigue and damage. The following benefits will help you to gain optimum skill in both speaking and singing.
- “Boot up” or “tune up” your brain & body programs to prepare for vigorous, high-speed, efficient & sustainable vocalisation.
- Ensure that your muscles are doing the job they were designed to do, not compensating for one another.
- “Listen” to your mind, body & heart in order to plan your vocal load.
- Get blood flowing through muscle fibres (whole body + vocal) to raise their temperature, strengthen muscle fibres, enhance stamina and prevent injury.
- Increase healthy mucus to flow in the larynx and vocal tract, enabling flexible tone production and coordination.
WHAT IS A WARM-UP?
Vocal warm up exercises:
- are relatively simple exercises that gently enhance the range of motion of muscles and joints by increasing blood flow to muscles, muscle temperature, and flexibility.
- have the goal of preparing the body-instrument to work.
- can usually be accomplished in 5-10 minutes.
I differentiate a warm-up exercise from a training exercise, because the voice can take on new skills more readily when the voice is warmer. Think of it like the difference between tuning your guitar so it is ready to play and practicing transitions between two new chord positions.
Vocal technique or training exercises:
- move beyond warming up and creates a bridge into song work.
- will advance vocal technique and support injury prevention or recovery.
- include technical goals and targeted exercises to develop specific functional or rehabilitative objectives.
- may range from 15-45 minutes in duration.
- address vocal coordination in the context of the music typically performed.
Top Tip
Both warming up the voice and training the voice can and should be custom-designed to complement the song and performance work you are undertaking.
WHAT A “WARMED-UP” VOICE FEELS LIKE
This takes time to become familiar as we will all sense it in different ways. But here are some of the features you will come to sense:
- Increased blood flow to neck suggesting warmth.
- Thinned out vocal secretions providing flexibility.
- Reduced muscle tension.
- Individual muscles ready to perform (abdomen, ribs, throat, mouth, brain).
- Voice systems coordinating (breath, range, vocal tract, registers, articulation) for optimal habits.
- Tuned in to kinaesthetic feedback rather than acoustic feedback.
- All parts of the range accessible and ready to undertake the demands of a song.
HOW TO DESIGN A “BALANCED” WARM UP
- Take a moment for mindful awareness
Whether you are choosing your own warm-ups, following a list, or using a randomly generated selection, it is good to discern:
-
- How rushed I feel as I transition from the previous activity I was doing.
- What condition your instrument is in today so that you can set your practice expectations.
- What a good flow of exercises is in general.
- Whether the next exercise that pops up is what your voice really wants to do next.
2. Try this general pattern of exercise types:
-
- Stretch your body
- Energise breath (unvoiced breathing then SOVT sounds like lip trills, straw bubbles or fricatives)
- Gentle warm-up (5 note range, start in middle of the voice)
- “Head” voice dominance (descending patterns starting in the upper middle of your range, OO/AW vowels)
- “Chest” voice dominance (ascending patterns, starting lower, EE/EH vowels)
- Articulation (rapid mouth movements, contrasting consonants, requires mental agility)
- Put it all together (8-10 note range patterns, balancing resonance and registration, recruiting greater breath management)
3. Bear these principles in mind (thanks to Pat Wilson):
-
- Body movement before vocalisation
- Big muscles before little muscles
- Small intervals before big intervals
- Noises (lip trills, tongue trills, humming) before vowels
- Vowels before consonants
WHAT’S NEXT?
My top tips are:
- Experiment to discover what works for you.
- Discuss it with a vocal coach to discern what your voice needs to grow healthier.
- Stay flexible and responsive to your voice as it is each day.
- Don’t assume that someone else’s routine will work for you, even if they have a similar voice type.
- Try a vocal cool down next.
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SOURCES
Leborgne, W.D. & Rosenberg, M. (2014) The Vocal Athlete. Plural Publishing, San Diego.
Scearce, L. (2016). Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation, A Practical Approach to Vocal Health and Wellness. Plural Publishing, San Diego.
Wilson, P.H. (2017) A warm-up & voice exercise recipe, ANATS ACT Workshop