Would you run a marathon without doing a few stretches?
Your voice also needs a good warm up in order to run effectively.
In this article I’m going to focus on why you need to warm up your voice before singing, and offer up some of the best free exercises for different vocal types.
How to warm up your voice before singing
Why do you need vocal warm up exercises?
The vocal folds are a muscle, and like any muscle in your body you need to stretch these muscles before use to avoid injury.
Warming up not only stretches the vocal folds but increases blood flow to the larynx and other body parts including your lungs, lips and tongue. It will also help remove any unwanted mucus.
If you want to become a professional singer you need to make sure you take good care of your instrument at all times. This means doing vocal warm up exercises every time you sing.
Not warming up can lead to vocal fatigue, hoarseness and worst of all, nodules. Vocal injuries are something that all singers can avoid with good technique and proper care.
Vocal warm ups should be gradual. Start out with an exercise that applies as little pressure to your voice as possible and make your way up from there.
Vocal warm up exercises are great for improving your singing technique
Many exercises are based on ahh, ooo, eee vowel sounds. This rids you of the need to concentrate on things like lyrics, emotion and performance. Therefore you just focus on the technique.
By correctly learning how to warm up before singing, you can greatly develop your voice in other areas. Take this time to work on some vocal issues you may have:
- Want to learn how to sing high notes? There are vocal warm ups and exercises to help you achieve this
- Want to learn how to sing low notes? Vocal exercises
- Want to move cleanly between chest and head voice? Vocal exercises
- Want to develop a clear, less breathy sound? Exercises
I’m sure you’re getting the point! And it’s easy and affordable to get Singing Lessons Online.
Vocal warm up exercises are a singer’s best friend – a friend who can (I’ll honestly admit), be a bit of a bore at times…
No one really wants to spend 15 minutes or more everyday singing vowels and scales. But they are a vital part of how to be a good singer. That’s why seeking out a variety of singing exercises that are tailored to your vocal style, will help keep things interesting when warming up your voice.
Even Celine Dion has to do these exercises – listen to her tell Larry King about how she warms up before singing:
If you don’t currently have a vocal coach, you should get one. Having someone to guide you through these exercises correctly is invaluable to you as a singer.
When you do take lessons, and have the basic exercises down, try not to turn up without already warming up. Forgetting to do this just wastes your time and money.
What would you prefer to spend your hour doing? Warm ups – or working on that awesome new song?
Do some vocal warm up exercises before hand, and get the most out of every single lesson.
If you don’t currently have a vocal coach I highly recommend you check out these online programs – Singorama or Superior Singing. Its a great foundation to have before paying the big bucks for a personal tutor and you can take lessons when it suits you.
There are so many elements to becoming a successful singer. If you aren’t already earning the big bucks it’s almost certainly down to one or more of the 8 core reasons singers fail.
Find out what you need to work on urgently. Grab a copy of my free checklist and discover, in just 10 minutes, which of THE 8 most common mistakes are holding you back – an how to solve them.
Vocal Warm up exercises for singers
Finding good vocal warm up exercises can be a difficult task. So I’ve taken the hard work out, and sourced some great videos that will show you how to warm up your voice before singing.
These warm up exercises suit a few popular vocal types and styles.They all speak about the importance of warm ups at the beginning of every video (as we’ve discussed above). So after you’ve watched them once, feel free to skip ahead in future to the actual vocal warm up exercises.
Warm ups are one of the essential parts of learning how to sing better – they are fundamental.
Introduction and vocal warm up exercises with Dr Dan Djarts
How to warm up your voice before singing: for all voice types with Eric Arceneaux
Rock/Pop vocal warm up exercises for Men with Rock the Stage NYC
Rock/Pop: how to warm up your voice before singing for Women with Cari Cole
How to warm up your singing voice for singing higher notes with David DiMuzio
Like these tips?
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