GENERAL WARM UPS!
These warm ups are for exercising all registers of your voice. We’d advise starting with these, so that when you move on to other registers, or new techniques, your voice is warm and your vocal cords have had a chance to wobble!
FIRST EXERCISE
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If standing or sitting, plant your feet a little bit more than shoulder width apart, and feel them connect with and soften into the floor below you. Your knees can soften too, keeping you balanced.
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Gently roll your shoulders backwards with soft, circular motions, then allow them to relax. Let your arms hang loose, and breathe deeply in through your nose, feeling your lungs expand outwards.
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Imagine a string attached to the top of your head, pulling you lightly upwards, and let this invisible line connect all the way from the top of your head to your feet.
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Breathe deeply through your mouth as if you were going to yawn, and then let out a sigh, starting at the mid-top of your range, travelling down through to the lower end of your range. Repeat this a few times to ‘wake up’ your middle range, and extend your soft palate.
SECOND EXERCISE
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Thinking of your favourite food or flavour, hum quietly on an ‘mm’ sound, as though expressing appreciation for the taste. This can start higher up in your register and travel down, or start lower and gradually rise; think about how you would show your enjoyment.
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Move this ‘mm’ sound around the different registers of your voice, exploring up and down comfortably. This ‘wakes up’ the higher and lower end of your range without putting pressure or strain on the vocal cords.
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Find a pitch that is easy to sing, somewhere in the middle of your register, and hum your ‘mm’ sound, then gradually open your mouth and let it blossom into an ‘ah’ sound. Repeat this a few times on different comfortable pitches. This focuses the voice and keeps the breath flowing freely through the sound.
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Move your ‘mm-ah’ sound gradually higher and lower, stopping as soon as it becomes tense, or if you feel you have reached the limits of where you are comfortable exploring. Repeat this but travelling downwards, again stopping as soon as there is any discomfort or if you are finished with that part of the range.
THIRD EXERCISE
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Think of a song that you like singing, and picture the words of the first line in your head. Speak the words aloud, noting how they feel in your mouth.
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Speak the first line again, stressing words that you think are important to the line, and exploring where emphasising these words changes the meaning of the line.
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Experiment with different ‘moods’ you can speak the line in; this could be in hushed tones, with bold confidence, with yearning, with total neutrality, or anything else you can think of. This helps your tongue, lips, and teeth with pronunciation and clear diction when you are singing.
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Finally, sing the first line of the song as though you are singing to someone who has never heard it before. Which are the important sounds, letters, and feelings to convey; what story are you telling them?
