LOW REGISTER WARM UPS!
These warm ups are for exercising the low/middle registers of your voice. They will make it easier to ‘boof’ like a sleepy dog on deep notes. We’d suggest incorporating these exercises midway through your warm up session, before tackling anything higher pitched.
FIRST ONE
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Think of the ‘ng’ in words like ‘sing’ and ‘sprung’, and slowly say these words out loud, focusing on where you feel the resonance in your nose, mouth, throat, or chest.
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Remove the start of the word, keeping the ‘ng’ only, and choose a comfortable pitch in your middle - low range. Hum ‘ng’ with a slightly open mouth on this pitch, then let the hum travel downwards.
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Repeat this gesture, gradually taking the hum lower and lower until you reach the edges of your range. This gently warms up the lower register of your voice, and allows it to become resonant without straining it.
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You can repeat this exercise, ending the hum with a vowel on every gesture e.g. ‘ng-oh’, ‘ng-ah.’ Letting this hum blossom into an open sound ensures pitch clarity and a confident start to a note.
SECOND ONE
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Using the word ‘sunshine’, choose a comfortable middle - low pitch, and speak the words whilst thinking on this pitch. It might help to sing the pitch on ‘sun-’ and then let the voice drop lower and more into speech on ‘-shine’.
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Experiment with how much breath you can use in this phrase, and how this might change the resonance or where it sits. Remember to breathe deeply in between every repetition!
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Explore the sibilance of the “s”s, using them as a springboard into your lower range. You might want to explore adding more pitch, or holding the notes for longer to get a sense of what this range feels like in the voice.
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This exercise can be repeated with any two-syllable words you might think of, especially those with repeated consonants or sibilance. Some words that you could try might include ‘drifting’, ‘silence’, ‘resist’, or ‘flip-flop’.
NOTE! USE CARE!
Like high registers, our low register should be warmed up very carefully, softly, and slowly, as to prevent strain or damage on/to the throat. Dynamically, these warm ups should be sung between very quietly and mostly quietly, the aim being to gently allow the voice to move lower without pushing or forcing it.