Why Are Vocal Warm Ups Important?
Pfft! Why do I have to warm up at all?
When you are singing you use the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (the muscles that control the closing of your cords), both who need to be treated kindly as they're pretty delicate.
Stretching and relaxing the muscles before we sing loosens those muscles, helps to remove excess mucous and reduces the risk of injury (because let's face it, losing your voice sucks).
BUT my thoughts on warm ups is that they should be also be USEFUL and specific to what you’re working on.
There are too many singers who are running through exercises without a purpose who are yes, stretching their vocal cords but really not helping their voices prepare for what it is they’ll be singing next.
What makes a good warm up?
STARTING OFF GENTLY
In an "ideal world vocal warm up," you should begin with gentle exercises that put as little pressure on the muscles as possible, release any tension in the throat and neck and allow only a small amount of air to pass through the vocal cords.
Humming and using lip trills are two great ways to do this. What pattern or melody you do them on doesn’t matter as much as the choice of sound you’re producing or the tool you’re using.
WORK ACROSS YOUR RANGE(S)
You want to move through exercises that span across your entire range, the low notes all the way up to the highest ones.
I suggest to my singing students that they separate the “highest notes” into two camps. You’ll have a highest note in my head voice (light, sweet quality) and a highest note in my chest dominant mix (strong, powerful quality).
It’s important to remind your voice how to efficiently create mid to high notes in both qualities, so don’t forget to warm up that belt range with vocal exercises that are tailored to that sound.
I often like descending exercises that start on the highest note and head down from there because it can help singers eliminate the strain that can come from climbing up to higher pitches.
GET CLEAR ON YOUR VOCAL GOALS
What is it that you’re wanting to improve about your voice? That’s the kind of direction we need to tailor a warm up to a singer.
I’ll give you some ideas of what you can focus on below.
Do vocal exercises help develop my voice?
If they’re structured with a purpose and a focus, yes. Unfortunately often we collect singing exercises that we think are helping but aren’t developing new habits (or neural pathways).
A few ideas for the purpose of an exercise are:
Getting better cord closure (getting more clarity/eliminating breathiness)
Breath control/stamina
Releasing tongue tension
Learning about vowel modification
Smoothing out your vocal break
Agility and flexibility
Growing your range
Developing consistent airflow
Learning how to do a clean onset
Each of these “goals” will require something different within an exercise, so again, the pattern usually matters less than the approach.
I like to use the songs I’m working on as exercises (because I grew up with monotonous repetitive scales and I might have a little PTSD from them), but you can use almost any melody to work on the above.
Know exactly what you want to work on and would like some guidance around what exercise would support you in that?
Leave a comment below!