With any type of physical motion, there are muscles that need to be warmed up to work at their best. Singing is no different. When your singing muscles are warm, they will begin to function at their best. Only then will you be ready to hit the stage and deliver a stunning performance!
All it takes is 10 minutes with these five simple warm ups to maintain a healthy voice.
- Lip Buzz – Simply vibrate your lips together, without pitch at first. This will help build up your breath support and stamina while singing. Then, try adding a pitch to your lip buzz, and holding it anywhere from 3-5 seconds. Pitch can go up, down, or stay on one note.
- Solfege (“Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do”) – Starting on middle C, sing through the solfege up and down the scale, taking your time and really listening to each pitch. See if you can also try this warm up without a piano, as this will help with your ear training!
- “Mah-May-Me-Mo-Moo” – Remaining on one note (monotone), sing “Mah-May-Me-Mo-Moo” nice and slow, really pronouncing the Ms. Start low, and then sing up the scale. See if you can sing this exercise all in one breathe.
- “I Love to Sing” – This is one of the vocal exercises you can use to help with your range, as it includes an arpeggio. Starting low you are literally going to sing, “I love to sing” with a smile on your face! This is a great way to test your range through big jumps; it can be done fast and should be done in one breath.
- The Siren – Think of the sound of a fire engine passing by, and imitate it with your voice. Start at the lowest note in your range, and slide through every note to the top of your range. If you can sing the low notes and high notes, then you know you are in good vocal shape! However, if you are unable to do so, then it’s best not to sing and push too hard.
