How to Warm up Your Voice for Singing

Want to know how to warm up your voice for singing? Get to grips with the best methods to warm up your voice.

In this post we are going to talk about how to warm up your voice before you perform or even practice. We’ll discuss why you need to warm up, how to warm up, and whether you need to warm up your body as well as your voice or not.

So as not to keep you in suspense here’s my take in one sentence:

Warming up your voice is important and if you follow the steps and exercises in this post you will give yourself a much better chance of success.

Do You Need to Warm up Your Voice?

Why do you have to warm up anyway?

Why can’t I just get on stage and start singing straight away?

After all, there is a limit to how long I can sing for and why spend 30 minutes warming up when I could better be singing and be able to last for longer?

Do you think that these questions are valid?

I used to think so and I basically never warmed up until one time I was singing and suddenly instead of a note a squeak came out. It didn’t hurt me or anyway, at least not physically. But it definitely is a hit to your confidence when these things happen. From that point and on, I always try and warm up before I sing. On the rare occasions that I don’t have time before, then I make sure to sing much more quietly than normal and slowly build up to the level that is required.

So in truth, you have to warm up before you sing.

As we have mentioned elsewhere, a lot of the singing voice has to do with muscle control. Just like in any sport you have to warm up before you start otherwise you run the risk of injury, the same is true with singing. It may not take too long to warm up, but it’s imperative that you do so.

Will Warming up Affect the Actual Time I Am Able to Sing For?

Some people have asked me that if let’s say you have 30 units of singing and you use up 10 of them for preparation, you won’t be able to sing for a long time.

This is Complete and Utter Garbage!

It’s simply not true and if that happens to you then it means that you didn’t warm up properly and probably have bad technique. The goal of your warmup is simply to warm up. Nothing more than that. It’s not about trying to get to the top and bottom of your range. It’s about ensuring that you are breathing properly, that you feel you are in the right frame of mind to be able to sing your best, and that the muscles that you use to sing are ready for you to start having fun. If you are straining, then you are doing it wrong. If it takes more than 10 minutes, then you are doing it wrong. I wouldn’t even recommend listen to a bunch of recorded scales as this often leads to you going higher or lower than you need to. I hope I’ve convinced you that warming up is essential and that it doesn’t take too long. Now on to the actual exercises

How to warm up for singing

Below you’ll find some of the most popular warm up that singers do. Don’t feel the need to do them all. The most important thing to remember here is that it’s a warmup. When you feel that you are ready to start real singing, then you are ready. Listen to your body. Sometimes it may take you five minutes and other times even after 30 you won’t feel ready. That’s fine and expected. Just try and relax with it and you’ll be great!

blank

Exercise 1: Increasing your vocal lung capacity:

Stand up straight and feel that there is a string attached to the back of your head, gently pulling it up so that your spine is straight. This will get everything in alignment.
Stand with your arms at your sides
Slowly bring them up to overhead, directly over your head and breathe deeply
Slowly bring them back down

What this does is that it opens your lungs a little bit thus getting you to be able to breathe better.

Exercise 2: Dog Pants

Breathe in and out of your mouth as fast as you can, like a dog who has just been running. This is the second stage of opening your lungs and breathing apparatus to get you singing correctly. If your stomach and abs start to hurt during this don’t worry. All it means is that you’re doing it correctly and that at the moment you don’t have the strength. It’s just like lifting or doing a core workout for the first time. Give yourself a chance to be a beginner. No one becomes an expert overnight.

Exercise 3: Simple Scales

In this exercise it’s important to remember not to strain, go as slowly as want. Don’t feel pressure to go higher or lower than your normal, easy range.

Go up and down a 5-note scale.
Start where you are comfortable and just go up a little bit.
Make sure that each note is completely clear.

There should be no sliding, no portamento, no glissando. Just clean, clear notes. I want you to feel that each note is an event by itself. If you are feeling confident, try to change gear for each and every note. What this means is that you should aim to open and close your vocal chords slightly every single time you change note. To learn more about what I mean here, check out that post.

You can up as high or as low as you want, but please don’t try and force anything at all. (This actually always applies; you should never have to strain your voice. We are never aiming to do that and it’s important to remember this. Once you are singing correctly, you should be able to reach the top of your range and the bottom of it without straining. In fact, if you are singing with straining, you will not be able to reach those notes at all.)

The maximum you should be singing in your warmup is 10 notes. Not more than this. This is a warmup and you are not in a concert. You aren’t even really singing 🙂

Exercise 4: Lip Trills

There have been many people who I have taught that have had trouble being able to roll their lips. Even if they have managed, it often feels very weird. However, it’s pretty important to learn how to do it and get used to that sensation.

It often helps to try and think of making a noise of a horse. You just have to release the tension and let it go. If it’s easier you can try at first to do it without the sound. Once you are comfortable making the noise and moving your lips in the correct way, start adding sound to it. This shouldn’t take too long. If you are finding it difficult sip some water along the way. This will give you the moisture that you need to give yourself a leg up in the exercise.

If that’s not working try this:

Lick your licks.
Put your hands on your cheeks and try and remove any excess stress from them.
Put your fingers just above your chin and push them up to the point where your fingers are just above your mouth.
Try and blow out and trill!
Don’t fill your cheeks with air. Try and keep them as flat as possible and ensure that all the air is going to your lips and not getting caught in your cheeks

If you still can’t manage to do the lip roll, try saying pudda pudda pudda pudda lots of times and then transitioning into the lip roll. This one sounds a little funny but it does actually work.

Exercise 5: Sirens

Make the sound of a siren.

Start low, get to high and then go back down again.

It doesn’t really matter how long the sound is but the important thing to remember for this is to go slowly up and down. You don’t want to be skipping the notes int the middle as this will not accomplish anything.

Exercise 6: Humming

Humming is actually pretty good as you simply cannot go too loud and strain your voice.

Go up and down the scale as much as you feel comfortable doing. Nothing more than that.

Feel the sensation and try and make sure to breathe from your stomach as you are doing this.

Do you have to get your body warmed up as well before you sing?

This is a popular question that I get asked a lot. Is it imperative to jog, stretch, warm up your body before you start to sing?

My answer is that yes, but only to a certain extent. Ultimately, the warmer your lungs are the more you’ll be ready to start singing. You can do some light jogging, stretching, lifting, whatever. It doesn’t really matter that much. The most important thing here is to just get your body moving somewhat. Personally, I think that cardio is the best form of physically warming up. You can just jog on the spot, do jumping jacks or something like this. Do it until the point where you feel warm and can belt out a note.

There are two main reasons why warming up physically is important.

In order to be able to utilise your lungs and singing muscles you need to warm them up. Whilst the singing warm up did so for the main singing muscles, as there are more muscles involved, it’s worthwhile to give them a shakedown too.
When you work out your body releases endorphins. This is a happy body made drug. It will help you relax your nerves and be able to perform with more confidence.

How important is warming up your body to sing?

I think that the importance of it depends on the kind of performing you are doing. If you need to propel your energy on stage then I think it’s very important. If you need to be jumping around then you don’t want to hurt yourself, obviously. In this situation, you simply have to warm up your body.

However, if all you are doing is singing in front of an audience and you are not going to be jumping around then the need is much less.

Remember, singers are not athletes, you don’t have to look like one, you don’t need to be on a strict diet, and you are allowed to be round. Endorphins don’t care what you look like before being released into your body. As long as you get them in, they’re in and you will enjoy their benefit

In closing

Singing should be a fun experience. Warming up just enables you to have more fun when you sing. You can follow the exercises mentioned above or just follow what feels right for you. I’m not going to say that what I’ve written here is gospel. You have to feel your voice and when you feel it’s ready, then it’s ready.

You may have some days when you need 3 minutes to warm up. You may have days when after 20 minutes you still don’t feel ready.

This is OK, don’t worry about it. It happens to every single singer. Try and relax and eventually you’ll be warmed up and ready to sing. As long as you know how to warm up your voice for singing you’ll be well on the path to success!

Good luck!