Before starting your singing practice, it is a good idea to correct your posture, if necessary, and do some voice warm up exercises. The following points give an insight into the nature of warm up exercises and an idea of what they entail.
Posture
Keep your head turned slightly upwards without stretching your neck.
Relax your shoulders but not hunched forward.
Stand straight with legs slightly apart and not rigid at the knees.
Allow your weight to be distributed equally on both feet.
Don’t tighten your stomach or back muscles.
Arms by your side
If you have been feeling tense, do some relaxation exercises*(see below)
Warming Up Your Voice
Start by singing up and down a scale using the: doh, ray, me, fa, so, la, te, doh. Remember to pronounce the vowels in an exaggerated style.
Sing the scales using long, drawn out notes and short clipped notes.
Sing the word “ung”, only allowing the sound to come out through the nose. This is known as the “siren” and is practised by many professional singers. To check that you are doing it correctly - pinch your nose and the sound should be cut off.
Humming is also another effective warm up strategy.
Control Tone and Breath
The following exercise is designed to increase breathing capacity and strengthen the stomach muscles. This exercise must be performed in one breath.
Select a note that you are comfortable with, preferably somewhere in your mid-range. Draw in a deep breath and begin singing the sound ”ee” very softly, then, build up strength until you are singing with intensity. Try to stay on key , then slowly revert back to a soft voice.
Do not sing to the point where it is uncomfortable as this will strain you voice.
*Relaxation exercises
A very quick and effective method of relaxing you muscles is as follows.
Sitting comfortably in a chair, focus on you feet and imagine that they are very relaxed. Become very aware of them and start to feel any stress being removed from them.
Next make your way up the leg and focus on your calf muscles. Again, imagine them to be very relaxed and tension bing removed.
Continue this train of thought traveling up the body to your head.
When you have finished (it should only take around 10 minutes), keep sitting for another few minutes and allow the relaxation to wash over you. Do not get up suddenly, but gently rise from the chair and you are good to go.
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