Vocal Warm Up

Taking time to warm up the voice is a crucial part of singing. In this lesson Hannah demonstrates 4 types of vocal warm ups that we can apply to real life situations.

Lesson aims

• Looking at various vocal warm up basics and consolidating techniques from lessons 1 and 2

• Learning what warm ups are best for real life performance situations

Exercise 1 - Lip trills and Sirens

• Take in air using the diaphragm and then the lungs for extra air capacity

• While exhaling use 'lip trills' and work through a full 'siren' (from low to high and to low again) to warm up the voice and muscles

• For variation, try humming a 'siren' for a gentle and more relaxed way to warm up the voice

Exercise 2 - Humming an 'om' sound

• Simply say 'om' and try to hold onto the 'm' by humming

• This warm up sits deeper in the throat and provides a gentle warm up to the vocal cords

Exercise 3 - A, E, I, O, Ooo...

• This warm up combines the vocal cords and the muscles in the face to warm them up together, so it is good to make sure we accentuate the mouth shape on each letter

• Start on a comfortable note, hold that same note during singing the letters and then try to move up starting on the next note higher each time

Exercise 4 - Singing the major scale

• Starting on a comfortable note first, gently sing through the first 5 notes of the major scale and try repeating the scale up a note each time

• This is a useful warm up to learn as we can also start thinking about specific notes that can be included in harmonies later on - such as the 3rd and 5th of the scale