I'm sure you understand the importance of vocal warm-ups, when you're singing regularly, and you want to get the best out of your voice.
But did you know that every time you warm up, you should be doing at least one of each of 5 specific typesof warm-up?
Yes, it's true.
When you warm up, do you know what exactly you're doing for your voice with each exercise? Do you know which part of your vocal instrument you're working on?
If so, that's great. If not, you should.
The thing is, your voice is an instrument made up of 5 distinct Components, and we need to warm up each one of them.
That's right.
We need to get each part of the voice relaxed, flexible and strong. So it can do its job for you without effort or struggle.
So what are these 5 Components?
Check out the diagram below.
- We need a warm-up to help with Body Posture.
- We need a warm-up for your Breathing System.
- We need a warm-up for your Vocal Folds.
- We need a warm-up for your Resonators.
- And we need a warm-up for your Articulators.
These are the five parts of the voice that work together to create amazing sound.
When I work with voice students, I always guide them through five warm-ups as a bare minimum. Setting up your instrument right, allows it to work freely and keeps it healthy. It avoids wear and tear and enables your voice to serve you for years to come.
For singers who are serious about unlocking the full potential of their voice, I recommend doing further warm-ups, according to the song you're working on, and what it requires from your voice.
There are a whole range of warm-ups that exercise different Ingredients of your voice. The Ingredients are subsections of the 5 Components.
For example, when you exercise your vocal range, registers or phonation*, these are ingredients of the Vocal Folds Component. They give you incredible finesse and freedom.
Within the Breathing System Component, you could do exercises for the In- breath, the Out-breath, Sustain, Flexibility. These give you great breath control.
Within the Resonators Component, you could do exercises for bright resonance, dark resonance, warm resonance, nasal resonance, chiaroscuro. These give you a wonderful range of tone qualities to choose from.
Ingredients like projection, power and volume involve several parts of the instrument.
Within the Articulators Component, you could do exercises for the lips, the jaw and the tongue, which affect the clarity of your vowels and consonants.
These help your songs sound more expressive and communicative.
So you can see it's important to do the right kinds of warm-ups to activate all the possible strength and qualities of your voice.
Not only that, but it's important to do your warm-ups in the right way.
If you've been following a vocal warm-up routine, from a YouTube channel, or a vocal coach you haven't seen for ages, or a choir leader who gives you no feedback, then you won't know if you're doing it right.
It's absolutely essential to make sure you're doing the exercises correctly, so they don't become counterproductive or cause unseen wear and tear.
You really need personalised feedback on how you're doing the warm-ups so you can get the right results.
It's all too easy to stray from the intended purpose of the exercises, if you don't have an expert listening, tweaking and guiding you.
Have you ever done some warm-ups and wondered if you're doing them right, and having no way to know?
Well, I totally understand that. I've seen it a lot.
It's so important to me to help singers get the absolute fullest potential from their voices.
I want to help you unlock the richest, most powerful, freest, most soulful and uplifting sounds that are possible for you.
After all, your singing is a gift, both to the world and for your own joy.
So if you want that for yourself, I highly recommend you book in for an Ultimate Vocal Warm-Up Personalised Training Session.
You get 30 minutes with me, in which we teach you the best set of warm-ups to support and free your voice.
We fulfil the 5 Types and an array of the vocal ingredients according to your needs.
I show you exactly how to do them, what to look and listen for, how to optimise them.
You try out each warm-up several times with my coaching and feedback so you know exactly how to do it in future and get it just right.
This session helps you understand your voice much better. It gets you set up with a vocal workout you can rely on to strengthen your voice for weeks and months to come.
So don't delay, book in for your Ultimate Warm-up Session today.