Every professional athlete should stretch their muscles to prepare for the major game. In the same way, every professional performer or vocalist knows that vocal warmup or exercises for vocals are essential for ensuring that they can give their most effective performance when they get to the mic. Thus, singers need to warm their vocal voices before an audition or rehearsal.
The time is only 10 minutes to complete these five easy voice warming exercises to keep the health of your voice. If you can warm up properly, it will allow you to sing for longer durations without putting in as much effort. These exercises for singing are suitable for both advanced and beginning vocalists, so be sure to try them regardless of where you’re on your journey to singing. Include these vocal warm-ups in your routine, and you’ll be an expert in singing your favourite songs within minutes! But first, let’s talk about how to improve your voice to sing.
How do you train your voice?
Before we present you with a few useful exercises to improve your vocal performance, we will explain the elements that you might overlook while training your voice. These voice-training tips may seem small; however, many people looking to sing better ignore these tips and then inquire in fear, “how do I train my voice? !” thinking that they won’t ever be able to perform better.
Control your breath
In the beginning, proper and thorough breathing is essential to develop a pleasing sounding voice. Each day, you should practice breathing exercises: take an inhale deep and exhale slowly, with an”AHHH” sound. You can repeat the same thing, but while inhaling, do your best to create the “OOHH” noise.
When you practice this breathing technique, you will be able to feel the difference in the movements of your diaphragm muscles and the tension you create within your lung.
By breathing this way, you release air that continuously escapes from your lungs, and they get more powerful. In time, it can contribute to the slight dissolution of your voice and a smooth transition between the sounds.
Keep working on improving your ear pitch.
It’s impossible to conceal an unnatural tone during a song. You could be out of tune, or perhaps not when you sing. This means you must improve your technique of moving between notes during the song. Play a note with an instrument such as an instrument like a guitar or piano as the note rings out as you listen and listen to it. Repeat it in your head, and then sing to the tune.
Learn to use your voice
Don’t ignore the influence of external influences that could affect your voice negatively. Don’t forget to wear warm clothing to protect your body against cold. Learn to choose the right time to make the stop (to remain silent) to provide a break on your throat. Please don’t overdo it by shouting during football games or similar circumstances that could cause harm to your throat or lunges and affect the ability of your voice to sing.
Find your ideal vocal style.
There are many incredible singers around the world. However, no one can be flawless in every style. It’s quite the typical situation where your skills and voice range are restricted. Based on the type of voice you have, your vocal range, your gender, age, and your preferences, it is your choice to choose what genre you want to sing. You might be good at jazz, opera and country music, rock, folklore or even Afro-pop.
There is no need to look like someone else. You can be unique. You can not copy someone’s voice and make your voice. Keep in mind that you’re not like, say, Beyoncé. Your tone, pitch, and volume are aspects of your body’s physiology.
Many amateur singers copying their idols and singing professionally do not achieve the level of success. The problem is that our world doesn’t require the next Elton John or Beyoncé. Be original, and you’ll have more chance of success.
Lastly, quit smoking.
Smoke contaminates your lungs and causes them to get weak.
ALSO READ: 5 Easy Tips In Lowering The Action On An Electric Guitar
Best Daily Vocal Exercises for Singers
Below are vocal warm-ups to get your voice up to the highest step!
Breathing Exercises
1. Inhale and exhale on a hiss
A popular (and extremely effective) breathing routine is taking a breath for a certain period, then exhaling with a hiss or “sss” sound. Locate a metronome; you can download a metronome-related app and set it at 80 bpm within 4-fourth. After that, try different lengths of time of inhaling and exhaling. Remember that it is important to breathe through your diaphragm rather than your shoulders and neck when you breathe. This chart can be used to help you start:
Inhale | Exhale “sss” |
4 Counts | 4 Counts |
4 Counts | 8 Counts |
4 Counts | 12 Counts |
4 Counts | 16 Counts |
2 Counts | 4 Counts |
2 Counts | 8 Counts |
2 Counts | 12 Counts |
2 Counts | 16 Counts |
1 Count | 4 Counts |
1 Count | 8 Counts |
1 Count | 12 Counts |
1 Count | 16 Counts |
Test yourself by doing this exercise and see the length of time you can exhale with the sound of a scream before you are off breath! Be sure to take your time between each to exhale to ensure you don’t become dizzy.
2. The Straw Technique
A great breathing exercise is exhaling or humming an anthem through straws. If your breath is focused on the straw, you only focus on breathing support as your body and face remain still.
You can use the same procedure you did with the “hiss” exercise or sing the song(s) you’re practicing by breathing through the straw. You can breathe via the straw or exhale out of the straw in case you feel uneasy.
Afterwards, you can use your exhaled breathing to carry the hum throughout the straw. Try to hum the entire song. It’s not as easy as it appears!
3. Lay down
Lying on your back can be a beneficial breathing exercise because it makes the body breathe using your diaphragm. Try singing one of your vocal pieces or vocal lessons while lying on your back.
Place both hands over your stomach. Every time you breathe, you notice your stomach and your diaphragm expand.
Vocal Warm-Ups
1. Lip Trills
Take a deep breath, then move the breath to your lips. Let them vibrate. Make sure your lips are relaxed, and you’ll soon be making a lip-trill! If you are using lip trills as an exercise in vocal warming, it is important to go a step further and increase the pitch in your lip trill to make it appear like you’re “singing” using lip trills.
Lip trills can be extremely beneficial in a vocal warm-up routine due to a variety of reasons:
- They aid in relaxing your lips so that you can speak with more clarity and vowel sounds.
- They relieve the pressure on the vocal cords in the warm-up phase.
- They help warm the diaphragm and surrounding muscles to improve breathing control and also help you maintain your posture.
Try singing pentascales or arpeggios on the lip trill. And for more exercise, attempt singing the entirety of the lip trill.
2. Sirens
Sirens, also known as “octave slides”, are exactly as they sound like sirens. To simplify, the siren is a slide across the sound of an “oh” or “oo”, starting from your most comfortable note to the highest, then returning to the lowest note.
The exercise may sound obnoxious and absurd, yet it’s extremely efficient. Sirens are a great way to warm the lower and highest areas of your registers and also connect the registers. If you have trouble making an effortless transition between your chest and head voices, this is an ideal workout for you!
3. Humming
One of the most gentle methods to warm your voice is to start with a hum. We suggest starting with some big pentacles. Then, you can go up by half a step as high as you can.
Repeat the procedure and go downwards by half a step as low as is comfortable.
It is also possible to make minor pentacles, arpeggios, octaves, etc. You need to continue to hum until your vocal cords begin getting warm.
4. Vowels
The practice of warming up by singing your vowels is an excellent method to concentrate your energy and tone before you begin singing your repertoire. When we’re tired and distracted, our voice can be slowed down without us realizing it.
Taking the time to concentrate your tone mindfully can result in an efficient and effective practice. Start on any note, then move either up or down by half a step. Sing all the vowels “ae-ee-ah-oh-oo” and try your best to join each vowel, making sure you breathe until you get to your next note.
5. Solfège Ladders
Solfege ladders are lots of fun! They begin at doing and then sing do-redo, do-Remi-redo, do- and so on until you reach the next Octave! This is how it appears like in the whole:
This practice forces you to concentrate on syllables as well as pitch simultaneously which is a fantastic method to stimulate your brain when working on memorizing. Begin slowly and then work to increase the speed you can achieve.
Solfege ladders can be a great way to enjoy singing during a round! Start with one person, and when they reach measure 3, the task, and once they are at the 3rd measure, then have the next person start at the beginning. It is possible to make this exercise as large a group of individuals as you’d like! The more people you have, the more difficult it becomes to keep your own!
6. Arpeggios
Arpeggios aren’t just effective for vocal exercises but also as an ear-training exercise! The more quickly you sing arpeggios, the more challenging it becomes to get the middle of every pitch.
While singing, concentrate on changing between pitches with the utmost precision.
Arpeggios can be sung that is a vowel sound, like “ah” or “oh,” “solfege,” or compose a sentence using the same amount of vowels as the notes. Try: “Mighty fine weather today.”
7. HA-HA-HA (Great in chest vocals)
The final exercise we will demonstrate can be a lot of fun! This exercise is ideal for those who want to build their chest voice or expand their vocal range. It’s easy all; you need to perform to sing “ha” on every note of a decreasing petascale.
The method is to create the space between notes so that you can put your focus on every pitch. Consider the notes in staccato, as well as enhanced. You can sing these notes in your chest voice. Push yourself to expand your range every time!
8. Arpeggiate Alternating Major and Minor Triads
The exercise is certainly more challenging because it’s an ear conditioning exercise and also an exercise to improve intonation. Begin by arpeggiating a minor triad, then go up a half-step and then repeat the arpeggiation of an arpeggiated minor triad, then go up a half-step, then repeat the procedure. This can be done on every vowel, solfege or phrase.
We hope these vocal warm ups and breathing exercises have been helpful to you and motivated you to begin warming your voice with reason! Be sure you’re taking good care of your voice, and when you require an answer.