September 1, 2010

Vocal Warm Ups

Just as athletes are required to complete warm up exercises prior to a race or a game, singers need to prepare their voices before a rehearsal or show. Singing warm up exercises get the air flowing and relaxes your muscles to prepare for the greater demanding activity to come. It really is possibly the most effective technique to prevent vocal exhaustion and overuse damage.
It may seem counterintuitive–more exercises to prevent overuse injury? Yes. Your vocal folds are controlled by very small muscle groups, and once they’re warmed-up they're more adaptable, easier to use, and less prone to injury.
Before beginning your singing warm up exercises, carry out some whole-body stretching and relaxation. Start with the "rag doll" exercise. From a standing position, bend forward at your hips, allowing your head and arms to dangle freely. Shake them a bit, then just let them {dangle for another minute or so. A good exercise to begin with is the "rag doll". Stand upright bending forward from your hips. Then allow your arms and head to droop and dangle for a little while.}Follow that with a stretching exercise for proper posture alignment. Stand with your feet level on the ground, approximately hip-width apart, and your arms at your sides. Bring your arms quickly up and across your chest in a circular fashion until they are above your head. Now up onto your tiptoes, breath in deeply and continue to move your arms up. As you slowly breathe out, bring your arms back down to your sides and come back down to flat feet. Try to keep the chest up and shoulders back, as they had been at the top of the stretch, after bringing your arms down. You are now able to begin singing.
The first singing warm up exercise uses a method that goes by several names: buzz, bubble lips, lip roll, or lip trill. Exhale through puckered lips to create a vibration, sounding rather like a speedboat or even a "raspberry".
linking three tones: the base tone, up a fourth, and back to the bottom (do-fa-do): in the key of C major, it would be C,F,C. Do again, moving up a half step each time (C, F, C, then D,G,D, then Eb, Ab, Eb, etc.). You can also do this on the syllable "ee" or "oo", but the buzz forces you to use good breath support.~The buzz slide will be made between three tones: the bass tone, which is up a fourth, and then back to the base. (do fa do) so in C major the notes would be C, F and C. You need to repeat this and after that move up a semi-tone every time. Do this as well with the syllables "oo" and "ee" but the buzzing method makes for you to use great breath support.}The next singing warm up exercise is the fifth-slide. Begin on the fifth tone with the syllable "wee" and slide downward to the base (so-do): in C major again, it would be G, C. Do again on the equivalent tones with "zoo", then move up a half-step and do again, "wee" and "zoo" on  Ab and Db. Keep on moving up by half-steps.
Next is the five-tone descending scale. Starting on the fifth tone, descend stepwise to the base: so, fa, mi, re, do. First do the syllable "na", next "nay", "noh", and "noo". Move up a half-step and do again the scale on every syllable.
The fourth singing warm up exercise is a descending 8-tone scale (do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do) on the syllable "noo". Once more, move up a half-step with each repeat. You can additionally try further vowel sounds, such as "nah", "nay", "nee", or "noh", or use "m" instead of "n" as the initial consonant. Try to feel your mask, or upper resonance, as you execute this.
Chase that with a descending arpeggio: do, so, mi, do, on the syllable "nah". Go over on "nay", "nee", "noh", and "noo", then jump up by half steps and repeat on each syllable once more.
The final singing warm up exercise is the octave slide. Bring into play the buzz and start on the base note; slide up an octave and back down to the base: do, do, do. Repeat on "oo". Jump up a half-step, do the buzz, and followed by "oo". Carry on moving up by half-steps.

Tags: vocal exercises, vocal warm up, vocal warm up exercises, Warm Up Exercises

Filed under Dance Camps by Barb

Spread the Word!

Permalink Print