Saturday, July 1, 2017 by Patti Barrow | Technique Helps

Warm-ups --> Focused technical exercises --> Implement into Song Repertoire -->  Artistic Performance

Over the years, Students have struggled from time to time with "doing warm-ups", deciding to just go right into their "song practice".  

For vocalists, this is the equivalent of running a 30 min marathon without stretching your quads, calves and glutes. Even if you do arm curls, bench press and jumping jacks, by the last corner the leg cramps are hitting and you are gasping for breath.  Without doing the proper warm ups, and warming up the proper muscles and tissues, the longer the race, the worse our race gets.  The same goes for our, and the more apt we are to attain vocal injury. So, are warm-ups and exercises really that important? Absolutely. Just as in any sport, warm-ups for the voice are necessary preparations for lesson, rehearsal or performance. And a definate must in preventing vocal injury. A good warm-up before a vocal work out will ensure the vocal cords are flexible and strong, while encouraging a vocal that is free yet controlled.

A short 5-10 minute selection of exercises is plenty to get you ready for action and even better if they quickly get you where you need to be. And remember, if you give yourself plenty of time to warm up before "go time", you can address any issues that may come up ...which helps avoid those last minute "freak outs". So which ones are the most efficient?  And what exactly do they do?

Well, here you go!  Enjoy!

GLISSANDO YAWNS - So many of us carry our tension in our jaws. We grit our teeth during the day and grind our teeth at night.  The act of yawning not only helps to open up the esophagus, but also helps in opening and relaxing the jaw. To help release jaw tension, place your fingers on your cheeks and slide the back to your hairline just in front of your ears. As you open your jaw, feel for the indentation in that joint. Massage that area, just below, and forward. Then on a "yaw", choose a high note in your head range and descend on a glissando as you drop your jaw on the "yaw".

LIP TRILL SIRENS - One of the first things we do in studio! This exercise is done by blowing air through closed, relaxed lips and voicing an 'uh' vowel will help to maintain that cord closure a bit better. Do a 1.5 or 2 octave scale to achieve the maximum stretch in the vocal cords. If you aren't sure how high or low that is, go as high and as low as is comfortable without feeling tension. If you are having a hard time getting it started, try placing a couple fingers into the fleshy part of your cheeks and raise them up. This can release extra facial tension and help your lips vibrate freely.

RASPBERRY TONGUE TRILLS - (a personal fave). Similar effect as a tongue or lip trill, only the tongue is out of the mouth and you're blowing a raspberry! When the tongue is further forward it lifts the tongue root off the larynx, and allows the larynx to lift and reach optimum height at the top of your range. It allows for a bit of extra stretch, even if it's just a note or two.  Keeping the tongue relaxed will train the tongue not to react to a change of pitch and is awesome for helping get rid of tongue tension.

STRAW GLIDES - Using a small plastic straw, think an "ah" as you sing through the straw, following that same range as the siren. The back pressure created when phonating helps to maintain better cord closure, so this warm up is excellent at helping rid the voice of any breathiness. It can also help in stabilising the larynx, regulating breath management and stretching the vocal cords in a very safe way.

SUSTAINS and VOWEL CHANGES - This is exercise #1 on your sheet, and more challenging than you may expect. Sustaining a note with vibrato can help to balance the tension in the vocal cords and will get you ready for those lengthy notes in your songs. Use an 'N' at the start to create a mini back pressure with the airflow such as 'Nay'. Hit a sustain before coming down an arpeggio scale at all pitches. Vary the vowels like ‘Nee’, ‘No’ or ‘Nay’ to know which vowels are easier and which may need a bit more attention. Once you have mastered the sustain on a single vowel, you enter phase 2.  Resonance varies on different vowel shapes, so you'll want to ensure that your voice stabilizes consistently from vowel to vowel. Following on from the exercise above, sustain your starting vowel for two beats, then switch to another. Be sure to keep your balance and composure as you change between the vowels, and challenge yourself in the trickier parts of your voice too.

NG's. - These are exercises 12 & 13 on your sheet.  This is the "hung" exercise. When you voice the 'ng', you'll feel your tongue and soft palette meet at the back of your mouth. Like the straw, this is an occluded exercise, so once again it's great at creating that back pressure of air to the vocal cords. It's also very effective in helping to bridge the passaggio so use it on sirens from the very bottom of your range to the top (as far as feels comfortable) and back down again. Gently use this on a 5 tone descending scale to the very lowest part of the range to warm up your low notes.

THE 'A' VOWEL - This is an excellent exercise for those of you that are breathy in the chest region of the range. When keeping the mouth wide and the tongue resting forward, make a repeated staccato "A" sound (as in cat). Keep the scale short (1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1) and use as little volume as possible, while keeping the sound clear and non-breathy. This will help to get the vocal cords working on their own instead of using excessive breath and/or muscle tension to bring them together.

Remember, it's the warm-ups that help things get out of the way and take their rightful place. Warm-ups also help those intricate muscles and vocal folds stretch and awaken, and ready to do their part! After including these warm ups to your routine, try one of the more difficult parts in your song ee where it's made the difference!