Here are some quick vocal warm ups to help you prepare your voice to perform at its best.
Warming up your voice is essential because a brief vocal warm ups can help loosen up the vocal cords and get you ready for the day ahead. Going through your vocal range and activating the different parts of your voice can also help minimise the occurrence of mistakes and voice cracks.
The most obvious time to warm up is in the morning before you set about your workload for the day. Incorporating quick and easy daily vocal warm ups into your morning routine is a great way to create a good habit and start everyday with your best voice.
You most definitely don’t need a long warm up routine in order to get your voice at its best. Around 10-20 minutes is enough time to have a shower and wake up your range.
Create a routine for yourself that includes exercises which address the main problems you face and stick to it on a daily basis no matter what you’re up to that day. Try out different warm up exercises and choose the ones that feel good for you and try to create your own personalised routine.
Here are a few daily exercises that you can use to warm up your voice.
1.Lip Rolls/Lip Trills – these are quite popular with singers or people who take vocal lessons. Lip rolls are a great way for anyone to wake up your range and move through your different vocal registers. So, keep your mouth closed, and produce a ‘B’ sound while keeping a constant flow of air.
This will make your lips vibrate which will make the ‘rolling’ or ‘trill’ sound. Do this first on a single pitch in your speaking range and then when you feel more comfortable do this though your range.
2.Do tongue trills in the morning (try it in the shower, or on your drive to work) to facilitate better use of airflow and breath. “BRRRRRR” “DRRRRRR”. Tongue Trills are similar to lip rolls but cause a vibration in your tongue rather than your lips and are another great way to move through your range whilst warming up different resonance in your voice.
- Easy one – “RED BLOOD, BLUE BLOOD” & “RED LEATHER, YELLOW LEATHER”
- Challenging one – “DON’T YOU, CAN’T YOU, WANT YOU, WON’T YOU”
If travelling to work by car, these are great to do in the mornings, as long as you’re careful and don’t let it distract you form driving. So, open your mouth wide and stretch your mouth and face. Keep hands on the wheel and eyes on the road!
Want more voice care tips? You can read our other vocal care articles here, or find out more about our products to help you keep a clear voice here.