We’ve all heard that warming up the voice before singing is important. But did you know there’s a right way and a wrong way of doing it?
As Brett Manning says, “the way you warm up is the way you’re going to sing.” For example, if you’re straining your vocal cords when doing scales, then you’ll have a strained singing voice in songs. It seems obvious, doesn’t it? But, you’d be surprised how often singers get this wrong.
Teachers, public speakers, vocal coaches, etc. also regularly neglect to warm up correctly. Your singing and speaking voice are both produced by the same muscles, so all the factors that apply to warming up for singing also apply, albeit to a lesser extent, to preparing the voice for talking.
In this article, you’ll learn the top mistakes that I’ve seen singers make in their vocal warm ups.
Is your singing voice strained, shaky, or just unreliable?
Why You Should Warm Up Your Vocal Cords
Though the voice is an invisible instrument, it is far from non-physical. The human voice is produced by the coordinated action of various muscle groups, and these muscles need to be warmed up properly in order to perform at their maximum potential.
Just like any other physical activity, singing requires coordination, flexibility, endurance, etc. A great vocal warm up prepares the larynx for singing by increasing blood flow, clearing excess mucus from your vocal folds, loosening vocal rigidity, and encouraging good technique.
Vocal Maintenance
Many singers, especially naturally gifted and younger ones, think of their vocal technique as a fixed reality, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. By contrast, seasoned vocalists often say singing high notes isn’t as easy as it used to be, and they blame aging. But when I do a little digging, I usually find that their warm up habits were little to non-existent.
Vocal exercises protect your vocal health. They’ll keep your voice young. They’ll decrease vocal mistakes like straining or voice cracks. Doing warm ups will help keep your voice growing and not decaying.
Getting Mentally Ready
In general, warming up should just make you feel ready to sing. A good vocal exercise routine is extremely beneficial to the mental side of singing. Very often artists hit the stage without taking any time to mentally prepare themselves for the task at hand; lacking mindfulness compromises performances.
Most singers get to the place where exercising their voice properly is so ingrained that they don’t have to think very hard about it. Getting to this place enables them to use their vocal warm ups as a mental warm up. While doing your hums and lip trills, visualize yourself performing your set list on stage. You’ll be surprised how much better you’ll perform on stage when you take the time to mentally prepare beforehand.
Not a One-Size-Fits-All
It’s important to note that there is not a one-size-fits-all vocal warm up. A well-crafted warm up will vary depending on your voice type, range, and skill level. As a voice teacher, I’ll even craft warm ups according to what time of the day a singer will be using the exercises I give them.
However, despite all the differences between voices, there are common vocal mistakes that singers tend to make.
Read below to find out if you’re making any of the Top 5 mistakes in your vocal warm-ups!
1. Not Warming Up
One of the first questions I ask people when they tell me they don’t like how their voice sounds, is “do you warm up your voice before singing songs?” Neglecting to do vocal exercises before singing songs always compromises vocal tone.
Additionally, skipping your vocal warm ups before recording, performing live, or just singing in general, is a sure way to cause strain and over-exertion. It compromises your vocal endurance, encourages bad habits, and could potentially lead to voice disorders.
2. Using songs to warm up instead of vocal exercises.
Vocal exercises are significantly more effective than songs for warming up. A proper exercise intelligently combines a sound (like “muh”) with a particular musical scale in a specific vocal range. Songs do not offer this level of precision for warming up your singing voice.
Using exercises will give you more power, better tone, easier access to high notes, richer low notes, etc. So level up your warm up routine by swapping songs with scales!
3. Going too loud too fast.
Raising your volume too quickly in a warm-up will compromise endurance and could cause irritation in the throat, which often leads to an unpleasant tickle sensation or a cough when singing. In general, you should use a mid to low volume at the beginning of your warm ups, and only increase loudness as your voice allows.
Jumping too quickly into a loud volume will cause your voice to push. I’ve seen many singers use too much effort from their very first scale, even when it’s a gentle hum! Pushing, especially on on low notes, is one of the vocal mistakes that limits high notes. Focus on proper breathing, inhaling and exhaling, to elimnate pushing.
4. Doing too little or too much.
Every voice is unique. Some need more warming up than others. Some tenors and sopranos can be fully warm in 10-15 minutes, whereas some basses and altos could take 30 minutes or more.
Doing too little could cause the problems described in point #1. Conversely, doing too much can fatigue your voice before you even hit the stage! Feel out your own voice and use trial and error to learn your perfect warm up length. Also, insert rest every couple of exercises to prevent early fatigue.
5. Not warming up all necessary parts of your vocal range.
A well-tailored vocal warm-up should include every vocal coordination that your voice will need to use in a performance. In many cases, it’s actually a good idea to warm up your whole range even if you won’t be using all of it. Warming up really low notes will often release tension on higher notes.
Make sure to do at least a few exercises in your chest voice, head voice, and mixed voice. Do some staccato exercises and sustained legato exercises. Some nasal and some low-larynx. This will enable you to get the most out of your voice.
Other Tips to Make the Most of Your Warm-Ups
Maintaining a solid vocal hygiene regimen is vital to vocal performance. This means that your sleep, nutrition, physical exercise, and lifestyle habits will actually determine how well your voice can warm up.
Sufficient Sleep
Simply put, sleep is the greatest source of rest and recovery for the vocal cords. If quality sleep is something you currently neglect, then get ready for vocal breakthroughs once you’ve addressed it.
Quality sleep isn’t simply about the time spent in bed. Factors such as room humidity, air pollutants, breathing habits, eating schedule, etc. play a large role in how helpful sleep will be to your voice. Some of you may need to change your air filters, buy a humidifier, eliminate nightly mouth breathing, eat dinner earlier, etc. in order to really get the full benefit of a good night’s sleep.
Proper Nutrition & Reflux
Eating singer-friendly foods will help stave off acid reflux, which is a singer’s worst nightmare. No medical problem causes more issues for artists than this.
Notably, most singers that deal with reflux aren’t aware of it, because it often comes in the form of silent reflux, also called laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). LPR comes after the heart of a singer’s instrument, the throat and voice box!
Check out leading researcher Dr. Jamie Koufman’s article on reflux for vocalists here.
Physical Exercise
I’ve lost count of how many voices I’ve seen transformed through the simple addition of cardiovascular exercise. Even just walking 15-30 minutes a day can be totally revolutionary for a singer’s voice.
In many ways, cardio takes the place of breathing exercises and helps promote proper breathing. Cardio helps lung capacity, which helps to prevent the feeling of getting light-headed or winded. Even if you never get winded, you’ll find cardio to significantly improve your vocal endurance.
Lifestyle Habits
No lifestyle habits wreck more voices than drinking, smoking, and abusing/overusing the voice. Avoid these at all costs and you’ll see tremendous improvements in your vocal warmups and overall singing technique.
The effects of alcohol and smoking are well documented these days, but singers can really stand to learn more about avoiding overuse. Excessive talking and yelling at loud events should have no place in a singer’s life. It causes swelling of the vocal cords, which often leads to bad singing habits.
Remember, your speaking voice and singing voice are produced by the same muscles. In the same way that strained singing can hurt speaking, excessive talking can hurt singing.
Small Mistakes = Big Problems
Trust a vocal coach, I’ve seen countless voices dramatically improved through fixing these mistakes in a singer’s warm up. It’s usually an accumulation of small mistakes that create the big issues that hold back your voice.
If you’re pursuing a professional singing career, then correcting these vocal mistakes is a necessity.
Benny Meza is a Master Associate at Brett Manning Studios in Nashville, TN. He’s taught over 8,000 vocal lessons and has worked with clients from Warner Music, RCA, Universal Music Group, and many others.