It may take more to just a vocal warm up to prepare you for your performance or audition.  Think of your body as a machine.  Each machine is a little different and works best under its own specific conditions.

Warming up with Voice Lessons To GO is a great start for your “vocal warm-up’, but there is more you can do to get everything working its best.   Develop a routine that works for you by trial an error so you have something you can count on.

Here are some ideas try a few out and see what works for you:

1. Do a physical warm up before your sing- yoga, walking, biking, swimming are all great for getting the muscles warm and the breath engaged.  If you are physically warmed-up before you do your vocal warm-up you all ready have a head start on your singing.  Your body will be there to support your singing.

2. Do breathing exercises:  Whether as a result of a physical warm -up such as swimming or just 15 minutes of breathing exercises (I have great ones on volume 1 Vocalize & Breath of Voice Lessons To Go. The sooner you get your diaphragm coordinating with your breath the faster you will sing better, as well as develop more stamina and power.

3. Take a hot shower- this helps to break up built up phlegm, open up nasal passages and your sining resonators.

4. Humming and yawn sighs-  These are great “pre-vocal-warm-ups”.  Keep them light ans easy, just to wake things up.  Great to do in the shower since your acoustics will be favorable so you will be less likely to push.

5. Find a warm-up song that fits your voice like a glove. – After you do your vocal warm-up, sing through some pieces that really work for your voice everytime, so that you can “set the standard” for your practice ahead.  Your song selection for this may not be obvious.  For example I am a lyric coloratura the highest type of soprano, yet I often warm-up with an aria from Carmen which is for a lower voice.  It seems to set my middle voice solid so that my regular songs float freer.  Sometimes I do the opposite and sing my hardest aria, queen of the night, right after the mezzo aria because it “shocks” my system into working since it is so hard.  This is a very individual decision, but really can be a great lead into practice.  Warming-up should not just be my CDs or your own vocalizes, it should include a transition song into songs.

6. Drink something warm with honey- I love Roibos tea!  There is no caffeine and it and it is smooth with the honey, not necessary but a good ritual for me.  It helps keep all my vocal muscles calm.

7.  Listen- play some recordings of singers who sing well to open your mind to singing well to.  We learn by listening.  Hearing someone with great placement can have a great influence on your own voice.  (make sure they are good singers!)  Good songs, and good singing are two different things.  Make sure you pick the ladder for this one.

8. Play through your music- sometimes I just play the piano parts through on my pieces to get into the piece and familiarize myself with the other aspects of it, other than my vocal part.  I think it really helps my to get comfortable with being part of the work.  We have to remember that a sing has many elements and we are only the singing element.

9. Speak your lines-  Get the lyrics into your body as speech.  This will really help your diction and vocal placement.  Remember singing is extended speech- it should sound natural and easy like you are speaking.

10.   Give yourself time-  A good vocal warm-up takes some time.  Some people need longer than others.  Some performances and styles need more time as well.  Prepare some time for yourself to sing properly.  When you try and push through a practice, often you end up doing just that, pushing.  there is no pushing allowed in good , healthy singing.

I hope some of these ideas inspire or help you.  I would love your feedback on anything you do for your best warm-up!

Ariella Vaccarino

www.voicelessonstogo.com

creator of Voice Lessons To Go- singing lessons on CD, and author of Vocalize!

Some of you may have a large one some may barely have one, some of you may not know what I am talking about.

Vibrato.

Vibrato is a slight pulse in sound that create in your singing voice as you sustain your pitch.  Some people’s may move very quickly like a bell, or flutter, others may have a real slow wobbly vibrato, while others may have a minimal one with a straight tone.

Different genres may call for different vibratos.  For example a boy soprano will have nearly no vibrato while an operatic soprano’s vibrato may be a great interesting addition to her sound.

A vibrato is a natural occurance in your singing voice.  You want to have a vibrato, but it needs to be something that is released naturally.  Some times we find that it is too excessive due to some vocal technical issues, whether they be tension in the tongue or throat muscles.

You can see this when people sing: their jaw or tongue flapping.  Ideally our mouths, jaws, and tongues should be relaxed while we sing.  There is a certain amount of tension, or energy needed lower in the body for well supported sound so if you can keep the stress in your legs and abdominals- that is ideal (over jaw and tongue).

If you do have some jaw or tongue tension, that is not necessarily bad, unless it is excessive.  It also depends how your vibrato is coming out if it an addition or distraction to the beauty and character of your voice.

You can work with your teacher on taming or releasing your vibrato.  Don’t be afraid of it.  I would be happy to evaluate any questions that you may have about your vibrato in my Vocal Assessment program on my website: www.voicelessonstogo.com.   (Where you send me a link or mp3 of your voice and I send you back my evaluation within the week.)

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

creator of Voice Lessons TO GO and author of Vocalize!

I woke up this morning to a very dry windy day.  It reminded me of so many times when I would wake up to mornings like that on big audition, or performance days…really not ideal for great singing.  I can just taste the fear I would feel the minute I sensed the dryness when I would open my eyes and how raspy, unnatural, and low my voice would feel.  I thought I would give you some ideas to combat the dryness that I have learned over the years.

The truth is, the voice loves a good humid environment, it naturally lubricates your vocal chords and makes everything feel just right when you open your mouth to sing.  So what you need to do is try and create that environment on your own no matter the weather is, especially if you have some important singing coming up.

1. Humidifyers-  I can’t think of anything more important for a singer to own in a house with heaters running.  You want the cool air type, make sure your filters are fresh and mist your environment away so at least in your own home you won’t have to battle the dryness.

2. Personal steamers-  This may seem a bit extreme, but if you have a performance and have a small bit of privacy, you can get those personal face streamers (I think they are mainly for at home facials)  Just breath into one for a bit before you go on stage to relieve dryness.

3. The Netty Pot-  While I have not used this, I have some singer friends that swear by this.  Great for allergies and dryness.  It is a little tea pot that you put saline solution in and essentially flush your nostrils with regularly-  You can look more up on your own for that one.  I had a Broadway singer friend who swore by this to get her through the crazy dryness in Manhattan winters.  I even saw them talk about it on Oprah once.

4.  Tea with Honey-  I prefer herbal tea or any sort of Throat Coat Teas that you can by at your local health food market.  Caffeine seems to strip your chords of it’s natural moisture (which is great when you have a lot of mucus, but for normal dry days…)  The honey is great to lubricate the chords and the warmth of the tea combined is great for the throat.

5.  Glycerin throat drops-  NOT MENTHOL which is drying, but candies or drops that have glycerin are great for coating the throat.

6.  Humibid- this is a medication that is used to combat dryness caused by allergy medication.  Talk to your ear nose and throat specialist about this one.

7.  Slow vocal warm ups-  Start slow in the early morning.  First hum a bit, do some yawn sighs, just be gentle, then go take a hot steamy shower.  As your voice starts to acclamate to the day you can do a real vocal warm up.  It is important not to push the voice when it is very dry.  Try and get everything working in your throat first before you push into some hard singing.

I’d love to hear back some of your ideas to combat the dryness for your voice.

written by: Ariella Vaccarino

creator of Voice Lessons To Go, and author of Vocalize!

www.voicelessonstogo.com