Remember when you first wake up in the morning your voice is NOT warmed-up.  Just like any other type of athlete, singing is a sport (it happens to be a musical one).  It takes the proper muscle support to make it happen correctly.  If you were a runner you would not roll out of bed and hit the track, you would stretch and slowly work your body into a real run.

That goes for singing as well.  So give your chords a break.  In the morning start slow your voice is vulnerable.

Seven tips for your early morning singing warm up:

1. Don’t do that morning grovel speak.- When you first wake up your voice is probably low and a bit grindy.  Fight the tendency to have a long discussion like that.  Instead speak gently over your gruff sound with a lighter tone until the rest of your sound files in.

2. -Do some gentle yawn sighs (like descending and ascending siren sounds).  Use different consonant vowel combinations such as Ma, We, Woo. Brr, and Hmms.  Don’t go too high or too low, start with minimal volume and minimal range as you wake your body up.

3. Gentle humming- Do 5 note descending exercises  to start , (like on Voice Lessons To GO v.1) then go up five notes down five notes.  Then sing an octave stretch Do Mi So Do So Mi Do.  Keep it gentle, no big sounds, nothing pushed.

4. Sing in the shower!- The shower is of course a great place to start your “pre-warm-up”.  The accoustics in there are fabulous which helps you to relax and sound better which then makes you sing better.  Also the steam opens up your resonators and gets everything working spaciously.

6. Do some sort of physical exercise. – Waking up your body is key.  A good stretch and work out before a sing is a fabulous way to alert all your muscles in participating in their support of the voice.  Plus it gets your breath support active which is imperative.

7. Do a real vocal warm up- my series of Voice Lessons To GO is great for this.- Once pre- warmed, you can do your warm up.  It is so great to get this done in the morning because you end up setting your voice in a fabulous place for speaking the rest of the day.  Also, you will be ready at any moment the chance to sing may present itself without having to run into a corner for a half an hour to get your sound going.

I realize that you will not be able to fit this all in every morning, but it is a good goal to set for yourself.  Pull from the list and do what you can.  Maybe doing the yawn sighs when getting ready and then humming in your car on the way to work.  Any amount vocal warm up will help you to set your voice on the right path for speaking and keep it there.  Remember healthy speaking leads to healthy singing.

Sing well!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for myVocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

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Ah, Ey, Ee, Oh, Oo and variations there after.  These are the vowels that you have to sing through to get the words out of your mouth.  I don’t know if you have ever noticed during your vocal warm ups that some vowels come out more smoothly, brilliantly, or more beautiful than others.

It is very important that you give attention in your vocal warm ups to good vowel work.  That means that you need to practice singing different vowels on their own to help improve each one’s own release and sound.  It is very easy to ignore a more difficult vowel by only singing your through your favorite ones.  But, doing sowill only prolong your improvement of a lacking vowel.

I created Pure Vowels (the third volume of Voice Lessons To Go) for just that reason.  It is divided specifically into different vowel studies through vocalizes.  For example you will have 5 exercises on an “ahh”, then 5 on on an “oo” etc…   

I think this CD is a great tool for “beautifying” all the vowels that you sing.  It forces you to stop and work on each of them individually.  The better your vowels, the prettier the line of your voice, which will make you that much more incredible to listen to.  Also, the more ownership you have of every sound you release as a singer, the more control you will have at giving a solid performance every time.  This will help to make you a great singer that you can count on, as opposed to one who is a crap shoot.

Remember when you are trying to achieve the “perfect” vowel release the vowel should feel like a full circle of resonance in the sound.  It should have a point in front, a height at the top, space in its back, and a deep low connect of support.  Just a frontal sound or height is not enough, you want the full circle of sound.  This may be an imagery which is hard at first for you to grab onto, but think about it next time you go to sing.

Also, the best advice I can give on achieving a great vowel is matching it to your speaking vowel.  Say the vowel and then sing it.  When you say it notice where it sits in your mouth and head, and then reenact that when you sing.  All should be the same when you sing; the tongue position, where the vowel hits the palette in your mouth, and your lip position.

Think of singing as a natural extension of your speech.  This will help you every time.

Sing well!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for myVocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Voice-Lessons-To-Go/113328198690496

Follow me on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg

As mother’s days is approaching, I of course have moms on my mind.  Whether you are a mom or just have one, you know how selfless being a mother can be.  They pretty much sacrifice putting themselves  first for the duration that their children are living in their own home, (about 18 years or so).

Mommy’s getting mommy time is always easier said then done.  Every mommy was a person before they had kids with their own dreams, likes, and hobbies.  If your mommy loves to sing to the radio, loud in the shower, or starred in her high school musicals growing up, consider buying Voice Lessons TO GO for her for mothers day.

If singing brings your mother joy then Voice Lessons TO GO will be a great gift to show her that you have paid attention to her likes and are giving her support in enjoying them.

Often times private vocal instruction  (which of course is optimum), are too much of a financial burden to a family as well as a time commitment for most mommies to allow themselves. (Even though they are driving their own kids to karate, soccer and ballet!).  While she sits in the car during whatever lesson you might be having, let her be singing vocal warm-ups and giving her voice a good work out.  This will be a nice change of pace for her daily routine, and may even spark her creativity for more self exploration.

This will only help you to have an even cooler mom!

And if you are the mom, then by all means, allow yourself a gift of music if you love it!

Happy Mother’s Day!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Voice-Lessons-To-Go/113328198690496

Follow me on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg

You may find as a singer, you tend to favor a particular vowel in your daily singing warm up routine.  Such as Ahh, or eee.  There is probably one or two of the vowels that seems to work best freeing your voice up the fastest so you use it all the time to get your voice into that good spot.  I definitly know that I do that.  Even me  ”the big voice teacher” favors an ee vowel, there, I said it!

When I was younger I used to favor the “Ahh”, but over the years have turned to the trusty “ee”.  Well, even I should be careful with this.  I have been singing through my book of vocalizes, “Vocalize!” these past few weeks to prepare my voice for an upcoming concert, and I have been forcing myself to “face all the vowels”.

My third volume of Voice Lessons To Go entitled Pure vowels is a great resource for developing all your vowels seperately.  I have been singing through all the exercises in volume 3 from start to finish and I have noticed such an improvement on every vowel.  The first day, my favorite vowel, “ee”, was great, but I wasn’t pleased with the placement of my “ey” or “i”.  But i kept doing it everyday.  Working with the sound, mouth positioning, placement in my resonance playing with the forms of the vowels, adding a little “aww” in my “ahh”, and everyday I noticed I was getting better faster.

The only way to improve your weaker vowels is to work on them, not run from them.  Always start with speaking the vowel to help you find the natural speech point to work from.  You want your singing to sound natural like extended speech. Make sure you practice warming up your singing voice on all the different vowels regularly.  You never know when you may be standing in an audition and be asked to site read a new piece on an “ahh”.  If you haven’t worked your “ahh” out you could be really uncomfortable.

Also, if you are not used to practicing all your vowels.  Don’t start just before a performance.  Do your regular warm ups before you have to sing so that you don’t throw off your voice by trying something different.  The time to work on this is a normal warm up.  Remember, on all my CDs for Voice Lessons To GO, you can always try different vowels with the piano accompaniment for variety.

Now, FACE ALL YOUR VOWELS SINGERS!

written by: Ariella Vaccarino- creator of Voice Lessons TO GO (singing lessons on CD), and author of Vocalize!

Need a professional opinion of your voice before your next audition?- Sign up for Vocal Assessment.  You send me a link or mp3 of your voice with your questions and I get right back to you with my Assessment!

New Years Resolution:  Start a regular singing warm up regiment with Voice Lessons To Go!

Hello singers!  We all can get into those slumps by the end of the year with ourselves, whether it be our exercise, good eating, organization, or even our — regular singing routine.

Well, here I am, to give you a friendly singing teachers nudge to get you back into a great healthy singing routine just in time for new years.  If you follow this regularly, you should be humming sweetly very soon!

As I always blog, teach, and talk about, being a good singer is akin to being a good athlete.  Your healthy singing voice is contingent on the correct muscles in your body being in shape to support your larynx so that your voice can sail freely through the air without any undue stress on your vocal chords from incorrect muscle use.  Finding the path to the perfect support system in your singing is a daily task and can easily be thrown off without proper attention.   The key to maintaining healthy proper singing is a good healthy vocal warm up done regularly.

Voice Lessons TO GO www.voicelessonstogo.com offers you four of those healthy singing warm-ups on CD for your use anytime, anywhere.  So there is no excuse!!

How to start back in on a healthy Your practice schedule:

Remember, if your practice regiment has been shut down for a bit, you need to ease back into a regular singing schedule to protect your voice- just like you would re-enter any sport.  Start slow, warm-up (vocalize) every time before you sing.  You can add a little bit more to your range, practice time, and challange as your stamina naturally increases.

NEVER PUSH OR STRAIN THE VOICE.

You can alter my four cds; Vocalize and Breath, Do Re Mi Ear and Pitch Training, Pure Vowels, or Stamina to vary your warm-ups on different days, or work with one at a time for a few weeks until you feel you have some mastery.   Now get to that ipod, piano, or stereo and start singing!

written by:

Ariella Vaccarino- creator of Voice Lessons TO GO (singing lessons on CD), and author of Vocalize!

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!