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

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!