How to Warm Up Your Voice — Vocal Exercises
One of the top voice-related questions I am frequently asked by singers worldwide is, “How do I keep my voice strong for the entire gig so that my voice isn’t worn out by the end of the night?” There are many answers to this question including:
- Rehearsing the songs until you know them in your sleep
- Singing while jogging to improve breathing and to build physical stamina
- Laying off the liquor to keep the voice from drying out
- Doubling up on water to keep the voice well-oiled
These are four great answers and will help to keep your voice in better shape throughout the gig. But, in truth, there’s one major piece of the stage stamina puzzle that most singers overlook, a simple piece that begins before you even hit the stage; warming up. Considering your body IS your instrument, it is EXTREMELY important that you not only warm up your voice before your gig, but your entire body as well.
Just like any athlete, such as an Olympic runner, your muscles must be stretched, pumped, and fully energized right before go time to win that race. A body that is warmed up, well-oiled, free of stress, fully energized, and ready to bolt like a race horse is the body that will make it to the finish line first.
Singers are athletes! It is an Olympic workout in and of itself owning the stage like a rock star, especially when pulling double duty as a lead guitarist having to wow your fans with blazing solos, keep the audience entranced by your in-between song banter, and lure the listeners in with your vocal tone, swagger, and lyrical prowess. If you want to stay ahead of the race, again, it all begins with the warm up.
Warming up can mean the difference between a mediocre performance that ends with a hoarse voice by the second set, or an AMAZING performance where you end the night ready to sing for another hour! Vocal warm ups are simply a way to slowly begin raising your pitch into your upper register (which is where we usually sing) in order to prepare the voice for those higher notes. Trust me, I know from experience that a great warm up can help you hit those high notes and sing all night long, while not warming up equals the polar opposite.
When I was in my teens, I had no clue what it meant to warm up the voice. Luckily, my first guitarist who helped me buy a best beginner guitar taught me his sure-fire “secret” to warm up the voice. His secret was to take a shot of whiskey to calm the nerves and warm the throat, followed by singing the easiest song right out the gate. So, there I was, 145 pounds of fuzzy headed wannabe rock star, all liquored up, slurring the words to “Talk Dirty to Me” in order to “warm up” my voice. Sadly, it never really worked. Imagine that.
Over the years, I learned the truth about warming up and made it a permanent part of my pre-gig regimen to do 15–30 minutes of vocal scales. However, in 2002, as I was writing my first book, Raise Your Voice, I had an accident at work, which resulted in two herniated discs in my neck. This accident left me feeling as if my voice were losing its swagger, even after my regular warm up…
Eight weeks after neck surgery, I found myself back on the club circuit singing all the easy songs- songs by Judas Priest, AC/DC,
Led Zeppelin, Journey.. .Wait a minute! Did I say easy? I must still been feeling the effects of the anesthesia. When you’re a rock singer, it requires TONS of energy to sing along with the greats. FYI- tons of energy is not to be confused with tons of breath, because using too much breath will make your gig shorter than a Bill Pitcock guitar solo. I’m talking about being filled with energy so that you’re ready to sing both vocally and physically for the entire night.
So the key is to find a perfect warm up that will energize the voice and body, to make the voice feel amazing before you ever sing that first note. Due to my neck surgery, I had some articles with neck pain, which made it harder for me to sing the high notes and sustain that AC/DC type grit. So, as part of my warm up, I began to experiment with self-neck massage the ease the pain. Imagine my surprise when it worked! Because of the success of a few simple neck massages, I continued to experiment and soon created an entire body massage, stretching, and acupressure routine which I named the Vocal Stress Release Program. By combining the Vocal Stress Release program with my vocal warm up exercises (lip bubbles, humming and a few falsetto and full voice scales) I quickly corrected the vocal problems I was experiencing from surgery. Alas, I added the Vocal Stress Release program to Raise Your Voice and now it’s used by thousands of singers worldwide.
Do you want to sound great and feel great when performing? Then you MUST start warming up your voice and body together as one complete instrument. Start implementing my warm up techniques from this video and you’ll be amazed by how much easier it is to sing when you are truly warmed up. Finally, you won’t end the night feeling like your voice has been put through the ringer.
Speaking of the end of the night, don’t forget to “cool down” your voice after the gig. Repeat ten minutes of vocal exercises working down in pitch as opposed to working up in pitch. Remember, warming up by working up in pitch prepares the voice for singing those higher notes. Cooling down by working down in pitch will allow your voice to slowly return to speaking level.
Bottom line, warming up will keep you going for the show and cooling down will save your voice so that you don’t wake up with a sore throat.
Keep singing, and see you again.
