Some Warm Up Tips

Warm up before singing otherwise you may encounter all sorts of problems. Warming up is about relaxing as well as preparing the voice for a performance. If we attempt a high note without warming up, our instinct is to tighten up, we will then end up forcing the note/s from the throat area and we want to avoid putting stress on the vocal folds.

1. Massage cheeks, jaw and neck area, gently

2. Lip Trill: Vibrate the lips (called a lip roll/trill) sing up and down the scale. 3. Humming: Take a deep breath in and sustain a simple tune by humming it.

3. Sing a siren sounds in head voice/falsetto gently, to awaken this area.

4. Scale Singing: Singing some vowel sounds really help, for eg: La`s, Ahh`s, Ohh`s. Oooo`s etc (up and down the scale again)

Good posture is so important, don`t hunch shoulders, keep your head straight, be relaxed and natural this will enable good confident singing, after all singing is `talking with a tune` and when we talk we are completely relaxed aren`t we?.

Breathing: This should be natural and without good control of this, we are going to run in to lots of problems and end up singing in the wrong area. When you take a deep breath, be aware that you don`t raise your shoulders, if you do, this is called shallow breathing and is incorrect for good breathing control. As you breathe in through the nose, filling the abdomen, you will then exhale through your mouth, feel the air decrease in your tummy. Continue doing these breathing exercises for as long as you`d like. This is the correct breathing for you singing.

Hope these tips help!