Vocal warm up tips

July 1, 2010 11:13 PM

I waited a while to post my most recent song, and that's because I feel kind of guilty. And that's because I recorded that song after a heavy week of recording alone, and so my throat was all warmed up and un-self conscious. But I can't play the song live because it's at about the edge of how high I can sing, and I simply can't seem to hit those notes on the spot. I like the tune, and I'd like to play it for people, but I obviously can't have a week in a room far away from everyone to warm up. What are your tips? How do you warm up your throat? How do you get comfortable warming up knowing other people can probably hear you (I live with roommates)?
posted by Corduroy (12 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

I always feel self-conscious and annoyed with run-of-the-mill vocal warmups that regular voice teachers use, since I'm not interested in learning to sing in a "St. Olaf" bel canto opera/musical/choir style. I'm curious about Melissa Cross (music starts immediately), and I think some of her exercises could help, even if she mostly specializes on punk rock and metal screamers. If you can get past the "rrawk \m/" style of her website, it might be helpful.

It shouldn't take more than a half hour to warm up. Does it work to warm up by singing the songs that best use your range a few times beforehand?
posted by umbĂș at 9:24 AM on July 2, 2010


How do you get comfortable warming up knowing other people can probably hear you (I live with roommates)?

If you warm up by just singing the song you want to sing, you can always just play a recording of the backing track loud enough that your voice doesn't stand out. For high notes especially it's important to sing loud, because it's much harder to hit the notes if you don't do it at full volume. If you practice singing at the top of your range a lot you should at least get better at singing those notes consistently even if you don't actually improve your range.
posted by burnmp3s at 9:56 AM on July 2, 2010


I don't really intentionally do warmups. I guess I tend to do them incidentally because I rarely start recording something without trying to work it out beforehand, but beyond that warmups mostly come down to "earlier takes".

If anything, if I know a song is going to push my upper limit I'll try to avoid running through it much before recording because I feel like I'll only get so many tries before I start to feel like I've blown my chances. I've had days where I gave up on the notion of recording because I'd accidentally knocked my voice out a bit trying to work up an arrangement, etc.

This may be a sign that I should in fact do some sort of warmup type thing, but I'm terrible about that sort of habit-formation.

That said, I feel like my range has picked up about a full step on the top end over the last several years, which probably comes down to using it a lot over time. Used to be I could just hit a G most days and be lucky if it held, now I can crawl up to an A and the G feels pretty solid. But it'll still wear out quick.
posted by cortex at 10:10 AM on July 2, 2010


Nthing warming up by doing a bunch of takes. If you are comping on a DAW you can keep a few to splice in later -- sometimes the early ones have something the later ones don't.
posted by unSane at 11:26 AM on July 2, 2010 [2 favorites]


Yodel.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 5:21 PM on July 2, 2010


I think this is pretty good advice, generally:

Step 1
Get relaxed. When warming up your voice you want to be relaxed, so it's probably best that you do a couple stretches so your body is loose and you are ready to warm up your voice.
Step 2
Start using the lower register of your voice and use the vowels "oo" first. Go as low as you can possibly go with your voice. Not only will it help you reach a higher intensity and register, but it will also help you improve your lower range at the same time.
Step 3
Mimic the sound of the siren by going from your low vocal register to the highest part of your voice. The vowels and sound that you make should resemble "wooah wwoah wooah," that of a siren.
Step 4
Reach the absolute pinacle of where your voice can go in terms of pitch, after you have reached this pinacle, stay up for there for a while by mimicking the siren sound, but come back down slowly to the beginning note of your vocal exercise.

I find humming and sirening to be good warmups before a show (in a dressing room, backstage, etc) because these techniques are easy and mindless, and somehow not too intrusive on other people's audio space (whoever you're sharing the backstage with).

And concerning the upper range part of the discussion, I think this is good advice, too:

Sing within your own singing range. Do not try to sing too high or too low, to reduce the chance of vocal damage. If you are singing a song that requires you hit a high or low note that is out of your range, sing several songs within your range first to adequate warm up before going for the hard to reach note.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:17 PM on July 2, 2010 [1 favorite]


And let's check in with the American Academy of Otolaryngology and see what they have to say about warming up.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:22 PM on July 2, 2010


The Dundee Warm Up Routine (patent pending) essentially comprises several hand-rolled cigarettes, a mug of strong coffee* and crossed fingers. Couldn't be simpler, and is a kind of Swiss Army Knife of warm ups, being applicable to just about any musical situation. It can even extract stones from horses hooves. Which, I'd confidently wager, is rather more than the American Academy of Otoknowbetter can stretch to. (reels perceptibly, lights wrong end of cig, collapses in stupified heap).

*beer and/or spirits can freely be substituted, depending upon circumstances.
posted by MajorDundee at 3:43 PM on July 3, 2010


Major, you ARE rock and roll.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:28 PM on July 3, 2010


Corduroy, keep in mind that there is a difference between warming up your voice and conditioning your voice. Warming up generally refers to a 10 - 15 minute period of light to moderate activity before each instance of prolonged singing. Conditioning is a long term approach to getting more control, range and reliability out of your voice.

So you didn't really "warm-up" your voice over the course of a week. By practicing the same song over and over, you actually conditioned your voice and became a better singer overall because of that practice. This is what allowed you to sing the song the way you wanted to at the end of the week.

The good news is that this conditioning can have a long-term effect on the quality of your voice, and you may not have lost the ability to hit those notes as quickly as you think. This in turn should help your self-consciousness and give you the confidence you need to keep singing regularly, which will improve your voice, and the cycle continues.

The bad news is that if you stop singing for a while you will lose some of the ability you gained by singing on a regular basis.

So it's pretty much like any other music instrument or physical activity!
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 9:25 AM on July 4, 2010


A forgiveable error Flapjax. Allow me to put you right. Iggy Pop* is rock and roll. I am bullshit.

* substitute to taste.
posted by MajorDundee at 9:40 AM on July 4, 2010


Look, I'LL be rock and roll, if that suits everyone.

And it damn well better.
posted by grubi at 7:48 AM on July 10, 2010


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