- We all know we should do it,
but less than 13% of us
actually prepare our singing voice for use
with a well-structured and intentional warmup.
That means that the vast majority of singers
are missing out on the short
and the long term benefits
that a vocal warmup provides.
In today's video I'm gonna walk you through
a three phase warmup
that will prepare your voice
to sing at its very best
each and every time you step on the stage.
- [Singer] Sound check.
Check one, check two.
(crowd cheering, music playing)
- Hey there, my name is Dr. Dan.
Welcome to Voice Essentials,
the channel dedicated to developing your voice
and improving your sound.
Now I think each and every one of us
intuitively knows that we should prepare the voice
for singing with a good 15 to 20 minute vocal warmup.
Well, its one thing to know it,
it's another thing entirely to actually do it.
If we're perfectly honest with ourselves,
most of us skip the vocal warmup
because, well, it's boring and tedious.
Who doesn't want to get straight into the fun stuff?
Well, singing songs is fun,
it's the reason most of us got into
the singing thing in the first place.
But I'd venture to say that singing songs
is only fun when you feel confident
that your voice is going to perform
to its absolute optimum.
And here's the catch 22.
Your voice can only perform to its fullest potential
when it's been correctly warmed
and prepared for use,
and the only way you can do that
is to employ a structured 15 to 20 minute warmup
each and every time you sing.
- [Singer] Sound check.
(crowd cheering, music playing)
- Now, when I say each and every time you sing
that includes your vocal practice
as well as performance.
Today we're only gonna be looking at
a vocal warmup strategy for pre-performance.
But you should always prepare your voice for use
prior to a full workout also.
Now if you're clever with your technical workouts,
you should be able to design a practice regime
that exercises the voice
while simultaneously warming it up
for the practice of your repertoire.
Now as I stated at the commencement of today's video,
the warmup I'm gonna be taking you through
is divided into three phases.
At home, pre-soundcheck, and during soundcheck.
Now at the mention of the soundcheck,
some of you are already patting yourselves on the back.
Not too fast, you'll notice that the during soundcheck
is the third and final phase,
and possibly the least important section
of the warmup strategy.
So don't turn this video off just yet,
because if all you're doing for a vocal warmup
is singing through your songs during soundcheck,
you're probably doing your voice a great disservice.
More about that later.
For now, let's start at the beginning.
I call the first phase "at home"
because that's where I want you to commence
your pre-performance warmup.
More specifically, I want you to do your warmup
in the shower.
This first phase provides us with an opportunity
to zone in on the voice
and ascertain its general well-being.
A hot steamy shower is perfect for this phase
because the warm moist air is the perfect conditions
in which to get the voice moving.
Add to this the wonderful acoustics of most showers,
and you have the ideal environment
to start stretching your voice.
Now, but when I say stretch, I really only mean
exercising the voice over the space
of about an octave.
To start, I want you to do this on a light,
forward-placed hum that travels the range
of a fifth.
It'll sound something like this.
(humming)
And when you're doing it in the privacy of your own shower,
you'll start in your lower register,
move up to about the range of an octave,
and then move down again.
And when you've done this through once,
take note of how your voice feels.
This first phase is all about checking in
with the condition of your voice.
Now at times, you're going to do the hum
and you're going to immediately know
that your voice is not at its best.
This doesn't necessarily mean you should cancel your gig.
But it does mean you can proceed with caution
and adjust your expectations
of what the voice might be capable of
over the coming few hours.
Now that you've got a good handle
on the condition of your voice,
do the hum activity again
but add an open vowel so that it becomes
a double five-note scale.
(humming, vocalizing)
Again, only do this over an octave.
With the completion of your shower
comes the completion of phase one.
So let's get on to the gig.
- [Singer] Sound check.
- I can't tell you the amount of videos here on YouTube
that recommend doing your vocal warmups
in the car on the way to your gig.
Unfortunately, your car is possibly the worst place
you can do a vocal warmup.
Not only are you seated with very little access
to full body support,
but the surrounding audible landscape
of the vehicle is way too loud
to be a positive environment for good singing.
Sorry, you have to wait until you arrive
at the gig venue before starting phase two,
the pre-soundcheck.
Now before going any further,
let me just say that there is no magic group
of singing exercises for the warming up of one's voice.
The magic is simply found in the doing.
So as I walk you through the next few exercises,
understand that you can interchange them
with other activities as long as they work
the voice in a similar way.
So once you've arrived at the venue,
and you've helped bump in the gear,
yes singers you should be lugging gear
just like the rest of the band,
find yourself a relatively quiet spot
to do phase two of your warmup.
More often than not that will be a car park,
or a toilet stall,
and if you're really lucky, a green room.
Phase two picks up where phase one left off.
Start with a light forward-placed hum,
singing over the range of an octave.
Now just to mix things up a bit,
try using different vowels after the hum.
For example, you might like to start
with an ah vowel and then repeat
the same activity using an e vowel.
So it might sound a little bit like this.
(humming, vocalizing)
With each new vowel,
try extending the range by a tone or two.
And once you start to feel the voice
starting to warm, try working some focus
into your tone.
We'll do this using a three-note scale with an "ng" sound.
Have a listen.
(vocalizing)
The ng activity should allow your voice
to start singing a little higher.
So start stretching the voice out
over an octave and a half.
As we continue, remember to monitor
the condition of your voice via the physical sensations
of your singing.
And now that we're singing over an octave and a half,
I want you to start doing a lip bubble
over a nine note scale.
It'll sound like this.
(vocalizing)
The lip bubbles should allow the voice
to start singing towards two octaves.
Notice that we're slowly but surely extending
the range with the introduction
of each new exercise.
Don't rush this process.
Phase two of your warmup strategy
should take between 15 to 20 minutes,
so take your time.
This can't be rushed.
- [Singer] Sound check.
(crowd cheering, music playing)
- Okay now we're singing over two full octaves.
The final step of phase two is to do some sirens.
Some singing teachers advocate the sirens
as a one-stop shop warmup.
Now I don't agree.
Don't get me wrong, sirens are excellent.
But they should always be done
at the end of a warmup.
Why?
Well, what does a siren do?
It stretches your vocal muscles out
through their entire range.
What shouldn't you do to cold muscle?
That's right, you shouldn't stretch it out straight away.
We want the muscles to be activated,
activated with blood flow and warmth first
before stretching it right out.
Now I've got a fun siren for you to do
at the end of phase two.
Have a listen.
(vocalizing)
Notice that each of the three sirens on ng
travel higher than the previous one.
The first sits in your lower register,
the second travels through the mid voice transitioned
into the upper register and back again.
And then the third travels the full length
of your vocal range
by starting in your lower register,
moving through the upper register,
and up into the flute and falsetto registers,
and back again.
To get the full benefit of the sounds,
you should repeat this activity four to five times
to complete phase two.
And now your voice is ready to sing songs,
which is a good thing,
because phase three of our warmup strategy
is conducted during soundcheck.
And the beauty of having warmed up your voice
for soundcheck is you're able
to sing with good performance levels,
which in turn helps your sound engineer
to get the very best mix for the show time.
Trust me when I say that your sound engineer
is going to love the new disciplined singer you've become.
Now be careful here,
soundcheck is not the time to throw caution to the wind
and sing your voice into the ground.
No, if there is one word that sums up phase three,
it is discipline.
Why sing your heart out during soundcheck
when no one is there to hear it?
So as you sing through some of your tunes
for soundcheck,
by all means sing with a performance-level voicing.
But don't oversing.
Remember, the gig is yet to come.
Everyone, I hope this process
of a three phase warmup
is helpful to you.
This is exactly how I prepare my voice for a gig,
and I've done so for the past 25 years or so.
Sure, at times it's boring and tedious,
but at least I know my voice will be ready
and able to last the distance of my performance.
As always, I'm keen to hear how you go about
preparing your voice before a performance.
Leave me a comment telling us all here at Voice Essentials
which exercises you use to warm up your singing voice.
Now if this is your first time here, welcome.
I post videos like this one
every Tuesday and Thursday,
so if you're looking for more videos
about learning to sing,
then why not check out my channel and subscribe.
Until I see you in the next Voice Essentials video,
I'm Dr. Dan, sing well.
(crowd cheering, music ending)