So here’s the thing.

We have all probably been told the spiel of how we must warm-up in one way and it is always the same scaled up and down, for a good 15-20 minutes.

Is that true? Meh – not really.

The ideal warm up really comes down to you as a singer and you as a person. How is your voice feeling today? How are you feeling today? How much time do you have today? What are you working towards?

Don’t get me wrong, warm-ups are essential. Not warming-up before singing could lead to fatigue very quickly and is the singers equivalent to running 10k without stretching first.

I always like to start with some exploration time to find what suits each student and start building habits. Even a habit of practising 2 minutes a day can make all the difference. Some people like to build these habits around their current schedule and ‘habit bundle’ (Did anyone say morning walking commute with your mask on?). Some like to set aside a time and make it all about their singing. Personally, I like a bit of both; but on a daily basis, I love warming up in the shower (sorry world) after a reasonable time in the morning (you’re welcome world) and sometimes adding in a laryngeal massage when I get ready (oh, it’s a lovely lovely feeling – but more on relieving tension later).

Can’t beat a good sing song in the shower to warm up!

But what consists of a good warm-up?
The longer you need to warm-up will depend on how ‘ready’ your voice is feeling. But, I like to base my warm-ups around the following structure and switch them up based on how my voice is doing:

Posture and Grounding – How is your stance? Are you hunched over? Are you tense? Chances are we might need to adjust ourselves quickly to make sure we are in a good posture. Think relaxed but ready.

Tension Check In – Do a quick hum up and down on a medium to low scale. Are your lips vibrating? If they don’t feel too tickly, it might be a sign to do some anti-tension like chewing up and down or gently massaging under your cheek bones.

Physically warm-up – This could be many things depending on how you’re feeling, but anything from a quick chew (up and down, not side to side), wide and scrunched up faces (in company optional), brushing your teeth with you tongue one way then the other, to physically moving or stretching, and getting out any kinks of the day.

Check for tension with a hum and give your face a well deserved, smushy massage. It’ll be worth pulling all of those funny faces!

Primal Sounds – These are fun. Pick a favourite out of sirening with a ‘Woo’, ‘Vr’, ‘Ff’, ‘Vv’, or ‘Zip’ and start going up and down on a small scale. Then start getting bigger. Then a little bigger, until you end up mimicking a siren. You could move this on to some Lip Trills or Rolled R’s if you want to.

Scales – Ah the dreaded scales. But these could be anything from ‘Do-Re-Mi’, to counting 1-5, to sliding up and down from 1-8. Depending on how you’re feeling, we could go for a hum, a puffy cheeked ‘Ooo’, a ‘Mah’, a ‘Wah’, or maybe a nice dopey ‘Gee’ (Think Yogi Bear) – if you want to work on the those higher notes.

Don’t have the time? – It’s easy to condense these steps into a quick (think 1-2 minute) routine. Check it out!

It’s important to find what works for you in terms of when and where the warm-up is, how frequent it is and what it consists of. But please, always warm-up before singing and always cool down. It is the singer’s stretch and it’s absolutely vital