Friday, November 12, 2010

Singing - How To Warm Up Your Body And Your Voice

Before you sing, whether it's for a public performance or practice, you must warm up your body and your voice. If you're having a lesson, and you're about to start a more difficult piece, your singing tutor should ensure you warm up, but if you're practicing or performing without your teacher, then you must do this by yourself.
All athletes must warm up before an event or practice, and warm down after it, and it's the same for singers. When you sing, you use particular groups of muscles, and if you sing without warming them up, you can damage these muscles, just as an athlete would if they were to run or jump without warming up. You must warm up your whole body, and nut just the muscles you use when you sing, as it will make you relax. Remember that blood flows around your whole body, not just the parts you use when singing.

Before you sing, try to do some light exercise for your whole body. If you stretch your upper body, this will be good for relaxing the muscles in your throat. First, stretch you arms, shake them, and circle your shoulders gently, first to the front, and then to the back. Move your head gently around, making sure all movements are smooth, and that you don't jerk. Practice your breathing, making sure that you inhale and exhale slowly, and rhythmically.

Practicing scales gently will exercise your voice and throat muscles, but don't force your voice to do any difficult movements up or down. You should always start where you know your voice will be comfortable. Next, try some exercise called vocal sirens. Use an 'ee' sound to go up and down the scale. Make sure you don't shout or whisper, as both of these will cause stress on your vocal chords.

Of course, you should make sure you are always well hydrated, but this is even more important when you are about to perform. Make sure the water you drink is at room temperature as cold water will cause your muscles to shrink, and water which is too hot will make them relax too much.

If you need to sing notes which are very high, or very low, make sure you've warmed up gradually to them.
As well as warming up, you need to make sure you warm down, just like an athlete. Warming down is easy - sing down a scale using 'oo' and 'ee' sounds. This will help to relax your vocal chords and will prevent them from being damaged.

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