Just like an athlete needs to warm up in preparation for a sporting event, a vocalist needs to do the same thing before taking the stage. Not doing so can cause the singer to not perform at peak standard, or in some cases, cause vocal damage. In this tutorial, Coach Tara and Coach Jeremie show you what they instruct their students to do every time they are about to hit the stage.
Vocal Massage
Press two to three fingers at your temple area and begin making clockwise motions all the way down the sides of your head until you reach your jawline.
You will then take your thumbs and work them underneath and along the jaw to massage your lymph nodes and under your tongue in the front.
After that, continue down each side of your neck, massaging the lymph nodes, tendons, and ligaments in your throat. The last step is to physically move your ‘voice box’ back and forth slowly and gently.
While this tutorial does a quick demonstration of a vocal massage, you can find a more comprehensive video on how to do this here: Vocal massage tutorial.
Vibratory Exercises
The next step in warming up is doing a closed-mouth vibratory exercise. We like two different versions both as equally effective, so you can choose whichever you prefer.
Lip trills are similar to a motorboat sound as you force air through your lips while keeping your mouth closed.
Tongue trills provide the same healthy warm up, but with this exercise you are simply trilling your tongue against the roof of your mouth behind your teeth.
Vocal Exercises
As you continue warming up, you’re now ready to move to vocal exercises. The “Me May Ma Mo Mu” exercise allows you to open up your mouth as you sing through the vowels. Make sure you really drop your jaw on “ma” and “mo” as you go through this exercise.
The “Ha Ha Ha” exercise is a great way to warm up those abdominal muscles in preparation of the hardest parts of the song you’ll be singing. As you move up the scale, remember to completely isolate your jaw and only use your abs to start and stop the sound.
Once you have completed all of these exercises and done all of the modulations as high as your range can comfortably go, you’re now ready to sing your song.
For vocal coaching help (lessons and courses): https://tarasimonstudios.com/vocal-coaching/
