Breathing Exercises
- Breathe and Hiss
Breathe in for 4 counts and hiss for 4 counts, breathe in for 4 counts and hiss for 5 counts…increasing counts, such as follows…5in/5hiss, 5/6, 6/6…until 8/8. (This slowly increases air intake)
- This can be used with a metronome
Vocal Warmups
- Consonant Craziness
Use a combination of unvoiced consonants: Pah, Pugh, Koo, Ka, Cha, Choo, Ta, Too, Zoo, Zah, Fa, Fra, Sau, Soo, Shoo, Sha (one at a time)
Find a good tempo on metronome, and start out singing one syllable at time (one per note)
- You can change the articulation by singing the syllables all connected together or all chopped and detached.
- You can mix and match syllables (for example, Ta-Too, Ta-Too…)
- You can add dynamics by starting out softly, gradually getting louder by the highest note, and then decreasing volume to the end, or vice versa
2. Octave Slides
Like a siren, but more specific with pitch. Singing on a [nu] helps keep the throat open and the sound forward.
Sing any note and slide the pitch down as far as possible at least 3 times.
- You can add a metronome and “slide down” for 4 counts, increasing by 2 counts to 8 counts.
3. Elastic Choir
Imagine you are holding an elastic band in front of yourself with hands together at waist level. As you sing the phrase, “pull” and stretch the band, keeping your hands at waist height. When you breathe for the next repetition of the exercise, your hands come back in and start again.
- Metronome can be set to whatever value is appropriate
- Metronome can be increased to increase deep breathing
4. Humming a Song
Humming songs can also be a great way to warm up your voice and throat, and you don’t have to know the words to the song!
These vocal exercises are not comprehensive. More will be added to this list. Most of these exercises were adapted from https://choirdirectorcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/50-Awesome-Choir-Warm-Ups-Cheat-Sheet.pdf