Do you love to sing? Are you enrolled in singing lessons? If so, you likely know that warming up is crucial before trying to “belt out a tune.” However, do you know why?
Keep reading to find out why warming up before singing is so important.
Stretch and Move the Muscles
Getting ready to sing is like preparing your body to work out. You need to take time to stretch your muscles and coordinate your vocal mechanism to sing. It’s a good idea to do warm-ups that descend. These are usually better for your voice because they encourage airflow and use a lighter mechanism.
A good way to begin your warm-ups is with a lip trill or lip buzz with a descending scale. You can also incorporate middle voice and stretch exercises, which will help to grow your range. Your voice teacher will help you develop a regimen to use when warming up.
Energize Your Breath
Another reason to engage in warm-up exercises is that you need to get your body ready to take deep breaths and release the air to support the singing you want to do. When you speak, your breathing is shallow compared to the breathing you engage in for singing. Your singing coach can teach you breath energizing exercises to help you get the air moving.
Work on Your Technique
With warm-up exercises, you get your muscles moving, and your breath energized. However, it is also when you can work on how you sing. It is easier to implement new techniques during a supportive warm-up when starting. After you have gotten warmed up and learned these new techniques, you can start to apply them to the song you are trying to learn. It is much easier to keep singing a song using your body’s default technique and more difficult to start using a new technique if you don’t practice it while warming up.
Expand Your Range
During your warm-up, you will stretch your vocal cord muscles. This will help you build your coordination and start to expand your range healthily. You need to have well-designed and personalized warm-ups that only take you about two notes beyond your top notes to start stretching these muscles. If you use a warm-up with the wrong range or vowels, it can sabotage your vocal progress. Because of this, taking voice lessons is essential when it comes to improving your vocal technique sustainably and healthily.
Work on Your Flexibility and Agility
Based on the songs you are practicing, you will have unique challenges to practice when it comes to your vocal mechanism. With warm-up exercises, you allow your voice to practice flexibility and agility that may not be part of your usual repertoire. It can also help to build your technique in a better environment, so if you encounter a challenging part of a song, you can use the skills you have gained.
It is smart to work with a vocal coach or teacher to provide more information and insight about improving your range and ensuring that you achieve your full potential as a singer.