Vocal Warm-ups

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Start with some free vocal warm-ups below:

Vocal Warm-ups help get you ready to sing.

INSTRUCTIONS: Warm up with a method which lowers air pressure from your lungs. There are several! Some are: lip rolls (also called lip trills), tongue trills (like a Spanish ‘R’), or a phonated ‘Z’, as in the word zebra. You can warm up your voice by starting on a comfortable pitch and slide up and down (glissandos).

You can also follow along with a recording of note patterns. These help some with your musicianship, as a side benefit. Warm up your voice until it feels easy to use. Some days, it will take five minutes or so and other days, it may take up to twenty minutes. So, you must repeat these until you are warmed up. If you use the warm-ups below, stop short of any strain or pain. In singing “pain equals no gain”. Pain means irritation or injury. Do not sing so high or so loudly as to cause pain! If it gets too high, STOP! I have six patterns that I use. Here are two:

Warm-ups for Sopranos, Mezzo Sopranos, Altos

Warm-ups for Tenors, Baritones, Basses

Read the instructions above before doing the following warmups:

There is one little extra thing that I add to these, explained in private lessons, which will make warm-ups even more effective. Why warm up? For ease of vocal production. For flexibility. For control. To enhance the lubrication of the vocal folds (They used to be called “vocal cords”.)

I always warm up before singing. One time I did not and it was a struggle to sing at the level I demand of myself when performing. Even though I did sing at that level, it was not easy until after singing about four songs. The integrity of my performance is such that I must begin singing at a professional level. Without warming up, that does not work well. It truly is a matter of an artist’s integrity.

Sketches of Your Vocal “Instrument”:

Larynx – top view diagram of the muscles and cartilages: