Singing Coach

Singing is a favourite artistic pursuit of many men and women. People the world over are uplifted, energized, comforted and entertained every day by listening to songs on the radio, on CDs and on the internet. Even more magnificent and empowering is attending a vocal concert or choral concert, in which the audience members are treated to the sounds of beautiful voices accompanied by sweetly-tuned instruments.

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With the professional vocalists as your role models, you have decided that you want to invest time in singing training to improve your voice. Your knowledgeable singing coach advises you to practice your singing at home, beginning with a thorough vocal warm-up. Warming up your voice is important for your vocal health, to prevent damage to your vocal chords and build a strong voice for singing.

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Follow the steps below to properly warm up your voice.

When you begin your vocal warm up, especially if you are singing early in the morning, begin by singing lower notes first. Before singing the entire musical scale, sing through shorter scales first to ease your voice into singing. For example, sing “doh, re, mi, re, doh.” Before singing large intervals (skipping between 5 or more notes) singing small intervals, such as thirds, for example, “doh, mi, doh.”

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Now you are prepared to sing the entire musical scale. Sing a major scale using the solfege note names – doh, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, doh – as you play your piano or keyboard. Sing through the ascending (upwards) scale and descending (downwards) scale several times. Sing the scale in different keys if you are comfortable with playing the piano or keyboard.

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Another singing exercise involves singing a “major arpeggio” scale. This scale is made up of the dominant chord notes from the major scale: “doh, mi, sol, (high doh), sol, mi doh.”

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An alternate singing exercise involves singing both the major scale and major arpeggio scale, beginning with the highest note and finishing with the lowest note (doh).

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You can also do a humming warm up. Learning to hum notes takes practice, so start with a simple exercise such as humming little scales of 3 notes within a range of 5 notes, for example, hum “doh, mi, sol, mi, doh” several times, starting with lower notes, then repeat with slightly higher notes. Humming notes with proper pitch will help to warm  up your “singing muscles” – your vocal chords.

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It is important to warm up your facial muscles, which are all used in singing and in proper articulation and pronunciation of the lyrics. The muscles used to sing and speak include the jaw, lips, tongue and soft palate. Warm up these muscles by reciting tongue twisters, as these can help you to warm up your voice and practice proper breathing. One example is, “Suzie sells seashells by the seashore. The shells Suzie sells are surely seashells. So if Suzie sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure Suzie sells seashore shells.”

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Make sure that throughout your vocal warm up and singing lesson or practice that you keep your body and your vocal chords properly hydrated.

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