The Voice is an instrument we play with our minds
Breathing is the foundation of singing  and is a very relaxed process. As long as your body is in correct and fluid alignment, breathing will automatically be natural and deep. The most important thing to remember is to allow it to happen. Don’t force the breath, either in or out. Your vocal cords will resist and cause excessive tension which will manifest itself in your voice. Place both hands on your lower back, with thumbs on your waist. Breathe in and out, checking to see if you feel the expansion. 

Breathing deeply into your lungs can have a positive impact on your emotional well-being. When you inhale deep breaths into the body you are relaxing all the muscles. Breathing deeply can calm the nerves, by slowing down the heart rate and allowing the mind to think more clearly breath more easily and focus more intently in your singing and performance! It also increases the level of serotonin (the natural happy drug) that’s why the breathing technique for yoga, tai-chi etc. is very similar to the technique in singing.

​Be warned you might become light headed! But its ok, just stop for a moment and continue when you feel better. 

TRY THESE FREE EXERCISES

Breathing: Connection

We accumulate bad habits, breathing incorrectly is one of them. This short and sweet exercise is reminding you where the breath needs to go when inhaling.

Breathing: Alphabet

This exercise is about the ability to sustain with a big breath. Keep it smooth and connected with no sudden gasps.  ​If you find it too easy, slow it down!

Breathing: Numbers

Take a deep breath down to your belly, feel the expansion. As you exhale, slowly count out numbers. Aim as high as you can each time you attempt this exercise.

Phyiscal Warm Up

Warming up the body is essential to release tension in your body AND voice. Freedom in the body freedom in the voice. Its all connected.
 
Singers Who Warm Up Their Voices:
  1. Sing with more freedom and consistency.
  2. Have fewer voice problems overall.
  3. Have a wider vocal range.
  4. Have more options for being expressive.
  5. Communicate their songs better overall.
​VOCALISING (WARMING UP)Essential to do BEFORE singing. Singing is NOT warming up!
Athletes to not sprint before a race. They warm physically, they adjust their body slowly. Same for singing. You can really cause vocal damage!
Developing resonance is key for developing a good singing voice! 
​Gentle physical warm up;​
  • shake arms, shake legs, hands and feet
  • Shoulders up, shoulders down.
  • Big face Small face
  • Stick your tongue in and out! Tongue push ups!
  • Neck rolls...hold feel stretch 3 times clockwise and anticlockwise
  • Star jumps
  • Waist circles
  • Windmills move arms around and vocalise vowels ee----ahhh. Ay-oh, oh
  • Rag Doll. Bend forward completely, let the body hang, gently come up and breathe in.

Vocal Warm Up

lip-trills

Picture
​
The tongue and lip trill calls for an even flow of air, very soft and relaxed lips, thin vocal folds and control of air pressure. This air pressure must be constant but absolutely not too high. ​

HUMMing

​Properly executed humming exercises should form the root of every well-founded vocal training. Physiologically correct humming puts the vocal chords into use in a way that enables them to resonate freely and unhindered.

 ​Sirens & NG

On the ng you can vocalize up and down, do scales and slides. The tongue is high touching the palate. With it you can safely sing both low and high because you really can´t force the voice while “ng-ing”. It gives a nice stretch to the vocal folds and helps register shifts. It also trains the awareness of higher voice placement, the head voice, the feeling of sound high in the head but without pushing too forward.