It is a popular belief that vocal warm-ups are nothing more than a waste of time. However, any advanced singing coach will tell you that warm-ups could possibly be the most important part of having a healthy singing voice. Let’s take a closer look at this hypothesis.

Vocal Exercises are like Stretching

Have you ever watched a football, rugby or track and field? The athletes’ performances in these games are at quite a high level. A major factor in these athletes’ ability to perform well in their games is stretching beforehand. It allows the muscles to loosen up and be prepared for harder work, and it also starts to get the energy rolling in throughout the body.

Now you may be thinking, “How have these games got to do with singing? They are sports!”

Singing may not be considered a sport, but if it is compared to athletics, it is not much different. You might not be running around throwing balls and getting a good workout, but you are using your muscles and mental abilities.

Perhaps if you are performing you will even be dancing at the same time to spice things up (dancing is a sport and a great workout, right?)!

If there is no stretching or warming up that takes place before a large performance (game), then there is also a high risk of straining the muscles. The same thing can happen while singing. You become prone to voice cracks, losing your voice, sore throats, and vocal chord damage.

Your mind must also be in an attentive zone while performing. If you are not “in the zone” and are dazing off while playing a sport, it can probably be said that you will not have one of the best games of your life.

While singing, you can’t have a brain fart and forget to sing or constantly forget the lyrics; that would be quite embarrassing. Vocal warm-ups, if done correctly, will put your brain to work and help you focus on your sound.

So as you can see, singing is very similar to playing a sport. You have to nurture your muscles before the big performance in order to protect your voice and allow it to sound full and well-rounded, as well as put your mind into a focused state.

In addition to this, performing vocal warm-ups daily can drastically improve your vocal abilities.

Here is a quote that you should keep in mind, “You don’t just work out on days when you think you might have to be in a bathing suit, so why would you just vocalize on days when you think that you have to sing?” This is a great quote to keep in mind if you want to become a singer.

This makes sense, doesn’t it? You wouldn’t just practice football on the day of your game either, would you? It’s important to warm up your voice everyday to keep it healthy, not just on days when you think you will need to sing.

Advantages of Vocal Exercises

  • You will have less voice cracking
  • You will have a smaller chance of losing your voice
  • You will have a stronger vocal performance
  • You will have less of a chance of damaging your vocal chords
  • Your voice will strengthen over time as you do more singing
  • Your mind will be in sync with your voice
  • You will have the ability to annoy your siblings and friends with weird sounds

Disadvantages of Vocal Training

  • You use up 5 to 15 minutes of your time

Anything else? I don’t think so…Have we convinced you about doing vocal warm-ups yet? I sure hope so! We aren’t going to just leave you hanging on this thought of vocal warm-ups, either. We have searched around and found what we believe to be some of the best vocal warm-ups around. Stay tuned for more.