Warm Up Tools and Routines

What tools can you use to warm up?

There's no one set way to warm up. Your body is different from everyone else's, and you know when you feel warm enough to sing.

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVT). That just means your mouth is partly closed while you make sound. Pressure bounces back toward your vocal cords, and they get to bend and flex. The lip trill is the most famous one. It warms up your voice, helps you glide through your registers, and checks your breath. If you can't finish a full lip trill, look at how much air you're using.

Singing straws. This is the next level. Different straw sizes work different parts of your vocal cords, and the smaller the straw, the harder it is. Take a chorus from a song you like and sing it through the straw.

Here's a link to the Singing Straw that I use.

A warm-up routine. Everyone needs one. If I haven't given you your own yet, I like the warm-up from LaRue Howard, made for worship leaders and praise team singers. You don't have to be one to use it. There are about eight exercises and it takes a little over 20 minutes. Search "LaRue Howard voice exercises" on YouTube or Spotify.

Try it

Pick one routine and use it every time you sing. Search for warm-up routines, not vocal workouts. A workout is for when you're already warmed up, and doing it first will tire you out.