How To Warm Up: A Framework

Warming up the voice is one of the most important parts of being a serious singer. In my 7 years of performing professionally as a musical theatre actor, I’ve only met a handful of people who didn’t have a warm-up routine for their voices before a vocally demanding performance. Especially on tour, a good warm-up routine for the voice can improve vocal consistency and reduce vocal fatigue after the performance. Conversely, a poor warm-up routine may reduce vocal stamina and flexibility. 

Warming Up vs Exercising

Imagine you are running a marathon today. You wake up early in the morning before the race to warm up. What would you do? You would probably do some stretching, some light cardio, and maybe a light jog or a short run to get the blood pumping. Anything beyond that may compromise your stamina and ability to perform well at the marathon.

Warming up for singing is very similar. If you are warming up for a performance, you want to stretch the voice enough to be agile, resonant, and effortless. Anything beyond that, and you are exercising your voice, which may tire it out before a performance.

Bear in mind that exercising your voice can be really good for you. It is normal to feel tired after a long vocal practice session, but it’s probably not ideal before a performance. 

Here’s my framework for warming up:

Step 1: SOVT Exercises

This is probably the most important step. If you only have 5 minutes to warm up, this is the step you never want to skip.

SOVT (Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract) exercises are exercises like lip trills, straw phonation, humming, cuperto, etc., that reduce vocal fold strain and increase flexibility in vocal registers. The resulting back pressure can improve vocal fold vibration efficiency and may help reduce feelings of vocal fatigue or swelling, which is why many singers also use SOVTs as cool-down exercises. For more information, check out this article I’ve written about SOVT exercises.

Try to go through your entire range and through all your vocal registers with the SOVT exercises of your choice. The idea is to stretch the vocal cords with minimal vocal-fold strain and consistent airflow.

Step 2: Laryngeal Flexibility

Any exercise that has fast-moving notes and spans more than one octave falls under this category. The idea is to have the larynx move as flexibly as possible, specifically around the passaggio area (the voice break). Increasing laryngeal flexibility enables smoother pitch transitions and easier access to the full range of one’s voice. It also reduces strain or vocal fatigue.

Some of my favorite exercises in this category include yodeling (cracking between chest voice and head voice), wobbles, and octave leaps with a closed vowel.

Step 3: Stable Resonance

Any exercises that focus on sustaining notes fall under this category. The idea is to establish a clear and stable resonance pattern that can be maintained throughout a performance. After improving flexibility in Steps 1 and 2, this step helps coordinate breath flow, vocal fold closure, and vocal tract shaping so the voice feels balanced and effortless.

Some of my favorite exercises in this category include sustained closed vowels on comfortable pitches, messa di voce (changing between chest and head voice in a single sustained note), and slow descending scales on sounds like “yee,” “zu,” or “veh.”

(Optional) Step 4: Check for Voice Function

If you are singing any stylistically challenging vocal exertions in a performance (belting, growling, distortions, riffing, operatic melismas, whistle tones, etc.), it can be helpful to test them out before the performance. However, limit the testing to 2-3 minutes, or 1-2 exercises. You do not need to be belting the entirety of “Defying Gravity” to verify if you can belt that day.

One of my favorite methods for completing this step is to make character impressions that elicit the target voice function. For instance, if I need to growl in a performance tonight, I can imitate Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “What A Wonderful World”. If I need to Broadway belt at a matinee show, I can imitate a frat bro hollering at his boys, “Let’s Partay!!!” These should be short and only there to check if the voice function exists that day.

You’re Done!

And there you go. The whole warm-up process can take anywhere from 3 to 30+ minutes. If you trust in your own technique and regular practices, you will find that warming up doesn’t have to be long and exhausting to be effective. Happy singing!