Just like working out at the gym, the voice needs to be "warmed up" or stretched before attempting feats of high art. Many times students will come to a lesson saying "I haven't sung yet today". This is OK for a young singer but once you hit university, you need to take control of your own warming up!Warm up exercises come in all shapes and sizes but should start out easy - 5 note scales, humming, lip trills, triad work and hissing call act to get the blood flowing to the vocal folds and remind your airflow what to do. I usually find that in 5-10 minutes you can get the voice in a good placement and you are ready to go!
After that, you are ready to do your exercises! These of course, are the bigger, longer, more varied exercises/scales that your teacher guides you through listening for vowel accuracy, timbre, pitch, resonance - basically the nitty-gritty of great sound.
Coming to a lesson without having warmed up decreases the time your teacher can spend doing exercises and repertoire.
Get ready for your lessons mentally and physically - get warmed up by yourself (even if you have to hum in the bathroom between classes!) and you will notice a difference in your progress!
If you have any favourite "warm ups", please share!
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