Warming up before singing is made much easier by aerobic exercise. Your voice responds more quickly when your body is feeling energized. When you begin to perspire, you will know you are warm. The worst enemy of a singer is tension. Before you sing, do some yoga or deep stretches to reveal any tension you may be holding. Breathe normally and avoid pushing yourself too far. Deepen each stretch with a soft exhalation. Your facial muscles, lips, tongue, neck, shoulders, and eyes should all move naturally, and your mouth and jaw should be able to open and close without restriction. We don’t actively “take” a breath before speaking, and we don’t get out of breath in the middle of our sentences. Our body reacts to what we want to say, so it knows how much air we need. Many of our vocal registers follow the same guidelines. In order to sing, you must actively “take” a breath, which can strain your neck, shoulders, and chest. You’ll have the air you need to sing the phrase if you just think it through.
Any sentence in this article can be read aloud. Done? Notice how you let your breath out naturally while speaking. Sing that sentence aloud. The sensation must be the same. You are creating tension by doing too much if you inhaled and held your breath just before you sang. Just sing what needs to be said. You’ll immediately feel a connection to your belly moving in and out if you’re not holding your breath. You are open enough if this feels like it does when you yawn. A good position for singing is with at least two fingers’ distance between your teeth.
