No warm up

[Rosa]

I found an article that said warm ups don't have to be obligatory (or something). It also said the best thing is Steam. Do you use steam often?  (I'll keep trying to find the article; can't see it now).

I abused my throat again, this time overusing it. I am now considering that perhaps I won't need to warm up to sing in falsetto. How do you see it?

I am just resting now.  

 

Edit: I've finally found the article (looks interesting to me): http://www.voicecouncil.com/10-ways-to-avoid-the-voice-doctor/

Quote

2. Don’t Use Your Voice to Warm Up Your Body.
Too many singers believe that a long and laborious vocal warm up is necessary prior to an effective performance. However, your vocal folds do not require this; in fact, a long warm-up wastes precious energy that should be conserved for performance. So how should you warm up? All high-intensity singing requires anchoring from muscles in the head/neck and torso/core. Get the big muscle groups working first before you attempt any high-intensity sounds—do some stretching to limber up and remove unwanted tension from your tongue and jaw. Don’t attempt high-intensity singing if you are physically fatigued. Warming up is about checking in with your technique, but a warm-up should not be a “wear-out.”

 

Quote

 So, is there any commodity that will help a sore voice? Scientific research points to one “product”: steam. Steaming for 5-15 minutes, twice a day, is a great way to ease allergies, colds and dry voices.

 

[JonJon]

same as for athletics etc.....a warm up is just that..a warm up. Start off niiiiccceeeee and easy.

 

The article sort of paints a false dichotomy. They give you a choice of a) no warm up vs an "extensive" warm up that will "wear you out"

those are the 2 extremes. Obviously a short period of warm up is just good common sense

 

I doubt Steve Perry or M Jackson or Celine or any top singer just stepped to the mic and out poured solid gold lol

[Felipe Carvalho]

Although it is possible to just open your mouth and produce pretty much any technical execution that you may need without the need to warm up (and in my opinion you NEED to be able to do that), it does not mean that singing without warming up is ok.

Think of it as a good practice, there is research that shows that warming up increases AP narrowing and other aspects that makes it easier to sing, and both health care professionals and high level teachers recommend doing it.

10-15 minutes of some tongue-trills and relaxation exercises won't get in the way of anyone and it's also useful to concentrate and clear your mind of distractions. You can also include some key coordinations that are relevant for your specific needs or repertoire. Like a check-list.

Now, if the idea is warming up like crazy in order to try to "fix the high range", then it's indeed not the wisest way to approach it. And I would agree that this kind of warm up is not necessary.

[charstar]

Singing is so individual that you kinda just have to experiment and see what works for you. 

I am not one of those people who can just sing on a dime. If I don't warm up, it's as if I have never sung in my entire life before. My warmups are long, 20-30 minutes, sometimes up to 45 minutes. And I agree with JonJon, start off nice and easy. Then increase the intensity once you're feeling free and open.

Mainly for me staying hydrated is most important because I dry out easily. I have not personally used steam but whenever I'm in the shower it feels great so I think it can only help.

If you're talking about falsetto, I train that with high intensity (shoutout to Xamedhi for showing me that). As clear a sound as you can make with as little air as possible. Too much air blowing through means I will be very fatigued after a lot of falsetto (because it dries out your vocal folds). But by reducing the air, I don't have that weird feeling in the throat.

Again this differs for everyone, but I actually do better when I sing with high intensity. And when I speak, it is more open and projected, like a stage actor. Speaking softly and trying to contain the sound was actually putting a hamper on my progress. So for me at least it seems that the more I use my voice, the better I am at singing. But do what works for you.

lol I know for sure Celine has a warm up. In fact I saw a video last year about it.

 

[Rosa]

32 minutes ago, Felipe Carvalho said:

Although it is possible to just open your mouth and produce pretty much any technical execution that you may need without the need to warm up (and in my opinion you NEED to be able to do that)...

 

Good point. And this is related to what charstar says as well. I needed to warm up a lot to be able to sing, but now I don't anymore. Right now my throat needs mostly rest, but what you say about relaxation and concentration...that's something I'll always need.  

charstar, I've learnt that not only are we different from each other but also we personally might need different things at different points in time/progress. 

When I say falsetto, I mean something like the women here. I often call it "neutral" now:

 

Last long shower I took, I noticed it did good to my voice too. But inhaling steam for the sake of it is not very appealing on the other hand.

[Martin H]

I will say what I did earlier: If you feel it helps you, by all means do it. If not, don't. That's simple logic in my opinion.

[charstar]

Rosa that's a nice arrangement of the piece! 

If you don't need as long a warm up anymore, it might mean you are more efficient at getting into the singing coordinations. Which is quite desirable! Obviously I am not there yet. 

I don't believe the women in this song are singing falsetto, at least in the sense of being very airy/leaky. I could be completely wrong though. 

haha but if steam helps, you should just go for it right? Breathing deeply also helps relax all the mental tensions you've built up over the day, which definitely has a negative impact on my singing. I cannot sing if my mind is not present, so to say, and if the intention is not focused.

[Rosa]

I've improved a lot! I'll still have to pay attention to how I speak aloud and get my throat healthy and stable for longer.

I showed you the video so that you can see what I meant with the word. 

And yes, tensions are terrible. That's why I won't forget what Felipe said and will try at least some exercises to relax. I probably should still exercise my jaw, tongue, etc a bit, lightly.

[Robert Lunte]

1 hour ago, Martin H said:

I will say what I did earlier: If you feel it helps you, by all means do it. If not, don't. That's simple logic in my opinion.

And if you are someone that is a beginner and doesn't have a clue if it helps you or not, should the best practice response to such individuals be this? No.

When in doubt, warm-up. Working with 30 students a week for about 15 years, I have never seen anyone that didn't NEED, or certainly at least benefit from warming up. We are talking about 15 or 20 minutes here, why this is even up for debate is a fantastically unlikely experience.

[Robert Lunte]

2 hours ago, JonJon said:

I doubt Steve Perry or M Jackson or Celine or any top singer just stepped to the mic and out poured solid gold lol

No, they don't.

 

[Rosa]

I pasted a video where Celine Dion replies she can keep her voice because she still has a coach and exercises (she shows some warm ups in the video), but Barbra Streisand seems to always say she is not into exercising and all that:

Quote

“I’m terrible about warming up,” she said. “That’s just too boring to me.” Years ago Tony Bennett sent her a tape with vocal exercises on it. “I listened to it once,” she said. She does keep handy one tape with solfège vocal routines that a voice coach made for her. “It’s very simple,” she said. “But I find myself doing the exercises only in the car on the way to the recording session.” That is too last-minute to do much good, she added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/arts/music/27tomm.html?_r=0

 

[kickingtone]

Quote

Steaming for 5-15 minutes, twice a day, is a great way to ease allergies, colds and dry voices.

I was trying to figure out what this meant. A 15 minute mad rage every day?

2 hours ago, charstar said:

I have not personally used steam but whenever I'm in the shower it feels great so I think it can only help.

Actual steam would cook your tonsils, right? Actual steam is 100 degrees Celsius +.

So, if we are talking water vapour "steam", what's the difference between standing under a hot shower and "steaming". How does one "steam"???

[Rosa]

I guess a hot shower is good enough, but he says "twice a day" and I personally don't take showers long enough to make a lot of steam any normal day. It looks like you do.  

[VideoHere]

I agree with Rob.

Are we all on the same page when we say warmup?

Warming up is not just about (directed to beginners) doing vocal exercises till you think you're ready to sing.

There's a mental component, mental preparation, initiating focus, stimulating the senses.

There's massage, body stretching, breathing ...so undervalued and overlooked.

Then let's not forget the "here's where my voice is right now, and here's what we need to do."  Some nights you can sense you're in good voice, close to where you need to go.

But other nights you are so far off it isn't even funny, and depending on so many factors it can take quite a while to get set up.

Tenelli said it best when he said you have to figure out what works for you and that takes a lot of trial and error.

You have to begin to sense and factor in all the things that can stand in your way...emotional state, present health, areas where you hold onto tension, how much talking you did on a given day, current temperature and humidity, the effects of time zones (if you travel)... and so much more....gig length, tonight's setlist, level of hydration, etc.

B.T.W., steaming can turn very ugly if you don't keep your steamer scrupulously clean. Be sure to wash it after every use and allow it to air dry. 

Lou Gramm has said that he warms up making sure he reaches a certain timbre with his voice. If he doesn't get to that timbre we wants he does things till he does.

 

[Robert Lunte]

@VideoHere

The point that warming-up is not only a "lip trill" thing for beginners, but is something that always stays with you... and becomes a full, "global" preparation before you train or sing is a very good point. Spoken from someone that has gobs of experience. 

For example, when I am going to start recording, Im not just warming up with lip trills and or nasal buzzing to balance respiration pressures, I do that... but I quickly get to Attack & Release Onsets (glottal attacks) and then sirens with narrowing to prepare for the very specific belt voice or high M1 ,... or TA dominant positions I am going to HAVE to sing through. You warm up, not only your voice in general, but you prepare for the task at hand as well... that can be many different things.

Great point Bob.

BTW... speaking of warm-ups... Below on my signature... this "Vocal Athlete Training Routine" is a warm-up routine + some essential belting workouts. It is only $19.00 USD!  It is a REALLY great deal... hope someone takes advantage of it. For $19, you can't get a better deal. As a matter of fact, I will likely be raising the price of the thing in the next few days to $49... just saying. If anyone is interested, I recommend that you bust a move NOW.

[Martin H]

11 hours ago, Robert Lunte said:

When in doubt, warm-up.

That's also a valid point in regards to beginners. It definitely can't hurt.

[Robert Lunte]

About once a year Martin will agree with me on something. I'm going to go get a drink, we did it this year in Q1. It's amazing! There is water on Mars! Dogs & Cats are sleeping together, and Martin agreed with me on something before the end of Q1.

[Martin H]

@Rob,

I believe we agree on more than you think my friend

[VideoHere]

13 hours ago, YouCanSingAnything said:

I guess I warm up. I don't personally find it doing anything significant for me or intermediate students... NECESSARILY... What I do, however, is make sure my timbre is right and that my voice feels healthy before I start all out going through a song. I guess this is a warm up! It's really easy for me to start singing a song with the wrong timbre; whether that's a muscle memory problem or just because I have a horrible sense of mind/body co-ordination in general I'm unsure ;p. I know others who just go straight into singing whatever they want without a care in the world and they're always flawless..

So taking 5-10 minutes to just be sure I'm using the right co-ordination is all I need. Another thing I'll do is some light semi-occluded phonations when I wake up in the morning. I'm speaking/singing all day so I just want to get my cords warm and my "placement" in check before I go through my day =p.

Likewise, like the author, I'm not convinced that "warm-ups" do anything significantly physiological for your voice. Never personally been a big fan of really long warm up routines. When I do shows I almost always skip the group warm-ups. I just feel like they add additional fatigue when, really, my issue is almost always psychological and not because my voice isn't ready to sing. I sing best straight out of the gate.

I do, however, like the author advises suggest a proper stretching routine. Do I think it makes or breaks a performance? Nah not really. At best it will help relax you before singing. At worst it does nothing. There is a lot of evidence on the relaxation benefits of stretching, though. It physiologically causes the muscles stretched to relax. So yeah I like stretches but it's another short-term solution as the benefits disappear after a few minutes.

As for the steam... there are studies showing that it really only helps, again, for a few minutes. It's not a permanent change; you're just lubricating the superficial external layer of the cords. Can it be helpful? Sure! I personally try and practice after a shower. But I'm not really convinced that it does anything significant for the voice long-term... Additionally, relying on superficial lubrication might be a bad habit of getting into. The author sort of specifies that this is only really helpful for a sore/dry throat. Drinking water would probably give you more lasting effects for a dry throat. For a sore throat it might help you get through a performance as I am also very against the numbing sprays on the market.

At the end of the day good singing is less about the warm up process IMO and 99.9% about your muscle memory/psychology. The more you practice, the better you get. The better you are, the easier it is to sing. Overall, though, I really love this article. Honestly. It's a breath of fresh air.

Tristan, I think you're devaluing the benefits of warming up because you may not have really experienced the difference.  I used to do the same thing, but now I know the difference...and it's significant. The difference needs to be really be sensed or you end up just not knowing just how much better it can be.

[Danielformica]

I remember a study where they scoped Steven Tyler before ,in the middle, and after a performance. It showed how the cords became more pliable as the night went on and easier to sing.  As a professional touring singer for over 20 years I can say warming up is a must for everyone, If you want longevity and consistent performances. It only makes sense if you start warming up an hour before the show it won't take you a few songs to get warm body breath and cords. You won't have to start the setlist easy and work up you will be ready every night.

[Martin H]

1 hour ago, Danielformica said:

 As a professional touring singer for over 20 years I can say warming up is a must for everyone, If you want longevity and consistent performances.

And I acknowledge you speak only for yourself, or do you know the must for everyone in this singing-world?

[Danielformica]

1 hour ago, Martin H said:

And I acknowledge you speak only for yourself, or do you know the must for everyone in this singing-world?

It's a must if you care for your voice and its longevity. Now if you are a Broadway theatre singer and maybe your big notes aren't till the climax of the play well maybe you go up cold turkey warm up on a few chorus songs and there you have it. Some singers have that option but if your a rock/soul singer in your late 40s to 70s you should probably gets some blood flow moving and pliability happening before you go singing queensryche or phil perry at 9am when you woke up 10 minutes before. 

You could also do a test say you like chris Cornell try this : wake up and immediately try singing Jesus Christ pose record it. Then wake up another day warm up throughout the day and then sing it. Let me know how that works out for ya

[Rosa]

Daniel, confess, when you had to sing at 9am, and woke up 10 minutes before, you couldn't warm up.  

I get that part of the "blood flow".

[Martin H]

Well Daniel,

Please show the must for us all. Like the "care and longevity". of the voice? Really? 

You say Jesus Christ Pose.

I cant do that, because I haven't trained that song! So why should that be an argument? 

 

[Rosa]

16 minutes ago, Martin H said:

Like the "care and longevity". of the voice? Really? 

 

I am not sure I am understanding that part, Martin. But if you mean it is not possible to maintain the voice, Plácido Domingo was 74 in this video:

 

Let's check if he warms up!  

 

Edit: I've found a page in Spanish, saying if they warm up or not (according to what they themselves have said).

http://www.sav.org.ar/los-famosos-¿como-calientan-la-voz/

Quote

Plácido Domingo: El tenor español es partidario de la naturalidad. Considera que si cantó bien en una actuación no es necesario hacer ningún tipo de ejercicios hasta la próxima función porque la voz tiene que descansar. 

 

(The Spanish tenor prefers it natural. He considers that if he sang well in a performance it is not necessary to do any exercise before the next performance because his voice needs to rest).

Hmm on the other hand we saw him on a video saying he takes a lot of care with his voice, body exercise, food, etc...