Mix up your warm up!

Warm ups. A boring necessity. Or are they?

Vocal warm ups and warm downs are essential to maintain the flexibility and longevity of your voice. I often say to students, "Warm up and warm down when you practise at home - but if you only have time for one, then make sure its UP!"

So you have your basic scales, your arpeggios, your breath extensions, your chest voice and head voice transitioners ... and they definitely have their place. But what if that's getting a bit, well ... boring? A little ho-hum?

May I introduce to you a trick I picked up very early on in my teaching career - using a tricky song to warm up. Here are my personal favourites, and once you listen to them, you'll understand how and why they can be used in a warm up capacity.

Firstly - for my pitch practise, I often use Jamiroquai's Stillness In Time.

Secondly, for a good chest voice blast - the chorus from Macklemore's Downtown.

And lastly, for a good ol' stretch of the breath - Adele's cover of The Cure's Lovesong.

Any suggestions from you and your music library? Especially with male vocalists in mind, or soprano females? Would love to hear them.