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Warm up your voice
Lately I’ve been worried that I’ve been straining my voice, both in performing poetry and when running my monthly slams. Accordingly, I’ve done a bit of research (see links at the end of this post for the sources) and some trialling and have put together a quick vocal warm-up routine.
Let me know what works for you too.
Breathing
Start by taking lots of deep breaths, making sure you’re breathing from your diaphragm and not raising and lowering your shoulders. Rest a hand on your abdomen to help you focus on this. Now start make a hissing ‘s’ sound as you exhale until your lungs are empty.
Open your mouth
Put the heels of your hands under your cheek bones. Push in and move your hands downwards, letting your jaw fall open. Repeat.
Vocal exercises
With your mouth closed, produce a low humming sound, gradually building up to a loud ‘mah’ sound as you open your mouth (this one is good to do in the shower if you want to work it into a daily routine).
Put your lips together loosely and blow a steady stream of air to create a raspberry sound (a lip trill). Now try doing this as you make a ‘h’ and then ‘b’ sound. Gently move up and down the scales using both sounds, one at a time.
Diction: tongue twisters
Repeat the following phrases in a row: unique New York; round and down; red rubber baby buggy bumpers; eee-yaaa; red leather, yellow leather.
Hold a pencil or pen between your front top and bottom teeth and try some of the following tongue twisters. Also try to say lots of words with ‘s’, ‘v’, ‘f’ and ‘th’ sounds.
Drink a glass of warm water (actually, make sure you drink lots of water at all times, to keep your mouth and throat nicely lubricated) and say the following tongue twisters. Go nice and slow and try to enunciate each and every syllable.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Sally sells seashells by the seashore,
the shells Sally sells are surely from the sea.
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
The sixth sick Sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick
Betty Botter bought some butter.
‘But,’ she said, ‘the butter’s bitter,
if I put it in my batter
it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter
that would make my batter better.’
Final words
According to Jeff Davis’s vocal teacher, you should try not to cough or shout and to only speak in low tones before noon. This all sounds like a good idea, if only to ease pounding headaches created by attempts to write Jack Kerouac style.
These exercises were adapted from the following pages:
- Warm up your voice before class to improve the way you sound
- Wikipedia: Vocal warm up
- World Voice Day: Voice Warmup
