Why you do a warm-up before the physical exercise? Well, it prepares your muscles for the upcoming strain and prevents any injury. Singing is also a vocal exercise. Your vocal cords and soft tissues do precision movements during singing. These body parts are delicate and need the utmost care. Thus it would be best if you do a warm-up before starting to sing every time.
Warming up before singing is recommended in every form of music. Warming up voice exercises in Indian classical music is called Aakar.
We are listing here the 7 most important advantages of vocal warm-up exercises
- Prevents Voice Issues
If you sing regularly, you might’ve come across the following challenges
- Bad voice days
- Not able to pull particular musical note in the latter part of the day
- Not able to sing in lower notes
- Voice wearing out after singing only 2 or 3 tracks
Vocal exercise saves you from all these pitfalls. It loses your vocal cords to make them more flexible. It increases the blood circulation around the area of your throat. Vocal exercises for singers enhance their singing abilities.Warming up before singing broadens your range as well.
- Healthy for Your Muscles
Your vocal muscles go through a lot of vibrating and stretching during singing. They are moved right, left, and center! Thus it becomes vital to prepare them for this in advance. Your muscles engage with the tendon of your throat while singing. That stretches the tendon. Vocal exercise generates acid in the muscle, which makes these movements inside your throat smother. The quality and control of your voice largely depend on the smoothness and flexibility of your throat muscles.
Increased strain while singing can sometimes result in inflammation or a sore throat. Vocal warm-up exercises help you in avoiding these painful conditions.
- Keeps Your Voice Evergreen
If you are a singer, you want to protect your voice with your life. But your throat muscles will deteriorate with age like any other part of your body. So what will you do if you want to keep your body young and fit? You will exercise and eat the right food. The same thing applies to vocal cords as well.
Vocal exercises for singers aids in controlling pitch to help you shift from one musical note to another without any hitch. They also work on the tonal quality of your voice. Vocal exercise can holistically improve the diction, breath control, and even emotional control in a singer.
- Performance Enhancer
Nope! We are not talking about any drug here! Investing some time in voice exercises before going for performance is always a good idea. It prepares your muscles, tissues, & vocal cords for various activities about to be done by them. So they will already be in the zone.
Imagine the confidence of a well-prepared performer! The one who knows precisely the pitch and tone of his/her voice for the day. Regular vocal exercise will enhance your breathing control. That is extremely important for a good singing performance. Did you know vocal warm-up exercises create muscle memory? Your vocal cords will understand what they need to do even if you forget a particular note between the songs.
- Development of Singing
Every singer’s area of improvement is different. If you practice voice exercises regularly, you will know your weak point. Hence, you can practice and improve on it. The job of vocal exercises for singers is the same as the job of aerobic or strength training. It keeps your voice, your vocal cords in shape. And it makes your throat muscles stronger.
A good singer is always aware of the voice techniques, apart from the knowledge of musical notes.Vocal warm-up exercises provide you better control over your pitch and breathing. Hence, mastering any voice technique will not be a task for you with regular practice.
- Wider Vocal Range
A singer needs a lot of practice to develop the ability to go from lowest to the highest note in the same performance. Every singer sings in a unique pitch and scale. Regular vocal warm-up exercises will enable you to do a smooth transition from one note to another. With regular practice, you might hit the notes which were earlier out of your range. As mentioned before, voice exercise Increases breathing control. And if you can control your breathing, you can switch notes more easily. You will feel your voice is more robust than before. And you will be able to sing for a longer time without getting tired.
- Recovery from Sleep
Many experts recommend the early morning practice for the singing. Vocal exercise in the early morning clears the overnight mucus build-up and nasal cavity. If you start singing without the vocal warm-up exercises, your voice quality will not be right in the morning hours.
Final Words
There are various vocal exercises for singers. Some work on your breathing and some on your posture. Others help you enhance your diction, pitch, range, and voice tonal quality. You can study which one suits you better and start working out!
REEMA KRISHNAN is a content creator at Acharyanet, a platform for Carnatic music learners where they can learn music from gurus through 400+ video lessons. Being a music enthusiast and a history buff herself, she is able to provide value for her readers and her content is well-received by musicians, music lovers, and music learners of all ages and at all stages. She loves to volunteer with music therapy groups and bakes up a storm in her free time.
