Just like athletes, musicians, and other professionals take time to warm up before they perform or compete, so must a voice talent in order to ensure his or her voice is ready to be at its best. In this post, we'll look at 7 different exercises along with audio examples, that you can use to warm up your voice, as well as some tips and strategies for how to use them.

You can download a 10 minute Guided Warmup Routine utilizing these exercises, as well as the individual MP3 versions of each exercise in the Resource Package for this post.

Warming Up: Why, When, and How

Why

Warming up your voice is essential to delivering a great performance in front of the mic. Chances are when you wake up in the morning your voice isn't quite at 100%. A brief vocal warm up can help loosen up the cords and get yourself ready for the auditions and jobs ahead of you by going through your range and "activating" or "waking up" the different parts of your voice. Warming up can also help minimize the occurrence of mistakes, mouth noise, and voice cracks.

When

One of the most obvious times to warm up is in the morning before you set about your workload for the day. Most people need a short bit of time for their voice to be at its full potential after they wake up in the morning. Incorporating a vocal warm up into your morning routine is a great way to create a habit and start every day with your voice at its best.