Happy February everyone! Ah the month of heart shaped pizzas, a bit more sunshine and slushy roads. What’s not to love?
If you’ve just done dry Jan or about to do dry Feb, then YAY you! Singers need all the moisture they can get and sadly, alcohol dries out your vocal folds. Of course, you could do “damp” or “moist” February – in other words, just moderation.
It’s also still really dry outside. Consider running a humidifier in your bedroom overnight. And drink water like it’s going out of style.
And now, as promised….QUICK EASY MORNING VOCAL WARM-UPS:
1) keep a bottle of water beside your bed and before you get up in the morning, take a really good swig. Swish it around your mouth and then take another really good swig. Gargle with sound and swallow.
2) using a “hmmm” sound in a low but comfortable range, simply whirl it around like a low siren over and over again as you wash your face.
3) now graduate to a “hum” on any song you like that gets you going! Hum the entire song in a comfortable range as you get dressed.
4) neener, neener, neener – yes! Place that in your nose as much as you can and be the bratty child that sings this on the playground. You can also use (which I prefer) “meenie, meenie, meenie”.
5) right before you drink your coffee or eat your breakfast, take a big breath through your nose and blow it out in spurts. Do this 2 or even 3 times!
6) and now, as we put our dishes in the sink or load the dishwasher, we “whoop” from bottom of register to top of register and “boom” from top going down to bottom. Your family will be alarmed – ignore them.
7) when you open any door in your house (or your fridge) or the door to your car, squeak or “fry” your voice and then immediately open that squeaky hinge sound into a sung “ee” vowel on any comfortable pitch.
8) develop a little “diddy” that is ultra short but that you can lip trill or “vv” or “zz” followed immediately by a connected and smooth sounding “dah” or “doo” or dee” elongated sound. (think “hallelujah” from Handel’s Messiah and just use that tiny bit to make your point)
That’s it! Have a great morning!!
