You’ve probably heard the phrase, “singing with heart”. It’s great to sing with heart, or to sing with guts, but why stop there? Today, we’re going to sing with our hands and arms! I’ll teach you three very simple ways to recruit the hands and arms to help with two
Today I’m bringing you not one but FOUR exercises in one video. I want to give you all the support I can because, wow, tongue tension is a huge challenge. So many singers deal with tongue tension and, because it’s inside the mouth and we don’t see the tongue in
Whew! The last few weeks have really taken it out of me. With more in-person singing returning and the onset of spring allergies, my voice feels pretty shredded. Today’s gentle, restorative warm-up routine restored a little bit of healthy functionality for the practicing I wanted to do, and also the
Today, I want to share with you a great exercise for harnessing the resonance benefits of the humble drinking straw. Singing through a straw is amazingly therapeutic for the voice (if you want to know the science, check out the information at Voice Science Works). It is also the very
Hi, Singer. Are you reading this while taking a break between recording take 35 and 36 of the Hallelujah Chorus and you are more or less OVER IT? I know. Digital choirs are really hard. Singing by yourself in a room with no friends is exactly the kind of thing
This exercise is not complicated or glamorous, but it is VERY useful. It’s the perfect example of what I call “Automatic Resonance” exercises – exercises that tap into easy, familiar noises that happen to have a singing-friendly resonance and then transfer that resonance into other noises. Here’s how singing exercises
I call these vocalises “warm-ups”, but they are more than that. Or at least, they can be. In a private voice lesson, vocalizing at the beginning of the lesson is not just a preparation for repertoire work, but also a time to adjust breathing, voice placement, and work on tension,
Every time I do this exercise in a workshop, it’s a brain-exploding moment. Much like realizing that air comes out of your nose when you’re humming, it’s disarming to identify the things your body parts have been doing without your knowledge all your life. Ready to expand your consciousness? Let’s
It’s my goal to provide no-nonsense, timeless vocal advice here at The Weekly Warm-Up. Low breath, high placement – it worked in the 60s (and 1860s!) and it works today. But today’s routine is one that I hope will be obsolete soon – preparing to sing with a mask on.
Ok, friends, let’s talk about breath. It’s a hot topic, and one I always spend a good portion of instructional time discussing. Getting the breath patterned on an engaged outward movement (exhalation/singing) and a relaxed inward movement (inhalation) is the start of all breath work in my studio, so let’s