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Welcome to Cara and Martin’s vocal warm up extravaganza! Join in to prepare foranything using your voice - it could be speaking, singing or just performing in general.

Preparing to Sing

When preparing to sing, it’s important to adopt the right stance and to feel comfortable, warmedup and ready to go.

Following simple steps like these will help you feel confident and ready to give your bestperformance.

Here are some other exercises you can do to warm up:

Loosen Up

1. Loosen up the whole body by getting into a clear space and shaking your feet, hands,arms and legs to get rid of any tensions in the body
2. Roll your shoulders backwards and forwards, and make a figure of 8 with your hips,keeping the rest of your body as still as possible
3. Relax your jaw by starting with a yawn, then try squeezing your face up as tightly aspossible and then releasing into a wide, open expression
4. Finally, finish off by relaxing your lips and exhaling for about 15 seconds, expelling allthe air in your lungs as a lip trill

Singing Posture

1. Stand up straight, with your arms and hands loose by your sides
2. Relax your shoulders and keep your chest high
3. Your head should be level, with your chin parallel to the ground and your neck straight
4. Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart, with your knees loose

Breathing Exercise

1. Breathe out through your mouth, releasing all the air from your lungs
2. Once your lungs feel empty, allow your tummy to relax and fill with air through yourmouth - at this point your belly should expand with all the air you are taking in
3. Repeat this process and try to make the outward breath (exhale) last as long as possible
4. Experiment by making a ‘sss’, ‘shh’ and ‘fff’ noise on the exhale - this will warm up yourmouth and help you hear exactly how much air you are letting out

Independent Warm Up

Try making up your own warm up sequence with exercises that make you feel relaxed andready to sing. Teach your pattern to a friend and see if they find it useful!