Inner Critic
Simple Singing Mindset Hack
Quickly quiet the negativity and give your voice some love with this one great trick the next time you practice.
SING WITH JILL: The Blog
Build singing skills in your everyday warm ups
Use your warm up routine to work on technique
Technique: it can be a daunting and overwhelming word (and concept!)...
And if I’m being honest, it just doesn’t make me wanna do anything. There. I said it. 😬
It brings me back to my Royal Conservatory days, where I had to practice scales, and Hanon finger exercises ‘til the cows came home.
I didn’t want to work on technique – or even warm ups… I just wanted to work on my songs. (And I hear this from students too, so believe me when I say I GET IT).
But you know what? We can totally re-frame this AND “kill two birds” because:
Technique happens in your Warm Ups
You heard me right! You don’t need to do the finger exercise equivalent of vocal exercises to work on your technique! But you DO need to warm up.
When you skip this step of warming up, your voice goes from 0 to 50, and the expectation that your voice should just be ready to get to that place immediately is where you can get stuck (and hurt yourself too).
My mantra is this:
Think about your warm up as the place where you work on technique. Where you focus on breathing, agility, stamina, pitch, tone, resonance, etc.
Warming up is where you can actually start to improve your technique. You don’t want to be doing this in your songs – it’s going to feel like you have too many balls in the air! And if you’re noticing that when you go to your songs, you’re not seeing or hearing any improvement this is probably why.
Instead, work on technique in your warm up and then, when you go to sing your song, hopefully a lot of this technique will start to naturally fall into place and you won’t have to think about it so much.
Technique, but make it FUN:
When you warm up (and work on technique simultaneously), try to think more visually.
Here are some examples:
1) When you’re working on scales in your warm ups – can you think about climbing up and down a staircase?
Close your eyes and visualize yourself, actually climbing up those steps or even a mountain. Visualizing the steps, or the notes, is going to help you hit your pitches more accurately.
2) When you’re working on vocal slides – expanding your range and ability to seamlessly glide between notes – can you be a kid again and pretend you’re making siren sounds. Like an ambulance or fire truck?
3) What new visuals can you find for breathing, riffs and runs, pitch or mouth shape?
A BIG part of warming up and working technique is also about changing up the routine. And part of that for me is not taking myself too seriously, allowing myself to play around, be silly and feel the joy.
Try this:
Go on YouTube and find some different warm ups that just challenge you in new ways. It’s good to experience a range of teaching and vocal styles.
Or warm up to one of your favourite songs that sits in a comfortable part of your range. Try warming up on a ‘LA’ with that song or sing it on the straw or on a gentle hum.
Mix it up, because spicing up your warm up routine will make the biggest difference in your singing.
Remember, regardless is you’re warming up in the shower (my favourite), the car, or your singing space, your warm up is where you work on technique, and this is how you can begin to actually make technique fun and effective!
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My tried-and-true approach to warming up will get you motivated to practice. Plus, you’ll work on your singing technique too!
Practice Routine
Build singing skills with warm ups
Technique happens in your warm ups. When you warm up your voice, you naturally focus on breathing, agility, stamina, pitch, tone, resonance, etc. And then, when you go to your songs, hopefully a lot of this technique will start to fall into place and you don’t have to think about it so much!