Singing Exercises to Keep You in Tune

Just as an athlete needs to engage in rigorous exercise in order to remain competitive, so a vocalist must keep up with his or her singing exercises in order to consistently perform at a peak level.  Initially, singing exercises may seem so boring that it is difficult for you to do them day in and day out.  But, take heart—it gets easier over time.  And, although your singing exercises may appear to be quite dull, they can help you to get your career started on the right note.

Before you engage in singing exercises, you must prepare your body for them.  But how can you achieve that?  The key may lie in maintaining good posture.  Your shoulders should be back…your feet pointed forward…and the muscles of your abdominal cavity should be relaxed.  It’s a good idea to keep your knees bent so that you can maintain proper balance.   You should be entirely erect and not slouched in any manner.  Otherwise, the quality of your sound is likely to suffer.

You should then engage in some relaxation exercises.  Slowly roll your shoulders for about 60 seconds, then roll your head and neck in a counterclockwise position.  After that, consider lifting each leg individually and doing circles with each foot.  Such exercises should help release the tension in your body so that you can sing well.

Now, it’s time for some vocalization exercises.  Slowly breathe in, then begin to sing a note.  Continue to hold the note for as long as you can without having your voice break.  Then, repeat for each note of the scale. 

Your next task is to sing a series of notes using various vowel sounds.  Begin by singing, “ah-ah-ah-ah-ah,” then move to “ay-ay-ay-ay-ay,” “ee-ee-ee-ee-ee,” “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh,” and “ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.”  This exercise should help to relax your mouth and to warm up your vocal chords.

Your next exercise can be to sing a series of staccato notes for a change of pace.   You might also consider singing some tongue twisters in order to enhance your diction.  “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” is a good one to try.

When doing your vocal exercises, it’s a good idea to tape record your efforts.  That way, you can listen back to see whether you hit the notes dead-on or whether you were somewhere off the mark.  Don’t become frustrated if you don’t give yourself an “A+” right away.  Vocalizing is hard work, and it can take time and effort for you to perfect it.

For additional vocal exercises, you might consider taking an online course.  You can learn a variety of ways to warm-up and cool-down your voice that way.  And that variety might prevent you from becoming overly bored with your exercises.

Undoubtedly, vocal exercises are not the most exciting aspect of a musical artist’s life.  However, they can help to keep your voice in shape over the long term, preventing you from burning out at an early age.  And, over time, you just might find those exercises are helping you to develop a truly inspiring singing voice.