TERM 1- lesson 5- part 2

Lesson 5, Blog Entry 2

15th of october 2014

1: Humming
I always like to start with humming and the reason being is because it helps to open up my voice; it allows it to warm up so its ready to sing without putting any strain on my vocal chords. It does this by creating vibrations in my mouth, lips, neck and head- which allows me to become more aware of my technique and the placement of the sound I'm making.
By using humming it has helped me a lot with warming my voice up, before I start singing any song. It is the second thing I do to prepare myself for singing, the first is ensuring my posture is correct. Humming has helped me with my pitch in songs, it's allowed me to find pitch without any distractions from the phrasing- focus purely on getting the placement, I generally love using this to start with because it also helps open up my voice which is great for every song i sing. so its been effective in a general basis because I use it for everything.

2: Scales
I often use scales when warming up because it helps me become more familiar with different pitching and developing a good ear but also it really helps me to focus on my range. By starting of the scales slowly and gradually working my way up, whilst using different registers (chest, head etc.) it supports me when doing a song. By this I mean if for example I was unable to hit a section in a song I would sing it on a arr, eee- this works because it shows me the placement of where my voice should be and if I can reach the note. I also use scales when learning a song, this is because it reassures me that I know the pitching and the tune. for example I would learn the song 'there are worse things I could do' then I would sing it on a arr- by doing this it shows the range i am able to go to and confirms I'm confident on the songs melody.
This song helped me with 'there are worse things I could do' because at the start I couldn't get the belts, but after singing them on a arr, I realised the place I could go up to and with practice developed it up by using the words. This method has also been effective for many other songs I have sung, like 'I'm going down and will you still love me' The reason for this once again its a great help with the pitching and knowing what note I should be on etc. Overall I like using this as a warm-up because it helps in a variety of ways and it great for general warm up use or helping specific parts of the songs.

3: Lip Trills
By doing lip trills such as (brrr) it helps me warm- up and relax my mouth. this helps to develop my diction and articulation because it gets the lips moving to prepare when saying words/sounds etc. It helps with warming up my diaphragm and the reason being is you are using breath control to support how long you can hold the trills- it engages your breathing, so that you become more aware. Also it releases tension which I find I have before performing a song. Therefore I find this a useful warm up before practising because it allows me to relax into the song and focus more about the initial technique, range and performance contribution instead. I have done this with every song I have practised because it warms up so many aspects of the body and mind.
This warm-up is effective because it helps relax the mouth, but most importantly helps with articulation and diction. This is important in most songs like 'Lego house by ed sheeran' because you want the audience to be able to understand clearly what you are singing. I have used this many of times which has helped me with songs like 'pulled from the addams family', which is a wordy song, so by doing this warm-up it just got my lips and mouth working so it works better when creating the shape to sing the words. Once again this is a warm-up I use generally and particularly on certain songs; I believe its great and has many good qualities to it.

Added warm-up I use:

The witch, this is a new vocal warm up I have learnt. Its basically making a 'naa' sound, by doing this it helps bring the sound forward and the vibrations to become apparent on the cheek bones. By doing this when, singing it allows me to reach high notes, belts and for the general sound of the song to be more clearer which is great for the audience members. I have used this on songs like 'legally blonde' and 'wait for it'