10 Best Singing Warmups

Published by 
Singers Corner Team
Last updated: 
January 4, 2024

As a singer, you need to make sure you’re properly warming up your voice before you trying singing. Warmups will help you loosen up your vocal cords and not strain your voice. They also help you reach the notes at the top and bottom of your range so it doesn’t hurt when you sing them! I’ve found the top 10 best singing warmups for warming up your voice!

1. Sirens

Start at the top of your range and slide down to the bottom like a siren. Do this multiple times in order to reach the majority of notes in your range.

2. Lip Trills

Buzz your lips and sing notes at the same time. You can sing random notes or you can sing a scale- major, minor, chromatic, whatever you want! Do this for a good two minutes!

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3. Ngs

Sing words that have the “-ng” ending, like hung, ming, sing, etc. This is to increase your ability to switch from chest to head voice with ease.

4. Tongue Twisters

Sing tongue twisters, like “Mommy made me mash my M&M’s, oh my!”, or “Chester Cheetah chewed a chunk of cheap cheddar cheese”. This is to help with your diction and enunciation; every time you sing it, sing it in a different key and faster than the one before. This exercise also helps loosen up your ease to reach the top and bottom of your registers.

5. Breathing

Breathe in your 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and release on a “sss” sound for 16 seconds. Each time you do this, increase the seconds by a 4 second interval. This is to help your breathing and allow you to hold notes longer and increase the use of your diaphragm.

(If you want to have a little fun with it, breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and then breathe out as long as you can).

6. Hums

Hum a certain note, or hum a little tune. Make sure when you do this, keep your lips closed, but create a lot of space in your mouth so your teeth are not touching. This exercise is to increase your breathing abilities, especially when hitting higher notes.

7. Chew on Notes

Pick a random note and chew on it like you would chew on a piece of food or gum. While doing this, open your jaw and move it around. You can stay on the same note or move between notes when doing this. This exercise loosens your jaw, so get the tall vocal sound you need.

8. “Mah-May-Mee-Mo-Moo”

Do this exercise on a single, monotonous note. Take it really slow and see if you can do it all on one breath. This is to really annunciate your “M’s” and control your breathing.

9. “I Love To Sing”

Sing “I love to Sing” in order to control your notes. Start at the root (Do) and sing the higher octave (Do), down the 5th (Sol), down to the 3rd (Mi) and back down to the root (Do).

10. Scales

Sing a major scale from top to bottom- Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do and back down- Do Ti La Sol Fa Me Re Do. This will help you hear notes easier and increase your ability to sight read as well as control notes. If you want to try something different, try singing a minor scale- Do Re Me Te Sol Le Te Do, and back down again- Do Te Le Sol Te Me Re Do.

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