Practice Tip #2 of 7: Warm Up

2. Warm up - Stretch-Stand-Breathe-Sing. Singing is physical, and a warmup for body and voice is essential. It's good to have 4-5 standard vocal warmups - the ones you like best - but make sure you engage your brain as you engage your body so you can be present in your practice! Amy MacKenzie suggests: "Take it as an opportunity to prepare your body and mind for work and take stock of how you're feeling, how you're breathing, the tension your body is holding and why you are doing that particular exercise."

My go-to warmups for body & voice that takes about 10 minutes:

1) Rope Climb (overall body stretch, breathing, posture)

2) Range of Motion (for tension in neck/shoulders) 3) Trunk Twist (upper body loosening)

5) Oo-sighs with and without straw

6) 5-tone scale variations

7) 9-tone scale with & without lip trill