Soprano Warm-up Tips

I thought it would be useful to write down some tips for those of you who would like
to practise at home, the following points are just to give you an idea of a daily vocal
workout and the order in which they should be completed. A warm should last for no
more than 30/40 minutes and short pauses should be taken in between the exercises.

Always begin with energising the body, ensuring you have 'alert' posture. (The
feeling as though you are about to start running a race or getting ready to say
something important) Remember to check for locked knees!

Breath Management try doing breathing exercises in front of the mirror at

home. (The shoulders should remain relaxed throughout) Try exhaling firstly to
a lip trill (think horse!) consonants such as 'f' and 's' and then voiced
consonants such as 'v' and z, try to extend the note with the each exercise
whilst all the time retaining the feeling of an open, relaxed chest.
Firstly gently hum a legato, descending phrase, then separate each of these
notes (remembering not to alter the 'alert/noble' posture) Finally add a vowel
Hmm-ahh or Hmm-eh ensuring that the hummed note is of equal length to the
vowel.

Practising Agility (moving the voice through quick melodic passages) is a great
way to gain vocal freedom. Practise different combinations of quick staccato
and legato passages on various vowels (ee, eh, ah, oh, oo) Singing 'Bidi, bidi'
and 'gola gola' are also great exercises for agility too.

Vowels - Firstly start by speaking then singing all of the vowels slowly on the
same note (ee, eh, ah, oh, oo)
Continue with descending phrases such as Vi-va, Viva, etc and Ooo-ee, ooo-ee
etc, you can mix and match all of the vowels in different combinations.
Resonance the sounds 'Nnn' and 'Ng' are really good for helping the voice to
resonate more effectively. Practise singing 'NNN' and 'Ng' followed by
different vowels. The Ogni-Uomo exercise and Unique New York exercises are
also very effective.
Consonants Don't be afraid of consonants! They can be really helpful to us.
Alternate between voiced consonants and unvoiced consonants for example
'vre-vra' and 'fle-fla; remembering to roll the 'r'

Range once we have completed exercises for all of the above elements we can then
move onto singing scales to extend the range, sing normal arpeggios on different
vowels remembering to always aim towards the second highest note so that the
highest one falls into the line.

I hope you find some of this information useful- a good warm up should allow you greater vocal freedom so
you can really make the most of singing the repertoire!