Lately, I have been increasingly doing longer sessions and am reminded that much like runners can sprint at a speed they can’t maintain for a marathon, I can’t do everything with my voice during a long read that I can for a :60 sec spot.

I’ve started actually doing the warm-ups that I’ve always been told I needed to do, instead of just the :30 sec warm-ups I had been doing. (Imagine that, my teachers were right! :)) One of the things I’ve found that I most enjoy and is the most effective, is to sing.

Now, I’ve always been told that I can not sing. I went to School for Creative and Performing Arts where we are tested in several categories; signing, art, music, dance, acting, writing, and tech theatre. Your score in each discipline determines if you can take it as a major, a minor, or you can’t take it at all. I didn’t score well enough to even take singing classes 😦

But, I love singing and have always wanted to be able to do to it. So, a few years ago, when I shared a house with an incredible singer in Nashville, I began to imitate her warm-ups and started practicing singing, even asking her questions about where I should feel notes in my body etc. I also began to notice a change in my voice over work and realized they have a symbiotic relationship. As in my singing helps me to do a better performance with voice overs and voice overs help me to sing better.

I’ve begun to add some vocal warm-ups for singers into my warm-up mix and not only do I enjoy them, but they are making quite a difference when it comes to long sessions. To make the most of these exercises I needed to find out what my range is, and for someone who doesn’t even sing Happy Birthday at parties, I had no idea? That’s where this handy video comes into play.

Turns out I’m an alto, with a large range, which must be why I like to sing along to Fleetwood Mac!

For me, the difference between the voice over warm-ups and singing warm-ups is that while they are both GOOD :0 The singing warm-ups help condition my voice to perform for an extended period of time. It is a deeper work-out for my voice. Whereas a voice over warm-up like a tongue twister is a just before you get in front of the mic, last min work-out. Both are necessary when doing long form narration and I’m grateful that I get the results I need from singing warm-ups.

Oh and BTW – not one but two strangers have complimented me on my singing lately – ha! 😉

What kind of warm-ups do you do and why?

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