1. YAWN-SIGH TECHNIQUE

For this quick vocal exercise, simply yawn (take in air) with your mouth closed. Then, exhale through your nose as if you are sighing. This will help relax your voice and improve its range.

2. HUMMING WARM-UPS

Humming is one of the best vocal warm-ups because it doesn’t put a lot of strain on your vocal cords. Place the tip of your tongue behind your bottom front teeth and hum up and down the major scale while keeping your mouth closed. Each note should sound like “hmmm” — including the “h” sound is less taxing on your voice.

3. VOCAL STRAW EXERCISE

To perform the vocal straw exercise (also known as straw phonation), take a straw and hum through it. Start at the bottom of your range and slide up to the top slowly and evenly. Then, hum your favorite song through the straw. You can also place the straw in a partially full glass of liquid and blow controlled bubbles in the glass.

4. LIP BUZZ VOCAL WARM-UP

As far as vocal warm-ups go, lip buzz (or lip trill, as it is sometimes called) is very simple. The goal is to make a motorboat sound by making your lips vibrate as you blow air through your mouth and nose. You can incorporate pitch slides as well.

5. TONGUE TRILL EXERCISE

The tongue trill vocal exercise is difficult for some singers. It involves curling your tongue and rolling your R’s as you go through your range from low to high.

6. JAW LOOSENING EXERCISES

When singing, you want to drop your jaw lower than when you are just talking. With your finger, trace back along your jawline from your chin to your ear. That curved space between your jaw and your ear is where you want to drop your jaw.

Pretend you are yawning with your mouth closed and feel where your jaw drops. Avoid just dropping your chin.

7. TWO-OCTAVE PITCH GLIDE WARM-UP

For this easy vocal warm-up, make an “eeee” or “ohhhh” sound and gradually glide through the chromatic notes of a two-octave range. Glide up and then back down. This will transition from your chest voice to your head voice.

8. VOCAL SIRENS EXERCISE

Much like the pitch glide, the siren exercise takes an “oooo” sound and gradually goes from the lowest note of your range to the highest and back down, like a siren for an emergency vehicle. The sound is continuous and covers the tones between the notes.

9. VOCAL SLIDES TECHNIQUE

This technique is also known as a portamento, which is Italian for “the act of carrying.” Much like the siren exercise, you slide from one note to the next in your range, but you don’t sing the in-between notes.