Why Singing Every Day Is Important

The reason for keeping your voice healthy and why singing every day is very important.

Let’s start with a Warm-up. The reason for a personal Warm-up every day is that you need to keep your vocal instrument, especially now. (I recommend the length should be 20 – 30 minutes a day, no more.)

The next question, is “Why that much time?” You need this time to warm up your voice and spend a little time on at least two of your chorus/quartet repertoire songs.

Most of us have been involved in some type of athletic activity in our lives. If we did not want a hamstring pull or something more serious to happen, we always stretched (warmed up) before the athletic activity. Singing is a physical activity, not only involving a specific muscle, our voice, but our entire body when singing well.

Your personal warm up should consist of more than just humming a couple of scales and singing “Heart of my Heart.” The exercises you choose should have several common aspects, such as:

  • activating your mind (fact: 80% of vocal warm-up is mental).
  • incorporating exercises that reinforce techniques to help you work on areas of your voice that need reinforcing.
  • singing exercises you know that will solve more than one objective.
  • selecting exercises that will help you improve over the long haul.

Ways to enhance your personal warm-up as you drive are:

  • physically prepare the body.
    • physically sit up in your car while you’re driving, with both hands on your stirring wheel
  • always remember good breath support/management produces warm air.
    • take slow deep breaths while you are driving with both hands on the steering wheel – I bet you won’t chest breathe!
  • do some humming in the easiest part of your range first.
    • extend your range higher and lower with good breath support
    • do some head-voice/falsetto soft singing
    • don’t try to sing over road noise at any time

Note: You can do the above exercises without being in your car.  Stand in your correct singer’s posture and you can do all of the above as well.

Every exercise should have a purpose (Why should I do this specific exercise?), a frequency (How many repetitions should I do this exercise on each day?), and duration (How long will I need to do this exercise until it becomes a habit?). Using different exercises is probably the best way to maintain your interest.

I recommend the Society’s “Improving Vocal Techniques Through the Warm Up” manual (stock #4068). It has excellent resources for a variety of quality exercises you can use as a part of your personal Warm-up. The manual can be found on the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Website.

A productive personal Warm-up and spending ten minutes on two of your chorus’s or quartet’s songs as well, is an important part of your continuing to be a better singer. You do not want to lose what you have gained in your voice and your music at the level you are currently at today.

Make each Warm-up exercise meaningful, and there is no telling how much better an ensemble singer you will become by the time you can get back together with your brothers at your chapter meetings.