Vocal Warm-Ups (Andrea Grody via FB – Theatre MD Group)

General Warm-Ups

siren ("n" or "ng") - all the way up and down, up in 5ths or octaves..anything, really

lip trills, rolled r's, vocal fricatives ("z", "j", "v") on any scale

"ha ha ha ha ha" on d-r-m-f-s-f-m-r-d; also "ho ho ho" and other vowels

"ma-e-i-o-u" or "mi-e-a-o-u" on d-r-m-m-m-m-m-d (so it sounds "ma-a-a, e, i, o, u-u")

Between the teeth and lips, making a circular motion with the tongue. 8 times clockwise, 8 times anti-clockwise, 4 times clockwise, 4 anti-clockwise, 2 clockwise, 2 anti-clockwise, 1 clockwise, 1 anti-clockwise. Gets the majority of the tongue working. It aches but works!

fee-ay, fee-oh, fee-ah ha ha ha  (s-^d, s-^d, s-^d s m d)

Physical Warm-Ups

let the body collapse down with knees bent and then roll up really slowly (people tend to rush the end of their roll-up - be sure to spend plenty of time on the shoulder and neck area; it does amazing things for posture!)

breathe out until there is nothing left, hold it for a second, then release and let the air come back in

breathe out on different consonants ("s", "z", "j", "v", "f") for either set lengths of time (8-count, 16-count, etc.) or just until the end of the breath

fast and heavy panting, then fast and heavily accented consonants; great general workout for all the abdominal muscles as well

Diction Warm-Ups

"popa-cata-pittle" or "copper-plated kettle" on one note at a time going up the scale (so it sounds like d-d-d-d-d-d r-r-r-r-r-r m-m-m-m-m-m all the way up to d' and then back down)

"a red one, a yellow one" on one note at a time going up and down the scale (repeat upper do). Increase speed as you move up chromatically.

Warm-Ups for "Legit" Vocal Qualities

"Bella signora" or "signora bella" with a melisma on the last vowel, sung on d-m-s-d', t-d'-r'-d'-t-l-s-f-m-r-d

down an octave scale on "m-m-m-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"

"Eeee-aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh" The first part ("eeee") is d-r-m-f-s-f-m-r- then directly connects into the melisma on "aah" d-r-m-f-s-l-t-d-^r-d-t-l-s-f-m-r-d

Warm-Ups for "Speech-y", "Chest-y", etc. Vocal Qualities

the alphabet on its normal tune or on any other pattern

we have a warmup on 1-2-3-4-5 that is too complicated to write out in solfege without rhythm, but maybe I'll upload some actual sheet music soon!

"nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah" on d-r-m-f-s-f-m-r-d, d-m-s-m-d, s-f-m-r-d, or any other scale pattern