Today, I will give you an example of serious play by leading you through a series of exercises you can use to warm up your face and tongue. These warm-up exercises will help you prepare for vocalizing for practice or for performance. Take the time to do these warm-up exercises every time before you sing.
Exercise #1 — Raisin & Grape
Squinch your face up tight and small, like a raisin all dried up in the sun. Sustain that position for a count to ten. Relax. Next, open your face very wide, like a plump grape. Open your eyes and your mouth, and stretch your eyebrows. Sustain that position for ten counts. Relax. Notice your face begin to tingle.
Exercise #2 — Massage
Massage your face with your fingers. Gently move the skin around your cheeks, jaw, forehead, and chin. Massage your lips. Pay special attention to the skin on the upper lip and under your nose.
Exercise #3 — Upper Lip Focus
Be sure the skin covering your upper teeth is flexible. Practice moving the muscles that lift the skin to show the upper teeth. These muscles need to move freely when you sing so that your sound doesn’t get muffled under what I call “the velvet curtain.” You will want to exaggerate these movements so that when the time comes for you to sing and look natural, your face will be ready to be more expressive and spontaneous.
Exercise #4 — Facial Movements & Sounds
Let yourself play with sounds like EEE, OOO, and AAH with big movement around the mouth, from a wide smile to narrow, rounded lips. Sigh and open the throat. Gently lift the upper lip.
Exercise #5 — Tongue Exercises: Alphabet & Vowels
Stick the tongue way out, hold it there, and recite the alphabet. Do this several times, relaxing between tries. Place the tip of the tongue firmly behind the lower front teeth, slide the middle and back of the tongue forward, and speak this vowel sequence: EEE, I (as in “it”), EH, AY, AAH. Barely move the tongue. Keep the breath moving forward; exhale as you move from vowel sound to vowel sound, keeping the tongue thrusting forward in the mouth with the tip anchored behind the front teeth.
Exercise #6 — Tongue & Lip Exercises: Air & Tone
Please watch the video for this exercise; it is easier to demonstrate than to describe. This is a playful experiment to loosen up. Blow air through your loose lips, and make a sound like a pony. Try humming pitches while you do this. Do the same thing with your fat, loose tongue sticking out between your lips as you blow air out into the room. Try sliding around on various pitches. Smile slightly and flutter the tip of your tongue on the hard palate behind your upper teeth. As you do this, add pitches with a slide whistle effect, up and down the scale.
Take the time to do these exercises to warm up your face and tongue before you sing. I also encourage you to play and invent your own exercises. See how quickly and easily you can warm up your singing voice (and speaking voice) and make sure that it is ready for action.
