How to Warm Up Your Voice Without Wasting Time
by Mel Lathouras
TL;DR — The Quick Version
A good warm up before singing is 8 minutes, not 30
Start gentle, increase range gradually, finish where you'll be singing
Consistency beats intensity — daily light vocalizing sessions outperforms occasional marathons
Your vocalizing session should match your voice that day, not some ideal version of yourself
If it feels effortful or tense, you're working too hard — ease first, always. One of my old Feldenkrais practitioner lecturers would say "less efforting, less efforting."
The mantra is hard wired into my brain.
You know you're supposed to warm up before singing.
But often this can look like scrolling through YouTube for the "perfect" exercise, doing three random scales that feel either too easy or weirdly stressful, then wondering why your voice still feels tight when you actually start singing.
Oh yes, singer, mate, we've all been there. ✋
Here's the truth: warming up doesn't need to be complicated, time-consuming, or dependent on finding the right video.
What you need is a simple, repeatable routine that actually serves your voice — and that you'll actually do.
Why Most Vocal Warm-Ups Don't Work
Let's start with what's probably going wrong. Most singers (beginner or professional) I meet are either:
Skipping warm-ups entirely because they feel performative or they don't know what to do
Over doing it with 30-minute routines that exhaust them before they even start singing
Using exercises that don't meet where their voices are at — too high/low, too loud, or too demanding for where they're actually at that day
Hunting for the 'perfect' exercise instead of building a simple, repeatable routine they can trust
The problem isn't you. The problem is that most vocal warm up advice treats your voice like a machine that needs to be cranked up to full capacity every single time.
Your voice isn't a machine. It's a living, breathing, nervous-system-connected instrument.
What a Good Warm-Up Actually Does
A warm-up isn't about proving anything. It's about waking your voice up gently, building trust with your instrument, and preparing your body to make sound without strain.
Here's what it should accomplish:
Increase blood flow to the vocal folds without tension
Mobilise your range gently — comfortably low to comfortably higher, light to fuller
Establish breath support without gripping or forcing
Build confidence in your sound before you sing in front of anyone (even yourself)
Check in with your voice that day — what's available, what needs care, what feels good
That's it. You're not trying to fix everything. You're just saying 'G'day mate - how are ya?' to your voice. And meet it with love (or gentle curiosity) without judgement. But no judgement, if you judge it. Haha!
The 8-Minute Sustainable Warm-Up (That Actually Works)
Here's the routine I teach inside Femme Music Club — and the one I use myself before teaching, performing, or recording.
Step 1: Ground Your Body (30 seconds)
Before you make a sound, arrive in your body:
Stand hip bone width apart
Roll your shoulders back and down
Take three slow breaths — in through your mouth (like you are sucking air through a straw) and release through the mout
Yawn a couple of times (seriously — it can release jaw tension)
Mate - this is gold! It's resetting your nervous system so your voice isn't fighting tension before it even starts.
Step 2: Gentle Fricatives (1min30sec)
This is based on Accent Method breathing. It's a great way of waking up your abdominal wall and breathing muscles while making some gentle consonants on your breath. High airflow means less tension. A brilliant way of waking up your voice without strain.
How to do it:
Use the following fricative voiceless consonants (written how you’d say it): S, Sh, Th, F and then voiced consonants: Gz (as in rouge), Zz, Th, V, Puffy Cheeks ‘W’ and then breathy ‘u’ as in ‘you!’.
1. Inhale through your mouth
2. Make the fricative but don’t hold on or sustain it. Let it go. Make a lovely relaxed ‘low’ sound.
3. Feel your abdominal wall gently engage when you make your sound and release after for the breath to go in.
Why this works: You're activating breath support without gripping, and gently engaging the vocal mechanism with minimal effort.
Want a video demonstration? I got you, bebs!
Step 3: SOVT Exercises — Sirens and Lip Trills
(2 minutes)
SOVT = Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract exercises
These are vocal warm-up techniques that partially close your mouth or vocal tract, creating back-pressure that helps your vocal folds vibrate more efficiently with less effort.
Why SOVT exercises are magic:
They reduce strain on your vocal folds
They build vocal cord closure without tension
They help you find resonance and ease
They're forgiving — perfect for tired or uncertain voices
Try these SOVT exercises:
Straw phonation (my favourite!):
Get a regular reusable drinking straw
Place it between your lips (don't bite it)Hum or siren gently through the straw
Start low, glide up to a comfortable high note, then back down
Think: smooth, easy, no forcing
Lip trills:
Let your lips flutter like a horse
Siren from low to high and back down
If you struggle with lip trills, add a light "B" sound to get them going
Humming with an "ng" sound:
Like the end of the word "sing"
Siren gently through your range
Feel the vibration in your face and head
Pro tip:If your voice feels tired or fragile that day, spend extra time on SOVT exercises. They're rehabilitative as well as warm-up tools.
Step 4: Easy Scales on a Simple Vowel (2 minutes)
Choose one vowel (ah, eh, oo, ee) with a consonant such as ‘y,w,or m’ — 'moo', 'moh', or 'mah' — and run a simple 1-3-1 scale followed by a 5-note scale (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1).
Start in your mid-range (around A4 - below middle C) and move up gradually. Don't push for high notes yet — just wake them up.
The golden rule:If it feels hard, you've gone too high or too loud. Come back down and let it be easy. "Less efforting!"
Step 5: Add Some Text (2 minutes)
Now add words. Use a line from a song you're working on, or a simple phrase like "I am ready" or "Here I am."
Speak it first, then sing it on a simple melody. This connects your singing voice to your speaking voice — which is where your most natural sound lives.
Want this done for you?
Femme Music Club members get access to our student portal loaded with done-for-you vocal exercises and guided warm-ups. No more hunting on YouTube, mate — just press play.
Common Warm-Up Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)
Mistake 1: Starting Too High or Too Loud
The fix: Always start in your comfortable speaking range. Build up gradually. Your voice needs time to wake up — respect that.
Mistake 2: Doing the Same Warm-Up When Your Voice Needs Some Adjustments to the Routine
The fix: Your voice is different every day — tired, energised, dry, full. Check in first, then adjust. Some days you'll need more breath work. Some days you'll need more gentle stretching. Listen.
Mistake 3: Judging Your Sound During Warm-Ups
The fix: Warm-ups aren't performances. They're not meant to sound beautiful yet. Let them be scrappy, weird, exploratory. Save the self-criticism for later (or better yet, don't use it at all).
Mistake 4: Skipping Warm-Ups Because 'You Don't Have Time'
The fix: Five minutes. That's all you need. You can do lip trills while making coffee. You can hum in the car. Warm-ups don't need to be formal — they just need to happen.
When to Warm Up (And When to Rest)
Most good vocal coaches will tell you: sometimes the best thing you can do for your voice is give it a good old break.
Warm up/vocalize when:
You're about to sing (rehearsal, performance, recording)
Your voice feels tight or sleepy
You want to build vocal strength and flexibility over time (I call this a vocalizing session)
Rest instead when:
You're sick, exhausted, or vocally fatigued
Your voice feels scratchy, swollen, or painful
You've just finished a demanding gig or rehearsal
Pushing through when your voice needs rest doesn't make you dedicated. It makes you injured. There's no harm in taking a day off.
Building a Warm-Up Routine That Actually Sticks
The best warm-up is the one you'll actually do. Here's how to make it stick:
Keep it short — 8 minutes max
Make it predictable — same structure, every time (but make adjustments depending on how your voice feels)
Build it into your existing routine — before morning coffee, during your commute, while dinner's cooking
Track it lightly — not obsessively, just enough to notice you're showing up
Give yourself permission to adapt — tired voice? Go lighter. Energised? Explore more
Consistency beats intensity. A simple 8-minute warm-up done daily will build more vocal strength, flexibility, and confidence than a perfect 30-minute routine you do twice a month.
What Comes After the Warm-Up
Once you've warmed up, your voice is ready to work. But 'work' doesn't mean pushing. It means exploring, refining, building.
This is where technique practice, repertoire building, and performance preparation come in — and where most singers need ongoing support.
Inside Femme Music Club, we practice together weekly. Not alone with a YouTube video. Not trying to figure it out in isolation. Together — with guidance, community, and permission to be imperfect.
You Don't Need More Information —
You Need a Daily Vocal Ritual
Here's what I know after years of teaching singers: you probably already know what a good warm-up looks like. You've read the articles. You've watched the videos. You've collected the PDFs.
What you need now is permission to keep it simple. Permission to start where you are.
Permission to let it be 8-minutes instead of thirty.
Your voice doesn't need perfection. It needs consistency, kindness, and respect.
So tomorrow morning — or right now, if you want — try the 8-minute routine. Ground your body, do some gentle fricatives, run some SOVT exercises, add a simple scale, add some words.
That's it. No drama. No pressure. Just you and your voice, checking in.
Ready for ongoing vocal support?
Femme Music Club offers
- weekly live vocalising sessions
- monthly masterclasses, and a
- supportive community of femme musicians — all for $33/month.
Vocal Love Course is a high value self-paced course with
60+ guided exercises and daily routines. Learn more here.
Mel is a soul jazz singer, vocal coach,
course creator and creative entrepreneur based in Brisbane, Australia.
he supports femme-identifying musicians through Femme Music Club, Vocal Love Course, and her performance projects Little Mel and
Girl From Greece.
Her work sits at the intersection of vocal technique, creativity, nervous system awareness, and sustainable creative business.