Thank you so much for this video, as it's a question that's so often overlooked. I've pretty much settled on a strategy of warming up in 20-30 minute chunks, separated by breaks of about the same length, doing about 2 or 3 cycles of that, and then not singing for about the next 2 hours (i do speak tho), and then going easier at the start of the show until I feel ready to gun it a little more. The only other approach that works well, even better actually is if I just grab a lesson with you and that's the warm up. When I work through them on my own I don't get the same effect, I have to take those breaks or else I lose focus and start hurting my voice. My experience has led me to this strategy and I've just been trusting it, but is there a way I could simplify it all? My biggest struggle is definitely getting the benefit of the warm up to "stick" and that's why my approach has ended up so involved.
Haha, a lesson just seems like it pulls everything together, doesn't it. :-P A few things. It's totally fine if you warm up in cycles, as long as it's working for you. Focus IS a big thing. If I find myself unable to keep focus, I just stop singing altogether because you're GOING to end up doing something less than ideal. So you are wise to trust your instincts with that. Breaks are good because they give your mind a rest for a bit and allow you to re-focus yourself. (This is also what happens in shows sometimes as the set list goes on - you just lose focus and that's when problems start.) What you mentioned about going easier at the start of your show is EXACTLY what I was saying for the advanced warm up, haha. You're doing the advanced warm up already. You choose easy songs to start out with that let you get into the groove of things and sure up your confidence, and THEN you go into the more challenging material. If you've ever noticed with all of those mic toss videos I've sent you before where they just randomly call out people from the audience to sing, this is EXACTLY what they do (except they've learned how to get this down in a matter of MINUTES). If you watch them, when they first get the mic, it's like they are TESTING their voices to see what it will respond to. They never immediately go for high notes or big belty stuff. They hang out in low range for a while and get that going. Then they gradually try to go a little higher. Sometimes, they can feel the voice isn't ready for that high stuff yet, so they go back down in their range. Then they try going higher again. Once they feel the voice is "ready", then THAT'S when you start hear them going crazy and wailing away at all the high stuff. Watch this. Kelly Price is going to warm up RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES in 90 SECONDS! She was called up out of the audience to sing impromptu. th-cam.com/video/Ve1KeU7CWCQ/w-d-xo.htmlm4s At 4:34 when she first starts singing and does that "be", it's her TESTING THE WATERS to see where her voice is at. She could feel it's off, so she didn't stay there. That's why she starts going lower and hanging out there for a while before going high again. At 4:47 when she says "be home", she's testing the high notes again, but it's still not all the way there. But when she says "so" at 4:49, she starts finding her place! That little jump she does from 5:07-5:09, that's her testing the even higher notes. It's not all the way there yet, but she can feel it's GETTING there. That ascending scale she does into the "will" at 5:17... that's her testing the even higher notes again. She can feel it's almost there! By the time she says "SOON as, SOON as" at 5:23, she is THERE. That's why she keeps REPEATING it. Because she is milking the sensation of what her correct voice feels like. That's why she's now staying in the high range and sustaining the notes. Watch here. Kelly does the same thing. 60 SECOND WARM UP! th-cam.com/video/sjoB9aaJ0Yk/w-d-xo.htmlm1s She gets called up out of the audience to sing again on the spot. Note she starts low to feel things out, and then gradually starts going higher. When she says "be" at 1:46, she's testing the waters. Not all the way free as it would normally be for her, but getting there. But when she said "I WANNA" at 1:52, she found what she was looking for!!! She found the place. The rest of her time up there is her just milking that place. Both Kelly Price and Lisa Knowles-Smith do the same things here. th-cam.com/video/0yON82xc8ng/w-d-xo.html Kelly starts out low, gaining her bearings. When she says "change your mind" at 0:22, it's still not all the way free yet. But once she says "don't leave me baby, don't leave me baby" at 0:26, she found what she was looking for and just continues to ride that out for the rest of her mic toss. She keeps milking it. Doing all of this SITTING DOWN. Then Lisa comes in at 3:00 and does the same thing. At 3:37, you can hear her voice cracking a bit because she's still warming up. That section from 4:00-4:05 ... that's her finding what she was looking for. She warmed up EMOTIONALLY into it. Here you have B. Slade doing the same thing. Using the song to warm himself up. (Actually ALL the singers in the clip are doing the same thing. Infamous mic toss!) th-cam.com/video/hpQH2GOk9Js/w-d-xo.htmlm48s Note for a lot of the early notes, he lets himself flip into falsetto for them. Just testing the waters. Then he does them in full voice just tapping the note for a second, to see where the note is before he gets around to sustaining them.
Well, part of the reason the lessons are more effective is because I catch you with all of your little subtle habits before you get a chance to run with them! I stop them WELL in the early stages. When you're by yourself, at first, you don't recognize them BECAUSE of the fact that they are so subtle. But as you keep singing more, you become more familiar with those habits, and thus it becomes easier to get your voice where you want it to be. Getting the low and mid range to sit right first is the key! Spend AS MUCH time as you need to there before jumping into high stuff. Low and mid notes serve as the foundation - the bouncing off point - for high notes. I warm up using distortion sometimes just simply because it's fun to do and easy haha. Energy is my problem when warming up. It's the main thing I'm addressing. If I'm already high energy, I don't have to warm up. So when I warm up, I'm literally trying to re-find the energy to sing, because most of the time, I just feel lazy in my body. The energy and emotion tie in together. I CANNOT sing a high note without energy and emotion. That's what those singers in the clips are doing - they are riling themselves up emotionally, and that's when the high notes start appearing. The more you randomly sing throughout the day, the better. You have to BE a living singing instrument. Which means you sing whenever you get the urge to. Which means you sing just because. Once you get in the mindset that you ARE a singer, and not just when you're on stage or have a crowd, then your voice will always be ready to sing. That thing B Slade did at 11:50 was indeed because the voice wasn't quite ready for that note yet, so he was still "testing" it. What she says at the end is good indeed. :-)
Also, when using songs to warm up, songs where you can improvise along with tend to work a little better, because then you don't feel pressured to follow the melody and structure of the song if your voice isn't ready to go there YET. When you improvise, you can hang out in a certain range as long as you need to until your voice feels ready to move on. That's what all the artists I showed were doing.
What you did in your clip is the type of thing that works well for warming up. Just watch out on your UH and AH vowels (i.e. "find", "trouble") . They want to be a little deeper/more round. And your R's that come at the end of syllables - don't pronounce them so much. But otherwise, what you're doing will work for warming up. Just don't warm up into those habits with the UH, AH, and R's.
You're welcome. Just be careful with that bright thing long term, especially in the range up to G4. (Above that is ok.) Your body is adapting into the habit. It's kind of what Kelly Price does with her EE vowels as she sings high sometimes. She lifts up her chin and kind of restricts the sound a bit. Just a habit she has developed. What you ideally want is to get your body into a state where it PREFERS the ideal habit from the start. Where that feels like the most natural thing to do, and everything else just feels off. When you get to that point, that's when you have those 2 minute warm ups like the artists in the songs were doing.
This is so PERFECT! too many teachers give you countless exercises - which end up feeling boring, because you are not even made aware of why you are doing them. What you say in this video is precious and everyone learning to sing should watch this.
Fantastic video! It answers a lot of questions about warming up that I had for many years. You did a good job acknowledging the nuance in what is necessary for vocal warm-ups both day-to-day and singer-to-singer.
Thanks for making this video Marnell! As a learning intermediate singer I have felt whatever you have discussed. There are several days when I can float around G4 and Ab4 in piano dynamic without trouble, and there are others when I have to belt out or put extra effort/support to reach those notes as a baritone. The voice is an organic instrument and continuously changes, but one thing is for sure - relaxation and not forcefully pushing the notes protects your voice from damage, so we must know our condition well and not lie to ourselves regarding whether we are feeling fine or not!
Thank you for the comments! Good to see you still around. There is just one little comment I would like to make for those reading. The word "relaxation" is a tricky word when it comes to singing. I understand why people use it, but it needs clarification because singing isn't a 100% "relaxed" act, in the sense of do absolutely nothing. There is a certain effort and energy involved. HOWEVER, that energy needs to be directed in the right way. So that mean the jaw, neck, throat, and chest area stay relaxed, but lower down in the torso is working. If you're feeling effort in those upper areas of the body, that's when you're doing something wrong. For some people, that's what they are reminding themselves of when they warm up - how to direct all that energy correctly. I think a better word for relaxation is functioning in HARMONY with your body rather than fighting AGAINST your body.
I kid you not; my go-to initial warm-up exercise is still the refrigerator door. XD I've just got to get my face and jaw cooperating from the start! 😃 Your warm-up exercises tailored to me are still the ones that work the best for my voice. Thanks, maestro! 😊
Thank you!!!!! The refrigerator door is one that just get so many different aspects working well. It helps set up everything in the right place. So simple yet so effective. Keep up the great work!
A guy at my Church hits B4 all the time on early Sunday morning sets and he's never had a vocal lesson so I'm not sure if he does anything to warm up.. Blows my mind. I have to sing for over an hour to hit G4! And in the morning it seems impossible!😂
The more you get your speaking voice to be in the same place as your singing voice and the more uninhibited you become about using your speaking voice, the less warming up you will have to do, because, well, there will be nothing to change! You'll already be "there" all day long just by speaking. :)
I'm pretty new to singing, 1 year and I recently started to have courses, my vocal range is E2, G4 (D-5 falsetto) and I wonder if I can send you some recordings to listen and help me with my mistakes
marnell i wanna ask few questions if that is okay...i wanna ask you about the séries you ve been working on and is it. better than your sériés " how to strenghen you mix 6 part " ....and my second question in the this 6 part sériés in the vidéo num 3 how to open your mouth when you put you tip of tongue under you teeth and thé open your mouth ...i cant do it. it is hard for me and i vé been relaxing my jaw very much ....do u think i still have tension that s why i couldnt do it.
When it comes to things involving the jaw, it's REALLY hard to tell just by text what you're doing. A video is more helpful, but even then, I still need real time feedback from you to really help you effectively. A Skype lesson would be the best way to address this issue as well as any other issues you have going on.
I personally don't find cooling down necessary. I've never cooled down my voice and have never been around any singers who did that. If you feel a need to cool down after singing (in the sense that something feels off or irritated or overused), it might indicate that something is off in your technique. You should feel fine after singing. Maybe a bit excited, but otherwise fine.
It's hard for me because I don't know what's my biggest issue with my singing. I rarely sing in my life because of the fear of judgment. I know I suck at singing. I feel like I don't have musical awareness because I can hear different sounds, but I can't sing it out or copy it. I sang different scales, but I seem to skip a lot of notes and leave a gap. It's weird, but deep down I know I have a decent pretty voice because there was one time where I busted out and sang a few words and my whole family heard and they said I sounded good for 5 seconds before I turned out awful. LOL. Maybe I just gotta figure out how to use my voice the way it was meant to be used. What do I do?? How do I get better if I don't know what's wrong with me?
If you can hear different sounds, then you have a great starting point. Singing scales MIGHT be too much for you at the moment. Just start by seeing if you can sing a SINGLE pitch. Hold that pitch steady. Get comfortable being on just that one note. Then sing a different note. Any note. Just a different note. Hold that note and just listen to the sound of it. Go back and forth between the two notes. That's the beginnings of how you develop your ear. Just acknowledging the fact that you CAN sing and hear different pitches. Over time, you will do it in a more organized way. You will likely need a good teacher to help you with this.
I'm sorry, but "I can't sing" is far too vague. Does that mean you can't sing in tune? You can't keep good rhythm? You just sound like you're talking when you're singing? You're straining when you sing? You have no range? You can't sing louder or softer? You need to be a bit more specific. Aside from that, I can't make a "first you need to learn this, second that" because everyone will be starting off in a different place and have a different background and different problems. Thus everyone's journey will be different. No 2 journeys will look alike. Your plan needs to be individual and custom tailored which is why you work with a teacher one-on-one. For instance, I could have someone who comes to me and can't sing in tune. So I might say to begin to work on that first (because you can't do any vocal exercises if you can't at least sing in tune). BUT, what if the reason that they're singing out of tune is because they just have a lot of vocal tension built up, so much to the point where they can't even get close to the note? In that case, I'd say address the tension issue. So it just depends. It's individual.
Marnell what is the best way to practise phrazing and sing the melody of a songs right because sometimes i cant sing the right melody i dont care if i heat high notes i care about singing on key ...HELP Me !!
Phil Moufarrege and I did a video on this already in Ep. 2 of The Path to Vocal Mastery called "Why you don't sound good". It goes over how to practice phrasing and musicianship. The video is on his channel.
marnell you say if i have let say i have tension in my jaw... and i did 40 minute of relaxion jaw... is that mean i am warmed up? ..do i need to make sounds to warm after 40 min of relaxing jaw... i mean sounds like " nay nay" or " gogo" or " liprools"...etc
40 minutes of SINGING while trying to eliminate jaw tension is much better than spending 40 minutes in silence trying to relax the jaw. Singing is about learning to COORDINATE all these things together. If you do it in silence, you're not learning how to coordinate much. For jaw tension, it's better to do scales on just a vowel rather than something like NAY or GO or lip bubbles.
Marbella how do I know where my second passaggio? Sometimes my voice breaks at f4# but sometimes it breaks at g4#.. Is this because I'm an under developed singer ? Will my "passagio" change to a certain notes once I am fully developed? Does this mean I'm a baritone or tenor? I've been told I'm a tenor because my voice seems to be very light..my lowest comfortable note is e3/d3 but sometimes I can sing to an a2 if I push..if I'm sick I can sing down to an g4#. Am I an underdeveloped tenor or an baritone?
The second passaggio for men is at A4, give or take a note. There are very specific things that occur with the vowel there. Very specific ways you have to "tune" the vowel, shape your mouth, etc. When it comes to the first passaggio, that can shift A LOT as you are developing. You can't really make any "final" determinations on where your passaggio lies until you have sufficient development of your voice and it has stabilized for a while. (Meaning, your passaggio is consistently staying the same for at least a year.) Whether you're a tenor or baritone is irrelevant at this point, because both voices get trained exactly the same way. The main difference between the two is a baritone's voice doesn't like "living" in high range as much as tenors, even though the ranges are very similar. And the baritone passaggio sits a note lower than the tenor. But the training is EXACTLY THE SAME for both! A tenor with an underdeveloped voice may have a passaggio that sits lower than a baritone when they're first starting out. As the voice gets more training, then the passaggio moves higher and higher and higher until it sits where it is supposed to.
Neither. Choose a song that FEELS easy to do. That FEELS easy to sing. That doesn't leave you worrying or questioning yourself when you sing it. That doesn't leave you feeling anxious like, "Oh, am I going to be able to sing this high note or this section of the song or this impossible line...." It should be a song that's a walk in the park for you to sing. Something that doesn't require a lot of effort or mental worry. It could be something as simple as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". And I'm being dead serious about that one!!!! I sometimes use nursery rhymes to warm up!!!! LOL. (I might make another video about that.) The whole point is that it needs to feel EASY and SIMPLE, especially for the first couple of songs you sing. It should be something that is ENJOYABLE for you to sing and feels COMFORTABLE. Sometimes, I use songs from TV commercials to sing. Sometimes, I sing theme songs from TV shows. Sometimes I use actual songs. Sometimes I choose a song that's predominantly falsetto to sing (think a lot of songs by Maxwell). Sometimes I choose a female song and just sing in falsetto along with them just because it's fun. The important thing is the song should be EASY, COMFORTABLE, and FUN. You don't want a song that's going to stress you out. Really, HAVE FUN. (I often get on the floor and roll around and start acting as I'm singing these songs. It's a GREAT way of loosening yourself up. I often make my OWN self laugh when I'm warming up as a result of this. And that's a GOOD thing!) And you don't have to sing the song in the range of the original artist either. Sing it wherever it feels comfortable and enjoyable FOR YOU. So a lot of times when I'm warming up with songs, I just sing them acapella with no reference pitch other than where it FEELS best for me.
I kind of hinted at this in the video, but one thing I make my students do is come up with a list of 5 songs that are easy for you to sing. These should be your "go to" songs when you're trying to reset your voice or just need a confidence boost. It will probably take you some time before you can come up with such a list (don't be surprised if it takes you many weeks). But once you have that list in place, it will be a lifesaver for you.
Great! You might also want to check out my reply to Owen. I gave some examples of professional singers using this "song warm up" method. You can literally see there warming up in a matter of MINUTES right before your eyes. They can do it that fast because they are so familiar with their voices.
Hi Marnell. in this link instagram.com/p/vHQP2_yLPH/ this singer covered Human Nature by MJ it's a 10 second cover but how does the singer make this kinda full voice sound yet it sounds like headvoice and just a tiny bit of chest at the same time especially on the g4#. What is this sound call and how can I learn to do this?
It's a little bit of an in between place. A "gray zone". This is something you shouldn't worry about until you've consistently learned to take your chest voice up and down your range without straining. The way I describe what he's doing is almost like singing in falsetto, except you feel a little bit of air pressure under it that you would normally get in chest voice. It's basically what I'm doing in these two clips: clyp.it/ytmlhfcw clyp.it/c0vddwx2 I repeat, this is a very advanced thing. You don't worry about it until you can consistently take your chest voice up and down your range.
Thank you so much for this video, as it's a question that's so often overlooked. I've pretty much settled on a strategy of warming up in 20-30 minute chunks, separated by breaks of about the same length, doing about 2 or 3 cycles of that, and then not singing for about the next 2 hours (i do speak tho), and then going easier at the start of the show until I feel ready to gun it a little more. The only other approach that works well, even better actually is if I just grab a lesson with you and that's the warm up. When I work through them on my own I don't get the same effect, I have to take those breaks or else I lose focus and start hurting my voice.
My experience has led me to this strategy and I've just been trusting it, but is there a way I could simplify it all? My biggest struggle is definitely getting the benefit of the warm up to "stick" and that's why my approach has ended up so involved.
Haha, a lesson just seems like it pulls everything together, doesn't it. :-P
A few things. It's totally fine if you warm up in cycles, as long as it's working for you. Focus IS a big thing. If I find myself unable to keep focus, I just stop singing altogether because you're GOING to end up doing something less than ideal. So you are wise to trust your instincts with that. Breaks are good because they give your mind a rest for a bit and allow you to re-focus yourself. (This is also what happens in shows sometimes as the set list goes on - you just lose focus and that's when problems start.)
What you mentioned about going easier at the start of your show is EXACTLY what I was saying for the advanced warm up, haha. You're doing the advanced warm up already. You choose easy songs to start out with that let you get into the groove of things and sure up your confidence, and THEN you go into the more challenging material.
If you've ever noticed with all of those mic toss videos I've sent you before where they just randomly call out people from the audience to sing, this is EXACTLY what they do (except they've learned how to get this down in a matter of MINUTES). If you watch them, when they first get the mic, it's like they are TESTING their voices to see what it will respond to. They never immediately go for high notes or big belty stuff. They hang out in low range for a while and get that going. Then they gradually try to go a little higher. Sometimes, they can feel the voice isn't ready for that high stuff yet, so they go back down in their range. Then they try going higher again. Once they feel the voice is "ready", then THAT'S when you start hear them going crazy and wailing away at all the high stuff.
Watch this. Kelly Price is going to warm up RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES in 90 SECONDS! She was called up out of the audience to sing impromptu. th-cam.com/video/Ve1KeU7CWCQ/w-d-xo.htmlm4s
At 4:34 when she first starts singing and does that "be", it's her TESTING THE WATERS to see where her voice is at. She could feel it's off, so she didn't stay there. That's why she starts going lower and hanging out there for a while before going high again. At 4:47 when she says "be home", she's testing the high notes again, but it's still not all the way there. But when she says "so" at 4:49, she starts finding her place! That little jump she does from 5:07-5:09, that's her testing the even higher notes. It's not all the way there yet, but she can feel it's GETTING there. That ascending scale she does into the "will" at 5:17... that's her testing the even higher notes again. She can feel it's almost there! By the time she says "SOON as, SOON as" at 5:23, she is THERE. That's why she keeps REPEATING it. Because she is milking the sensation of what her correct voice feels like. That's why she's now staying in the high range and sustaining the notes.
Watch here. Kelly does the same thing. 60 SECOND WARM UP! th-cam.com/video/sjoB9aaJ0Yk/w-d-xo.htmlm1s
She gets called up out of the audience to sing again on the spot. Note she starts low to feel things out, and then gradually starts going higher. When she says "be" at 1:46, she's testing the waters. Not all the way free as it would normally be for her, but getting there. But when she said "I WANNA" at 1:52, she found what she was looking for!!! She found the place. The rest of her time up there is her just milking that place.
Both Kelly Price and Lisa Knowles-Smith do the same things here. th-cam.com/video/0yON82xc8ng/w-d-xo.html
Kelly starts out low, gaining her bearings. When she says "change your mind" at 0:22, it's still not all the way free yet. But once she says "don't leave me baby, don't leave me baby" at 0:26, she found what she was looking for and just continues to ride that out for the rest of her mic toss. She keeps milking it. Doing all of this SITTING DOWN. Then Lisa comes in at 3:00 and does the same thing. At 3:37, you can hear her voice cracking a bit because she's still warming up. That section from 4:00-4:05 ... that's her finding what she was looking for. She warmed up EMOTIONALLY into it.
Here you have B. Slade doing the same thing. Using the song to warm himself up. (Actually ALL the singers in the clip are doing the same thing. Infamous mic toss!) th-cam.com/video/hpQH2GOk9Js/w-d-xo.htmlm48s
Note for a lot of the early notes, he lets himself flip into falsetto for them. Just testing the waters. Then he does them in full voice just tapping the note for a second, to see where the note is before he gets around to sustaining them.
Well, part of the reason the lessons are more effective is because I catch you with all of your little subtle habits before you get a chance to run with them! I stop them WELL in the early stages. When you're by yourself, at first, you don't recognize them BECAUSE of the fact that they are so subtle. But as you keep singing more, you become more familiar with those habits, and thus it becomes easier to get your voice where you want it to be.
Getting the low and mid range to sit right first is the key! Spend AS MUCH time as you need to there before jumping into high stuff. Low and mid notes serve as the foundation - the bouncing off point - for high notes.
I warm up using distortion sometimes just simply because it's fun to do and easy haha.
Energy is my problem when warming up. It's the main thing I'm addressing. If I'm already high energy, I don't have to warm up. So when I warm up, I'm literally trying to re-find the energy to sing, because most of the time, I just feel lazy in my body. The energy and emotion tie in together. I CANNOT sing a high note without energy and emotion. That's what those singers in the clips are doing - they are riling themselves up emotionally, and that's when the high notes start appearing.
The more you randomly sing throughout the day, the better. You have to BE a living singing instrument. Which means you sing whenever you get the urge to. Which means you sing just because. Once you get in the mindset that you ARE a singer, and not just when you're on stage or have a crowd, then your voice will always be ready to sing.
That thing B Slade did at 11:50 was indeed because the voice wasn't quite ready for that note yet, so he was still "testing" it. What she says at the end is good indeed. :-)
Also, when using songs to warm up, songs where you can improvise along with tend to work a little better, because then you don't feel pressured to follow the melody and structure of the song if your voice isn't ready to go there YET. When you improvise, you can hang out in a certain range as long as you need to until your voice feels ready to move on. That's what all the artists I showed were doing.
What you did in your clip is the type of thing that works well for warming up. Just watch out on your UH and AH vowels (i.e. "find", "trouble") . They want to be a little deeper/more round. And your R's that come at the end of syllables - don't pronounce them so much. But otherwise, what you're doing will work for warming up. Just don't warm up into those habits with the UH, AH, and R's.
You're welcome.
Just be careful with that bright thing long term, especially in the range up to G4. (Above that is ok.) Your body is adapting into the habit. It's kind of what Kelly Price does with her EE vowels as she sings high sometimes. She lifts up her chin and kind of restricts the sound a bit. Just a habit she has developed.
What you ideally want is to get your body into a state where it PREFERS the ideal habit from the start. Where that feels like the most natural thing to do, and everything else just feels off. When you get to that point, that's when you have those 2 minute warm ups like the artists in the songs were doing.
great vid!! honestly!
Thank you!
Oh so you appreciate someone? 😛
This is so PERFECT! too many teachers give you countless exercises - which end up feeling boring, because you are not even made aware of why you are doing them. What you say in this video is precious and everyone learning to sing should watch this.
Thank you!
Fantastic video! It answers a lot of questions about warming up that I had for many years. You did a good job acknowledging the nuance in what is necessary for vocal warm-ups both day-to-day and singer-to-singer.
Thank you so much! I'm glad I was able to cover points that aren't often talked about. :-)
I've came across hundreds of vocal coaches and Marnell Sample is just outstanding !
please make more videos love the common sense info
Really great video: love the clarity of it. It's something you don't see everyday
Thank you so much. That is very reassuring to hear!
thank you for the thoughtful video
You're welcome.
Thanks for making this video Marnell! As a learning intermediate singer I have felt whatever you have discussed. There are several days when I can float around G4 and Ab4 in piano dynamic without trouble, and there are others when I have to belt out or put extra effort/support to reach those notes as a baritone. The voice is an organic instrument and continuously changes, but one thing is for sure - relaxation and not forcefully pushing the notes protects your voice from damage, so we must know our condition well and not lie to ourselves regarding whether we are feeling fine or not!
Thank you for the comments! Good to see you still around.
There is just one little comment I would like to make for those reading. The word "relaxation" is a tricky word when it comes to singing. I understand why people use it, but it needs clarification because singing isn't a 100% "relaxed" act, in the sense of do absolutely nothing. There is a certain effort and energy involved. HOWEVER, that energy needs to be directed in the right way. So that mean the jaw, neck, throat, and chest area stay relaxed, but lower down in the torso is working. If you're feeling effort in those upper areas of the body, that's when you're doing something wrong. For some people, that's what they are reminding themselves of when they warm up - how to direct all that energy correctly.
I think a better word for relaxation is functioning in HARMONY with your body rather than fighting AGAINST your body.
I kid you not; my go-to initial warm-up exercise is still the refrigerator door. XD I've just got to get my face and jaw cooperating from the start! 😃 Your warm-up exercises tailored to me are still the ones that work the best for my voice. Thanks, maestro! 😊
Thank you!!!!! The refrigerator door is one that just get so many different aspects working well. It helps set up everything in the right place. So simple yet so effective. Keep up the great work!
You're a great coach Marnell. I always come back to your channel. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge.
Thank you very much for your instruction it open my eyes to a lot. And to think about what I am doing.
A guy at my Church hits B4 all the time on early Sunday morning sets and he's never had a vocal lesson so I'm not sure if he does anything to warm up.. Blows my mind. I have to sing for over an hour to hit G4! And in the morning it seems impossible!😂
The more you get your speaking voice to be in the same place as your singing voice and the more uninhibited you become about using your speaking voice, the less warming up you will have to do, because, well, there will be nothing to change! You'll already be "there" all day long just by speaking. :)
Really inspired me, thank you
Awesome. You're welcome.
Thanks for this video!
Btw, I think you would be great at ASMR. Very soothing voice.
Thank you! I never thought of myself doing ASMR, but I could see why, lol.
That background music sounds so good that it distracts me from the content. I literally only watched for two minutes and rewinded for about 5 times. 😆
But anyway the video is great. :)
LOL. That background track IS a little addicting. Really makes you chill out a lot, haha. Glad you enjoyed the video. :-)
Marnell Sample I sure did :) thanks for posting!
I'm pretty new to singing, 1 year and I recently started to have courses, my vocal range is E2, G4 (D-5 falsetto) and I wonder if I can send you some recordings to listen and help me with my mistakes
marnell i wanna ask few questions if that is okay...i wanna ask you about the séries you ve been working on and is it. better than your sériés " how to strenghen you mix 6 part " ....and my second question in the this 6 part sériés in the vidéo num 3 how to open your mouth when you put you tip of tongue under you teeth and thé open your mouth ...i cant do it. it is hard for me and i vé been relaxing my jaw very much ....do u think i still have tension that s why i couldnt do it.
When it comes to things involving the jaw, it's REALLY hard to tell just by text what you're doing. A video is more helpful, but even then, I still need real time feedback from you to really help you effectively. A Skype lesson would be the best way to address this issue as well as any other issues you have going on.
marnell i will for sure send my audio someday ...i cant for now because i am fighting allergies and my voice is not ready Thank you for replying .
marnell after warmin up ...how can i warm down i mean cool down my voice ?
I personally don't find cooling down necessary. I've never cooled down my voice and have never been around any singers who did that. If you feel a need to cool down after singing (in the sense that something feels off or irritated or overused), it might indicate that something is off in your technique. You should feel fine after singing. Maybe a bit excited, but otherwise fine.
thank you !!
#Facts#
It's hard for me because I don't know what's my biggest issue with my singing. I rarely sing in my life because of the fear of judgment. I know I suck at singing. I feel like I don't have musical awareness because I can hear different sounds, but I can't sing it out or copy it. I sang different scales, but I seem to skip a lot of notes and leave a gap. It's weird, but deep down I know I have a decent pretty voice because there was one time where I busted out and sang a few words and my whole family heard and they said I sounded good for 5 seconds before I turned out awful. LOL. Maybe I just gotta figure out how to use my voice the way it was meant to be used. What do I do?? How do I get better if I don't know what's wrong with me?
If you can hear different sounds, then you have a great starting point. Singing scales MIGHT be too much for you at the moment. Just start by seeing if you can sing a SINGLE pitch. Hold that pitch steady. Get comfortable being on just that one note. Then sing a different note. Any note. Just a different note. Hold that note and just listen to the sound of it. Go back and forth between the two notes. That's the beginnings of how you develop your ear. Just acknowledging the fact that you CAN sing and hear different pitches. Over time, you will do it in a more organized way. You will likely need a good teacher to help you with this.
Well my prob is, my mouth get closed very fast and i forget to breath....
I can't sing, what should i learn first, can you tell me like "first you need learn this, second this, and third" thanks for help!
I'm sorry, but "I can't sing" is far too vague. Does that mean you can't sing in tune? You can't keep good rhythm? You just sound like you're talking when you're singing? You're straining when you sing? You have no range? You can't sing louder or softer?
You need to be a bit more specific.
Aside from that, I can't make a "first you need to learn this, second that" because everyone will be starting off in a different place and have a different background and different problems. Thus everyone's journey will be different. No 2 journeys will look alike. Your plan needs to be individual and custom tailored which is why you work with a teacher one-on-one.
For instance, I could have someone who comes to me and can't sing in tune. So I might say to begin to work on that first (because you can't do any vocal exercises if you can't at least sing in tune). BUT, what if the reason that they're singing out of tune is because they just have a lot of vocal tension built up, so much to the point where they can't even get close to the note? In that case, I'd say address the tension issue.
So it just depends. It's individual.
Marnell what is the best way to practise phrazing and sing the melody of a songs right because sometimes i cant sing the right melody i dont care if i heat high notes i care about singing on key ...HELP Me !!
Phil Moufarrege and I did a video on this already in Ep. 2 of The Path to Vocal Mastery called "Why you don't sound good". It goes over how to practice phrasing and musicianship. The video is on his channel.
Marnell Sample thank you very much
marnell you say if i have let say i have tension in my jaw... and i did 40 minute of relaxion jaw... is that mean i am warmed up? ..do i need to make sounds to warm after 40 min of relaxing jaw... i mean sounds like " nay nay" or " gogo" or " liprools"...etc
40 minutes of SINGING while trying to eliminate jaw tension is much better than spending 40 minutes in silence trying to relax the jaw. Singing is about learning to COORDINATE all these things together. If you do it in silence, you're not learning how to coordinate much.
For jaw tension, it's better to do scales on just a vowel rather than something like NAY or GO or lip bubbles.
Marbella how do I know where my second passaggio? Sometimes my voice breaks at f4# but sometimes it breaks at g4#.. Is this because I'm an under developed singer ? Will my "passagio" change to a certain notes once I am fully developed? Does this mean I'm a baritone or tenor? I've been told I'm a tenor because my voice seems to be very light..my lowest comfortable note is e3/d3 but sometimes I can sing to an a2 if I push..if I'm sick I can sing down to an g4#. Am I an underdeveloped tenor or an baritone?
Marnell***
The second passaggio for men is at A4, give or take a note. There are very specific things that occur with the vowel there. Very specific ways you have to "tune" the vowel, shape your mouth, etc.
When it comes to the first passaggio, that can shift A LOT as you are developing. You can't really make any "final" determinations on where your passaggio lies until you have sufficient development of your voice and it has stabilized for a while. (Meaning, your passaggio is consistently staying the same for at least a year.)
Whether you're a tenor or baritone is irrelevant at this point, because both voices get trained exactly the same way. The main difference between the two is a baritone's voice doesn't like "living" in high range as much as tenors, even though the ranges are very similar. And the baritone passaggio sits a note lower than the tenor. But the training is EXACTLY THE SAME for both! A tenor with an underdeveloped voice may have a passaggio that sits lower than a baritone when they're first starting out. As the voice gets more training, then the passaggio moves higher and higher and higher until it sits where it is supposed to.
this was interesting
are saying marnell we choose songs that are suitable for our best timbre or tone of the voice in order to warm up with?
Neither. Choose a song that FEELS easy to do. That FEELS easy to sing. That doesn't leave you worrying or questioning yourself when you sing it. That doesn't leave you feeling anxious like, "Oh, am I going to be able to sing this high note or this section of the song or this impossible line...."
It should be a song that's a walk in the park for you to sing. Something that doesn't require a lot of effort or mental worry. It could be something as simple as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". And I'm being dead serious about that one!!!! I sometimes use nursery rhymes to warm up!!!! LOL. (I might make another video about that.)
The whole point is that it needs to feel EASY and SIMPLE, especially for the first couple of songs you sing. It should be something that is ENJOYABLE for you to sing and feels COMFORTABLE. Sometimes, I use songs from TV commercials to sing. Sometimes, I sing theme songs from TV shows. Sometimes I use actual songs. Sometimes I choose a song that's predominantly falsetto to sing (think a lot of songs by Maxwell). Sometimes I choose a female song and just sing in falsetto along with them just because it's fun.
The important thing is the song should be EASY, COMFORTABLE, and FUN. You don't want a song that's going to stress you out. Really, HAVE FUN. (I often get on the floor and roll around and start acting as I'm singing these songs. It's a GREAT way of loosening yourself up. I often make my OWN self laugh when I'm warming up as a result of this. And that's a GOOD thing!)
And you don't have to sing the song in the range of the original artist either. Sing it wherever it feels comfortable and enjoyable FOR YOU. So a lot of times when I'm warming up with songs, I just sing them acapella with no reference pitch other than where it FEELS best for me.
Thank you ..i will do what you say .
I kind of hinted at this in the video, but one thing I make my students do is come up with a list of 5 songs that are easy for you to sing. These should be your "go to" songs when you're trying to reset your voice or just need a confidence boost. It will probably take you some time before you can come up with such a list (don't be surprised if it takes you many weeks). But once you have that list in place, it will be a lifesaver for you.
oh marnell dont worry i have in mind some songs already like happy birthday...Mary had little lamb .
Great! You might also want to check out my reply to Owen. I gave some examples of professional singers using this "song warm up" method. You can literally see there warming up in a matter of MINUTES right before your eyes. They can do it that fast because they are so familiar with their voices.
First!)) Thank you, Marnell.
Thank you for commenting!
Hi Marnell. in this link instagram.com/p/vHQP2_yLPH/ this singer covered Human Nature by MJ it's a 10 second cover but how does the singer make this kinda full voice sound yet it sounds like headvoice and just a tiny bit of chest at the same time especially on the g4#. What is this sound call and how can I learn to do this?
It's a little bit of an in between place. A "gray zone". This is something you shouldn't worry about until you've consistently learned to take your chest voice up and down your range without straining.
The way I describe what he's doing is almost like singing in falsetto, except you feel a little bit of air pressure under it that you would normally get in chest voice. It's basically what I'm doing in these two clips:
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clyp.it/c0vddwx2
I repeat, this is a very advanced thing. You don't worry about it until you can consistently take your chest voice up and down your range.