I’m going to be short and straight to the point today, or at least, as short and straight to the point as I can be.
Question:
Do I have to warm up?
What are warm ups good for?
How does warming up help my singing?
Why do singing teachers always make us make all these weird noises?
BLUF:
The weird noises are to distract you in the hope that you will sing something differently than you have done in the past. Usually this is done when your teacher thinks that you may be able to get better vowel alignment or better response through a registration event. A fair amount of singing pedagogy is distraction in its early and intermediate phases.
Everything Else:
The five cardinal vowels are the root vowels for much of the vowel content in our songs. Look at the vowels in your songs, discern the root vowels, and then sing your song with only the root vowels. Having done that, move on to the slight adjustments necessary (if they are, in fact, necessary) to produce the vowels from the words. Exclude diphthongs. Watch how much that helps your songs.
That cannot be done effectively if you do not already have good vowel alignment with the five cardinal vowels. That is where ‘warm ups’ come in. They are vowel alignment practices. At least, the warm ups that I make are vowel alignment practices. I cannot speak for other teachers.
I hope that that helps, or at least gives you some food for thought! Thanks for reading!
Jeff
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