The morning commute into work is the perfect time for you to warm up your voice for the day ahead. Whether you walk, drive, ride your bike or take public transportation, adding a few warm-up exercises to your daily routine will not only prepare your vocal cords for talking but will help you to relax and start the day off right.
Humming is a great way to jump-start your vocal folds after a night’s sleep. Humming vibrates your vocal folds with breath from your rib cage and makes you feel good. Hum your favorite song, or just hum up and down the musical scale. Start softly and increase in volume as you continue. Do this a few times in 30-second intervals. Be sure to breathe from your lower rib cage and relax your back teeth so that you can feel the sound vibrating in your face and not in your throat. If you have a busy vocal day, humming for several seconds every few hours will energize your vocal folds and prevent vocal fatigue.
After you hum, continue to loosen up your jaw by making some basic sounds. While keeping your jaw relaxed and teeth apart, repeat the following phrases for about twenty seconds:
- Yaw Yaw Yo Yo
- Chaw Chaw Cho Cho
- Yay Yey Yee Yo You
- Chay Chey Chee Cho Chu
Now that your vocal cords and jaw are relaxed and warmed up, it’s time for the final piece – your tongue. Tongue twisters are a fun way to ready your tongue for talking and they will likely leave you laughing. Remember, these aren’t meant to be easy so you will make mistakes. The point is that you are efficiently warming up your tongue for speaking throughout the day. Here are some challenging, yet fun tongue twisters:
I am a mother pheasant plucker.
I pluck mother pheasants.
I am the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker,
Who ever plucked a mother pheasant.
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If you are going to keep a stock of liquor in your locker,
It is best to put up a lock upon your stock.
For some joker who is slicker
Is going to trick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock.
If you are short on time, say this one twice:
Red leather, yellow leather, light lavender leather
Let me know how these warm-ups work for you! It’s important that you spend a few minutes every day stretching your vocal folds, lips, jaw and tongue for speaking. One last tip: drink lots of water! Keep your vocal cords hydrated.
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