A Quick Vocal or Voice Warm Up for Actors

One thing which really bugs me when I am holding an audition or running a workshop is when an actor will come in and they have obviously done no vocal warm-up.

An actor who hasn’t warmed-up is immediately spottable and it just shows us that you don’t really care about your craft, your tools, or about us or the job.

It is pretty unforgivable as a simple warm-up can just take about five to ten minutes and really will make a huge difference to your technique when auditioning and also helps to get you in the correct state of mind.

The main reason for warming-up your voice is that it will prepare your body for acting, projecting and singing. When you are acting on stage your intensity of breath support needs to be greater than when you are just normally speaking, you will also be using a slightly different technique from when you are speaking in everyday life, you will be doing things such as tilting the larynx and opening your throat.

Actors who warm up their voices ….

Act with more consistency and freedom
Have fewer voice problems overall
Have a wider vocal range
Have a wider emotional range
Have more options available to them to be expressive
Communicate their acting better overall

Quick Vocal Warm Up for Actors

Our quick warm up should be fun, easy to follow and should help you to get your voice, ear, mind and body all on the same page. It should also help you to control your nerves and not let them control you. This warm-up should be easy enough for you to make part of your routine in the morning, but also quick and easy for you to do quickly somewhere private before an audition.

Shoulders

Shrug your shoulders five times, nice and gently. Roll them around both clockwise and anti-clockwise. Keep it gentle, this should feel good.
Mouth & Face

Pretend to chew a very sticky toffee which is getting larger and getting stuck on your teeth. Don’t be polite, make loads of noises and exaggerate your facial expressions. You should be able to feel your chewing in your cheeks and eyes.
Sounds I

Siren your voice. Open the sound. This time make an ‘Ahhhhhh’ sound. Go all the way up and down your entire range. Use your hand as a guide physicalising your sound, take it up as you get higher and down as you get lower.
Sounds II

Siren your voice. Open the sound. This time make an ‘Ahhhhhh’ sound. Go all the way up and down your entire range. Use your hand as a guide physicalising your sound, take it up as you get higher and down as you get lower.
Resonators

Walk around and hum a song loudly, make sure you connect the notes to each other. Your walking should be relaxed and upright and not in time to your music.
Tongue I

Push your tongue just behind your top teeth and draw it backwards following the roof of your mouth. Your tongue MUST NOT touch the roof of your mouth. Repeat this tongue work-out three times.
Tongue II

Place the tip of your tongue against your bottom teeth and keep it there, now roll the rest of the tongue out of your mouth as far as it will go. Repeat this tongue work-out three times.
Tongue III

Stick your tongue out of your mouth, relax your mouth and jaw, make some ‘puppy dog’ panting noises.
Breath

Blow the petals on an imaginary flower. First use five short, sharp blows to decimate the flower and blow the petals clean off it! Next try five long, slow gentle breaths which will make the petals shake and the flower blow but not take the petals off the flower. Really feel your intercostal muscles working during the different types of your breathing.
Articulate

Say some nursery rhymes or tongue twisters concentrating on different sounds and syllables. Work through the fricative sounds, sounds associated with f, s; v, z,. Then try concentrating on the plosive sounds, which are associated with p, t, k; b, d, g. As long as you concentrate on over articulating and enunciating every single syllable you should be able to work though these sounds.
Final Open & Relax

Do a mock yawn complete with a big stretch, this will open and relax your palette. Also try a silent lions roar and feel the opening of your vocal tract.

If you really haven’t got time and just need a quick fix warm-up then laughing is a great warm-up, it wakes up your body, opens your throat, lifts your larynx slightly and stretches your vocal chords.