• Face, muscles of expression:  Relax your face, and using your fingers, gently massage your cheeks, chin, and face
• Tongue stretching exercises:  stretch the tongue out and stretch for a few seconds.  As you bring it back into your mouth, let the whole jaw, tongue and lips relax.  Repeat 5-6 times until your tongue hangs limp.
• Bridge Muscles:  Under the jawline, using your fingers, massage under the chin in an up and down motion, relaxing the jaw as needed.  
• Hinge of the jaw (Chin check up!) Most people carry tension in their jaw.  This exercise reveals if you control your jaw, or your jaw controls you.  Consciously relaxing your jaw, attempt to move it up and down without any muscular resistance.  Go slowly at first, building the relaxation as you go. 
• Neck Muscles:  Gently tip your head to one side and pull your opposite shoulder down, repeat on the other side.  Stretch arms above your head, out to the sides, and in front and behind you to begin opening the lungs towards the breathing process.  (Adapted from David Blair McClosky’s Your Voice at it’s Best, demonstrated by Dr. Bonnie Pomfret here)
• Straw Phonation Warm Up & Post sing relaxation:  Hum gently through a straw, larger (drink straw) for beginning, and smaller (coffee straw) for advanced, hum waves of lower to high, then higher to low (Adapted from Ingo Titze, here’s a link to the YouTube video)

*In addition to singing, the above warm ups are helpful to ward off any overuse of voice due to sickness or yelling. If, through a glissando, there are any gaps of voice, then a swollen cord may be present.  Please go through these exercises but be mindful to rest your voice from speaking or singing.  Otherwise, use on a regular basis to familiarize yourself with your instrument as well as prior to any singing.  

More notes for Singing:  

• Posture:  Stand with hands on waist, thumbs forward and fingers back along your ribcage.  Stand with one foot slightly ahead and apart from the other.  Lightly dig toes as if to grasp the floor.  This will give a balanced, firm stance.  Tuck under the hips slightly (pelvic tilt) and keep knees slightly flexed.  This is the basic posture.  
• Breathing:  Relaxation of the throat area is an important factor in vocalization, but the power of the voice is in the breath.  Breath work is individual and will be worked on together in the studio.  
• Please see the Voice Practice worksheet for learning new repertoire.