You Need a Warm Up!

March 16, 2020

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You NEED a warm up!

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Yes, YOU, an occupational voice user, YOU need a warm up (WU) for your VOICE. Every athletic endeavor involves a WU in some form, & this is considered best practice to prevent injury, warm up the body, & prepare the body for use & endurance of a certain activity for an extended period of time. If the body (and the VOICE) are to be successful at achieving the their missions, they must be awakened, prepped, & trained prior to “go time”.

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Warming up your body, mind, & VOICE prior to any kind of occupational voice use is extremely important & will be pivotal in reducing your risk of vocal injury, prepping your voice for its vocal demands, & its ability to function as the beautiful & reliable vehicle of your message delivery that it is. Most vocal WUs consist of some form of a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise (SOVTE), & research suggests this position of the vocal tract has immediate positive effects on the VFs & how they function. A few examples include: the lip trill, tongue trill, tongue-out trill, resonant hum, tongue-out hum, straw phonation, straw phonation w/straw submerged in water, cup phonation, mask phonation, & vocal function exercises. A WU for the voice promotes an effective coordination of the 3 subsystems of voice to promote efficient, dynamic, & optimal vocal delivery. Vocal WUs are essential for all occupational voice users—whether or not you speak, sing, teach, instruct, lead, lecture, or even beatbox. WUs encourage healthy VF vibration, reduce muscle tension/effort, & increase vocal economy (the best acoustic output w/the least amount of effort). Many vocal WUs involve pitch navigation tasks & function as “voice fitness” by rebalancing, re-coordinating, & strengthening the vocal subsystems while also stretching & contracting the VFs–encouraging an overall improving mobility & freedom w/in the larynx. Research shows that vocal WUs contribute to improved vocal stamina/endurance (you can use your voice LONGER & more efficiently w/out fatiguing)…& isn’t this what you’re wishing for if you’re a #teacher & it’s Friday? Or if you’re a #fitpro & you’ve already taught 10 classes this week?

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Vocal WUs are easy to fit into your day…they can be done on your daily commute, while making a meal at home, or any other times that fit your life—allowing you to create positive vocal habits that will dramatically impact your voice and life.

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There are SO MANY research studies that support the use of vocal WUs to promote improved vocal quality, reduce vocal effort & fatigue, reduce the possibility of vocal injury, & promote the BEST voice for your occupational voice demands. Vocal WUs are RESEARCH BASED & incredibly effective. Check out the research below highlighting several of my vocal warm-ups!

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One study by Cook-Cunningham & Grady (2018) found that a WU including physical AND vocal aspects is preferred by singers as it enables more resonant singing & more in-tune singing (GET YOUR BODY MOVING & GET YOUR VOICE MOVING)!

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In another 2019 study, Manternach & Daugherty found that just a 4 minute voicing protocol w/a small straw caused the participants to perceive their vocal performance sounded better (~78%) & also that it was more efficient/comfortable (~74%)—the choristers perceived less vocal effort while maintaining vocal output after straw phonation.  

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An even more recent study (2019) by Meerschman et al. found that warm up exercises including lip trills, straw phonation, & water-resistance therapy all had a positive impact on one or more outcomes of the multidimensional voice assessment (significant improvements in DSI, significant decrease in audio-perceptual grade & roughness, significant decrease in VHI scores, & report from subjects of a better self-perceived vocal quality & more comfortable voice production)—of note, NO changes were found in the control group (those who did not do the aforementioned exercises).

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In 2017, Meerschman et al. found that SOVTEs (resonant voice training & straw phonation) positively impact the vocal quality & vocal capacities of occupational voice users, with resonant voice training causing improved DSI & straw phonation causing expansion of the vocal intensity range.

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An older study (2011) done by Van Lierde et al. compared two groups—one that performed a well-defined warm up program & a control group that took 30 mins of vocal rest. The findings included increased vocal performance w/lower intensity & higher frequency as well as increased fundamental frequency in the experimental group, therefore displaying clear evidence that warming up the vocal mechanism is beneficial to objective vocal quality & general vocal performance.

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In 2013, Guzman et al. found that the use of phonatory tasks with STRAW exercises can have IMMEDIATE THERAPEUTIC acoustic effects in dysphonic voices.

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When comparing vocal function exercises & phonation thru a flow-resistant tube (straw), a 2015 study by Kapsner-Smith et al. found significant improvement in VHI scores for both treatment groups vs the control group as well as significant reductions in roughness on the CAPE-V (for the straw group), & the general findings concluded that these methods may improve the quality of life of participants & that straw phonation was non-inferior to vocal function exercises in improving voice QOL.

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A study by Fantini et al. (2017) found immediate advantageous effects on the singing voice after use of a SOVTE w/a ventilation mask in terms of acoustic quality, phonatory comfort, & voice quality perception in contemporary commercial singers.

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Another study done in 2017 (Mailander, Muhre, & Barsties) found that Lax Vox (straw submerged in water) training appears to improve the select measures of voice quality, maximum phonation time, vocal function, self-evaluation, & perceived applicability in teachers. The acoustic measures of vocal function showed an expansion in the upper contour of voice range profiles after training—particularly improvements in the modal & beginning of the falsetto voice registers as well as an increase in intensity levels by about 4.6dB.

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Additionally, a study by Guzman et al. (2015) compared 8 different SOVTEs & their effect on glottal contact quotient (CQ) as a measure of VF impact stress. They found that the different SOVTEs differentially affect VF adduction (closure) with lip & tongue trills producing the lowest CQ & may be recommended for decreasing glottal adduction (possibly to reduce impact stress/heal/encourage healthy vibration of swollen or injured VFs). Also, they found a straw submerged 10cm below the water surface displayed the greater CQ, a shallower depth led to a lower CQ, while deeper submersion produced a higher CQ. 

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Hopefully reading this longer-than-normal blog post has made it clear how important vocal warm-ups are to your vocal health and vocal endurance...AND convinces you to go ahead and get started making them a PRIORITY.  Seriously.. TRY IT. See for yourself how much better you FEEL and SOUND by incorporating vocal warm-ups into your daily life...even 1-5 minutes before voice use makes a difference. Start now!