When I am teaching vocal lessons, I always start every lesson with a vocal warmup. But I also tell every student that the sooner they get into the routine of doing regular vocal exercises on their own, the sooner they will outgrow the need for me as a teacher!
Just like reading a lot about physical fitness and how the body works will never get you in shape physically on its own, knowing a lot about how the voice works will never really make you a better singer on its own. The other "boots on the ground" side of the equation for physical fitness is exercise. And the other side of the equation vocally is, well - exercise!
Regular vocal exercises will increase your lung capacity, your vocal range, your singing endurance, and a whole list of other factors in your singing abilities. But I've got a little secret for you - just like with physical exercise, it almost doesn't matter WHAT the exercise is as long as you are doing SOMETHING. If you are exercising but not doing it quite as often as you should, or as hard as you can, or as long as other people say you should, at least you are doing SOMETHING! And believe me, every bit of that effort is forward movement in baby steps. So start with anything, and start small and short so it's no big deal to roll it into your regular routine. There will be plenty of time for going for the gold later.
Some suggestions on where and how to start:
*Look on YouTube for "vocal warmups", but make sure you customize it to your voice, like "male baritone vocal warmups" or "female soprano vocal warmups".
*Look for single exercise guided vocal warmups on the shorter side, like no longer than 15 minutes.
*Set aside a time 4-5 days a week (or whatever you can manage), but you choose the days - sing along, knock it out quick, and get on with your life.
*You can even find the exercise on your smartphone and sing along with it in the shower, in your car driving around, or any other private time you have to yourself to be able to belt it out.
*If you're in a situation where you can't belt it out without disturbing others, consider buying a BeltBox:
https://www.amazon.com/BELTBOX-Dampener-Singers-Performers-Portable/dp/B01FRK4MLA/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=belt+box+for+singers&sr=8-2
Keep doing this regularly and you'll naturally level up over time to include longer and more varied warmups to your routine as your range and vocal control gets stronger - just like you will naturally want to be more active if you get in shape!
Tyson Farmer
www.lessonface.com/TysonFarmer
This is good information as a new voice instructor on lessonface. Thank you.
This is awesome and very true! Effort is effort even if it is in small amounts but consistent, it's a good way to get into a good routine and often times you start off little and it increases over time as you begin to enjoy it and want to increase as you better your singing! While a lot of practice is good, making a student or ourselves feel as though small efforts mean nothing, won't help on account of growing as a person and singer! You need to give yourself time to grow and growth in itself isn't a super fast process and I feel that it is important for us as instructors to always uplift our students and let them know that it is okay to struggle and take our time with things! Rushing isn't always good nor safe in some cases as well! Though our students may not always put in as much effort as we like I feel that it is important to make them feel motivated rather than make them feel more defeated than they already may feel!
This was a wonderful message thank you! It really made me think a bit more about being patient and motivational when it comes to students!