Thursday, February 5, 2015

The Warm Up: Part One


                                                                   
   
Hey Folks! I answer a lot of questions from singers about how to warm up for a show.

The most frequently asked questions are:

1) How long a proper warm up should last?

2) What are the key elements of a good warm up?

3) How long before a performance should one warm up?

    These are all good questions and I'm always happy to discuss what preparation we can do to support our performances, so we're going to have a look at these issues in a series of blog posts.

Just a note: Some of the elements of a solid physical and vocal warm up are posted in a series of video's up on my website. Please have a look, these video's have helped thousands of singers around the globe approach performance with a deeper sense of peace and preparedness.




                             Peace and mental preparedness 
                     are the keys to a great performance folks!


In fact the most important function of the warm up is not actually the technical warm up of your voice, although that certainly is important, nor the physical warm up, as essential as that can be to supporting your performance. In my opinion the most important factor in a good warm up is that it is a ritual that focuses your mind body and spirit and allows you space to focus inward as you prepare to take the stage.

The life of a performer can be chaotic, full of last minute decisions, overwhelming fears and anxieties and challenges to the ego and one's sense of peace. How delicious that we are allowed a moment when it all must stop and make room for us to sit and breathe. To stop "doing" and to simply "be". A kind of clearing house for the psyche.

Therefore when people ask how long they should warm up my answer is usually "until you are peaceful". Now I recognize that this is a real challenge on a show day in the middle of all the crazy preparations of set list, stage clothes, comp list, travel to the venue, soundcheck etc.
 Therefore the "warm up" becomes even more essential, an island of peace and solitude in the middle of all the chaos.

Time is always tight on a show day and we will drop the warm-up unless it's scheduled like a rehearsal. So ask yourself. Aren't you worth giving yourself a chance at a relaxed easy time on your show day? Isn't your music worth getting behind and supporting? Isn't it time you did your best on stage instead of "the best you can do under the circumstances"?

          Schedule your peace of mind body and spirit daily!   
                .....And you will fly when you are onstage!

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Workshops in Torono, New York and Los Angeles

Official Singers Playground Website :  http://www.singersplayground.com