1) can anyone tell me how i can warm up properly, in a fun way???
the only warm up techniques i know is use of arpeggios, which gets pretty boring after a while of using them

2)How long should i warm up for?

3) are there any particular songs i can sing just to warm up my voice?

4)How would i stop singing? Would i completely stop or would i have to "warm down" (if thats the correct term) and how would i do it?

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help

thank you

Jtine

being an Alto 1 and solo singer in my school's choir,
my choir members and i acutally do warm-up for 15 minutes before singing songs.
our conductor would doing "hissing" with us.

1) breathe in deep and "si.." out slowly and hold for 8 counts.
increase the counts to 12 then 16.
if you dont have enough breath, do not take another one.
make sure the loudness sustain throughout the 8 counts.

2) we then proceed to "punching".
breathe in the "si si si si si si si si " for 8 times, at the 9th time, hiss out a long "si.."
each short "si" must be strong, supported and sharp.
increase the short "si" to 12 times then 16.

3) start singing "five notes up the scales" to vowel "e".
do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do.
then go up a semitone and up and up.
until high notes..switch vowel to "ah".

4) also being the pianist of choir, my conductor allows me to compose my own simple melodies to let the choir sing. usually my melodies are short, melodious and easy to remember so that the choir people can sing it. the vowels are usually consistent throughout my melodies.

In addition, there's no need to "warm-down".
well, at least choirs don't do that.
but "warm-ups" are v v important!
remember to drink lots of water before singing and after.
tips: be only 50% full before singing.
too much food disencourages good tone and support.
eat a mint sweet or peppermint candy before singing.
it allows better control of mouth shape and feeling.

hope you find the above useful. ;-}

I recommend Mike Brewer's Warm Up book publisher by Faber Music. The book is divided into 36 waarm-up sessions which each last about 10-15 minutes. There are physical exercises, breathing exercises, exercises for crisp diction as well as vocal warm-ups. I've just started using them and they seem excellent.

David

i would recommend some breathing exercise taking short and long breaths etc. also then in my singing lessons (weird though it may be!) i do some visualisation type things that help me to think about my singing. then i sing up and down some scales and do some stylised exercises to work different things eg an exercise to match vowels, exercises to move smoothly up and down my voice and exercises to warm the top and bottom of my voice up hope this helps