This morning our choir sang for a service. It was a cold venue (as churches in winter tend to be). We warmed up properly beforehand but then had to sit around for a while before starting.

I have found in these circumstances that if anything I have less voice than if I'd never warmed up at all. I mentioned it to a couple of others who just said, "oh, yeah, singer's problem, well known".

Now, a couple of times this has happened to the extent where I have practically no voice at all for a few minutes into the piece. So far it's never happened at a really critical time (ie important solo), but it makes me worry that I could never do, for example, the solo sop role in "Messiah" (sits there doing nothing for ages and comes in after about 20 minutes with a top A in the first phrase).

So I have 2 questions:

First question (a technical one):
What happens to the voice when it warms up, then appears to cool down to a point below the initial starting state?

Second question (a practical one):
How do I prevent it happening, or at least minimise its effects?

Hi Thouston !

If you're warming up with exercises that are suited to your voice, a good break between the warm up and the singing should be beneficial, rather than problematic.

As you warm up, you get ligaments and muscles stretching and moving, you bring bloodflow where it needs to go and you create a good deal of elasticity in the vocal aparatus - then, just like atheletes, you let it 'stand' for a while.

However, if the exercises are not right for you, or simply don't work (things like singing 'i' up and down arpeggios will not warm up the voice, for example) - then you may end up pushing the voice, which leads to mild voice strain and the symptoms you describe.

Try warming up with some suitable exercises, then letting it rest and then just doing some quite NG sirens up and down a couple of times just before having to sing - you can do them almost silently, so it shouldn't be a problem even in front of an audience.

Thank you! Fascinating...that would certainly explain the difference between David's experience and mine...
*goes off to experiment with some different types of warm-up*

Ah yes, hadn't seen David's post before I put mine up - but he's quite right!