Start with the lip trill exercise above before you read on. Let your lips buzz on a five-note scale, up and down, at a level you could keep up while talking quietly. Notice two things: whether the buzz stays even as the notes rise, and whether the first phrase you sing afterwards feels different from how your voice felt when you sat down. That before-and-after is what a warm-up is for, and the rest of this guide is about getting more of it. THE THREE JOBS OF A WARM-UP. A good warm-up does three things, in order. It gets the voice making sound with very little effort. It moves through the places where the voice changes gear, so the first big note of the day is not also the first time you crossed that point. And it rehearses what you are about to sing: the key, the highest phrase, the loudest line. Most warm-ups that feel like a waste of time are missing the third job. GENTLE SOUND FIRST. Lip trills, hums and singing through a straw all partly block the air at the lips. That small resistance lets the voice get going at a low effort level, which is why they come first. If a lip trill will not start, rest two fingertips lightly on your cheeks, or hum on "mm" instead. Two or three minutes is enough. The aim is easy sound, not range. THEN THE GEAR CHANGES. Slides, also called sirens, carry the voice smoothly from low to high and back on "ng" or "oo". They take you through the bumpy places, where the sound wants to flip or thin out, slowly and quietly. You are not trying to fix the bump during a warm-up. You are making sure it is not a surprise later. THEN THE MUSIC. Finish with something close to what you are about to sing: a five-note scale on "mah" in the key of your first song, then the hardest phrase of that song on a vowel at half volume, then on the words. This is the step that turns a generic routine into a warm-up for today. HOW LONG IT TAKES. There is no fixed number. Five minutes is often enough on an ordinary day. A cold morning, a voice that has been talking all day, or a long set ahead usually calls for longer and gentler. A practical rule: keep going until the hardest phrase of your first song feels about as easy as it does on a good day, and stop well before you feel tired. BUILD ONE FOR YOUR DAY. Morning voice: more hums and slides low in the range, and leave the high work until later. After a day of talking: start with quiet hums and stay on gentle sound longer before you sing. Before recording a take: finish on the exact phrase you are about to record, sung twice at performance level, so the first take is not your warm-up. Before a gig: finish shortly before you go on, and keep talking to a minimum in between. WHAT TO LEAVE OUT. Skip anything that makes you strain to prove the voice is ready: reaching for your highest note, running the hardest song twice at full volume, or long stretches of loud singing. A warm-up should leave you with more voice than you started with. If it leaves you tired, it was too much. Diagnostic question: sing the first line of your song before you warm up, and again afterwards. What changed? If the second version is easier, the warm-up is doing its job. If nothing changed, add the song-specific step. If it got harder, shorten the warm-up and keep it quieter. WHEN A WARM-UP IS NOT THE ANSWER. A warm-up prepares a healthy voice. It does not fix a sore, hoarse or painful one, and it cannot diagnose anything. If singing hurts, stop for the day, and if hoarseness or pain lasts more than a day, see a doctor or an ENT before you go back to practising.