Vocal warm ups?

Binomate

I don't usualy do vocal warm up exercises before I sing. Since I only sing at home to myself and not in public or in the presence of other people I have never felt the need to bother warming up before I sing. I usualy just humm and sing all day and by the end of the day in the evening I sound half decent. It's a real pain in the arse because the only chance I really get to sing out loud with volume and practice belting etc. is in the mornings when everyone is out of the house. So my question is does anyone have some simple vocal warm up exercises for morning times that they'd like to share?

Savman

Don't strain early in the day, take hot drinks (tea) and avoid any thing ice cold that would irritate vocal cords.

marshmallow

If you have a piano play arppegios and sing along with them.

Me, Mé, Ma, Mo, Moo on the same note and go up each note to loosen your vocals.

'Paul's got a face like a pingpong ball' always works!
Just vary the different sounds.

Binomate

Wow, warm drinks really help!

Thanks marshmallow, I've to find some kind of a scales because the piano we have has been out of tune for the last couple of years. I'll give that a try as soon as I find some decent scales.

BossArky

A month or two ago I started the following:

Play a major scale on guitar (or piano) and sing along to it. Move the root note up or down so that you can comfortably reach both the lowest and highest notes over the two octave span. Now that you have found your zone try to move the root out or down to stretch the high and low notes that you can reach. Do this for 5 minutes or so and you will have a decent vocal warm-up.

I found it slightly confusing to switch from playing and singing from the major scale to the minor scale - my mind seemed caught up in "hearing" the major pattern and I had to force myself into the minor.

Slightly interesting but off topic: A friend of mine(blues piano player) predominatly whistles using the blues scale, I seem to whistle along the lines of the major scale. I think this comes from our internal preferences being fixed along the lines of the scales we use when we practice our instruments.

musicality

All the above are good tips in general..here's some more

Do not sing too early in the day.You must not force your voice to loosen up at an early time.Along with the rest of the body it shall awaken with patience.Gentle humming/resonating is fine.Don't force.

Water that is tepid/body temp is warm...if it is too hot or very cold..shock or irritation of the vocal folds will occur.

Other drinks apart from water are unsuitable and most foods just before a warm up.

A physical warm up/stretching,is a good idea before a vocal warming.Release physical tension before hand.

Gentle humming with arpeggio's is very good.Keep the sound more around the nasal area and in the head sinus to relieve tension on the throat.