• We must first prepare the body to sing
• Stand quietly. Take a "sun breath." As you inhale through the nose (to the count of 4) raise your arms, keeping shoulders comfortably relaxed. If you are able to do so, touch your hands over your head. Exhale through your mouth to the count of 4 while gradually lowering your arms. Over time increase the count to 6 and then 8. 
• Gently shake your wrists. Flop your wrists in front of you. Shake your hands more vigorously as if trying to get water off them. 
• Move your elbows and hands in a circular manner. Wake up the arms. 
• Roll your shoulders in a circular manner up and back. 
• Extend one arm in front of your body fingers pointed up.
• Clasp your hands together behind your head. Gently pull down on your head while exhaling. Lift your elbows and head while inhaling through the nose. Repeat slowly 3-4 times. 
• Turn 90 degrees to the right, facing the back of your neighbor singer. Rub the shoulders of the person in front of you. Turn around and repeat the process. 
• Finally, stand quietly with arms relaxed at your side. Take a full breath while bringing your arms overhead. Keep shoulders comfortably down and relaxed. As you exhale, lower your arms, keeping sternum elevated and shoulders down. Your posture is somewhere between the typical "teen slump" and the stereotypical "military rigid." The body is now awake and in a position for effective singing. 

The Process of Breathing: A singer's breath involves the coordination of muscles of the ribs together with muscles of the abdomen, a process called muscular antagonism. 

The Process of Phonation: The vocal folds are brought into vibration through a principle of physics called the Bernoulli Principle. (It is the same principle that gives lift to an airplane or forward motion to a sailboat.) Voice and breath are precisely coordinated resulting in "singing on the breath." 

• Place your palms on the bottom of the rib cage, fingers crossing the abdomen and touching in front. Breathe low and deep, observing that the fingers separate as the result of an effective inhalation.
• Inhale and hiss, five times staccato. 
• Inhale and hiss, twice staccato and then sustained. 
• Inhale and sing on a comfortable pitch in mid-voice, "Sah-sah-saaaaaaaaaaaah." (Sing twice short and then sustained.)
• Inhale and sing on a comfortable pitch in mid-voice two staccato pitches, "Sah-sah" followed by a sustained five-pitch scalar passage (5-4-3-2-1) on "Saaaaaaaaaaaaah." Repeat several times, each time a half step lower, remaining generally in mid-voice range. 

Once you have animated the body, initiated consistent breath flow, 
easily connected breath to sound, and energized the nasal placement, 

it is time to extend the range of the vocalizes to awaken the full range of the voice.

There are numerous vocalizes that effectively achieve the goal of vocal extension. The two that I use most frequently with choirs are these: 

• This arpeggio: do-mi-sol-do-ti-sol-fa-re-so sung on these syllables: [u - - - a - - - -]. 
• When the voice is "cold," it is best to begin the vocal warm-up with descending vocalizes in mid-range. This procedure, especially with inexperienced singers, will more consistently deliver vocal sounds that are free of tension and on pitch. 

• PITCH-CENTERED. Singers can and should sing to the center of the pitch. 
• FREE. Good singing feels and sounds effortless; unnecessary vocal tension is released. 
• BEAUTIFUL AND RESONANT. Exercises that encourage a comfortably low larynx, a high velum, "forward" placement, relaxed lips, and relaxed tongue will contribute to a naturally beautiful sound. 
• A PLEASING VIBRATO.   In Seashore's classic definition, "A good vibrato is a pulsation of pitch, usually accompanied with synchronous pulsation of loudness and timbre, of such extent and rate as to give pleasing flexibility, tenderness, and richness to the tone." Pitch fluctuation in a healthy vibrato is about a semitone with about six undulations per second. A vibrato that is too rapid is called tremolo; one that is too slow is a wobble. Vibrato is a result rather than a technique. When the voice is free, breath-centered, pitch-centered and resonant, vibrato emerges; it is not taught. Vibrato is a sign of a healthy voice.