“A good singer is like an athlete, one who cares for their body and treats it well.” – Ariella Vaccarino
Right before last year ended, I made a silent promise to myself that I would sing more. I used to sing all the time and I began noticing when I went to auditions for musicals, my voice wasn’t in the best of shape anymore.
I knew I wanted to find some kind of CD or mp3 where every morning (while my wife was at work because I’m definitely not doing it with her here!) I could do some quick exercises. I wanted to find something where there was an instructor going through it with me and leading the way. Like the vocal warmups I used to do before every show of a musical.
Then, like someone was listening to my inner thoughts, I got a chance to check out Ariella Vaccarino’s, “Voice Lessons To Go”. It’s a set of 4 vocal warm-up CD’s where Vaccarino guide’s you every step of the way, much like a voice teacher would, except you’re probably at home in your underwear.
The first CD is called ‘Vocalize and Breath’. The first couple of tracks feature basic singing advice and gives you tips on your posture, always good for singing and auditions. The rest of the tracks are basic vocal warm-ups and breathing exercises.
The second and third CD’s, ‘Do Re Mi Ear and Pitch Training’ and ‘Pure Vowels’, are full of vocal exercises to help with finding tones and chord recognition, and the proper way to sing vowels.
The fourth CD (my favorite) is called ‘Stamina.’ This one is all about strengthening your voice and the muscles the work with it. I’ll tell you, listening and going along with the exercises only twice so far has made my voice feel a lot better.
Vaccarino has a nice easy way about her and the way she explains the exercises are incredibly easy to understand.
If you’re looking to start a singing routine, need a quick warm-up before an audition or just want to get back to your former vocal self (like I am/was), you definitely won’t go wrong with these CD’s. I highly recommend them!
