Getting up early in the morning to sing/Warming up the Voice

Today is Saturday, April 16th, and I am up at 6:15 AM.  That seems a bit odd, so let me explain myself:  I need to time to warmup my vocal folds before the orchestral run through of Elijah.

Your vocal folds are like every part of your body.  They need time to 'stretch' and 'warmup,' like your own muscles, before  a big workout.  As a young singer, you can get away with only a few minutes of warmup.  As you get older, however, the voice needs more time before you are physically ready for a hard sing lest you risk injury.  For voice lessons, I warmup all my students so they are ready to do the hard work of singing a musical, classical, or pop song.   I also give them the exercises in sheet music form or can do recordings for my students if they do not yet read sheet music.

Which explains why I am up at 6:15 AM.  While I am a morning person, I need to be up early to sing my fullest at 9 AM in the morning.  To do so requires several warmup exercises, but also just time after sleep for the body to wakeup.

DWS