The Power of Purpose: The 5-minute Intentional Warmup - by Chris Maunu

“A thoughtful instructional period at start can transform how singers approach the rest of rehearsal.”

After sharing The Power of Purpose: Why Intentional Vocal Warmups Matter, I was encouraged by educators and conductors who reached out and asked for specific examples. This followup article contains a vocal warm-up sequence designed to systematically build healthy singing habits, improve tone production, and strengthen intonation. By progressing from breath-connected phonation to resonance exploration, upper range freedom, harmonic awareness, and expressive integration, singers develop both technical skill and musical sensitivity. This sequence (once familiar) is meant to take no longer than 5-7 minutes. With consistency, an approach like this will result in a choir that sings with greater ease, cohesion, and artistry—making every rehearsal more effective and every performance more compelling.

1. Healthy Onset & Coordinated Phonation

Before any phonation, consider a brief physical reset (e.g., body stretch, alignment check, or breath exercise), which will ground the singers in posture and awareness.Purpose: Encourage a natural, energized onset by connecting breath flow to speech-like phonation.

Exercise: Sigh Phonation for Coordinated Onset

1. Have singers take a breath and release a gentle sigh on [hɑː], as if exhaling relief. The goal is relaxed airflow with as little vocal tension as possible.

2. Next, repeat the sigh but allow the voice to gently “ride” the breath—the onset should feel effortless. Think of the voice “landing” into sound.

3. Transition to a spoken sounds [hɑ] [hɛ] [hɔ] [hi] [hu], quickly transitioning the pattern sung legato on a 5-note scale (middle range).

4. Focus on clarity of onset without glottal attack or airy tone. Prompt: “Let the sound emerge from the breath, not before it or after it.”

Why it works: This exercise taps into something everyone can easily digest: speech-level phonation. Practicing onset coordination in a low-stakes environment encourages freedom in the vocal mechanism while training the singer to connect breath energy with vocal tone. The initial sigh eases pressure, while the speech-to-singing transitions them into healthy phonation.

2. Exploring Tone Color Through Vowel Shifts

Purpose: Develop awareness of resonance, vowel shape, and subtle shifts in vocal color.

Exercise: Changed Vowels on a Unison Pitch or Chord

• Sustain each vowel on the same pitch (or simple chord), shifting every few beats (mɑ mɛ mi mɔ mu], or your favorite combination of voiced consonants and vowels).

• Invite singers to experiment with space and placement to maintain resonance through each change.

• Prompt them to associate a “color” to ensure that the changing vowels access a similar vocal placement. For example, a change from a smaller shaped vowel [u] to something more open [ɑ] can lose both pitch and color consistency.

• Add other consonants to emphasize diction or demonstrate conducting gestures that communicate various articulations, tempi, and dynamics to challenge the choir to watch and respond.

Why it works: This exercise builds flexibility and intentionality, while inviting exploration of placement. Singers begin to understand how that affects tuning and ensemble cohesion.

3. Accessing the Middle to Upper Range with Lip Trills then Vowels

Purpose: Coordinate breath flow, head resonance, and register transitions, while loosening tension in the upper range and passaggio.

Exercise Sequence: 

1. Glide Sirens (Low–High–Low) – Glide gently up and down through the passaggio on a lip trill, like a siren.

2. Lip Trill Arpeggios – Sing arpeggios on a lip trill (e.g. C–E–G–C–G–E–C, full octave up and down, etc.) to activate breath support and move easily between registers. Focus on even airflow, relaxed lips, and space between the molars.

3. Lip Trill into Vowel – Trill on a short 3–5-note pattern, then repeat the same on a vowel like [ɑ] or [ɔ]. Transfer the balance and freedom felt in the lip trill into a resonant vowel production.

4. Sung Vowels in Upper Range – Insert your favorite agility exercise (e.g. 1-8—7-8-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1—, 5-8-5-3-1, etc.) always revisiting the breath connection just achieved with the trill.

Why it works: These exercises promote a balance between air flow and vocal fold coordination, allowing the voice to release into the upper register without tension. Lip trills also engage resonance forward and up, prepping singers for healthy high singing across the choir. Developing the upper range takes time. Check in often about sensations your singers are experiencing.

*Tip for Treble voices: A tall shape doesn’t work above the staff. Change toward a facial lift/smile and modify [ɑː] toward [æ].

*Tip for Tenor/Bass voices: If tension in the upper register is a problem (it will be), pause to falsetto and slide down (or sing descending 5-note patterns) gradually, allowing the voice to "thicken" naturally as it descends, helping them find the ever elusive “mix.” Having the treble voices sing with them will make them feel more comfortable.

4. Tuning with Shifting Harmonic Function

Purpose: Build tuning skills and awareness of harmonic function.

Exercise: Tuning with Chromatic Shifts

• Build a chord with Alto/Bass on the root, Tenor on the fifth, and Soprano on the third.

• Move sections up and down one at a time by half steps. For example, sopranos down a half step, then tenors up a half step—this shifts their harmonic role.

• Add complexity and challenge by introducing extended or “crunchy” harmonies.

• Ask singers to identify their harmonic role (root, third, fifth, etc.) and adapt their tuning

Why it works: This trains singers to tune both individually and collectively, and supports repertoire requiring thick, stacked harmonies or vertical complexity.

5. Challenge: Chromatic vs. Whole Tone Layers

Purpose: Develop precision in chromatic tuning, expand tonal vocabulary, and heighten ensemble listening across contrasting scalar patterns.

Exercise: Chromatic vs. Whole Tone Scale Sequence 1. Full ensemble sings a one-octave chromatic scale on a resonant vowel and voiced consonant 

[nɑː]. Feel free to use solfege at first.

2. Sing a whole tone scale on the same vowel, focusing on tone evenness and intonation.3. Split the choir: Group 1 sings the chromatic scale while Group 2 sings two whole tone scales adjusted to match in length and timing.

*If this seems too advanced, try condensing to Do–Mi (Do Re Mi Re Do twice combined with Do Di Re Ri Mi Me Re Ra Do once) then gradually expand.

Why it works: Singers are challenged to maintain independence while also listening across the ensemble for balance and dissonance. This layered scalar approach helps singers build deep harmonic awareness.

6. Connecting Text, Line, and Color through the Repertoire

Purpose: Encourage expressive singing and text awareness from the very beginning of rehearsal.

Exercise: Phrase Color Study

• Choose a phrase from the repertoire. Sing it first on a neutral vowel, then on text.

• Ask singers: “Where is the natural rise and fall of the phrase? What resonance and articulation color the emotional meaning of the line?

Why it works: This integrates line, breath, and expressive choices early in rehearsal. It deepens emotional connection and ownership of artistry, preparing singers to think musically and intentionally from the start.

Final Thoughts

At all levels, vocal exercises should be as intentional as any other part of rehearsal. No warmup ever devised magically makes a choir better on its own. The benefits discussed above can be accomplished with an entirely different selection of exercises. Remember, it is the intention and pedagogy that matters. A thoughtful instructional period at start can transform how singers approach the rest of rehearsal. It sets the tone (pun intended) for a choral experience rooted in depth, artistry, and intentional growth.

Chris Maunu is an in-demand All State and Honor Choir clinician across the U.S. and internationally, including conducting the 2025 National ACDA 11th/12th Grade Honor Choir in Dallas. He is an award winning composer, Artistic Director of the renowned Pacific Youth Choir, and on faculty at Portland State University. Visit chrismaunu.com for clinician requests, commissions, and other information.