SIREN: A VOCAL WARM-UP EXERCISE for KIDS

Students glide their voices from low to high and back, in order to warm up their full vocal range and develop breath support.

Step-By-Step Instructions

• Have the students take a deep breath and on the syllable ‘ol’; start at the lowest part of their vocal register and make a siren noise all the way up to the highest note they can reach.  Do it several times, then reverse it and start at the top of your register down to the lowest note you can reach.  

• Stress that their breath should come from way down in their diaphragm – the flat muscle that sits above the stomach, and not from the shoulders and throat which puts pressure on the vocal chords. 

• As a leader, you can use your finger to lead them up and down and vary the pattern.  Tell them the point is to be able to have a smooth transition from low to high without hearing a break.  The syllable ‘ol’ opens the back of the mouth and prevents them from hurting their vocal cords by yelling or pushing on them.

MORE DRAMA GAMES AND THEATER ACTIITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
SOUND BALL - Students pass an imaginary ball around a circle with improvised sound effects
THROW YOUR VOICE ON “HAH!” - Students practice projection sending their voices across the room on “Hah”
ME MAY MA MOE - Strengthen articulation and breath support with this vocal warmup

© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.