Trans Voice: Warming Up With a Straw - Why, How, and How much??

Developing Healthy Habits

If you’re just starting your voice transition, you may never have warmed up before. So why do we need to? Developing healthy habits through daily warmups is so important to making progress, and being able to sustain the changes that you make to your voice.

I haven’t always been great about warming up. In fact, it wasn’t until I began to have vocal health problems due to acid reflux and overuse that I learned about straw phonation and really got serious about taking care of my voice. Watch my video on vocal health to learn more!

Using a straw to warm up is a type of semi-occluded vocal tract exercises, or SOVTs. Semi-occluded refers to your mouth being mostly closed. Using a straw is one way, and we can also use other sounds like  “oo”, “nn”, “mm”, “vv” to get the same benefit.

Dr. Ingo Titze’s scientific work led to our understanding of how using a straw can benefit our voices. SOVTs are beneficial because as we make a sound, we have pressure coming up from the lungs, and also pressure being reflected back at the vocal folds from our partially closed lips. This creates a kind of cushion on the vocal folds so that they don’t need to work as hard to create a sound. The vocal folds are able to vibrate more efficiently, and it also opens the back of the throat which relaxes the larynx, which houses the vocal folds. 

Learn more about the science behind straw phonation here.

So grab a straw, and let’s try a vocal straw warmup!

Let’s make a sound!

• Make sure your lips are closed around the straw, and there’s no air escaping out the sides of your lips. Hum into the straw like a kazoo!

• Pinch the nose to make sure the sound doesn’t change.

• Notice if you feel any tension in your neck. If you do, try lightening up! There’s no need to push hard.

Straw Warmup

1. Make a sound and hold it for as long as you can!

   Notice the feeling of effort in your abdominal muscles to support your air. We want to get in the habit of supporting from our breath in the belly rather than supporting/pushing from the throat, which causes tension.

2. Slide - high to low, low to high.

   What sensations do you notice in your body? How do they change depending on how low or high you are? The straw helps to balance and coordinate the muscles in the larynx that shift pitches and change registers.

3. Put your straw in a glass of water that’s less than halfway full, and blow bubbles while sliding high to low, and low to high.

   This adds some resistance. Do you notice any differences in the sensations?

4. Hum any song!

   Try Happy Birthday or put on a song you really like and just hum along with the melody!

How long should I warm up for?

Warming up for 5 minutes in the morning is a great start to the day! If your voice is feeling fatigued throughout the day, you can use it for a few minutes to reset, as well as for a few minutes in the evening to cool down.

Doing these straw exercises is a gentle way to strengthen your voice, manage your breath, relax the muscles in the vocal tract, and smooth out the transition between your chest and head registers.

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