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(bright upbeat music)

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- Hi, my name is Erica Merritt.

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I'm a local singer and
songwriter, and today I'm here

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to talk to you about singing.

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We will cover how to
prepare before singing

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or how to prepare to sing.

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We will go through body and
facial exercises, as well

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as addressing nervousness and anxiousness

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that comes along with singing.

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Singing can be so rewarding,
it's one of the most

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rewarding things I've ever done.

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I usually feel about 10
times better after I sing.

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So, before doing so, I
like to center myself

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so that I can just focus on singing.

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The first thing I like to do
something called a body check

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or centering exercise.

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I'm going to name various
parts of your body,

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and as I name them, I want
you to check-in with them.

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Often times people say, how are you?

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And you think about it.

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This time, I want you to feel about it,

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I'm gonna ask you how your
body parts are feeling today.

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Alright, as I'm doing this,
I want you to make sure

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that you're taking deep
breaths in and out,

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as we check through various
parts of our body, alright?

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Alright, let's get started.

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Beginning with, and I'm
inviting you to close your eyes.

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If you can keep them open,
if you like, I'm gonna close

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mine, not ignoring you.

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Alright, close your eyes.

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(inhales deeply and exhales)

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Alright, let's check-in
with the bottom of our feet.

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Moving to our heels.

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(exhales)

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Ankles,

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our shins, which is between
our ankle and our knee,

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that area, check-in.

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How about our knees?

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(exhales softly)

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What are your knees feeling like?

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If they're sore, try to relax them,

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if they're tense, try to relax them.

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Let's move to our thighs.

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How are those thighs feeling?

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And your hips,

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and your pelvic area,

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pelvic area is between your hips.

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I'm leaning forward,
sometimes it helps to isolate

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the pelvic area.

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Alright,

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let's go to our stomach.

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(exhales softly)

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Above your stomach is your diaphragm.

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Your chest.

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Your shoulders.

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your neck,

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your chin, how's your chin feeling?

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If it's tightened, let's loosen it up.

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Oh, your jaw that's
connected to your chin,

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let's go to your jaw.

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Your nose, deep breath through
your nose (inhales deeply).

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How about your forehead?

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The back of your head.

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Back of your neck,

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behind your shoulders,
your shoulder blades

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up and down your spine,

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the middle of your back.

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Your lower lumbar,
which is the lower back,

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your bottom,

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behind your thighs, back of your legs,

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behind your knees,

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your calves,

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your achilles, (inhales
deeply) which is right

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below your calves,

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and again your heels.

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Now let's go to the bottom of your feet.

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Let's pretend that there're
roots pulling the bottom

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of your feet downwards

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and rooted into the ground.

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At the same time, we are
going to pretend that there're

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roots growing out from the top of our head

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and pulling us straight into the sky.

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So we're being pulled both ways downwards

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and upwards at the same time.

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Now, I'd like you to think
of everything that you wanna

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offer this world and offer your family

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and your friends, breath
it in and I mean as far as

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gratitude, joy, love,
those types of things,

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let's breathe it in (inhales deeply)

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and let's let it out (exhales loudly).

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Open your eyes, if
they're not already open

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and that's it, we're centered.

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The second thing we're gonna focus on,

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is how to prepare your face.

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When we sing, we use our face, yes?

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Well, there are lots of
tiny muscles on our face,

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and just like any other
thing or any other muscle

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that we use, we'd like to warm them up.

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The first exercise I'd like
to take you through is called

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the Lip Trill.

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It's kinda like making
motorboat sounds, right?

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(lip bubbles)

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Silly, right?

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Sometimes it's easier to
use your hands on your face

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like this, push your cheeks
up and do it like this.

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(lips bubbles)

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Alright, we're gonna do
that five times in a row

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and when we do it, we're
gonna go up and down like this

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with our voice.

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(bubbling of lips)

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Okay, let's do that five times.

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First time, here we go.

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I won't use my hands and my cheeks,

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but if it's easier to
do this, let's do it.

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I'm a pro at this, so
I won't use my hands.

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Alright, here we go.

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One, take a deep breath, and let's begin.

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(bubbling of lips)

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One,

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(bubbling of lips)

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two,

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(bubbling of lips)

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three,

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(bubbling of lips)

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four, last time

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(bubbling of lips)

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five.

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If you notice a little tickle
above your lip, that's normal.

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My lip is tickling right now.

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Alright, the next thing
we're going to focus on

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is something I like to
call the yawning exercise.

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The yawning exercise allows
you to relax your jaw

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and supports, relaxing the
whole pallet in the back

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of your throat.

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Okay, let's try it.

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You're gonna basically
act like you're yawning.

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(yawns loudly)

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Let's do it again.

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(yawns loudly)

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Let's go a few more times.

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(yawns loudly)

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I hope I don't fall asleep,
let's try it two more times.

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(yawns loudly)

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Last time,

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(yawns loudly)

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Great, the next exercise
I'd like to walk you through

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is called Lemon Face or
Sour Face and Smiley Face.

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This is really good for
exercising all the muscles

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in your face.

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Who knows what it feels
like or what it looks like

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when you taste the lemon?

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It's, like, kinda funny, right?

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So, we're going to go from Lemon Face,

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to Smiley Face, okay?

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We're gonna do that five times in a row.

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Let me see your Lemon Face.

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What does it look like
when he tastes a lemon?

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Alright, Lemon Face,

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hold it (giggles),

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Smiley Face.

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Lemon Face,

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Smiley Face,

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Lemon Face,

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Smiley Face.

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Two more times, Lemon Face,

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Smiley Face.

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Lemon Face,

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Smiley Face.

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Very good, how many feel
muscles in your face

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being stretched just a little bit?

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I know I do. Very good.

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Now that our face is all warmed up,

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we are going to do a
little bit of singing.

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Now, before we do that, I wanna talk about

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the feeling of nervousness and anxiousness

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that are associated with singing.

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I want you to know that,
when you're singing,

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it should show, okay?

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Act like there's no one else
in the world or no one else

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in the room, and just give
it what you got, okay?

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We're gonna use a call and response method

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where I will call something
out or sing something out

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and you'll repeat It.

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When it's your turn,
I'll point at you, okay?

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I'll start first, excuse me,

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and then I'll point at you
and you'll do the exact

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same thing that I did, okay?

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Alright, here we go.

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Now that our face and our
mind is all warmed up,

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we should be geared up and ready to try

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a little bit of singing.

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This exercise is gonna
incorporate our yawn,

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or our jaw, and now that it's
relaxed, it should be nice

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and loose and ready to do
this activity, alright?

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We're gonna use a call
and response method.

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I'm gonna sing something to you,

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and then I'm gonna throw it to you ,

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and you're gonna sing it back.

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When I am singing, I'll point to myself,

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and when it's your
turn, I'll go like this,

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and that symbolizes that
it's your turn, alright?

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Here we go one, two, ready, and

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ I love to sing! ♪

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(claps softly)

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very good.

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ I love to sing! ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ I love to sing! ♪

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Very good.

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah nah nah ♪

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♪ I love to sing! ♪

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Very good! It wasn't so bad, right?

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And we're relaxed and we've
done our first exercise.

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Thank you so much for
singing with me today.

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My name is Erica Merritt,
and this lesson is called

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Preparing To Sing.

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(bright upbeat music playing)