Singing timer

How to use the online timer

Twenty minutes is enough for a singing practice session, and shorter than the instrumental equivalents for a good reason: the voice is tissue rather than wood or wire, and it tires. Pushing on when it feels rough leaves it hoarse the next day, so the session is better ended early on a bad day than forced through. Two shorter sessions are gentler than one long one if more time is available.

The first five minutes are warm-up rather than singing: lip trills, humming, gentle sirens sliding through the range, quiet scales starting in the comfortable middle and moving outwards. Going straight into the top of a piece from cold is how singers strain, particularly in a school choir rehearsal at half past eight in the morning when nobody has spoken much yet.

Volume is not the aim, and the loudest version of a phrase is rarely the strongest one. If a high note is only reachable by shouting, the answer is usually breath support and a lower larynx rather than more force, and it is worth taking to a teacher rather than solving with effort. Water helps more than any remedy, singing after a heavy meal does not, and quiet, accurate practice makes the same progress as loud practice with far less wear.