Warm up

Start with a lip trill. Relax your jaw, keep your tongue loose, allow space between your wisdom teeth, and keep your neck and shoulders as free as possible. Allow your lips to trill – or reverberate – while you sing up five notes, and back down again. Work your way up an octave, one note at a time, then come back down again.

Join a choir

Singing provides an emotional release – much more than we get with our speaking voice – so when you share that release, it can create a strong community. Every note you sing vibrates at a different speed, and travels through your body and into the bodies of those around you. So in a choir, you’re sharing something physical, not only audible.

Lower your expectations

Don’t be nervous if you’ve never sung before – if you picked up a violin for the first time, you wouldn’t expect to sound great. And remember, even singers at the top of their profession are often terrified, as well.

• Rachel Lynes is a vocal coach and founder of thesingspace.com

As told to Rosel Jackson