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Warm Ups with Purpose

CHORAL TECHNIQUES, DR. JILL BURGETT

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WHEN?

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WHO?

ALL choral ensembles!

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WHY?

1. Prepare the mind to sing/hear.

2. Prepare the body to sing/hear.

3. Prepare the voice to sing/hear

4. Prepare the choir to sing/hear.

5. Musicianship/vocal tech teaching moments

Allow YOURSELF be creative and enjoy this part of the rehearsal

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The anatomy of a good warm up? In this order…..

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    • Body
    • Breath
    • Phonation/range extension
    • Resonation
    • Unification

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HOW? Organize your warm up into five categories

Stance (Posture) (Body)

Motor (Breath)

Vibrator (Vocal Cord Engagement/range extension)

Resonator (Mouth, throat, nose, sinus, head/ Directing sound)

Putting it Together (Choral Blend/Balance/Tuning/Articulation)

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IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

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Top Down!

  • In as much as possible, start from the top and work down.
  • singing in lighter mechanism fixes MANY choral issues)- encourage headvoice

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SPACE

  • If possible, sing in a circle so that singers can see and hear each other.
  • Create a sense of space around the singers.

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Balance routine with change

  • Once the singers have it, change it so they always must engage the mind. Rote repetition is the enemy!
  • Mix major, minor, and modal patterns.

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Make Connections to Repertoire

  • Utilize melodic pattern, textual phrases, rhythms, articulation, tone from the music you’ll be rehearsing today.

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Less Piano

  • Get away from the piano
  • Prompting with just chords, not playing while they sing
  • Prompting with your own voice

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Physicalize VOWEL SHAPES

  • MI [mi]
  • MEH [mɛ]
  • MAH [ma]
  • MO [mo]
  • MOO [mu]

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Appropriate Key!

Just because we are comfortable with C major 123454321 does NOT make it pedagogically appropriate!

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Corporate Ideas

  • Implement Bach Chorales, hymns
  • Implement rounds
  • Always encouraging listening
  • Sing supported but NOT oversinging- THEY STOP LISTENING
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Incorporate movement into the warm-up

self conducting

drawing circles

punching

bouncing

phrase shapes

directing the tone

hook

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Utilize student leaders in warm ups

Utilize the five warm up categories and assign one to each section

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Use the board for cues in difficult patterns

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Use Solfege and Curwen

Give your singers a tactile experience

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Non-negotiables…..

  • Insist on and model good tone during warm ups
  • Insist on and model accurate intonation during warm up
  • Bad tone and incorrect pitches, when not heard on first hearing, become increasingly less likely to be heard over time.

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RESOURCES

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Start YOUR warm up list in each category

Body Breath Phonation Resonation Corporate