Vocal Warm-Up

Vocal Warm Up- Amanda and Catherine

1. Physical- Setting up a good singing posture
- stand with feet shoulder width apart
- shift weight to ball of feet
- relax knees
- hands at seam of pants to prevent shoulders from rolling in
- head balanced on spine and “floating upwards”
2. Breathing
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, then place your hands behind your head with your fingers interlocked and elbows comfortably out to the side. You to not want your elbows too close to your head, or too far back like you're stretching
- Bend down to the floor and slowly and gradually exhale. It should feel as if the air is being gently pressed out of your body, like an accordion being closed
- Bring your body back up slowly and inhale. As your body ascends it just feel like you are floating up and being filled with air
- Stay upright. Exhale, then inhale
- Repeat until your body feels relaxed
- The objective of this exercise is to help you feel like the air is flowing out of your body naturally, as opposed to the feeling of forcing it out.
3. Resonance
What not to do:

a) Clench your teeth together with your mouth closed and hum. This will result in a nasal buzzing sound and will cause tension in the jaw.
b) Relax your jaw as much as you can while keeping your mouth closed and hum. This produces a lower muffled sound, and stretches the jaw down too much
- After trying these “do not's”, you should be able to find a happy medium, with your jaw in a relaxed position, mouth closed, teeth slightly apart and the tip of your tongue placed at the back of your bottom row of teeth.


- When you hum you should feel a slight vibration passing through your tongue, teeth and nose.
- Place your hands on your cheeks and hum again. You should feel them vibrating too.
- Now hum “mmm” then move to the “ah” vowel.
- Hum “mmm” again but this time move to “eh.” Repeat using “ee, oh, oo.”
- The objective of this exercise is to help singers produce a more pure sound

4. Diction

- lips, teeth, tongue

- super duper double bubble gum (with special attention to closing off the “m” at the end)

5. Flexibility

- Blending vocal registers by bringing the high sound into our middle register

- Descending scales on syllable “koo” (Sol Fa Mi Re Do)

- Short-short-short-short-long-long 

ChoralNet Discussion: Should I let my students choose what to sing?

Here is the link to a recent discussion forum on ChoralNet: http://www.choralnet.org/view/454044

The question is: Should I let my students choose what they sing?

This has always been an important question in my life because I have seen music teachers make wonderful choral performances out of pop tunes, and I have also seen children fail to learn anything as they sing "Home" by Phillip Phillips for the thirtieth time. My opinions:
1) Let your students make suggestions but make it very clear that they are just that, suggestions. From there, you can research the tunes, find arrangements, or make your own arrangement as you see fit.
2) Always have a pedagogical reason for choosing the repertoire you choose. A pop tune has the potential to teach a lot to a young singer (syncopated rhythms, interesting harmonies, form, expression, etc.)
3) This could be a wonderful opportunity for an extra credit project! Have a keen student make a choral arrangement of their favourite song!
4) Don't let pop music be an excuse for poor technique, unhealthy singing, or lazy reading skills.
5) Try to mix pop music with staples in the choral repertoire so that students get to experience all different kinds of choral singing.

Thoughts? Do any of you feel strongly against using pop music in a choral setting? Have any of you experienced students requesting to sing gospel music? African spirituals? Choral standards? I'd love to hear your opinions!

Carmina Slovenica Handout

www.carminaa-slovenica.si/en

Founded in 1964 on the initiative of Janja Korosec Zizek and Dinko Fio. One choir in Maribor. Current Director, Karmina Silec, has been with the choir since 1989.

The “choir” is better know as a vocal theatre company and consists of Carmina Slovenica, ¡Kebataola! Ensemble, and the CS Children's Choir.

This company is all about pushing boundaries. They perform music that is rarely heard, whether that be medieval chant, or new compositions. Their performances involve costumes, set design, light, electronics, dance, narration, and unique vocal techniques, to name a few features.

Repertoire Recommendations (from the highlights listed on the website)

“Placebo- is there one who would not weep?”

• a production including repertoire by Pergolesi, Bach, J. Cooper, Vivaldi, P. Vasks, G.Bryars, and Karmina Silec
• a production of this magnitude requires a lot of various singing styles and techniques
• in the opening of the trailer, we hear a combination of beautiful blend and intonation as well as extended vocal techniques

“When the Mountain Changed its Clothing”

• by H. Goebbels with music by Silec, Brahms, Schonberg
• a statement on the changing face of politics, society and culture within the region of Kanin, Slovenia
• extraordinary use of intense expression through the changing “seasons” of the production
• the choir exerts power over the audience
• involves the children's choir

“Rusalki”

• exploration of the low register of the woman's voice
• difficult unison singing of chants requires excellent ensemble, balance, blend, and intonation
• a story about the restless spirits of women who have died accidentally or who have taken their own lives

“Toxic Psalms”

• a collection of open-ended scenes by various contemporary composers
• a great example of extended techniques
• brilliant use of facial expression and gesture
• the chorus “manifests a collective body and as an organism in reflects a human desire to merge”

“CS Light”

• involves the smaller ¡Kebataola! Ensemble
• an exploration of minimalist music from the USA, the Baltics, and Scandinavia
• requires a great deal of vocal independence

Other Recommendations

http://www.carmina-slovenica.si/en/choregie_eng/ - to learn more about the Choregie Idea of performing and teaching

http://www.carmina-slovenica.si/en/introduction/ - for an entire timeline of events (concerts, initiatives, competitions, awards) from 1964 to today. 

Choir Review: Carmina Slovenica

TED Talk: Lead Like the Great Conductors

What I found interesting about this TED Talk is that Itay Talgam does not express his own opinion on the "best" way to conduct. He simply shows us that there are several different styles used by several different world famous conductors, and that all of them achieve an end result of beautiful music. I enjoyed Talgam's light-hearted display and I enjoyed having the opportunity to choose my own "favourite" from his list of maestros.

Talgam uses the word "control" a lot and it takes on different meanings. How much control does the maestro have? What kind of control is it? Is he controlling time? Style? Sound? Everything? Nothing? Some conductors wish to control everything and everyone in their orchestra in order to achieve the interpretation of either himself or the composer. Others "compliment" the musicians by stepping back and letting a soloist or a section lead the orchestra with their own informed interpretation.

Of Talgam's demonstrations, my personal favourites were Carlos Kleiber and Leonard Bernstein. Both conductors expressed the intention of the music with their arms, their faces, and their entire bodies. You could see and hear this energy in each performer. This was a great example of what Talgam said near the beginning of his presentation: "The joy is about enabling other peoples' stories to be heard at the same time". This type of conductor, while having authority over his ensemble, is merely enabling his musicians to be musicians.