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!