Choral Warm-Up

Choral Warm-Up

1)    Physical

·      Start by hanging like a rag-doll; feel weight in your arms.

·      Slowly start to rise, and remember to keep your shoulders relaxed as you are doing this.

·      When you are standing normally, reach your arms all the way up to the ceiling.

·      Stretch to the left, right, and in the center.

·      Roll your shoulders to the front, and then roll your shoulders to the back.

·      Move your head, pivoting to the right, then the left. Remember not to move your head all of the way around, because this can be unhealthy.

Why is it so important to stretch before we sing? We stretch before we run… We do this because we use a lot of muscles in our bodies, and if we do not stretch beforehand, we may end up pulling a muscle or injuring ourselves. It is very important to stretch and get the body loosened up before we start to sing for this very reason. When we sing, all kinds of muscles and other delicate body parts are being used in our bodies such as the vocal chords and the larynx.

     2)    Breathing

·      This breathing exercise uses not only our air, but our arms. This exercise works particularly well with small children, because it helps them feel where the breath is.

·      Inhale for 2 beats, exhale for 4 beats.

·      Inhale for 4 beats, exhale for 8 beats.

·      Inhale for 8 beats, exhale for 16 beats.

In my opinion, breathing is one of the most important parts of the warm-up. It is important that we warm-up our lungs and diaphragms to get us ready to sing. I find that if I skip the breathing portion of my warm-up before I sing, it is harder to get through long phrases.

     3)    Diction

·      Start on an A (going up the major scale – 5 notes) singing “oo-ee, oo-ee, oo-ee…”

·      Each time change the consonant at the start of each sequence (ex. too-ee, roo-ee, loo-ee, koo-ee).

·      Move up by semitones.

Diction exercises assist us in getting our faces active, moving, and ready to sing. This exercise is meant to help us get better control of our tongues, and help us realize that our faces/lips really do play a roll in the pronunciation of words.

     4)    Resonance

·      Hum chords with the choir.

·      Ask the basses to sing the root of the chord, the tenors the third, the altos the fifth, and the sopranos the seventh (MM7 chord).

·      Ask the basses to sing the root of the chord, the tenors the minor third, the altos the fifth, and the sopranos the diminished seventh (dim 7^th chord).

Humming is a great way to develop resonance in your choir. When you hum, it is very important to remember to keep your jaws relaxed, and opened. Humming helps to focus the voice, and it should make it easier for us to listen to the person next to us.

     5)    Flexibility

·      Lip trills work great for flexibility.

·      Start on a C and work your way down.

·      If we were in the key of C the exercise will be like this: C – G, B – F#, Bb – F, etc.…   

·      We will go down by semitones in this exercise.

Flexibility exercises will help the choir with difficult slurs and making a connection between notes. In this exercise it is important to hear every note in between.