Warm Ups!!

Make the most of your warm-up time

Warm-ups
Pedagogical teaching for pedagogical goals

Vocal goals
Relaxed tone
Expanded range and agility

Non-vocal goals
Focus, mental
Take time to bring the ensemble to focus
Increase or decrease energy
Introduce concepts or troubleshoot issues in literature
Engage body (muscle, skeletal)


Hooking up the breath, breath game
-Not about volume or vibrato
Start with easy descending line (relaxes the instrument)
Always begin in the middle register
Engage the mind! Play games with solfege, rhythm. Keep pulse somewhere on the body.
Work in improvisation
Passive learning of solfege
Use what you are going to find in your music rep. Let your warm-ups reflect your music.
Just rhythm, some lit is harder in rhythm than in melodic structure. Good to exercise just rhythm.
-Large and small differences on the steady beat and on the upbeat, also syncopation.
Work with vowels that you will be rehearsing with! (French, German, Italian, Spanish vowels) They will become more familiar to your students.
Not all warm-ups have to be ee-oh-oo-ah!
Large range vocalise to teach unity of vowels through registers and ranges, becomes habitual to students might play into your rehearsal.
Don’t over inform your students (pet the dog, hit the dog, pick fleas off the dog) stylistic changes.
Intonation- Half step unison movement
Tambre- different tone colors, appropriate tone/style for songs, distinguishing between styles (take one excerpt and sing in multiple styles)
Work in mixed meter!!!
Have a musical experience; warm-ups set the tone for your entire rehearsal.
The quality of the accompaniment affects the singing.
Voice to voice rather than piano to voice!!!! For students who also have trouble matching pitch. They usually have a better time matching voice to voice rather than hearing it from the computer
Know where your ensemble is comfortable singing, know your own voice!
Be able to play piano while listening and watching.
Let your choir member walk around while singing. Gives them freedom to hear themselves and others in a relaxed way
Listen to a recording of a great choir or solo singer.
Move by minor third rather than steps always, sometimes major third.
Make up your own fun grooves! Give students opportunity to improv.
Keep the kids engaged and guessing.
RESOURCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!