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Question 4. Everyone has their own pet warm ups. What's one warm up you absolutely WON'T start a rehearsal without doing?
| Your Name: Kayla Abernathy Your Email Address: kabernathy@bentonville.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: I never do warm-ups without doing several deep breaths and sighs, especially in the morning. These begin and end on various pitches, having them repeat after me. |
Your Name: Susan Buckner Your Email Address: sbuckner@starcity.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: 1."Diction is done with the tip of the tongue and the teeth" to wake up the lips and the tongue. 2. "Mee, meh, mah, moh, moo" to work on our horrible, country, South-Arkansas vowels. |
| Your Name: Robby Byler Your Email Address: rbyler@leopards.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: Stretch or some kind of physical activity to get the entire body involved. (I Read The perfect Blend by Timothy Seelig and would recomend it.) |
| Your Name: Jessica Etheridge Your Email Address: jessica.etheridge@brinkleyschools.com Type your answer here: We loosen the jaw. We sing a pentascale starting on the 5th, sing down to the 1 and back to the 5th. I let them sing 2-3 repetitions on each syllable. Nah, Wah, Blah, Frah, and Yah is last. The kids seem to enjoy it. I have one student who claps her hands when I model this one because she likes it so much! |
| Your Name: beverly finley Your Email Address: cfinley@bscn.com Type your answer here: any warmup that uses the 5 main vowel sounds such as "mah,meh,mee,moh,moo" If I don't remind them of correct vowels in warmup then I have to remind them all through rehearsal! |
| Your Name: Rhonda Hawley Your Email Address: rhondahawley@cox.net Type your answer here: I call it the Glenda Casey warm-up....men & women start on A in chest voice--sing on AH the pattern do re mi re do re mi re do, then women jump the octave/men two octaves into falsetto on ooo, descend the major scale. Ascend the excercise by 1/2 steps until C. Kind of hard to describe without a staff. It teaches use of chest to head/falsetto and helps the men sing through the break. |
| Your Name: Carol Heavin Your Email Address: carol.heavin@lrsd.org Type your answer here: I use "hung" in every choir. I believe it really helps with the stetching of the vocal cords and setting the tone forward. |
| Your Name: Mark Langley Your Email Address: MarkCLangley@gmail.com Type your answer here: I use a warm up on the syllables Doo and Bee We start at the bottom of the octave (doo) We go up a third (bee)and then down a second(doo)through an entire octave. At the top, the Sopranos and Tenors jump up a third and the Altos and Basses keep the same note and we descend in the same fashion only we are now singing in parallel thrids as well. This is good for girls to learn to open up as the ascend rather than pinching and for men to learn to focus their high notes. It is also good for discussing intervals and learning to sing in parts. |
| Your Name: Veda Ojeda Your Email Address: vedaojeda@yahoo.com Type your answer here: I'm not sure if there's an official name for it, but I love do. do re do. do re mi re do. (etc) and occasionally do a round with it. |
| Your Name: Dan Phillians Your Email Address: dphillians@wynne.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: Yawn sigh. A yawn-type breath and slide from top to bottom. |
| Your Name: Glenda Phillips Your Email Address: gphillips@bentonville.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: I try to change the warm-ups daily to keep them guessing! Since we are sight-reading with solfege syllables in the Bentonville Schools, one I like to do the Major scales up and down with hand signs to get students focusing (plus it gives them something to do with their hands!!) Then we go down the scale Do ti la sol fa mi re do going up on our toes on the ti and mi to get the decending 1/2 steps in tune. Next we do this in a round with sections coming in at different times and using different vowel sounds.(ooh, oh, aw...) It sounds neat and students love it! You can change the rhythm at Christmas to the tune of "Joy To The World". |
Your Name: Stephanie Rowe Your Email Address: ssexton@mail.bic.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: Well, since we have choir first period (8:00 am), any warmups are good to get the voice moving and to get the kids using it the right way again. We usually do stretches, breathing excercises, scales and some rounds to get going. |
| Your Name: Thomas Your Email Address: tshott@crsd.k12.ar.us Type your answer here: This is my first year teaching and as such I am still finding alot of new warm-ups to use every day. One that I loveand use every day with my students I learned in the past spring while student teaching. While student teaching at Conway High with Richard Hardin I learned a few sequentials that he uses for warm-ups and that he learned many years ago. It is rather simple but is still a difficult warm-up and requires the students to use both their voice and mind. Starting at Do (yes I use solfege in my class) you will slowly progress up the scale... Do Do Re Do Do Re Mi Re Do.... Students find it difficult when they reach La and Ti as the normal feel is to keep going. Eventually the students know it well enough I can say sequential 1 and they go straight into it. Soon I am adding the decending scale to that, which is sequential 2. |
Your Name: Tom Street Your Email Address: tomstreet@arkcda.org Type your answer here: OK, so I'm not a teacher anymore.... still gotta add my .02. Especially in the fall - I used to start every rehearsal on a high C and have the kids sing a descending 5-4-3-2-1 pattern on "Foo." The idea is to get the men singing lightly in the head register (falsetto) and to carry that lightness through the break and into the chest. Let the girls drop out when it gets "chesty" but have the boys STAY IN FALSETTO as low as they can go. This is really tuff for sophomore boys - some can't do it at first - and it does lots of popping and cracking. Use humor to break the ice and keep it light. By the end of the semester though you'll be suprised at how easy they can carry that lightness down and produce the head tones without singing it in the throat. As a variation on this I would play a middle c and have everyone sing the melody of "Amazing Grace" on a very soft "oo" with the men again in falsetto. When they hit the high c at "like ME" I would have them really feel the resonance in the head; right behind the eyes. |
| Your Name: Alecia Stringer Your Email Address: asrs815@aol.com Type your answer here: We like to warm up on our vowels with mi, me, ma, mo, mu and a toungue twister like Red Leather, Yellow Leather. |