Warmup exercises for amateur-led choir
  • btodorovich87
    Posts: 101
    Dear all,

    One of our parish Spanish choirs works with me on occasion but generally leads their own weekly rehearsals and liturgies. They're interested in me providing them some simple warm-ups they could do on their own. Understanding that they use only guitars and are total amateurs, what suggestions do you have for me?
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    BTodorovich87,

    May the readership presume you want vocal warm-ups?
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • CatherineS
    Posts: 690
    My voice teacher most recommends warmups involving what he calls 'sonorizations' - for instance you can 'sing' the refrains or verses of some well-known tunes over and over together using the sound MMMMMMM and NNNNNNNN and ZZZZZZZZZZ instead of words. After some repetitions of this, one can do the same with vowels, like AAAAAAAAAAA and UUUUUUUUU and OOOOOOOOO. "IIIII" and "EEEEE" might lead to tightness, so I'd stick with the 'round' vowels.

    I often hum simple chants or tunes for a good 5 minutes or so before moving on to scales or vowel sounds.

    Also breathing exercises like "inhale 2-3-4, hold-2-3-4, exhale-2-3-4" especially if done in conjunction with gentle imitative arm motions (helps relax the body).

    If they are playful, you can toss a balloon or light beach ball type ball around while humming to make people relax and laugh and let go of self-consciousness and rigidity.

    I mention these because they are not hard for a non-musician to do, and don't require playing along on the piano. Nothing 'fancy' at all - just silly humming.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,413
    One among several exercises that I often use is to have one singer (sometimes a weaker one) sing a (sustained) particular vowel and then point to various members of the choir to match the sound being heard. Soon the entire choir are matching that sound, always matching the tone, vowel quality, and loudness of the original singer, so that he or she can still be heard by all. This is excellent for cultivating blend and eliminating 'competitive singing'.

    A similar exercise is to have everyone sing a well-known text (Our Father.., or Glory be..., etc.) recto tono and at a very deliberate pace, having everyone match the tone of a weak singer, and matching the qualities of every vowel. This makes everyone sensitive to blend, and also eliminates 'competitive singing'.

    And, I second some of the fine suggestions up above here. I might add that exercises that are good for one choir may not be optimal for another. Each choir has its own strengths and weaknesses and the vocalises should be tailored accordingly.
    Thanked by 3regissør Elmar Andrew_Malton
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    A sample of our warm-ups-

    1. Physical. Arm circles, rolling the head gently, slowly lowering our upper body down to the floor vertebrae by vertebrae, all concluding with the Infamous Massage Chain
    2. Sustaining and projection. Breathing in on a given number of beats (5,10,20) then breathing out on the same number of beats, making sure not to blow out the 'candle' in front of our lips. Then, flipping our hand, we tell the Choral Loft Fly to "SHOO!" until he goes away (a 'siren' technique taught to me by ClergetKubisz).
    3. Vocal. A few scales and arpeggios, on alternating consonants and vowels, going up and down.
    4. Spiritual application. This acts as a segue into our final prayers before practice. Three different choristers are chosen at random to intone a Pater Noster, Ave Maria, or Gloria Patri.

    As far as cool-downs go, we all chant Benedicamus Domino, go out to dinner, and tell whoppers to each other.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn Elmar
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    Lots can be found on youtube. An example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlQebEJdRC4
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