Choral Warm-Ups Handout

This is the handout from a choral warm-up that I did in my Voice and Choral Methods class with a partner:

Choral Warmups Janelle & Genevieve

from Teaching Kids to Sing Vol. 5 (TKTS)

1. Physical WarmUp: The Shakedown

Stand in a circle as a group, with enough room so that you don’t bump into each other. Start with your right first, and raise it up in the air above your head. As a group, count 1-2-3-4-

5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16 and shake your fist on each count as if you’re punching the air or cheering. Then do the same with your left fist (16 counts). Next is your right foot - shake it as if you’re doing the hokey pokey - for 16 counts. Finally the left foot, same thing.  Do it as fast as you can! The point is to get blood flowing and energize the room. Next, cut the count in half: right fist 8, left fist 8, right foot 8, left foot 8. Then 4 on each, then 2, then 1. By the time you are at 1, it’s just a big jumble - this is ok. It should be fun!

2. Breathing: The Dog Pant

This exercise is used to work on breath support and endurance. First, we will start by taking several slow, deep breaths in and out. You will also need to place your hand on your abdomen and move it outwards when you inhale and back inwards when you exhale. Do this eight times, and then try it again, but slightly faster. Make sure you are breathing deeply through your mouth, and not shallowly from your nose or chest. Also make sure you are relaxed and not raising your shoulders as you breathe - this indicates tension! Next, try to inhale and then hold your breath for four seconds, and then exhale slowly for four seconds. This exercise is a great way to help yourself relax and improve your air support. It also allows you to actively examine how much air you are actually utilizing when you sing.

3. Diction: Fish and Chips and Vinegar

Part A & B

Part C

Part D

It is assumed that this diction exercise would be used with a song your choir is working on, but we have chosen this familiar Round with fun lyrics for our exercise, as did Kenneth Phillips in Teaching Kids to Sing. Pay attention to the following words:

• vinegar: say vi-ni-gah
• pepper, winter, summer: pep-pah, win-tah, sum-mah
• when: hoo-en
• doesn’t matter at: pronounce every syllable and remove R from matter
• don’t: pronounce T
• dust-pan: don’t say “dusspan” and say pahn
• bottle: don’t swallow the t
• of: don’t say “uh”
• pop: make it pop!

To go through the exercise with students, first say the key words, have your students repeat you and correct any mistakes. Have students try to move your lips very purposefully and exaggerate as if someone had to try to lip-read what you’re saying. Then say the words in rhythm, and lastly sing.

4. Resonance: Balance and Resonance in the Middle Voice (# 69, TKTS)

The following exercise is to blend the upper high, light part of the voice with the lower, deeper part of the voice. Try not to sound too light on the lower notes and try not to sound too heavy on the higher notes. The following should be sung with the syllable “Yah” on each note.

5. Flexibility (#75, TKTS)

In this exercise, we will work on flexibility and agility by singing the scale pattern below to the syllables “coo-oo foo foo”. The “coo-oo” will be the notes that are sung legato, and “foo foo” will be the staccato notes. Once you have sung through this and it feels comfortable, increase the tempo.    

PechaKucha Presentation

This is the link for my PechaKucha presentation on my book review for my Voice and Choral Methods class:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6hjq5he3urwk6v1/Janelle%20-%20PechaKucha%20Choral%20Book%20Review.ppt?dl=0

Choir Review

For my Voice and Choral Methods class, I had to present on a choir. The choir I presented on is the Calgary Girls Choir, and my presentation can be found here: http://prezi.com/eb-vn38u8la0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

I also had to create a handout for the choir:

Calgary Girls Choir

Website: http://www.calgarygirlschoir.com/

Background Information

The Calgary Girls Choir was founded in 1995 by Elaine Quilichini, who also the artistic director of the choir. It is a collection of five choral ensembles, for girls ages 4 - 24. "Only the best is good enough" is their guiding principle. Their repertoire ranges from folk song through contemporary classical music selections "of the highest quality". In 2010, the Calgary Girls Choir performed at the Vatican in Rome and Mass at St. Marco's Basilica in Venice, lead by Elaine Quilichini.

Elaine Quilichini, the founder and artistic director of the Calgary Girls Choir, has had many accomplishments and involvement in choral music over the years. She has a master's degree in music (Kodály). She has adjudicated and guest conducted across Canada, the United States, Japan, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and the Canary Islands, as well as acted as a clinician and lecturer. For over ten years, she conducted the University of Calgary Women’s Choir, and still teaches an active music studio. Among her other successes in the choral world, she also has a choral series published by Alliance Music Publishing and is a recipient of the Alberta Choral Federation’s ‘con spirito’ award. 

Junior Music Program

The junior music program of the Calgary Girls Choir includes three different choirs ("Prima", "Bella" and "Dolce").They are of a small class size which "encourages a personal educational relationship. In a playful atmosphere, the singers acquire the ability to hear and think music." They are taught a Kodály-based program which provides the children with basic music skills and literacy. 

- "Prima" : which means"first", is for girls ages 4-5. This choir uses traditional children’s folk songs, art songs, nursery rhymes and games which develop music concepts. 

- "Belle": which means "beautiful”, is for grades 1-2. In this choir, they continue to encourage musical development, including tune singing, movement and musical literacy. This choir also works to help develop awareness of musical elements in their repertoire. Play and response in music is an important aspect for both "Belle" and "Prima" groups. 

- "Dolce": which means "sweetly". This choir is for grades 3-4, and works to develop in-tune singing, inner hearing, musical literacy and vocal technique. Rhythm reading and solfa is also taught, in order to develop the girls into independent musical readers. For this choir, more emphasis is placed on refining performances in an artistic sense.

Senior Music Program

The senior music program is separated into two different choirs: "Viva" and "Brava".

- "Viva": for grades 4-7. This program is designed for advancement of musical skills and to build up their repertoire. According to the CGC website, "They meet once a week and focus on the development of vocal technique and musicianship through artistic interpretation and performance. Viva continues to serve as a model for all as to the high standard that can be achieved by young singers."

- "Brava": for grade 7 to college/university (up to age 24). In this choir, they work to push past the boundaries of their abilities. According to the CGC website, "Their exceptional tone quality, intonation and musically sensitive performances inspire all who aspire to choral excellence."



Repertoire Recommendations:

“Überlebensgroß” by Stephen Hatfield (http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Calgary-Girls-Choir)

This piece was one of my favorites out of all the repertoire that I listened to. This piece involves elements of percussion using wooden sticks and also clapping, which creates an interesting effect with the haunting quality of the vocals. The quality that I noticed especially with this piece was how together the choir was, particularly in faster sections when they are both singing and clapping sixteenth notes, which I was very impressed by. It’s clear that a lot of effort was put into rehearsing this piece. It’s an excellent piece for multitasking with rhythm. 

“Rise Up, My Love” by Eleanor Daley (http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Calgary-Girls-Choir)

This piece is lovely. The choir’s tuning is very good (particularly the chord at the very end), as is their dictation. It is written for soprano I and II, and alto I and II, and is a cappella. I am recommending this piece because it is excellent for practice with intonation and expression. 

“Domine Deus” (from Mass in G) J.S. Bach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3kupC7I8aE)

In this performance of this piece, you can truly see the focus and attention to detail put forth by the choir members. I found it very impressive, particularly because of the contrast in ages between some of the members, which is why I am recommending this piece. I believe it is suited to a range of ages, but is also challenging because of the amount of focus needed.    

“Song of the Worms”(http://www.calgarygirlschoir.com/Resources/Documents/sample

%20music/Song%20of%20the%20Worms.mp3)

This piece is excellent for working on togetherness and balance as a choir, as well as dynamic contrast, phrasing, diction and proper enunciation of the ends of syllables, which the Calgary Girls Choir did very well in this recording. There is also good practice with interval leaps and intonation. 

“Will There Be a Morning” by Craig Hella Johnson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp8EQzw979g)

 While the lyrics are fairly simple, the weight is clearly placed on intonation and phrasing, which is what makes this such a lovely piece. This piece is also very good for working on intonation, expression and balance.  

Other Recommendations - https://twitter.com/YYCGirlsChoir

One of things I liked about the Calgary Girls Choir website was the fact that they had a twitter feed - it’s a good way to keep people informed of what is currently happening with the choir, such as rehearsals, concerts, etc. It’s also a good way to promote and market the choir and share news via online social networking. 

As well, there is also a Calgary Grils Choir Society, which according to the CGC website is a “registered charitable organization headed by a board drawn from the community at large, which supports the Calgary Girls Choir. Although the Choir maintains a modestly financed administrative infrastructure, its operations are largely conducted by enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.”

Discussion Post

One of the posts I found interesting when browsing the ChoralNet forums was a question about helping the members of the choir feel more like a community. Their post is here on the ChoralNet forum, but I'll summarize a little. Essentially, new members had joined the choir at the beginning of the school year, and they were having trouble connecting with the older members of the choir. They had already done "ice-breaker" activities at the beginning of the year, and still there had been no progress, which resulting in a "very quiet, shy choral sound". 

This surprised me, as I never really considered how important a connection between members of the choir is, and how vital it was to the overall sound. I think it's also a different situation for high school; in university, if we don't get along with someone, we deal with it as we still have to work with them in a professional manner. However, in high school, unity with everyone is not generally a main concern - they tend to stick together in smaller groups. It's also always difficult for the new person to break into a tight-knit group, and I can understand the awkwardness this might cause amongst the members.    

The comments in the post gave the teacher suggestions generally using other icebreaker activities, but I felt that maybe talking to the older students about this problem individually, or putting them in a more independent or leadership-type role involving the younger students might be more helpful. For example, the teacher could pair one older student with a younger student and have them work on their parts together, or some other such activity. This would give the older student a mentor-type role for the younger/newer choir student, and this would also allow them to get to know each other better in a smaller group setting.

What are some other methods the teacher could use to improve the overall morale of the choir members, beyond that of the general "icebreaker" type activities? 

Response to the TEDTalk by Itay Talgam, "Lead Like the Great Conductors".

This entry is in response to the TEDTalk Lead Like the Great Conductors by Itay Talgam. 

I liked his discussion of how such a small gesture can create order, and how "noise becomes music". I think this really sums up the importance of the conductor's guidance to a band or choir. As well, he illustrated on how the various "moods" shown by each composer can influence the band - such as Riccardo Muti, whom Talgam described as "commanding",which was very evident from the video clip.

As well, I enjoyed his use of contrast between different composers. It was interesting to note the different styles of each person - some conductors convey a lot of emotion through their body movement or facial expressions, which other conductors like Strauss have far less facial expression. Much like when performing, each person has their own unique style of conducting, and it's interesting to see how vastly different styles can both be effective. Herbert von Karajan's take on conducting was very interesting: "Yes, the worst damage I can do to my orchestra is to give them a clear instruction. Because that would prevent the ensemble, the listening to each other that is needed for an orchestra." I feel like this is a very unique outlook, as in the conducting classes I had taken during my music degree, I was always encouraged to be as clear and concise as possible. I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with his methods, but it's fascinating nevertheless, and it definitely works for him and achieves the effect that he wants.

His contrast of conducting styles also brought up the subject of how conductors and players are on each other, such as when he was discussing Carlos Kleiber, "You're not really given any instructions, but the forces of the process itself keep you in place.That's what he does. The interesting thing is of course the rollercoaster does not really exist. It's not a physical thing. It's in the players' heads. And that's what makes them into partners. You have the plan in your head. You know what to do, even though Kleiber is not conducting you. But here and there and that. You know what to do. And you become a partner building the rollercoaster, yeah, with sound, as you actually take the ride." It was intriguing to see how all of the conductors used various methods to express what they wanted, regardless of whether it was considered standard conducting practice or not.     

Welcome!

Hello!

If you've stumbled upon this blog accidentally, I have created this as an assignment for my Voice and Choral Methods class (ED 2520), located at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I will be mainly posting on this blog for that course, where there will be various discussions and explorations of different topics involving choral music.

I am a 23-year old studying Music Education at MUN. I have my Bachelor of Music degree from Mount Allison University, where I spent the last five years before moving back to Newfoundland, where I am originally from.

As clarinet is my primary instrument, I don't have much experience with choral music, or know a whole lot about voice and choral methods yet, but hopefully this will change as the term progresses!