In the last of a series of articles focusing on energized warmups, we focus on Energizing the Ear and the Voice as well as exercises for both. Employing these exercises continually with a dedicated chorus will result in a marked difference in rehearsal efficiency and progress.
Audiation
The warm up routine should focus on energizing the ear/mind. Stegman believes that listening exercises and aural skills in the warm up are essential to development of aural awareness. Audiation—mentally hearing a pitch and cognizing its function—is an important concept in a singer’s mental awareness and helps with sight-reading. The relationship of audiation and hearing is analogous to visualization and seeing. Write on the board a sixteen bar passage and conduct the singers as they sing the passage on a neutral vowel. Stop conducting and have the students continue to audiate the passage. After two measures, begin conducting again and direct the singers to pick up where the the passage resumed. Ask singers to sing a major scale using numbers one through eight and then have them leave out certain numbers in the sequence so they are forced to audiate the omitted notes. Play a triad at the keyboard and after giving them time to audiate the notes, ask the students to sing one of the three notes in the chord. For advanced choirs, have the students sing across the interval of a half step over four, eight, twelve and sixteen beats. These exercises are especially important in unaccompanied music since singers do not have a “crutch” in an accompanying instrument. “Teaching parts by note-pounding reduces a choir to rote memorization at the expense of improving aural skills—not to mention reading skills.” Energize singers’ minds to increase confidence levels and thus, allow singers to support the breath more fully and sing with more poise.
Energizing the Voice
Energizing the voice and producing a free-flowing tone only comes about after the singer’s posture, breath support and control, and the ear have been addressed. The energized voice should be free from force and tension and should be easily projected. This segment of the warm up period may be the most important, as it is the time when a director can cultivate the chorus’ tone and build on its strengths. In energizing the voice, the goal is not only to warm up the voice, but also to engrain a method of proper vocal production that students can understand and reproduce in subsequent rehearsals. This freedom of production is the precursor to maximizing resonance, which is accomplished when singers produce a “forward tone, using the hard palate as a resonator.” Students should not sing too loudly during the warm up period as this will produce (and may result from) tension. The singer, just as any other musician or athlete needs to “stretch” and warm up before strenuous activity begins.
Exercises to Ensure Efficient and Effective Vocal Warmups
Humming is a good exercise to use when beginning vocalises as it helps the singers feel the correct placement and relaxes the voice. This humming exercise should produce a buzzing sensation in the face and/or lips—this is the type of resonance singers should duplicate when singing. The vocalises should begin around D major and begin with a simple glissando hum downward over a perfect fifth, (Figure 1). The key of D major is good since it is a type of “compromise” between male and female voices; neither voice type will have reached the vocal break so this opening exercise is not too arduous. Exercises should begin in the middle of the voice and work down the register. It is more productive to work the lower registers first and then ascend to higher regions as the lower registers more closely resemble our natural speaking voices. When humming, direct students to lightly close the lips, keep the teeth apart, and maintain a tall, open throat. Because many singers tend to allow the throat muscles to do the work, imagery should be used to help relax tension. Statements such as, “Pretend there is a block of wood between your back teeth” and “Allow the throat to act as tubing, as in a brass instrument” work well to alleviate the rigidity in the singer’s throat. William Skoog uses the comparison of a garden hose that is free to release water when opened, but becomes confined when folded.
Concerning resonance, Hylton uses an octave exercise around C or D on [i] [a]. Using a glissando exercise helps students relate the lower register to the higher register and focus on a consistent, resonate tone. Staccato arpeggios are good for extending range and should be performed with an emphasis on lightness in the higher registers. Many students will sing more loudly as they ascend into the higher register—this should be corrected and stress should be placed on a “light” tone. Gregorian chant tunes help with legato articulation as well as develop breath management. Singing the word "hung" on a downward five-tone vocalise permits the singer to feel the open throat. The exercises that allow the singers to experience the open throat involve concepts that are incredibly vital to a free tone. Concerning the idea of energizing the voice, these exercises serve to relax the voice and articulators and apply breath action to tone.
Conclusion
Energizing the body, breath, ear, and voice are the fundamentals in producing a tone that is free-flowing, resonant, and aesthetically pleasing. The exercises employed during the warm up stage of the rehearsal can largely benefit or deter the chorus’ success. These exercises are the foundation on which stands the chorus’ overall confidence, pride, and identity in the collegiate or high school setting. Without them, a chorus lacks the knowledge and experience of what it means to be a great sounding chorus. Directors who use warm up exercises as a key ingredient in the rehearsal will stand in front of a chorus that motivates and inspires through performance. It is crucial that choral directors recognize the magnitude vocal warm ups have on a chorus’ vocal health and tone. Energized warm ups are the foundation on which a chorus builds resulting in productive rehearsals and successful choral performances.
Shirley Emmons; Constance Chase, Prescriptions for Choral Excellence, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 207.
John B. Hylton, Comprehensive Choral Music Education, (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995), 15.
Phillips, Directing the Choral Music Program, 271-72.
William Skoog, “Use of Image and Metaphor in Developing Vocal Technique in Choirs,” Music Educators Journal, Vol. 90, No. 5 (May 2004), 43-48.
Sandra Frey Stegman, “Choral Warm-ups: Preparation to Sing, Listen, and Learn,” Music Educators Journal, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Jan. 2003), 38.
Lance Morrow - Lance Morrow holds two degrees in classical/art music, teaches general music at a local university and directs music at a local church.
