Give me an A-flat! - Oh, and Can You Move While You’re At It?
Most choruses spend 20-30 minutes at the beginning of every rehearsal doing vocal warm-ups, but there aren’t very many that make the most of the warm up time in a visual/physical way. There are several ways to accomplish this concept, and hopefully one or all of them will be something that your chorus will find effective.
Simple Emotions –
This is the easiest way to incorporate visuals with warm-ups. Select a warm-up that you like to do. Say it is “ma-may-me-mo-moo” in chords. Then have the chorus sing that same line while conveying different emotions. I.e. Angry, sad, happy, exited, etc. Typically you can hear the changes in energy and emotion as you change each concept. Be alert that some darker emotions like angry or especially sad, will actually pull on the pitch itself. Now is a good time to address that issue. Sad (or slow) does not equal flat.
Eight Count Exercises –
Most of us have seen how cheerleaders always have a little dance routine no matter what song is being played. You think “do they really know a whole dance to every song that is going to be played at the game?” No. They accomplish this by creating several short routines based on an eight count beat. Once that know those, then they can use those “routines” with almost any song that could be played that has a 4 count meter to it. Take the time to create a routine with several 8-counts worth of steps. Once you’ve done that and have the steps taught, then you try to “dance” those steps with any typical chorus or regional song. The same eight count steps can, for instance, be danced to “Darkness on the Delta” that can be danced to “Runnin Wild”. **NOTE** start after the introduction, those are usually done so ad lib that this doesn’t work** Then once you are dancing to one song, try to move to another. This concept gives you the ability to get the legs and arms moving without complex choreography being involved and keeps you from warming up just planted on the risers.
Just Dance! –
Before or after embarking in your vocal warm-ups, (I prefer before just to get the hearts pumping) put on some fun music in a CD Player and have everyone move around. The front row can step away from the risers to allow for riser members to step down to the floor if they would like. Everyone needs to engage their whole body. The idea is to get them moving individually and not doing “choreography”, but some members need a little guidance, so it is OK for the warm-up leader to continue to lead with easy, fun moves that others can emulate if they are more comfortable that way. You can use any fun dance song whether it is disco, 50’s rock-n-roll, or country western. You pick the beat that you think your chorus will respond to the best.
Hopefully one or all of these techniques will help you get started with a physical warm-up plan. This is one time can say “just dance”, and it will get your rehearsal started with a fun, upbeat energy.
Good Luck!
March 8th, 2006 at 5:00 am
I like the idea of dancing around a bit. I just don’t know if our warm up person would be ok with it, or enjoy leading it. What’s the best way to get them to do this?
March 8th, 2006 at 7:29 am
LeadSngr,
Great question. If the person who typically does your warm ups is not really interested in physical movement, then you need to decide that either you or someone that you think would be good at it is going to do the physical warm up.
Most warm up people would love to have someone step in and fill some time for them right at the beginning of the rehearsal. If they don’t want you to take their time, then ask if you can start earlier. If they typically start at 7pm, then offer/ask to step in 5 minutes earlier and round up the troops and get them moving. Dancing around to one song is usually enough to get the blood pumping so depending on the song you choose it shouldn’t take more than 3-5 minutes. Plus, you can tell them that you will be the one that has to “drag” everyone onto the risers instead of them and then people will be moving and have some energy built up for warm ups.
Put a real positive spin on it and make sure that you have permission to the physical warm up so that you don’t ruffle any feathers.
Good luck!