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Essentials in
Direct and Teach
Warm Up Like a Professional Athlete
Just like professional athletes warm up, you too must pay close attention to the vocal warm ups.
Updated: 1/4/2008 8:53:29 AM
THE VALUE OF A GOOD VOCAL WARM UP
By Bob Robson and Charlie Metzger (April/2007)
Do some of your chorus members say that warm ups are boring? Do you have singers that avoid the warm up by conveniently arriving after the warm up is over? It sounds like they do not realize that there is great value in having a proper warm up! Athletes always do a proper warm up to prepare for their physical exercise, so why don’t we as singers consider ourselves vocal athletes?
Our vocal apparatus, namely the vocal folds, is a set of muscles. So, it does make sense to warm them up properly prior to vigorous use. The warm up exercises we do will actually increase the temperature of these muscles, thus preparing them for more efficient use during our singing and performing. Controlling our vocal folds will be easier when they are warm…which is why they are called “warm ups!”
Besides increasing the actual temperature of the vocal folds, the warm up is valuable in other ways.
• To teach and confirm the optimum singers’ posture is an excellent starting point for the warm up.
• Breathing exercises will help us to maintain air flow and make better and more efficient use of our air flow. Breathing diaphragmatically also connects us to our emotions while singing.
• Demonstrating and agreeing on uniform vowel shapes and vowel sounds is of utmost importance for clarity and diction of words as well as for reinforcing the overtones and harmonics that are a hallmark of our style of a cappella singing.
• Vocal agility can be practiced and improved during the warm up.
• Chord building and tuning exercises will get the ear ready for our songs and performances.
Some of the best ensemble sounds we make during chapter meeting night should occur during the warm up. This good singing will establish what the ‘core sound’ of your chorus is. This ‘core sound’ will change and get better as our singers improve their vocal skills from doing the warm up exercises. Ending the warm up with a simple song will help to incorporate many of the techniques from the warm up exercises into the songs. The goal of every warm up is to develop a freely produced, richly resonant, well focused barbershop ensemble sound.
Ideas for warm ups? Our Barbershop Harmony Society offers lots of material through the Harmony Market Place. Here are few in particular that are very good:
Effective Choral Warm Ups (DVD) Stock # 4960
Improving Vocal Techniques through the Warm Up Stock # 4068
Music Fundamentals for Barbershoppers Stock # 4034
A Road to Better Singing Stock # 4675
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