Description
Students will gain part-holding independence via a vocal warm-up
Materials
Full Lesson Plan
As a music director, I find that one of the most beautiful and challenging aspects of any musical theatre production is getting students to hold harmonies in the choral numbers. If one's vocal warm-up is well-prepared and well-structured, the struggle here can be greatly diminshed.
1. Start with a breathing exercise. Continually remind the students that the air is coming from a deeper place physiologically than the lungs. Perhaps use the imagery of a breath taken through the feet!
2. Move on with some gentle humming for resonance. Don't allow the students to push. You can start as early as this point in the warm-up with singing parts. Assign parts to sing in the middle of each voice part's range and encourage them to hold part.
3. Tune English vowels to a chord. It is advisable to start on a F# major chord, since this tunes beautifully with a cappella voices almost instantly, regardless of the age of the singers!
4. A round or canon. This could be as elementary as necessary. Regardless of how simple the round is, it is a great way to encourage part independence!
5. Finally, move on to agility exercises.
6. It is advisable to make more difficult harmony lines part of your daily warm-up (i.e. the first forte entrance in the Ballad of Sweeney Todd.)
Tips:
1. Seat the students mixed in choral rehearsals! They and you will be uncomfortable and scared for a while, but few techniques do more good for part independence than this. Also, the students in the chorus are rarely staged by voice part!
2. Be persistent. Their ears will develop in time. IF they don't get it right away, they're not hopeless!
3. Always encourage what was good!