My choral go to warm-up is the lip bubble or lip trill. The movement of air created by bubbling takes out all the muscle in the sound, efficiently targets pitch and keeps the phrase moving forward. It also develops great warmth, richness and a mature healthy tone that we love! To start, begin with your choir bubbling “My Country 'Tis Of Thee.” The goal? Sing the opening phrase all in one breath on the bubble. Some students may have difficulty at first with getting the lips to bubble. It is due to tension. Have them gently and loosely push the sides of their lips together to loosen up the tension allowing the lips to bubble. Do this every day! Now of course I use bubbling on any of our warm-ups (scales, leaps, sighs, harmonic warm-ups, etc.) but the real key is to “bubble” your repertoire. Every day all my choirs will use this technique in our songs to clean up pitch, make up for lack of resonance or lack of unity in the resonance, and most importantly extend breath capacity for longer phrases. So if the sound isn’t quite what you think it should be…go back and bubble it. Often, our singers will even say, “Mr. Hayden, can we bubble that section?” My response is… “Of course!” This self analysis comes from them knowing something doesn’t sound right and most importantly doesn’t feel right. They know the bubble will fix it! This conscious awareness makes for an exciting and productive rehearsal. So…bubble…everything!
(“My Go-To Warm-Up” features a favorite warm-up used by those choirs who have been selected to perform during the 2015 ACDA National Conference.)
Karen Schuessler says
Janet Marks says
Anne Miller says
Michael Hayden says
Joanie Calem says