Speaking of Voice: “My Go-To Warm-Up” by Deidra Douglas

MY GO-TO WARM UP, by Deidra Douglas (Cypress Falls high School)

 

Daily reinforcement of the basic vocal development skills—breath control and support, vocal tone, vowel formation– and consistent teaching of vocal placement within the choral rehearsal and individually, contributed to my students’ success.

 

One exercise that I use consistently with my women is designed to reinforce placement within the “vocal mask”.

The students sing a “ning” and bring the back of the tongue up to the soft palate, then release the tongue but keep the space with an ee, and eh, on a 5-tone descending scale:

 

                  Ning – ee,  Ning – eh,  Ning – ee, Ning – eh, Ning – ee

                     G               F               E              D              C            or

                     Sol             Fa             Mi            Re             Do

I like to start in the key of E-flat(starting on B-flat), and then descend in keys down by a half-step.

 

(“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.)