This is a simple, chordal warm-up that I do regularly with my choirs. I didn’t write it, but rather “borrowed” it from a barbershop chorus rehearsal I attended. There are five total chords, and while I’ve notated them in quarter notes (then a whole note), the true intention is to dictate each chord change. You can do the pattern at varying speeds and also practice rubato with it.
There are several ways in which I use the exercise, all of which are centered around listening.
- Tuning – The alternation of major and dominant 7 chords is a challenge, but also provides the opportunity for singers to learn about micro-tuning based on chord position. For instance, the repeated F in the soprano line will tune differently as the F moves from being the root of the chord to the 7th.
- Balance – I make my students aware of their chord positions throughout the exercise and then have them plan to adjust their volume accordingly. For instance, the tenor line goes 5th, 7th, 3rd, root, 5th. Their volume plan is loud-soft-soft-loud-loud. The soprano line, however, is 3rd, 3rd, root (doubled), 7th, 3rd. Their volume plan is all soft, with the single root being a solid mezzo-forte.
- Diphthong turns – I intentionally have the students turn the dipthongs of “may, my, moh” in an almost obnoxious fashion (following my gestures) in order to practice how it feels to move through words together.
- Less common vowels – the words “sit, let, hat, urge, law” are considered by many barbershoppers to be words that contain vowels that “classical choirs” rarely sing, but are common to the English language. It is a challenge to sing a pleasant-sounding “hat,” but rewarding just the same.
(“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