• Sign In
  • ACDA.org
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ChoralNet

ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • ACDA News
  • Events
  • Community
    • Announcements
    • Classifieds

Vocal Warm Up

Attention or Autopilot? Motor Learning and the Choral Warm-up

March 7, 2022 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The March/April 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Attention or Autopilot? Motor Learning and the Choral Warm-up” by Christopher Loftin and Matthew Hoch. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction.
_________________

Most choir directors consider the warm-up portion of rehearsal to be of considerable importance. In general, warm-ups that conductors develop and use daily are goal-oriented in nature, focusing on specific aspects of vocal and choral technique. Further, many directors seek to develop their choristers’ musical skills, valuing the creation of lifelong, independent musicians.

However, with many constraints and pressures on the choir directors—including time shortage, teacher fatigue, and concert preparation—many directors may sacrifice part or all of the choral warm-up to focus on more pressing tasks. These constraints often result in directors using the same warm-ups over and over, forgetting to consistently provide positive and corrective feedback during the warm-up, and failing to promote a culture of student vocal exploration and self-correction during this critical time at the beginning of rehearsals. Perfunctory routines like the ones described above usually cause students to go on “autopilot” during the warm-up, which neither builds skill nor internalizes techniques presented. This habit represents a missed opportunity for all involved. When developed to their full potential, warm-ups can unify an ensemble both mentally and physically while preparing the voice to sing freely and musically throughout the rehearsal. A basic understanding of the core tenets of motor learning theory can be particularly fruitful when applied to the choral warm-up.

Motor Learning Theory: Core Principles and Practical Application

Daniel Willingham discussed the importance of motor skill learning and broke it down into its three fundamental parts, all of which occur outside of conscious awareness: awareness, proper sequencing of skills, and making the skills a learned behavior.1 The principles of motor learning adapted to choral learning include several key factors: (1) awareness of desired vocal health and an individualized set of vocal, physical, and mental needs that should be met in the choral warm-ups; (2) proper sequencing of these tasks in the warm-up; and (3) consistent practice and reinforcement of skills in the choral warm-up. Exploring these concepts in the daily warm-up helps to foster a culture of vocal exploration, more internationalization of desired learned vocal skills, and greater vocal health and longevity. This brief article operationalizes these concepts by providing some ideas for practical application of motor learning theory in the choral warmup.

Read the rest of this article in the March/April 2022 issue of Choral Journal.

Notes
1 Daniel B. Willingham, “A Neuropsychological Theory of Motor Skill Learning,” Psychological Review 105, no. 3 (1998): 558–84.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, choral rehearsal, Vocal Warm Up

Just What Are My Vocal Folds Doing During Warm-Up?

December 18, 2018 by Lynn Swanson Leave a Comment

All Voice Experts advocate warm-up exercises. The lack of a proper warm-up may contribute to vocal fatigue and even dysfunction in singers as well as anyone that uses the voice throughout the day. Poorly warmed-up voices are less durable and less sustainable!

What happens to the vocal folds during the warm-up?

Since the vocal folds contain muscle tissues as a major component they depend on efficient blood circulation in order to retain good function and viscosity. Good circulation is stimulated by a well-planned and methodical warm-up. All great athletes rely on efficient and optimal muscle function and therefore warm up their muscles as part of their initial exercise.

Just how does one warm up the voice? Believe it or not, it can be achieved in much the same way one prepares the body for a work out. The warm up should include:
• Full body movements to activate the breath, bring natural movement to the diaphragm and circulate blood to the pharynx and larynx
• Massage the jaw and facial muscles
• Begin phonation with gentle onsets using resonators on the 5 Latin vowels: [u] [o] [a] [e] [i].
• Begin with the different registers – high to low – the head voice, then mixed register voice and finally chest voice. You can also add descending octave leaps from whistle register down the octave to head to chest then back up to mixed voice. 
• Distinguish the articulators (consonant makers) from the resonators by working: mouth, tongue, jaw, hard palate, etc.
• Integrate consonants with vowels and transition to forming words 

Check out this video to see what your folds are actually doing once air flow has begun ~

Whether you are headed to a day of teaching and speaking or a session of singing, reminding the body how it is to support the voice is critical to maintaining stamina and good vocal hygiene. 

The most important thing is to keep the air flowing. The most natural way to do that is to move the body and not insist on planting your feet and remaining still.

To learn more about body movement and air flow, please visit Babette Lightner at: http://www.lightnermethod.com/architecturestructure.html

http://www.lightnermethod.com/architecturestructure.html

Filed Under: Developing Voices Tagged With: Body Movement and Singing, Vocal Folds during phonation, Vocal Warm Up

  • ACDA.org
  • The ChoralNet Daily Newsletter
Advertise on ChoralNet

On This Day
June 30

Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator, was born on this day in 1588.

Would you like to submit a blog post for consideration?

Are you interested in becoming a regular ChoralNet blogger? Please contact ACDA Director of Membership & Communications Sundra Flansburg at .

RSS JW Pepper

  • 5 Things to Consider When Buying Color Guard Equipment
  • PYO Music Institute Presents the 9th Annual Ovation Award in Partnership with J.W. Pepper, Jacobs Music, and WRTI 90.1 FM
  • 10 Easy-To-Learn Funky Tunes for the Stands
  • Zoom F3 Field Recorder Review: The Easiest Way to Get Pro Audio for Your Music Ensembles
  • J.W. Pepper Names Eric King as New Chief Financial Officer
  • The Music Teachers’ Guide to Recording an Ensemble: The Samson C02 Mics Review
  • The Zoom Q8n-4K Handy Video Recorder Review
  • Directors & Parents: Download Our New Contest & Festival Checklist
  • If You Love West Side Story, Listen to These!
  • The Music of Rita Moreno, a West Side Story Icon

RSS NAfME

  • Recruiting and Maintaining a Diversified Teacher Workforce
  • Assessing the Standards: An Exploration of the Respond Model Cornerstone Assessment
  • Nearly Half of the 2023 GRAMMY Music Educator AwardTM Quarterfinalists Are NAfME Members
  • Reevaluating Professional Practice
  • The Importance of Knowledge Transfer in Music Education
  • Star-Songs and Constellations: Lessons from the Global Jukebox
  • NAfME Endorses the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act of 2021
  • 5 Things Teachers Can Do to Recharge over the Summer
  • 2022 Call for Applications: SRME Executive Committee
  • Yay Storytime! Musical Adventures with Children’s Picture Books, Part Sixteen

Footer

Connect with us!

  • Home
  • About
  • Help
  • Contact Us
  • ACDA.org

Recent Blogs

  • Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Talking With Friends
  • Gratitude for Those Who Serve in State Leadership
  • Midweek Meditation: The Inner Critic
  • K-12 Teaching: Repertoire Selections for School Choirs
  • Dropping the Covid Ball with Dr. Nikki Johnson

American Choral Directors Association

PO Box 1705
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
73101-1705

© 2022 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy