a choral warmup

A choral warmup exercise, developed in our youth choir rehearsal today:

Have the full choir begin on the C above middle C (third space treble clef). The tenors and basses are in unison with the trebles, in their head voice (not an octave below them)

Sing down the scale, using solfas (Do - ti - la - sol...)

At middle C, the trebles go back up (Do - re - mi ...) while the tenors and basses continue down another octave, down to the tenor C. [If there are male altos, they should take whichever part is more comfortable, probably singing with the trebles and female altos. But if they have the low notes, they can go on down with the tenors and basses.]

The two parts turn around and come back down/up the scale to meet at middle C.

Not every choir is capable of this.

I am very proud of our tenors and basses and altos. Nearly all of them have beautiful and comfortable head tones in the range from F or G of the treble clef up to the third space C, and a couple of them beyond that. I have tried to model this for them by singing that way myself, and it amazes me that they have picked this up. I hope that some of them might move with better freedom among the three male parts (alto, tenor, bass) than I have done, and maintain a wide vocal range throughout their adult lives -- I was well into my forties before I learned to properly sing in my upper range.

In my experience, the best way for a young man to develop his voice is to first establish the head voice, in a sound that some would call "falsetto," and at first it may be more of a falsetto and not a developed head voice.

Each day, after the first preliminary warmups (Posture, Space, Breath: sustained note on "ee" in comfortable range -- low voice or high voice -- yawn-sigh on "Oh", then "over the top" on "Oh" - start low, go high, slide back down low), sing several sustained notes in the high head voice, middle of treble clef. "Oh" is a good vowel to start, then use other vowels.

After establishing this sound, sing scales downward across the passagio [register "break" or "change"] into the lower voice. Then scales down and back up [not up and back down! Start high, go down first.] Then other patterns, such as arpeggios, melodies with skips, etc.

In my own singing practice, I improvise at this point, consciously seeking to make melodies that cross the passagio. This is enormous fun, one of the most enjoyable parts of my day.

It is important to develop the low voice as well, and to carry some of the power the low voice into the high voice. The "mezza di voce" is excellent for this. At first, do it on pitches that are well within the low voice or the high voice and not near the passagio. Then, work on pitches nearer to the passagio, where the exercise takes the voice from the higher register to the lower register and back.