Perhaps if you play an instrument, but especially if you sing, you’ve probably done some kind of warm-up before a rehearsal or performance, to get your voice/instrument ready. If you’re like me, you’ve gotten to do something more interesting than simple scales for warm-ups. What are your favorites?
Here’s a few:
Many mumbling mice
A A C C A
are making mumbly music in the moonlight,
A E E E E E E E E E E
mighty nice
E C A
That’s the only warmup I’ve ever done in a minor key.
This one is for diction and pronunciation. Every time you sing “one” it’s C, “two” is always D, etc. This should go quite fast and evenly, without pausing or changing the rhythm at all. Go from 1 to 3, then back down, then again going 1 to 5, and again from 1 to 9. Thus: 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Then you take out certain ones, but leave a pause where they would be, no longer than the length the note would otherwise be. For example, remove 4 and 6: 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 … 5 … 3 2 1 2 3 … 5 … 7 8 9 8 7 … 5 … 3 2 1 This helps you learn intervals like Mi-So and So-Ti, not just the seconds in the regular major scale.
This one is bouncy, sung on an “eee” sound. I think it would 16th/8th pairs if you wrote it. You quickly repeat the last note you sang before moving on, like you’re bouncing off it to get to the next note. So when you see two of the same note in a row, the first one is about twice as long as the second. Lowercase notes are an octave higher than uppercase ones.
C c c G G E E C
C e e C C G G E
C c c G G E E C
I think these are going to be a little bit harder to describe textually than I thought they would. Well, let’s try this, and if it dies, it dies.
I used to do something similar to #2 in my choir days. Sort of a, "1 2 1 … 1 2 3 2 1 … 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 … " and so forth, up to the octave. You can either sing the numbers or use solfege (“do re mi, etc…”). When I directed the group we’d also do some harmony excercises that were similar, but it sounds like you’re describing individual excercises.
Now, in my violin days, I stick pretty much to scales and arpeggios. You can get a little fancier, like double-stopped scales, but too complicated and it’s no longer a warm-up, it’s an etude.
Oh, not at all! Actually, we’ve done something in my choir that might be a lot like what you’re thinking of. She gives each section (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) a note, usually Do Mi So Do. Then you just hold out your note without stopping, forming a major chord. Then she says, “Altos, down a half step.” and you have Do Me So Do – a minor chord. Then basses and sopranos drop and you have Ti Me So Ti. Someone will be along to tell us what this chord is called. Anyway, the chord just keeps changing, and it’s all a cappella so the goal is to make sure you’re pitch stays constant, and in the right harmony with the other pitches.
A choir warmup our director called “the simplest way in the world to learn harmony.”
Everybody sings a scale, up and down an octave, using the vowel of your choice.
Then start singing it as a round: Split the group in two. The first group starts singing the octave up and down, just like before. The second group starts singing (starting on the same note the first group started on) when the first group gets to the third note.
Then split the group into three. The third group starts when the first gets to the fifth note.
Even after five years of Can Belto – excuse me, Bel Canto voice training, I can’t stand warmup exercises. Absolutely hate ‘em.
My way of warming up is to pick a song in the proper range (I alternate between bassitone and baritenor) and sing it in the car on the way to rehearsal.
I’m with you Kizarvexius . Twenty years of live stage performances, and my warm-up consists of singing “House Of The Rising Sun” and “Across the Universe” on the way to the gig.
I’d call it a So Augmented (given Do = C, the chord is B D# G B; sounds like G Augmented to me, but other interpretations might be equally valid; it’s all context.)
Freshman year college choir was a total revelation to me; I had no idea one could say things like “Altos, drop a half-step” and they’d do it correctly.
We’d also do a routine starting with up-a-major-scale, then back down, the sections stopping on different tones. Sopranos hold the top note; altos hold the 6th, tenors the 4th, basses the 2nd, then drop down down to the low 5th for a lovely suspended chord, then either everybody resolves or follows instructions like above to form various new chords.
In church choir we did a warmup designed more for enunciation than anything else: In 3/4 time, on a unison note:
“I do give | glory to | God, the | Lord of | Hosts, | Christ our | King;
Bless our very | Father of | Peace.”
Great for practicing the exact placement of the consonants.
I suppose I’ll just keep adding more as I think of them. Again, lowercase = 8va
DO do DO MI SO do SO MI DO - pretty simple.
Rhythm: 1… 2… 3-and-a-4-and-a-1 (like a triplet or 6/8)
Words: “Luuuu… cyyyyyy! You got some splainin’ to doooo!”
We do this too. We’re a high school choir with no music theory requirement, hence some people don’t understand that this forms “normal” major and minor triads, so someone said “Let’s do it in four groups!” and our teacher/director eventually gave in. It was actually fun, and adds an extra challenge, by creating seventh chords and other such fun.
I do this too. I have choir first period, so I often try to sing something on the way to school, which helps somewhat, even though it’s a fairly short drive.
