Ashley Starkston

MUED 376

November 6, 2018

11S. Warm Up Summary

I don’t remember much from my middle school and high school choir days, so I can’t really

speak to our warm-up sequences at that time. However, reading through these documents made my

time spent in JMU choral ensembles all make sense. I never really gave much thought to the sequencing

of warm-ups. I always figured that my choir directors chose specific ones for specific reasons, but I didn’t

think the order ever really mattered. After studying developmental hierarchy this semester, it all makes

sense. You can’t just throw your choir into things that they aren’t ready for and expect good results. In

the same way, you can’t throw them into singing situations that they aren’t warmed up for and expect

good results. There is a transitional sequence that needs to happen for students to switch from speaking

mode to singing mode. Warm ups do not only “warm up” the voice. The 8 different purposes are as

follows: 1) DECONSTRUCT the physical body of normal daily or habitual tension, 2) RECONSTRUCT the

posture of a singer, 3) DECONSTRUCT the breathing system of speaking and stress, 4) RECONSTRUCT the

breathing system of a singer, 5) DECONSTRUCT the speaking patterns of humans, 6) RECONSTRUCT the

100% flow phonation of singing, 7) teach developmental pedagogy in solfege, tuning and blend, and 8)

awaken ears.

Middle and high school are such pivotal times in vocal development, so it is important that you

are giving your singers good tools to set them up for success. A lot of middle and high school choirs stick

to warm ups that are fun or sound cool, but don’t really have any thought behind them or rhyme or

reason. I do believe that is important to do some “fun” warm ups that engage the choir, but as the

teacher, you have to be considering what those warm ups are working on and how they are benefiting

the choir and their development. It is important that you as the teacher are focusing on range,
audiation, integration of the kinesthetic, and need. Vocal development has many different layers, and

the warm up can either help or hinder it. It is important in the warm up that you have purpose and that

you cover all of your bases. You cannot skip a step, or else the choir is not set up for success.

Another important aspect of the warm up is the transferability. I think it is very important for

the teacher to make it clear how the warm up transfers to the repertoire as a basis and then also allow

students to make those connections on their own. It is also important to have warm ups that are drawn

from the repertoire when needed to provide that direct correlation. The connection between the warm

up and the repertoire is so important, because it gives the warm up meaning and purpose. Also, it allows

for better concept and technique retention when it is applied to a real piece of music. Repertoire based

warm ups should prepare or pre-teach elements of the repertoire itself. The four rules of repertoire

based warm ups are 1) pre-teach skills or musical patterns that are used in new material, 2) transfer the

skills to the repertoire itself, 3) use as transitions from one activity to the next, and 4) repeat as needed,

until the section studied no longer ‘slips’ or ‘decays’. Repertoire based warm ups can provide more

space for students to improve on real musical skills that are applicable to performances rather than just

working on vocal technique and transition from the speaking voice to the singing voice.