Demonstrate for the choir what you want. Pick a vowel and sing the first 3 or 5 notes of a major scale. When you feel your choir is ready do the whole octave. Throw in a minor scale every now and then to keep things interesting. Change vowels often.

Demonstrate for the choir what you want. Pick a vowel and a major triad. First legato focusing on a relaxed supported sound, and then staccato focusing on accuracy. Add consonants like “M, T L” or “ to practice vowel accuracy with consonants. Throw in a minor scale every now and then to keep things interesting. Change vowels often.

Explain to the choir that the goal of this exercise is to explore the full spectrum of volume they can produce while staying relaxed. Begin by playing a major chord and have them sing the root note as softly as possible, focusing on clarity without breathiness. Guide them to gradually crescendo, building to a full, resonant sound. At the peak of their volume, play a minor IV chord to signal a shift, and use your hand to indicate they should decrescendo, returning softly to the major I chord. Encourage them to stay relaxed during the loud singing, avoiding tension, and to avoid a breathy sound in the soft singing. Draw their attention to the different sensations and shapes between a light, "head voice" sound and a full, "chest voice" sound. Ask them to reflect on what they feel in their body during the transitions. Repeat the exercise on a higher note, and then try it on a lower note, reminding them not to push for volume on the low notes but to focus on resonance and ease.

Explain that the quality of a consonant will often affect the quality of the vowel next to it. Create an awareness that voiced consonants can also be beautiful and should be given the same attention as vowels. Warm up on a major scale with different voiced consonants such as “L”, “M” and “N". Challenge them to make each consonant resonant and beautiful with the jaw relaxed as with a vowel. Sing just the consonant, no vowels

The goal of this warm-up is to help the choir develop an awareness of when they are closing their throat while singing. Begin by asking the singers to imagine the feeling of their jaw and throat when they are completely relaxed, such as when they are peacefully sleeping. Have them breathe in and out while maintaining this relaxed position. Repeat the exercise, but this time instruct them to whisper a long, relaxed “HAAA” as they exhale, bringing their attention to the naturally low pitch of the “HAAA” due to the relaxed state. Next, have them whisper “HA-iiiii” on the exhale. Point out that the “i” vowel is likely much higher in pitch than the relaxed “A,” which occurs because of horizontal mouth movement and throat constriction—a common speech habit. Ask them to focus on keeping the “i” vowel as low and relaxed as the “A.” Finally, transfer this coordination to singing by practicing a three- or five-note major scale warm-up, ensuring the throat stays open and relaxed throughout.

Explain the importance of a relaxed jaw in singing. Works well to do a the consonant warm up first with “N” and “L”. Explain that the goal of this exercise is to not move the jaw at all when singing. Sing sounds like Na-na-na, or Li-Li-Li where the jaw can stay open. Move on to more complex sounds like “Lay”, “Day” or “Nein” and “Lawn”.

Inform the choir that the purpose of this exercise is to let the jaw hang freely whenever possible and to retrain the tongue to do the work so that we stay resonant and don’t chew like we do when speaking. Have them say a sentence with no closing of the jaw necessary. Some good examples are:

“I don’t need a lot, I need a little”

“Can’t I take it?”

“I got all I need.”

Introduce a sentence where closing the mouth is necessary only once. Ask the choir where that moment is. Some good examples are:

“I take it, if I need it.”

“Don’t call me again”

Introduce a sentence where closing the mouth is necessary twice. Ask the choir where those moment are. Some good examples are:

“I heard it fall over”

“If I can’t get it back, I’ll call”

Then take a sentence from the song and try the same thing. The purpose of this exercise is to build an awareness in the choir, and have them ask themselves “How often do I really need to close my mouth when singing?”. Since this exercise deals with pronunciation, and our choirs are very international with a wide range of dialects and accents, sometimes choirs want to debate when exactly the mouth needs to close. Tell them this is great, and it’s the point of the exercise to make them think about it. It is not an exact science of “right” and “wrong”, but more of a “how much chewing is really necessary in this phrase?”

Have the choir sing “Hing” and have them really resonate the “ing” sound. Have them keep the jaw relaxed and the sound in the mask. Have them suddenly open to a 5 note descending scale on different vowels like so: Hingggg a-a-a-a-a

Explain to the choir that while singing a long note we shouldn’t be able to hear the end of the word before it happens. Pick two words that sound the same except for the ending. Instruct the choir that your left hand is one word and your right hand is the other word. Have the sustain the word and only when you signal with your hand should they end the word. Some word examples are below, but feel free to create your own. Make sure all word combinations are appropriate.

Car-Caught, Call-Cop, Bond-Bot Long-Lot, Sing-Sit, Park-Pot

Explain to the choir that vowels exist on a spectrum of bright and dark. Explain that a higher and more forward tongue position creates a brighter vowel. Explain that “A” will slowly become “E”, and “E” will slowly become “i” and so on. Start with “u” to “ü”. Explain that on the left is “u” and on the right is “ü”. Have the choir follow your hand from left to right and blend the vowel “u” slowly into “ü”. Encourage them to hear all the overtones during the transition. Do it again and stop on an ideal “u”. Try to start directly on this vowel. Try again with “A” to “E”, or “E” to “i”. You can add consonants or words to give it more context. For instance take the word “car” and blend to “care” or “mall” to “Mel”. Stopping each time on a well balanced vowel.

Once your choir is familiar with the concept of Vowel Tuning explain to them that consonants often follow the same concept. The exercise is similar but since we can’t sustain voiceless consonants, do the exercise with a meter. Start with a dark consonant like the “G” in Got. Explain that over 8 eighth noted you will fade into a “K” sound like the would caught. Do the same with “d” to “t”, “š” to “s”. Pair with any vowel, go front to back as well.

Have the choir sing La-La-La and explain to them that you want them to move their tongues as slowly and evenly as possible. Try with Na-Na-Na. Make sure they don’t chew, try different vowels.

Begin by having the choir count aloud from 1 to 8 in a steady rhythm, repeating the sequence multiple times. On the second repetition, the number “1” will be silent, but the choir will continue to count aloud starting from “2” through “8” in time. On the next repetition, both “1” and “2” will be silent, and the group will start counting aloud at “3.” This pattern continues, progressively silencing the earlier numbers in the sequence, until all eight beats are silent and counted internally. Throughout the exercise, the choir will clap on beat “5” every time, regardless of which beats are silent. To make the exercise more challenging, the clapping can shift to different beats. You can also reintroduce the numbers in descending order.

Do a warm up that involves following the conductor to help teach this skill. Start with a ball of paper and throw it in the air. Have the choir clap when the ball lands in your hand to work on timing. Take the ball away and do it with a downbeat. Have them sing a staccato vowel in the same way. You can have them move up a scale if you want to also work in ear training. Have them add a voiced consonant on an upbeat to make it more complicated.

Choose a few melodic intervals you would like to practice with the choir. Find some familiar songs that fit those intervals and explain to the choir that you will play the first two notes and they need to guess the song. Make sure not to give the song away rhythmically, let the interval be the only clue. After they have correctly guessed, sing the interval on solfege. Make sure to change the key often. Some possible songs are listed below.

M2- Happy Birthday

M3- Kumbaya

4th- Oh Christmas Tree

5th- Star Wars

m6- My Bonnie

M7- Take on Me

Have everyone sing a major scale on solfege, ascending and descending. Divide the group into smaller sections, assigning each section a specific solfege syllable to stop and sustain. Repeat the scale with each group stopping on their assigned syllable, creating sustained harmonies. Use this method to build different chords and inversions, starting with simple triads and progressing to more complex structures like 7th chords, chord extensions, suspensions, and even dissonances. Once the group is comfortable, explore the same process using the minor scale on solfege to create minor chords and other related harmonies.

Sing or play a short improvised melody, have the choir sing it back. Change it every time and slowly make it more and more complex.