O, I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT SNOW. This topic has been germinating from before it started snowing. The chance to mention snow in Australia is only a side effect of the title. I’ll try not to mention snow again.
A few weeks ago I was looking at drama games to fill in a gap at our local homeschool co-operative. A little digging revealed a wealth of activities designed to encourage participants to work together, pay attention and even have fun along the way. A program would begin with a few warm up activities leading into skill building and scene-work. I fondly remember these games from school, although I was rather shy, they allowed everyone to have a turn.
On the weekend I used one of the warm ups when going over some music with a small group of children. We did a five count shake which I had seen from a local drama teacher. It really helped lift their spirits and set us up to lift their voices.
Andrew Motyka has written about the value of warm-ups. Like many pieces of good advice I have read, and nodded, and then shelved it away.
Now I am noticing that things like watching the conductor, singing together, blending, listening to each other – these are all learned skills and choir practice is the time when my singers will be learning these skills as well as the music.
Choosing warm ups is going to depend on the people in your choir as well as the space you have. A bunch of kids with a wide grassy area is very different from a group of adults in a small meeting room.
One thing I still like to start with is a prayer before choir practice. I’m not sure where it came from originally, but it serves as a call to put aside chatter and remember we are here in God’s service.
