Breathing drill

Here's a good breathing drill for the end of a vigorous choir warmup.  The aim is to cultivate good support by continuing the gesture of inhalation into the production of consonant or vowel tone.  It makes a good transition to singing music where you want well-shaped phrases; I tend to use it before practising hymns at the moment.

This is a count-on count-off exercise where the time for breathing in is the same as for breathing out.  You can put a sequence of numbers up on a board so that there is an implicit element of challenge.

Tell the choristers that they are nursing a baby wombat.  Their hands should be joined, making a relaxed arc with the arms.  They should aim to breathe towards the bottom of the arc.

From the moment the leader starts to count the choristers are to slowly inhale.  While they do this, the wombat will grow slightly, gently pushing their arms out and up from the body.  If it looks like they're pulling their arms up before the count off, it's not being done right.  They have to feel like the movement is involuntary and continuous.  As they release the breath -- using a hiss, or a rolled R, or holding a pitch -- the wombat continues to grow until it becomes quite large, filling the maximum space of the arms being held in an arc.

To put it more practically, here's a quick sketch of how I present it in a rehearsal:

OK guys, wombats.  Standing nice and tall, beautiful and relaxed.  Close your eyes, cradle your wombat, and we're going to count to five, first breathing in, then again on a steady hiss.  Remember how your wombat is going to keep growing all the way to the end of the second count of five.


ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE...HISS


ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE...
...AND OFF!


That was very good -- who thinks they could go to six?

...and so on.

Make sure you change the sound they have to make each time -- and be sure not to start with the same sound every time you use it.