Whiteboards and Warmups

It's been a while since I last wrote anything about the practical side of choir training here, so perhaps it's time to mention something I've been doing in this department recently.

Wherever I go to run a rehearsal, I try to make sure there's a whiteboard in the room.  There are a few things that go on the board right at the very beginning: the session outline, scoreboard for the honours system, and any special notices.  I find it's easier to work through a larger amount of material if everyone can see the order in which it will be taken, which can be very useful when preparing for a busy day in a church choir, for example.  When working with a restless group it helps to keep the focus if there is a payoff, like crossing out finished items from the session outline.

Recently I've been using the whiteboard to achieve some other objectives.  I have a fairly well-established warmup sequence for the beginning of a rehearsal, and I'm conscious of how easy it can be to fall into a verbal rut with this.  Over about six or so weeks I take a 'theme and variations' approach to warmups, which can help to overcome predictability to some extent.

Recently I decided to see if I could run the first seven minutes of a rehearsal without using many words, spoken or written.  The aim was to make the opening of the rehearsal a time of creative engagement, giving stimuli to the choir that would require them to respond in ways that opened up a wider range of tone colour.

So I looked at the whiteboard and started drawing my warmup.

• Cypress tree -- Oak tree -- Weeping Willow
• Balloon being blown up (breath placement)
• S with an upward arrow, then with a downward arrow (breath engagement)
• Siren (Sigh-ren -- sliding from high pitch to low, and vice-versa)
• Treble stave with a G

To do the warmup, I pointed to each drawing on the board.  I made sure to interrupt the sequence, so that the routine was made a little less familiar.  Once the pitch was established (and checked, and known to be correct), we then moved on to solfege exercises using handsigns.

It was interesting to see the response.  Many of the older choristers started using the words I use with each action, until I gave a sign that this was not wanted.  The younger choristers began to pay closer attention.  Overall, focus on the task improved.

One benefit of doing the warmup this way is that some different variations can be introduced in a way that allows the singers to own the new task in a more direct way.  More importantly, it helps to cut down conductor talkativeness at the beginning of a rehearsal and achieve at least the same result.