Singing off key...on purpose

Last week I had to purposefully sing off key. I learned a couple of things:

1. I HATE singing off key. 
2. It's hard to stay off key. I kept wanting to go to a harmony note.
3. I found myself wondering if that same frustration is felt by singers who struggle to stay ON pitch rather than me trying to stay OFF pitch...

It's that third point that really got me to thinking... People who are born with a certain talent (i.e. singing, drawing, spatial reasoning, or other certain "affinities"), often take these natural born talents for granted.  We say to ourselves, "why is it so hard for them to do that? All you have to do is ______". 

My goal is to try to put myself in the shoes of the person who was not born with a specific talent, but wants to work at that and learn how.  It's that "working hard and learning how" that is my job to teach!

O Happy Day! --Vocal warm-up

Anyone who has studied voice or had singing lessons knows that sometimes vocal warm-ups can get old, tired or boring.  A good voice teacher will try to come up with interesting vocalise exercises that still demand vocal concentration, intonation and endurance.

When "Mama-made-me-mash-my-M-and-M's" becomes mundane, try the warm up from this clip from Sister Act II (one of my favorite movies...ever):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=SLY7yI1xV-M

That warm-up contains:

A pentatonic scale

Arpeggio

Syncopated rhythm

Call and response

And on top of all that.....it's a pretty AWESOME arrangement of an AWESOME song!

The Police Siren

Can you picture the screech and whirr of a police car siren?

One vocalise (warm-up exercise) that I use with my voice students is called a portamento. (It is defined as: a smooth or uninterrupted glide from one tone to another.)

I use it in a pitch circle which means we don't just "slide" down or just up, we make the whole circle. It sounds very much like a siren. This relaxed sliding is a great way to warm up the vocal chords, but it also can be used in other ways. Vocal range can be widened and muscle control can be strengthened, especially at vulnerable register switchover spots!

So next time the kids are playing cops and robbers, join in w/ them and see how high or how low the sirens can go!!

Drop a Bomb on Me!

If you were asked to make a sound similar to a bomb dropping and then exploding, what would it sound like?

Would it be a descending slide of notes followed by a KABOOM!

This descending chromatic scale is a great way to wake up the voice. It is also alot of fun to do and most likely will bring a smile to you or your child's face.

Start the "bomb drop" at different pitches and have your child try to match you, then....BOMBS AWAY! The explosions at the end are sometimes the best part!