First Day of School

Its the first day of school around here...actually it's been a week of first days! I love the promise of a fresh start with new music, new pencils and new students.

How do we get started again as singers? After a summer of playing with my kids and not doing a whole lot of singing on my own, I'm looking to get back into shape and at the same time, get my students into shape. Some of my favourite, go-easy vocal exercises include the following (scale degress are in numbers with IPA below):

123213531
(i----o------)

and

534231271
(yayeyaye etc)

Keep it easy and no louder than mf and drill these 3 or 4 different times per day. As Paul Kiesgen said this summer at his "Training Soprano Voices" at Indiana University, "the most important part of your practice is the beginning and the end therfore, schedule many short practices throughout the day for success".

What are your favourtie warm ups? Drop me a comment and i'll post them next week.

Happy first day of school!