A Zen proverb goes, “If you don’t think you have time to meditate for an hour today, you should meditate for two hours.”
This runs through my head every single time I want to skip past vocal warmups in my Aces rehearsals. Sometimes the motivation is so strong to get right to the music. In those days, I double down on making sure we spend sufficient time in group warmups.
Why? For a lot of reasons. In fact, we generally brainstorm a list of reasons at some point near the beginning of the year. Here are some of the reasons for group vocal warmups that I have in mind.
- They physically warm up voices for the work the ensemble is about to do.
- They create a metaphorical doorway from the world outside to the world of rehearsal.
- They allow us to work on developing unity and honing the sense of ensemble.
- They facilitate teaching of technique without the added distractions of repertoire considerations.
- They allow us to dive deep into concepts of tuning, tone, vowel.
- They encourage listening beyond the section.
- They offer an opportunity to focus teaching on a theoretical or technical challenge you will work on later in rehearsal.
- They are the best time for each individual to do a personal check in on how everything is working today.
What else would you add? What motivates you to not skip warming up the choir?