Warm-ups
Hey gang, I'm trying to compile a warm-up regimen for my Advanced class. I want to prepare around twenty minutes worth of vocal and body warm-ups and put them all on a list. Each day I'll assign a kid to lead the warm-ups, and he'll pick his favorite five minutes worth of warm-ups and lead the group.
I've gone through the NITS handouts (milling and seething, oh how I've missed you!), but I'm still looking for more ideas. Do you have any favorite vocal warm-ups, or tongue twisters, or body stretches, or anything like that?
posted by Holbrook @ 10:37 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I used to do a sort of tongue twister round. I'd have three or four of them, we'd do them together, and then I'd have a kid play conductor and bring in one group at a time. You could use any of a zillion, but I liked "Whether the weather is cold, whether the weather is hot, we'll be together whatever the weather, whether we like it or not."
I learned it as "we'll weather the weather whatever the weather...." It's a favorite of mine, too. You can get the kids doing the "We Will Rock You" stomping rhythm along with it, too.
Gilbert and Sullivan provide excellent tongue twisters. I taught them a shortened version of this one:
http://www.hyperborea.org/writing/nightmare.html
It's fun the way it speeds up at the end.
Another of theirs:
To sit in solemn silence
On a dull, dark dock
In a pestilential prison
With a life-long lock
Awaiting the sensation
Of a short, sharp shock
From a cheap and chippy chopper
On a big, black block!
Also:
INnocent
inNOcent
innoCENT
WAS that it?
was THAT it?
was that IT?
That was it
Student favorites from NITS are still Belly Mamba, the "Saints", "Ladies", and "Swing Low" round
My kids also love the Belly Button Song (from Sandra Boynton's Philadelphia Chickens, song in iTunes). I made up some stupide choreography, and it became tradition. The "Cows" song from there would probably also make for a good routine.
I'm not sure how many of these we did at NITS, but some surefire S&Co warm-up physical activities are:
The skiing expedition
Paranoid Elvis
praise the lord/curse the devil
Betty Boop
Big Dumb Bird
Powerful/Efficient/Mischievous
Shake My Foot
Let me know which of these we didn't do and I'll post instructions. I've used them all with kids aged 7-20, modifying at will to suit the age group.
What a super idea for your kids!
Meg, are those warm-ups, or the line-up at Ozzfest?
It's true: Edward DeVere used to bite the heads off bats.
Meg, I may never lead warm ups again, but I might explode if you don't share instructions for Paranoid Elvis. You have an audience, I'm fascinated.
Because, really, there's better ways to get me back to Western Mass than having me explode and throw body parts out there.
I also must know the meanings of those great-sounding warm-ups.
Today in class, I'm turning this into a warm-up for my kids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk
I'm not kidding.
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