Analysis Of The Choir Rehearsals

It is crucial to incorporate warm-ups into a girls' choir rehearsal since it is evident that they help the overall vocal health of the voice. Maintaining overall good health through healthy habits is critical, as I will explain in the following sections.

Insufficient rest, obesity, poor nutrition and hydration, substance abuse and allergies can all lead to sicknesses that can have serious effects on the speaking and singing voice. A singer must pay close attention to the signals that his or her voice gives so that the necessary steps toward preventing problems can be taken (O’Connor, Karen. 2004). At times, a change in certain behaviours or unhealthy habits may be necessary to protect the voice from developing problems in the first place

(O’Connor, Karen. 2004). The main purposes of the lack of vocal health stem from these core reasons: avoid throat clearing and other odd vocal noises, drinking caffeine more than twice a day, not drinking enough water, screaming, vocal frying, not speaking less but speaking more. Singers live in a different world than other human beings. When a singer gets, a cold or responds to allergies it affects the health conditions that might come at inopportune times (Emmons, S. 2006 PAGE?).
Through lack of vocal health, I needed to have an ENT regarding a vocal callous on my vocal folds. The main cause was overworking my voice in my lengthener, by being made to sing in my shortener. The aftermath of poor vocal health can end in very lengthy rehab time for any performer. Within my experience, I was under vocal pressure for a musical, I was using my shortener for songs which were far out of my range. The effects of poor vocal health affected my overall sound quality, my mental and physical health due to the factor of myself taking more medication to benefit my voice and my range was effected throughout swollen vocal chords. Quoting (Well Spoken Doctors. N/D), "An ENT can assess your voice difficulty, whether it affects everyday use. The ENT specialist will view your larynx with a camera that can look down your throat to the larynx below, whilst checking for any medical issues which may cause difficulties". According to (Cleveland Clinic. 2015), "Do warm up and cool down voice exercises. Warm up examples: singing the musical scale, humming, blowing air out from slightly closed lips so they vibrate. Cool down examples: relaxed humming; massage of the neck, throat, and lower face; making a "cooing" sound (as in ‘coo')", as this will help the overall vocal health majorly in the long run.
Incorporating vocal warm-ups in a grade 8 to 12 girls' choir rehearsal is crucial to have when singing a contemporary song, which you cannot do so without your vocal health intact. Through the poor use of treating your voice and not taking the appropriate time off to heal your vocal chords, it is evident that through the poor use of not conducting warm-ups to sing a contemporary song the overall quality of ones the voice will be injured in the process.
The overall quality of a sound evidently comes from an appropriate warm up. As a survey was conducted among an all-girls choir ages fifteen to seventeen. The questions asked was, "Favourite Warm Up" and "Why do you think warm ups are important to the voice before singing". The results of this investigation proved that the girls in the choir preferred tongue twisters to breathing exercises and alto warm ups.
As seen in the bar graph, figure 2, the most popular warm up for a girls' choir at St Margaret's is a tongue twister. The least favourite warm up is an alto warm up, "I can sing quite low", a staccato warm up for sopranos and "ahh's" going down the scale.
From an aspect of a girls’ choir, it is evident that students like more engaging and tricky warm ups in comparison to a warm up which doesn’t trick the members. As referred to in figure 3, it is evident that the answers that the choir members have retained is that they do understand why warm ups are important, but not so much the overall effect that the voice will retain after being injured by poor warm ups and a lack of care for their vocal health.

Throughout this investigation, a series of questions have been taken place through the professions of Mrs Regina Brennan, an experienced choral director and Primary Music Teacher with over ten years' experience, and Ms Amy Michaels, a Griffith Conservatorium Private Music Teacher with over 5 years' experience in the jazz and contemporary field.

A questionnaire was conducted between these two ladies to review their professional responses to the questions asked, shown in appendix 4.

In the analysis of all eleven questions, it is evident that vocal warm ups used within choirs because it helps to teach good technique and creates a healthy vocal technique to do with breathing and producing the correct sound to keep the consistent vibration through the air (Brennan, R 2017). The timbre of the sound, through vowels and placement, helps teach different types of vocal techniques within classical, folk, jazz, contemporary (Michaels, A 2017). If a student's vocal health was a worry, for say she is vocal frying, the steps would you take to ensure her vocal safety within choir are to view the student's technique, posture, locking in the abdomen, glottal stopping and Engaging the support muscles (Michaels, A

2017).
All four voice parts (sop 1, sop 2, alto 1, alto 2) require specific warm ups for each song due to the range differences, altos need strong onset due to the voice falling into wallowing and Alto range versus stop range change (Brennan, R 2017).

The conductor's responsibility towards the choir in the vocal health of the members follow steps for conductors go through to ensure this are that the conductor has a responsibility towards the vocal health of them members when they are in the rehearsal (Brennan, R 2017), setting good technique for practicing songs, display and show how you would produce the best technique to apply to the song (Michaels, A 2017), phrasing or intervals and encouraging to apply this in the songs during the performance (Brennan, R 2017).

It is important to show twang, incorporate tongue twisters, make sure they aren’t grabbing the sound onset, ways to avoid vocal frying are showing the girls how to access their whole range (Michaels, A 2017), and being healthy by more aware of their individual responsibility as a choir member and listening (Brennan, R

2017).
It is important to show twang, incorporate tongue twisters, make sure they aren't grabbing the sound onset, ways to avoid vocal frying are showing the girls how to access their whole range (Michaels, A 2017), and being healthy by more aware of their individual responsibility as a choir member and listening (Brennan, R 2017).
It is crucial to be able the full range when you are singing a contemporary song in a girls' choir since, without warmups, the vocal health of the voice can be majorly affected. Voice types can be classified (from highest to lowest) into soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto in female voices and tenor, baritone or bass in male voices. Classifying voice type depends on the vocal colour or timbre, and an accurate classification may take a little time because the actual range of tones that a voice possesses is not the whole story (Emmons, S. 2006 PAGE?).
It is important to try to maintain the natural quality of the voice. With training and a lot of practice, the voice may in time become higher, so you can sing up into falsetto if you're a man, or become lower, although this is rare. The best way to determine the genuine character of the voice is to work out on which notes you find it easiest to pronounce and sustain words (Music Success Tools. 2015). The tonal range, the number of notes or tones you can sing, varies from one singer to another. As a general guide, professional singers usually have a tonal range of about two to two and a half octaves. If you'd like to discover the own voice type, you will need access to a piano or keyboard. The major concern of singers at the outset of a rehearsal is to find out their head voice and high range, which has not been used while talking all day. Most people speak, at least, an octave lower than what they sing. Through the analysis of the research above, it is evident that it is crucial to be able to access your full range while singing due to the factor of keeping your vocal health healthy and achieving an efficient tonal range.
As examined within Appendix 2.7 (USB provided), an experiment through the senior choir “Encorah” was put in place where they had to sing the contemporary song, “I’m a Survivor” without no warning or warm up time allocated. As examined through the recording, it is evident that the pitch issues rose throughout the piece and certain singers were unable to hit the right notes and sing with professional timbre and pitch. This furthermore supports the thesis proving the crucial need for being able to warm up before singing a contemporary choral song since when you cannot access your full range, the pitch and harmonic sound will not be as accurate when warm ups have taken place.
The key to achieving full tonal beauty is through the warm ups conducted. These will shape the voice, warm the tone and add pure clarity. Incorporating vocal warm-ups in a grade 8 to 12 girls' choir rehearsal is crucial to achieving the full range of each voice, vocal health and improve the overall quality of the vocal performance of a contemporary song. Through the above research, it is evident that incorporating warm ups is crucial to benefitting a girls 8 to 12 choir.