This lesson is for a grade 10 vocal class. The lesson will cover creating a strong warm up with a focus on proper vocal technique. This lesson would happen within the first two weeks of the semester so that as students continue through the course, they have built healthy habits. There will be no assignment students have to complete for this lesson. The teacher should be assessing the students throughout the lesson based firstly on participation, then on how students respond to both general and specific feedback about vocal technique. This lesson will cover the following curriculum expectations: A2.2, A3.1, B1.3, and B3.2.
To start the lesson, students will be asked to stand (if able) in a circle. The learning objectives of the day will be written on the board, and then repeated once we are in a circle to let students know what we are doing and why. The teacher can also ask probing questions such as: Why is it important to warm up, what do you know about vocal technique, why is vocal technique important, what do you think a good warm up should include? There are many ways to facilitate this conversation. The teacher could use think-pair-share, an online software such as Jam-Board or Menti, chart paper rotations, large or small group discussions etc. The teacher will know what will work best for their class and the differentiation that can be made to keep students engaged.
After our conversation, the teacher will lead the students in a vocal warm up. The class will start with stretching. The teacher can decide what is best for their class, but there should be involvement of reaching up and down, rolling shoulders, and stretching the jaw. A variation that can be added is doing a “shake-it-off” warm up! This is where the students will shake their left, then right hand, left than right foot while counting down from 8 to 1. After the whole cycle is completed with each limb, the class will then count down 7-1 and so forth until each limb is only shaken once! This can also be sped up to create a challenge for the students. This activity is also good for raising the energy in the room if the students are presenting to be low energy.
Following a physical warm up, the class should focus on breathing. The general principle is that students should take long deep breaths from their diaphragm and sustain an exhale. I typically start with breathing in for 4 and out for 4, then moving to in for 4 and out for 8. To add to this exercise, students should also exhale on a “shh” or a sizzle. After the breathing exercises, we would move onto SOVT exercises. A low entry point activity is to have students repeat after the teacher. The teacher will create short rhythms with a “ch” sound that students will repeat back. This can also be done on the sounds “vv” and “zz”. To elevate this exercise, the teacher can ask students to be the leader. Students would create the rhythm that the class repeats and then nominate one of their peers to go next. If the budget allows, the teacher could get small straws for the class to do this activity with to provide the most authentic SOVT experience.
Next, the teacher can have students explore range by doing yawns. This would be another repeat after me activity. I like to add “chaos yawns” where each student can choose what type of yawn they do, and the class does them all at the same time. After this I would start moving into pitch-based exercises. I would start with a descending scale sol to doh on an “oh” vowel. I would then do an ascending exercise of arpeggios (doh-mi-sol-doh1-sol-mi-doh) on an E vowel, then an “ah” sound as the pitch gets higher. These can be expanded to include more vowel specific patters such as “A-E-AH-O-OH” “E-A, E-AH, E-Aha,ha, ha, ha, ha” etc. Watch my video below to see how these would sound. To finish the warm up section, I would have a rhyme to work on pronunciation. These would typically be sung on the same note and then ascending each time. My two go-to phrases are “My mother made me mash my mini M&Ms” and “Maybe my mommy may go to Miami or maybe my mommy may not”. There are also exercises that are based in rounds that can be done such as “don’t put the rooster in the soup”. These rhymes can speed up for an extra level of difficulty and fun.
To consolidate this class, students can get into small groups and discuss their favourite element of the warmup. Then as a class discuss why that element is important to vocal technique. This lesson would introduce the concept of a strong warm up, and then adapted to be shorter or focus on specific expectations based on the repertoire, focusing on one element of vocal technique, or shorter just for rehearsal management principles.