Virtual Rehearsal Tips & Tricks

Sunday Feb 28 2pm EST

Schedule:
2:05 Mark V - General Greeting
2:08 Elaine - Welcome, Introduction & Warm up
2:15 Demo 1 - Jackie
2:35 Demo 2 - Bruce
2:55 Demo 3 - Melanie
3:15-3:25 Breakout Rooms
3:25-3:30 Wrap-up & Q&A if anyone wants to stay back

Elaine’s Warm up:

Rule of 20/20/20: - 20 mins off the screen for 20 seconds, focussing on something 20 feet away
Physical warm-up: - stretching, rotating shoulders, knees bent, hula hoop movement
- nose as pointer, writing your name in cursive
Breathing: - breathing in for 4, hiss to exhale out for 4 (using arms)
- breathing in for 4, hiss to exhale out for 8 (x2) (using arms)
- breathing in for 4, hiss to exhale out for 12 (x2) (using arms)
- breathing in for 4, exhale out for 4
Humming
“V” sound (up and down a 5th)
- Use your hand to draw a rainbow across your screen
“Woo!” sigh
“Zingamama” (s,f,m,r,d) - using ‘z’ sound first but then can change consonants

Jackie Hawley:
 - Standing while singing online

1) Body Percussion: “Fun time, here we go!”

- Stomp L/R on “Fun time”, clap, butterfly on “here we go”
“Let’s start easy, let’s start slow”
- Pat chest L/R/L/R on “Let’s start easy”
- Pat thighs L/R/L/R on “let’s start slow”

● This can be done in a canon with choristers choosing if they are 1, 2, 3 or 4

● Try it first in unison, then 4 times in a round

2) “Evening Rise” with physical movement. First teach song by rote:

“Evening rise, spirit come
Sun goes down when the day is done.
Mother Earth awakens me
With the heartbeat of the sea”
* can be done in a round starting on beats 2 or 4

- Try using break out rooms in groups of 4 (depending on how many singers you have) and focus
groups on the following topics:
a) The meaning of the text - what do you see? smell? taste? feel? Etc.
b) Vowels - space and integrity of the vowel sounds
c) Consonants - enunciation and clarity, how do they change in different
environments?
d) Dynamics - for expression. What do you​ think​ they should be based on the
intention of the meaning?
e) Tone colour - dark/bright, changing
- Sing with arm movements
- Have choir members try “chain singing”

Bruce Kotowich:

- Embrace the frustration: latency (it’s okay to get messy)

- Uses a combination of Zoom and Clean Feed (​https://cleanfeed.net/​)
- Having choir members ‘unmute’ at the same time allows them to share, connect, engage and
remember they are not alone
 - Have members sing 5 notes of a major scale (unmuted) “1, 2, T, 4” - slow pulse
- How does it improve technique?
- How does it improve timbre?
- How does it improve articulation?
- Chorists feel when to move and become more responsible in counting
- It will feel sloppy, messy but that’s okay
- Encourage full singing
- Try in unison and then in 3rds
- Use a chorale with small moving parts, out of tempo to feel the chords changing

Improvisation: - use to experiment and expand

- Breakout rooms are helpful
- Create a soundscape by having students sing an ostinato on a P5th moving to a P6th and
have someone improv overtop

- In regard to trying different platforms like cleanfeed - try the free version first to see what works for you.
You may find that some paid features are not necessary.
- Look for platforms where a link can be sent rather than students having to subscribe
- Headphones can sometimes help with feedback
- direct ethernet connection also helps

Melanie Tellez: “Things I’ve learned from 6 year olds” but are good for everyone

- How are you sitting? This is still choir. Are you sitting like a singer?
- The way we use our bodies as leaders has to be more explicit in an online rehearsal

Body connection:

1) bring your firsts up, arrange yourself so that you believe your fists are covering your mouth. You have
a great expressive tool that is still visible (your eyes). Try to communicate the following emotions with
just your eyes: fear/anxiety, happy/surprise (there’s a puppy in the room that you don’t have to take
care of).
- Take one thumb and one pinky out in the same direction. Switch back and forth. Have students follow
the visual cue. Wink the opposite eye.
- Purpose is to remind ourselves through a visual means that even though you can no longer hear it or
feel it, you can SEE it
2) Arms and legs free itchy nose - imagine you have a very itchy nose but you can’t scratch it with your
hands. Explore the types of facial muscles you can use: vertical, horizontal, modify tempo, big strokes, etc.

The more levity you can bring to your group, the better. Transition into musical skills

3) “Four Things”: - snap 4 times, group echos

- leader does another action 4 x and group follows
- the followers need to pay attention to the next action while they are doing the
previous. Choir members don’t do the action with the leader, they do it after the
leader moves on to the next.
- can give the ‘leader’ role to a choir member
- can also do this activity with melody e.g. “do, re, do”

4) Storytelling - you can just take the energy of the conductor in an online rehearsal. Everyone has the
same energy in the zoom box.

a) Bubble gum: what flavour? Put it in your hands, smell it. What type of breath did you use to engage?
- Pop it into your mouth and really chew it. Tell a story (while on mute) that requires a lot of
gestures to communicate (e.g joy, frustration, excitement, etc). Could have individuals tell their
story in 10 seconds or less. Talk about the resonance and vocal experience the singers had.
b) Conducting: - teach a conducting in 4 beat pattern
- ‘Do’ is always on beat one
- Sing the whole scale
- Sing in canon
- Use pre-recorded sound to help scaffold (the leader can’t sing two parts at one
time)
- Use of a metronome helps to keep the beat (e.g. was singing in 3 part round)
- The more you can pre-record, the better to engage with energy to the screen
c) Sight reading: - share your screen with small excerpts of music
- To coordinate who sings what/when, have students annotate by writing their
name above the bar they wish to sing. This can be done in zoom by going to the
green bar that says “you’re viewing ______’s screen”, click on either “view
options” or “more…”, turn on “annotate”
- This allows for an easier transition between singers and gives them a chance to
practice

* compliments should be specific and forthcoming

* criticisms should always be collective
* support everyone where they are at
* facilitate a culture of participation