by Patricia Larue Mackay
(Victoria, B.C. Canada)
To help loosen up tension at the beginning of the rehearsal I teach my students a fairly simple round and get them singing in two parts.
I then ask the group (first in unison) to start walking around the room in random direction while singing their part. I encourage them to focus on their walking and on hearing their own voice as they move about.
Start again only in two parts and have group two come in after group one. Once secure I ask the singers to repeat the exercise but walking backwards looking over their shoulder. (Not good posture - but with all this going on they have to internalize the melody and carry their part.)
Dana:
Great ideas! I'm going to try this with my students!