You may live this life exercise....

Imagine that it is almost time for choir to begin, except you are the instructor, not the student! You walk over to your old school chalk board and take a piece of chalk in one hand and your eraser in the other. You begin to draw a beautiful landscape for your students to see when they enter your classroom. You step back and say "Hmmmm." You decide you don't like your picture, so you erase the whole thing with the eraser in your other hand. You take a deep breath and then blow all the chalk dust off the board. "Hmmm" you say again as you ponder what to draw. Just then you notice that some chalk dust has floated onto the arms of your black shirt, (ad. lib "Oh No!") so you take another deep breath and puff away the specks of chalk. "Ahhh" you smile and sigh with satisfaction. Your relaxing smile and sigh has inspired you to draw a picture on the chalkboard you are sure your students will love. You take two colors of chalk, one in each hand and begin to draw on the board. By the time the bell rings and your students come in you have a beatiful relaxing scene for them to imagine thier selves in for a relaxing life exercise!

SLOW DOWN!

Imagine with me that you are walking to Jackson Hall to go to class. You approach the front door, open it, walk through and start heading up the stairs. Once you reach the top, you realize that you have dropped your pencil out of your hand, and you exclaim, "Oh no! I have dropped my pencil!" So, you reach down and pick it up. You have decided to put it in your backpack so that it doesn’t fall again, so you reach back to the left and realize that your bag is not on that side. You then reach back to the right, unzip your bag, put the pencil in and zip it back up. You then continue walking to class. As you’re walking down the hall, all of a sudden, a freshman guy bumps into you as he runs past. You stop and call to him, "SLOW DOWN!" Because of the exquisite reverberancy of Jackson Hall, you hear an echo back that is quieter but just as intense. You hear, "SLOW DOWN." He continues running, but you, entranced by what you hear, continue to speak. You say, "HELLO!" and it echos back, "HELLO." You continue by saying, "ECHO!" and you hear, "ECHO." By this time, you realize that you are getting very strange looks from everyone who is passing by, and you decide to stop what you are doing and go to class.

Springtime

Spring is in the air, and what’s even better, it’s Saturday! You leisurely get up from bed and stretch. You go over to the window and reach up to tug on the string for the blinds. Then you reach down to pull up the window. You take a big whiff of the spring air to enjoy the spring smell and sigh. Now it is time to wake up your roommate. You stand near the window and call: “Wake Up! It is Saturday!” Your roommate looks at you and says: “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting for your group project?” You look at your watch and say “Oh No!” You hurriedly walk to the door and open it. You walk down the stairs in your dorm, and quickly dash to Buckingham. You open the large wooden doors and clamber up the stairs. You take a few deep, calming breaths before you walk into the MRC. When you walk in, you notice a note on the table; your meeting has been canceled. You sigh in relief.

I am Very Thirsty

It is the beginning of springtime at Baptist Bible College, and it is so beautiful out! You raise your arms high to the warm sun and say joyously, "Praise God for springtime!" You have just made your way to Buckingham Palace to practice on this fine sunny afternoon. You open the big heavy wooden doors, march up the stairs, and enter through the second set of doors. Just then, you realize that you have left your favorite Nalgene water bottle all the way back at your dorm! Throwing up your hands in exasperation, you cry "Oh No!" Since you are very thirsty today, and since you want to avoid the inconvenience of always having to trek from your practice room to the water fountain, and since it is so lovely out you wouldn't mind the walk anyway, you decide that you simply must rescue the stray water bottle from the loneliness of your dorm room.You turn, bound back through the glass doors, run hastily down the stairs, and head out the back door. You see Mr. McGroove on his way to retrieve coffee from the underground cafe. "ah, hello!" you say, waving at him as you run past. He says, "Where are you running to?" But you don't answer- you are intent on your goal. You are finally able to make it to your dorm and to successfully obtain the much desired Nalgene. On your way back, you are much more distractable. You see a motercycle put-put past you, and you decide to imitate it (lip flutter). As you continue to walk, you see a little squirrel on the sidewalk. You hop along like you see him doing. However, he sees you next to him and he freezes in a stiff position. You imitate this as well. However, as it is creating tension in your neck and shoulders, you decide to instead imitate one of the geese you see flying north overhead. your flap your arms and pretend like you're soaring through the blue skies. Sigh. You have made it back to the land of Buckingham palace by now, and you return through the back door, up the stairs, and through the glass doors. You collapse in a chair and sigh contentedly, knowing that now you have your precious Nalgene by your side while you practice.

A Trees Life

Imagine that you are an acorn seed which has been buried in the soft soil by a river. Settle yourself down as close to the ground as possible (squatting position), your arms tucked into your chest and your head bowed. Now as you are nurtured by the rain and clear streams of Living Water you begin to grow. Slowly allow yourself to stand lifting the head and arms last. Stretch the arms out and up growing yourself into a healthy strong tree. Wiggle your fingers and feel warm sun beaming on you and wiggle your toes and feel the soft earth below you, allow the breeze to sway you back and forth (sigh).
Now imagine the coming of fall, your leaves are turning colors and beginning to fall. Shake the leaves from your branches, (allow your head to move back and forth and sideways gently, roll your shoulders, shake each arm and each leg). Once the leaves are gone winter arrives causing you to become stiff with cold "brrrrrrrrrrrrr", stiffen every muscle like you are one big frozen hard block of wood. Then spring comes with its strange mixture of summer warmth and winters cold. Relax your outstretched limbs and let them sway in the warmth a bit, then stiffen them like winter, and repeat (relax, stiffen, relax, stiffen). Until finally the warm summer once again arrives and you can freely stretch yourself and reach once again to the welcoming sun (sigh). The End.

A Lesson From Children

Let us pretend that you are a child that has been eagerly anticipating the spring time. You walk outside in your jacket and realize it is much too warm for it. "I do not need this!" You call excitedly, as you remove your jacket stretch! You see a few of your freinds coming out of the house next to yours, and you call to them, "Hello! Would you like to play?" You run to meet him/her, and decide that today, you will be playing cowboys and indians. You are the indian. You make an "Ooooo" sound and tap your hand over your mouth, making the sound and indian would make. As you are "fighting" with your friend the cowboy, you reach behind your back, and grab an imaginary arrow. You put the arrow in your iinvisible bow and pull it back as far as you can. You shoot!! "Oh no!" You say. You missed your friend! Your friend comes toward you with his imaginary gun and you raise your hands in surrender. Stretch to the sky! You are tired of this game, and decide it would be best to go for a swim. You and your friend run to the creek behind your house, and jump in, clothes and all. The water is not very deep, so there is no real danger for you, but it is very cold! You shiver! You decide to have a contest to determine who can blow the most bubbles. You blow as hard and as fast as you can in the water. You take a few deep breaths to calm your body down, and you stretch one more time, saying "I love being outside! The sun feels so good!" You quickly run out of the water and back to your house, where you mother is not very happy that you have gone swimming. She shakes her head back and forth slowly, and then smiles and quickly gets you a towel. You dry yourself off as best as you can, and you give your mother a very big hug.


THE END

The Wonderful World of Wetness

It is a warm, wet day, and you walk outside with your hands held high in the air exclaiming, “I love the rain because that means spring is near!” You walk very carefully to dinner, tiptoeing in the streams that are pouring down the sidewalk. You realize that your shoe is untied, so you reach down and tie it so that it doesn’t get all wet. You continue walking and see your friend up ahead of you. You shout to her to wait. “Hello! Wait for me!” You pick up your pace and begin swinging your arms as you walk. The water is splashing on you now, but you say, “Who cares!” because you love the rain and can’t wait to get to dinner. You look up to the sky and hold out your tongue, trying to catch the large rain drops as they fall from the sky. You finally catch up to your friend right as she enters the doors of the student center. You walk inside, shake off to try to get dry, and then let out a happy sigh because you finally get to go to dinner after a long day of classes!

Wake Up!

Imagine with me that it is the early morning and you are up and ready for a short jog. You first stretch and sigh because you are still quite sleepy. Then you open the door and go outside, but the air is much colder than you expected, so you shiver and say “Brrrrr (rolled R).” The wind is howling (crescendo and decrescendo on “ooh”), so you start to jog to stay warm. As you are going along, you hear an ambulance in the distance (woo-woo-woo). It gets closer and closer and louder and louder and then fades away after it whizzes by you. You exclaim “Oh no” because someone must be hurt! You keep jogging, but become tired very quickly because you are out of shape. So you stop to rest, let out another sigh and stretch. You decide that just getting out of bed was an accomplishment for you, so you head back to your dorm, refreshed and feeling good.

A walk in the woods

It's a beautiful, warm day at BBC, so you decide to take a refreshing walk through the woods. You bend over and tie your shoes, and step outside. The air is crisp, a little chillier than you expected so you shiver, and quickly run inside and put on your coat. Again you step foot outside, this time taking a deep breath of the spring (yay!) air. You are now walking through the woods, brushing the branches out of the way of your face with sweeping motions. Suddenly, a fire breathing dragon appears in your path! You yell "O no! A dragon!" You quietly run away from the dragon, who is luckily out of shape and you easily outrun him. You breath a sigh of relief. Finally, you come to a clearing in the woods. You have walked and ran a long way, and are tired, so you stretch and sigh again. In the middle of the clearing is a big tree, a perfect tree to sit in. So you climb the tree, and settle in to read a book for the afternoon.

Quiz Twelve Scores "soop!"

AM19 - 17/17
daddyzlittleangel - 17/17
dreams - 17/17
Flossy - 17/17
Jillian - 17/17
maviecestmusique - 17/17
patato splat - 17/17
Shoedeedoodoo - 17/17
Thedairyqueen - 17/17

Yah knah, wah'll goh ahp [up] thah rohd and visit Marco! God bless him, yah knahw [know]! He's had a tahgh [tough] two or tree days, yah knahw! He needs tah drink some hahmade soop!

Quiz [Open Book] Chapter 15

1. What does IPA stand for? [106]
International Phonetic Alphabet

2. [T or F] IPA exists in order to speak and sing English correctly, and to find one’s way into foreign languages. [106]

3-4. If the conductor is able to teach his choir clean diction, he has already solved one of the biggest problems in choral singing: blending the sound. [106]

5. [T or F] A pure vowel is a vowel sound that remains unchanged throughout its duration. [108]

6. [T or F] From our experience, the best help for amateurs in singing a dipthong is to instruct the singers to sing only the first vowel and not even to think the second one. [108].

7. When vowels are sung, it is sometimes necessary to change them in order for them to blend and sound correct to the listener. That is called vowel modification. [110]

8-12. Write out the five basic pure vowels the way in which they were spelled in the text. [110]
oo, oh, ah, eh, ee

9-12. Match the IPA symbols with their appropriate “key word.” [106-107]

9. father [a]
10. remember [see text]
11. she [i]
12. it [I]
13. paw [see text]

14. The tongue should feel like a ___ _____ lying on the floor the mouth:A. a slinky B. a wet towel C. a wooden board D. a wet sponge [110]

15. What consonant is substituted for the flipped “r”? A. “t” B. “d” C. “p” D. a growled back throated “r” [111]

16. [T or F] The “L” should be articulated so that the middle of the tongue is arched pronouncing the sound in the mid-mouth. [112]

17. [T or F] Teaching the schwa for singing requires teaching a variation of different sounds in order to achieve the proper choral blend. [113]

Packing and posture

The end of the semester has finally arrived. You are almost finished packing up your dorm room. You walk up the steps into your dorm and open the door to your room. You step up onto a chair to reach the books on your highest bookshelf. It has been quite a while since the last white glove, so a layer of dust covers your books. You throw up your hands and cry "O no!" You then blow away the layer of dust. You gather your books in your arms and step back down off the chair. You decide to test your posture since you have a book so handy. With both hands, you place the book on top of your head and stand as straight as you can. But the book slides right off your head onto the floor. You drop your head and sigh with some disappointment at your bad posture. You lean down to pick up the book and stand up very slowly to ensure your back is straight and relaxed. Once you are in a correct upright position, you place the book back on your head and to your satisfaction, it remains in place! You sigh very contentedly. Just then your roomate walks in and sees you with a book on your head. Your roomate gives you a funny look and sighs. You say in your head voice, "What do you expect? I am a music major after all!" You then finish packing, call "Goodbye!" to all your friends, and head out for your summer vacation!

Snowed in...

It has been blusterously snowing all day, so much so that classes for the rest of the day have been cancelled (raise high your arms toward heaven, saying "thank you! thank you! thank you!") and you have bounded through the fresh, white blanket of fluffy flakes to take refuge within the familiar walls of buckingham palace (sigh) to consume a piping hot bowl of chicken noodle soup (you blow on it to cool it...) with your closest friends in the entire world (sigh). Though most of the professers have abandoned their posts, Doc remained entrenched for a time, but now he must leave... He saunters in and asks "does anyone happen to have an ice scraper?" being well prepared for the snow you certainly do have one, so the two of you proceed, with ice scraper in hand, down the well worn stone steps to the rather hefty wooden doors that now stand between you and the outside world. Taking a deep breath, you push, with the ferver of all your weighty strength on the wind pressed doors (imitating that wind as you push...). As soon as you take your first step outside, the frigid air hits you so hard that you instantly clasp yourself tight, shivering (brrrrrr...). You then realize that in your frigid fevor you dropped the precious ice scraper in the snow "O no!" (you bend down and retrieve it). Desperate to return to the warmth of good company and hot soop within the palace, you dash over to the golden blazer, wiping and scraping in great haste...thrusting the frozen flakes off the hood first, then the winshield, scraping the ice to reveal the transparent glass encrusted beneath... you are done! "g-g-good b-b-bye d-d-doc!" you exclaim and hastily bound in through the great doors, up the stairs and in to the MRC, casting aside the cold ice scraper, in exchange for the tender warmth of your close friends, you collapse contentedly on the toasty couch with a sigh!

Chamber Singers Relaxation Exercise Vignette March 15

Clamoring up the bank opposite the bucolic Blue Ridge mountain cabin you're vacationing in, you notice your white Bichon [now mountain mud brown] Luciano frolicking in the slimy muck on the edge of the stream bank. You reach down for him. He squirms out of your hands. As Luciano runs up the bank, you reach up the bank and grab him. The wily canine scoots away from you racing up the bank again. You call, "Luciano come back" and preceed running up the edge of the mountain for him. You lift your arms up to the air calling, "O No!" You notice that Luciano is running to some climbers above you. You call to them, "Can you catch my canine?" You run to the climbers, take luciano from the twenty-something cool looking couple who grabbed him. You lift up your little brown friend [was he white?] into the air. You exclaim, "You are a bad dog. Come with me!"

Chamber Singers Relaxation Exercise Vignette March 13

To cross the stream behind your cabin without getting wet, there is a small suspension bridge made of wood planks with heavy wire side holds for your hands to balance your body. Stepping on to the bridge your body feels the gentle sway of wood and wire. Your feet swing – your hands sway up and down with the wire. You say, “It’s so hot! It would be fun to let go and get wet.” Taking your hands off of the wire you crouch down and flip over into the refreshing stream. As you immerse yourself [a Baptist relaxation vignette], your body feels like a glass of cold, icy southern sweet tea. You turn around in the water, stretch high and sigh! You reach for the bank opposite your cabin. You crawl out of the stream and begin climbing up with your hands and feet verdant green mountain known as Mt. Edwards. You chose the vacation spot, in part, because you love the name. You see movement ahead. You call, “O No!”

March 12 - Integrating Life Into Your Art!

AM 19 - Present
daddyzlittleangel - Present
dreams - Present
Flossy - Present
Jillian - Absent
maviecestmusique - Present
patato splat - Present
Shoedeedoodoo - Present
Thedairyqueen - Present

OK! So we're all learning from Frauke's little collapsible horse. Strange little toy isn't it? She invites us to sing. Integrating life into her art. The trampoline. the laser beam, the train ch ch ch, the old woman, the shoulder-back solider, the apple with your neck as the stem, the crystal vase you don't want to break. She thoroughly integrates life into her art. That is the big idea from watching her. Integrate life into your art.

Quiz Eleven Scores

AM19 - 8/10
daddyzlittleangel - Absent
dreams - Absent
Flossy - 8/10
Jillian - 10/10
maviecestmusique - 9/10
patato splat - 11/10
shoedeedoodoo - 11/10
Thedairyqueen - 8/10

The big idea [in two parts] last Thursday was: Leaps require intensified support and a lowered jaw. What in the the world does intensified support mean? It simply means that flexible diaphragmatic pushes result in a pressurized breath flow [your text refers to this as the greater speed of the air or intensified air]. Will you sing the upper voice without a pressurized exhalative breath flow? No, it just won't happen.

Dropping the jaw is something that studio trained singers don't have to worry with to the same degree as the amateur choral singer. Why? Because the studio trained singer can create the needed space [opening] inside the mouth; however amateurs will need to think of space in a greater way in terms of dropping the jaw. Remember, failure to do this will result in a pushed sound or an out of tune sound. Mark your choral scores [p. 94] with circles, depending on the kind of jaw needed for the various vowels in the score. You can see as the range climbs, the circles are larger. Good class. See you this afternoon upstairs.

Quiz Chapter Thirteen

1. [T or F] The technique involved with leap performance is often assumed to be understood by the choir members. [93]

2-4. Many times leaps cross register breaks or move into registers which require more:

Support [93]
Maintenance of consistency between registers [93]
Vowel Modification [93]

5-6. Which are the two major steps for executing leaps.

Support [93]
Drop the jaw [94]

7. [T of F] For an upward leap, the choir must be taught to decrease their airflow to perform the leap. [93]

8. [T or F] The larger the interval leap that is sung, the greater the speed or the intensity of the air must be in order to sing that leap. [93]

9. [T or F] The larger the leap, the lower and wider the support must become. [94]

10. What is the quality of sound [could be one of two things] that results when the jaw is not opened on a leap. [94]
pushed sound
frequently out of tune sound

Chamber Singers Relaxation Exercise Vignette March 9

Up you come out of the stream, shaking water off your body and grabbing a towel on the clothes line and drying yourself with it. You remember your spouse reminded you to hang the remainder of the laundry on the line. You pick the clothes basket off of the ground and place it on the picnic table directly behind the cabin. You place a large blanket on the clothes line. You smell the clean fragrance of fresh linen and bring the blanket close to your face. Hearing an automobile nearby, you imitate its sound. It’s your spouse. They say, “Honey, I’m back!” You say, “I’m hanging clothes on the line!” You clothespin a pair of pants on the line so they will know that you have been working. As your spouse walks to the back of the cabin, you run to them giving them a hug with an adoring sigh.

Chamber Singers Relaxation Exercise Vignette March 8

You are vacationing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. You’re standing in the middle of a gently racing stream in back of the log cabin you’ve rented for the week. Your arms rest easily on top of the stream, buoyed up by the running current. You breathe in the fragrance of the honeysuckle flowers blooming on the stream’s shore. Hearing the lazy sound of a bee, you imitate its sound. You move your arms back and forth, feeling the mountain sun above warming your face and chest, and the swirling mountain water below refrigerating your legs and hands. You stretch to the green-treed mountains above you, take a deep breath and plunge straight down into the water. Up you come with your arms above your head, blowing water out of your mouth. Shaking the water off of your upper body you call, “Life is beautiful!”

Quiz Ten Scores

Am19 - Absent
daddyzlittleangel - 12/11
dreams - 10/11
Flossy - 7/11
Jillian - 11/11
maviecestmusique - 12/11
patato splat - 11/11
shoedeedoodoo - 9/11
Thedairyqueen - Absent

The big idea: Your singers throats will respond to conductor's hands. Yes, lower conducting when the students are singing higher is very good; however if your hands are tense as a conductor, the choral sound will reflect the tension seen in the hands. Instrumentalists conducting choral, in my opinion, need to be careful of this. I think that is why a baton does not communicate like the hands can for choral singing.

Stephanie,

Good imagination. Invite us with your body and voice. Teach by way of sending an invitation for those to participate in something that is beautifully compelling. Notice how Frauke does that as she teaches her groups vocal technique. You guys are doing great work. It's a fun class!

Quiz Chapter Twelve

1. [T or F] The higher one sings, the higher correspondingly one breathes. [89]

2. Low tones are: A. unnatural B. natural C. supernatural D. Sensual [89]

3. Therefore: A. do B. do not C. always D. never push out to much breath. [89] [B or D]

4. Start the tone as one starts the tone on a: A. Kazoo B. Cello C. Violin D. Mandolin E. The postmodern deconstructive language approach – “Any of these! Sure, they all work!” [89]

5-6. Circle the two exercises not mentioned in the list for developing high range in singers:

a. Stepwise runs
b. Broken ascending triadic chords
c. Sing slowly
d. As the singers t0 make a physical motion contrary to the direction in which they are singing
e. Producing pitches without awareness of how high they are singing
f. Change the vowel to “ee” in the upper voice [90]

7. For every jump, ask the singer to imagine: A. faster air B. slower air C. stagnant halitosis air D. Holding air [90]

8. What vowel should one change to when working the upper voice in range extension high? A. oo B. ee C. ah D. eh [90]

9. For downward range extension, the conductor should ask for: A. fishmouth B. rabbit teeth C. fishmouth and rabbit teeth D. big mouth and buck teeth [91]

10. For downward range extension, the conductor should use what stepwise exercise? A. 3 note B. 4 note C. 5 note D. sticky note [91]

11. [T or F] The conductor should always minimize the feeling of singing high by conducting low. [91]

Bonus: The big idea for Thursday was captured with the sound of a[n]:
A. Owl B. Dog C. Cow D. Hum E. Call

Chamber Singers Relaxation Exercise Vignette March 1

A great snow hill has been pushed up against the front of the BBC student center. With hats, gloves, and oversized winter coats, the Dreyer children run out of Fletcher Dorm. calling up the sidewalk to their friends, “Let’s go sliding!” Running to the hill’s base, they quickly climb to the top, and slide down on their back ends, calling, “Wow, that was fun and fast.” Reaching down and throwing a snowball at their friends, they soon frolic in the snow. They enjoy one last scramble up the wintry hill gliding down gleefully on their derrières. Throwing up their hands with glee to the heavens, they sigh with pleasure.