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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 11:48am | IP Logged
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OK. Libby is gone for the summer, and our pastor is desperate. So desperate, in fact, that he asked me to cantor for the rest of the summer. Oh, help. I think I can get over the general terror of singing in front of the congregation...at least, I hope I can.  Any suggestions for good warm-ups before 9:30 Mass? I tend to be a bit gravelly in the morning.
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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Sarah
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 12:21pm | IP Logged
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I was a voice major (which doesn't really mean anything  ).
Anyway, I would start with simple arpeggio type ee-ee-ee (up) and ah-ah-ah-ah (down). (For example C-"ee" E-"ee" G-"ee" B-"ah" (down)G-"ah" E-"ah" C-"ah" Then up to D-F#-A-D and back down on to E. . . (hopefully this makes sense. I would do them both legato (smooth) and staccato (bouncy). You can do this away from a piano. Humming gently warms things up, too. Don't force your voice to "wake up", but the earlier you get it in use before 9:30 the better you'll be.
Be really careful with "ee" because it could be tense. "EE" should feel as though it sits behind your front teeth (as opposed to being way back in your throat).
You can warm up hours before you actually sing which gives your voice to time to "wake up."
Another good one is CDEFG & back down GFEDC on "EE" then on "AH" then "oo" then up to DEF#GA & back down and on up (If this doesn't make sense I can try to explain it better.)You couls start lower than middle C, I was just using the notes as an example.
Another one that will totally bug everyone in your house is to sing "who" on different pitches up and down.
Also, even more annoying (but really great) is to start as low as you can on AH and slowly rise up like a siren as high as you can go without forcing--always imaging that your voice is behind your teeth and going forward, rather than being thrown toward the back of your throat. If a person sings too much behind their soft palette, it will sound like they have cotton in their mouth. Have you heard a tornado siren? How it slowly rises high and louder? Well, like that . No, really it is so great. Do it in the car if you feel stupid. And never force it. (It won't SOUND pretty, but it gets the cords moving well).
Finally, if it hurts to sing, something is wrong. It should never hurt.
Also, I would vocalize each day for like 5-10 minutes (or more if you want) to "get in shape." 
I don't know if this was ANY help at all!
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Sarah
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 12:22pm | IP Logged
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PS-singing in the shower works great to stay in shape!
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aussieannie
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 8:25pm | IP Logged
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Macbeth,
I am in choir so I could add that my choir master often has us singing things like, "Nine hundred and nightly nine" because the 'n' is supposed to help stretch? the cords. So any silly play on words with lot of N's are supposed to be good. He also has us saying, "MEEEOOOW" (yes, like a cat does  )projecting and exaggerating the word, the other things he does with us, Sarah has covered very well, so I second her advise. Also doing vibrating R's and D's and B's up and down the scale is suppose to be helpful. (tongue and mouth can get tingling! )
But my biggest and most effective tool in improving the voice is ginger tea! When I had pluerisy and pnemonia 18months ago, I had to leave choir for a few month due to a slow recovery, in that period I did not sing (very long time for me not to sing) but I got onto drinking ginger for the health of my lungs. When I went back I was shocked by the sweetness and quality of my voice! No practise, no daily singing, just drinking the tea.
My breath control was absolutely shocking probably due to lung damage, but if nothing else my voice sounded like it had never sounded before. When I went to my well-worn Herb book to read the write up on Ginger it said in there that singers use it to 'sweeten' their voice - so it confirmed what I had accidently discovered.
I drink this daily now for good health and for my voice, I buy either dried roots (small and chucky looking), or just ginger tea (with nothing mixed with it)from the store or buy fresh ginger and grate a little bit and put it in my herb strainer in hot water.
Know how your feeling by the way - not so much IN choir and cantoring for them - but singing by myself in public, that's a different thing!(more poor knees and hands! )
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aussieannie
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| Posted: July 02 2006 at 8:33pm | IP Logged
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Sarah wrote:
| PS-singing in the shower works great to stay in shape! |
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Well we all start there, because it is where we sound the best!
Wasn't till I joined choir and saw how particular they were about the placement of the choir in the church (side atriums-with high roof - enclosed space with three walls)and how they dread singing in a church with carpet that I relised the bathroom can be like a mini version of all that in the home!
What a fabulous place TO sing - I heard once that when starting out singing it is rare for someone to have a poor voice that nothing can be done with to improve but that it is mostly an issue of poor confidence in themselves - so bathrooms are God-sent for more than the obvious reasons.
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TracyQ
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| Posted: July 04 2006 at 10:30am | IP Logged
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I once saw Amy Grant on the Tonight Show, and she said she eats potato chips before she sings, because the grease really helps her throat when singing.
I too am a singer, but there are a million and three different things that are good, I'm sure (ok, that's hyperbole), but I do agree, it shouldn't hurt.
I'm going to try the ginger tea thing!
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 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 3:35pm | IP Logged
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Hey, Tracy! I once heard that Freddie Mercury (deceased lead singer of Queen) used to eat a POUND of M & M's before he performed. I don't know if it helped his voice...
Thanks for all the advice! I finally got to sing today, twice. It went, um, OK, sort of. At 9:30 Mass, the organist did not show up, so I sang acapella. It was fine, but I could not remember the tune to the second line of one piece (and the music was not in the missal), but once the congregation got started, it was good.
For 12:30 Mass, the organist showed (he's a rock and roller filling in until we find a permanent organist), rewired everything in the choir loft, miked the organ (I really did not know that one could do that...), and opened his list of music--totally different than what I had prepared. I knew the pieces, so it was not too big a deal. Here's the funny part: With the fans blowing in the loft, and the organ miked, I could not hear myself at all, and for all that work, my mike was so low that no one else could hear me either. 
There's always next week.
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 3:40pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I forgot to mention...
During the entrance hymn, the organ stuck on a loud G, and we had to shut it off . During the offertory, the organist played the intro to the wrong piece .
Really. Next week will be fine, right?
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
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Sarah
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 5:18pm | IP Logged
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Bravo! 
It can only get better. . .
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Sarah
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 5:20pm | IP Logged
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ps-
I died laughing reading your posts. . .not AT you, of course.
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TracyQ
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 5:28pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth,
I'm sure it can only get better, but I think the fault did not lie with you, but him.
You'd LOVE singing with my dh accompanying you. He's an organist, and choir director. With me being a singer, I always said it was a match made in heaven!
Potato chips dear..........potato chips! They make EVERYthing better!!!
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Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: Any vocalists out there?
