FW: minstrel: RE: pitch (was solfege)

[Patricia Yarrow]

Tibicen wrote:


<<!  I think maybe we're using "warmup" for different purposes?

<<To my mind, a warmup is not to get the group in tune (is that what you
are thinking of it as?), it is to limber the voice so it is
sufficiently agile and responsive as to be able to do what the mind
commands it.  When I fail to warm up properly, I sing out of tune and
coarsely, not because I don't know where the pitches are or how to
make a good sound, but because when I think "do that" at my throat, it
misses.

<<Thus, I like to start with stepwise motion over a very limited range
(e.g. a 5th), and slowly move that range through the middle of the
vocal range.  Or sliding.  Only then moving to jumps, only then ranges
of over a 5th (e.g. octave arpeggios).>>

Yes.  I like to start with the more limited range exercise, then move into
triad-based exercises stretching both the top and bottom of the range,
possibly a note holding or tuning exercise, then finish with something
catch-y.  After that the entire voice is warmed up and ready for practice or
performance.

<<The very feature of late-period catches -- their ranginess -- is
precisely why I don't like them for warmups.  They're the sort of
thing I need a warmup to do in the first place.>>

I should have specified final warmup.  If you *can* catch, then you're
ready.

Vivien