First off, thanks for all the suggestions I got when I started doing warm-ups, we are slowly progressing through them (although we are avoiding "fluffly, floppy, puppy" as none of us can say it let alone sing it!

However, the chorus director has now suggested that each of us has a specific technical skill to focus on during the warm-up (as well as simply warming up)...

I got voice production and voice direction - i.e. getting sound past the front row of the audience.

Any ideas?

Ta muchly

There are a few things that you can do before you ask them to sing a single note. First go through the correct posture needed for good singing, then perhaps explain how important it is to relax when singing. You could do some head rolling exercises very slowly, first one way and then the other. You could do some breathing work too. Explain about the correct way to take breaths and how to support the voice. Do some stretching up of arms and some gentle exhalation followed by some deeper breathing. Ask them to breathe out slowly and evenly whilst tightening up the diaphragm muscles and them when they breathe in again they will get it right and expand rather than tighten even more. Projection can be helped by producing clear consonants and vowels so sing something that needs really clear articulations. Are you sure that you have given up on Fluffy floppy Puppy? That was my earlier suggestion.

Ok, you've convinced me Petrat. I'll try Fluffy Floppy Puppy again next time, I think my problem was that I was doing it too fast.

Thanks for your other comments also, I'll try them out.

Btw I've moved the thread to the Teachers forum, where I thought I was putting it before! Not sure how I managed to put it in the wrong forum.

do you sing or say fluffy floppy puppy? I teach in a secondary school and would love some more suggestions for fun warmups for choir/class room!

FT xx

Hey, shall we start a "Fluffy, Floppy Puppy" post? You sing it in even quavers, to each note of a major scale. So you might sing it on C then D and so on. By the time you get to the top you will have sung the Fluffy, Floppy Puppy phrase eight times. Follow the leader games can be fun as warm-ups too. You sing a short phrase first and then the choir has to sing it again. Begin with easy, short ones and add to them. Have fun..