Page 6 - Voice for Life Songbook 1

Rehearsals
It is important to rehearse regularly to maintain the motivation and commitment of your singers.As a general rule, it is good to rehearse weekly although you may need extra rehearsals when leading up to a special concert or service.
Long and badly planned rehearsals are often counter-productive and result in singers of any age feeling bored and frustrated. From the very start, balance your rehearsal time so that you include time for warm-ups, vocal training and learning repertory. By building in a variety of tasks you will keep your singers concentration and interest.
Tips on rehearsing and improving your choir:
􏰀 Make sure that everyone can see you, and that they have room to see and move.Two or three rows of singers in a slight arc should provide the most successful layout.
􏰀 Your choir will need to stand to sing for some if not all of the rehearsal.When sitting to sing, make sure that children are seated on chairs or benches and not on the floor, as this will restrict their stomach muscles.
􏰀 Try and rehearse your choir in the largest space available to you so that your singers can be encouraged to project their voices.When leading up to a performance, where possible, try and arrange a rehearsal where the performance will take place so that your singers are prepared for the acoustic and layout.
􏰀 Make sure your rehearsal room is well ventilated so that it is not too stuffy, otherwise singers will become lethargic and find it hard to concentrate. Equally a rehearsal room that is cold will all too often cause singers instinctively to raise their shoulders to keep warm – this causes tension in the throat and jaw and also limits the blood supply to the heart which makes you colder.
􏰀 When you have a long rehearsal, make sure that singers are given a break, perhaps building in a rhythm game or similar, so that your singers are able to rest their voices for a few minutes, and regain their concentration.You may like to encourage them to bring water and some food to keep their energy levels up.
􏰀 Unless you have perfect pitch, the use of a piano, keyboard or other instrument is essential to
help you pitch the starting notes of songs accurately. Singing with an accompaniment can be a real motivating factor for singers, when they can hear how their vocal part fits with the rest of the music.
􏰀 Where possible see if you can find an accompanist for your rehearsals.This will allow you to concentrate entirely on the singing. It may also mean that you can split the choir into groups and run sectional rehearsals working on individual parts.
􏰀 When singing unaccompanied, practise pitching the first note quietly and accurately.
􏰀 Teach everything by demonstrating as well as you can.This means that you must know the music well yourself, and have developed your own singing as much as you can.Where possible, always demonstrate by singing, rather than by playing the piano, as you want to provide your singers with a vocal sound to copy.
􏰀 Look and listen as your choir sings, and avoid singing along with them.Try to analyse where there are problems, and how they might be put right.Tackle one problem at a time.
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