Video transcript
Warm-ups for your choir (primary) - eClass 1 - Body and breath - 2. Preparing the breath

RACHEL KELLY: Breathing exercises will help teach your choir good breathing habits and give them a more resonant and supported sound. Your singers must learn to take a full deep breath using the diaphragm, not the chest. Good singing posture is essential for effective breathing.

So we're going to do some breathing now. I want you just to get rid of all the air in your lungs. Now take a deep breath in, hold it, and out. Of course, making sure when you breathe in that your shoulders don't go up. You're filling out this way.

Put your hands around your waist so you can feel the expansion. Ready, breathe in, hold it, and out. Beautiful. Relax again, arms down. We're going to breathe in for 4 counts. We'll hold it and then breathe it all out for 4.

Ready, breathe in 2, 3, 4, hold. Out 2, 3, 4. This time, we're going to breathe in for 4 but out for 8. So you need to control the air.

Here we go. Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, hold. Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Very good.

This time we're going to extend the counting even longer. We're going to bring that to 12 counts. Here we go. Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, hold. Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Let's do one more. We'll go to 16. So you really have to control it, just like slowly letting the air out of a balloon. Here we go, breathe in, 2, 3, 4, hold. Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. Well done.

All right, the next thing we're going to do is another way to prepare our breathing, to prepare the breath. I want everyone to put their hands here. And you're just going to make this sound in this rhythm, sh, sh, shhh.

STUDENTS: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: And as you do that, you should feel the breath going in and out. Try it again. Ready, and--

ALL: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: When I do that, do you see my shoulders going up and down? Does it go, sh, sh, shh, like that?

No, this doesn't move. It's just in here. Let's try it again. Ready, and--

ALL: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: Good, let's do it 3 more times. Ready, and--

ALL: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: Let's do it 2 more times, making sure your shoulders stay down, OK? Here we go. Ready, and

ALL: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: One more time.

ALL: Sh, sh, shhh.

RACHEL KELLY: This one is a really good warm-up for sustaining the breath. OK? So you need a really good breath at the start of it to be able to get through it. But I'm going to teach you how it goes first.

We're going to start on this note (singing) do, (speaking) and we're going to hold it for 4. I'll conduct the 4 beats. Watch me, ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Do.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. Then, we're going to go-- we're going to sing the do again, but we're also going to sing re.

And we're going to hold them for 2 notes at 2 beats each. So (singing) do, re. (speaking) Try that, and--

ALL: (singing) Do, re.

RACHEL KELLY: Excellent, so let's do the do first before, then the do and the re, for 2. So you do do twice, don't you? Here we go. Ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re.

RACHEL KELLY: Good, are you allowed to take a breath in the middle, do you think?

STUDENTS: No.

RACHEL KELLY: No, let's try it again. Here we go. Think about how you're standing. Here we go. Ready.

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re.

RACHEL KELLY: Very nice. This time we're going to sing, (singing) do, re, mi, re. (speaking) One beat each. Try it, ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Do, re, mi, re.

RACHEL KELLY: Good, can we do all of that in a row? So it's do for 4, do and re for 2, do, re, mi, re, for one each. Here we go. Big breath, you can't breathe in the middle. Ready, and

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re.

RACHEL KELLY: Hard not to sing do at the end, isn't it? We will sing do. For the last bit, we're going to go even faster. We're going to fit 2 notes into each beat.

So what will that make them? What kind of notes will they be? Yes?

STUDENT: Quavers.

RACHEL KELLY: Quavers, excellent. So we're going to sing quavers, and we're going to sing these notes, (singing) do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do. (speaking) So we have to sing all the notes from do to so and back again.

Let's just practise that slowly to make sure we've got the notes in our head. (singing) Ready.

ALL: Do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: A bit faster, and--

ALL: Do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: And again.

ALL: Do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. So do for 4, do and re for 2 beats each, do, re, me, re, for one beat each, and then from do to so and back again, 2 notes in every beat, as quavers. Let's give it a try. Here we go. Concentrate, and all in one breath. Here we go, ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re, so, re, mi, fa, so fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: It's hard, isn't it? We wouldn't want to go any slower. Here we go. Try it again. You're doing very well because it's only new. Here we go. It helps if you're standing really well. Then you've got a lot of space to breathe in the air and support the sound. (singing) Ready.

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: Who found it easier that time? Wonderful. (singing) Let's start on the next note up. Do. (speaking) Ready to breathe?

ALL: (singing) Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) And starting on this note. Ready.

ALL: Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: And let's do one more (singing) starting on this note. I'm not going to sing with you this time. See if you can do it. Ready.

STUDENTS: (singing) Do, do, re, do, re, mi, re, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do.

RACHEL KELLY: Now, when we've been doing our breathing exercises, often we take in a nice deep, slow breath. Don't we? And I'll count to 4 as we breathe in, and then we'll breathe out. But when we're singing, in our songs, we don't always have that much time to take a breath. Do we?

Because often, we're in the middle of the song, we've just finished one phrase, and we have to snatch a quick breath before the next phrase. So this little exercise is just to help us think about how to snatch that breath. So I want everyone just to say, you can say to me, I want you to say hi.

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: Now, I bet you didn't really think about taking a breath before you said that. You just said it. Try that again. Hi

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: This time, before you say it, I want you to take a breath before you say it. Like this, hi.

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: I think it sounded better. This time do the same thing. Snatch that breath before you say it and think about how it feels when you say hi. Ready.

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: Did it feel supported? Did it feel like you had expanded your diaphragm, and you had a bit more space there, and that it was supporting the word? Now try saying it without thinking about snatching your breath, just saying it. Go.

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: Now try it, snatching the breath. Go.

STUDENTS: Hi.

RACHEL KELLY: Yeah. So even just a little exercise like that helps us get used to the feeling [inhales] of taking that quick breath, of filling up and supporting the sound.