| Vocal Exercises |
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| Breathing and Mouth Exercises This is starting at the very beginning! Get the group to yawn. Practice taking deep breaths and encourage them to breath from their diaphragm (when you breath in your stomach should expand and when you exhale your stomach shoul deflate). Get them to sing "ah" to a focus point in the room and then to the person opposite them. Ensure they are really focusing the sound to the specified point or person. Get them to sing "me me me me me..." and then go through the other vowels (eg, ma, mo, mi etc). They can then try "la la la la...", "le le le le...." etc. It is very important to do vocal warm ups like this before undertaking any drama. |
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| Voice Control Exercises Get the children to say a particular phrase, such as "wait for me" or "please let me go" or "I like that", using as many different types of expression as they can. They can vary the pitch, tone or volume or use pause to change the expression. |
| Sound Scapes Arrange the class into small groups. Get them to use their voice and body percussion to create a compisition that evokes vivid imagery of a scene. YOu can designate scenes (such as The Titanic, a busy intersection, a farmyard, storm etc) or get them to come up with one of their own. This is a great activity as it can be varied to suit any classroom theme you may be studying. |
| Songs and Vocal Warm Ups These are a few good songs for vocal warm ups: Who Stole the Cookie? "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? (name) stole the cookie from the cookie jar. Who me? Yes you. Couldn't be. Then who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" Hey: "Hey (name)... I think i hear my name. Hey (name)... I think i hear it again. You're wanted on the telephone. Well if it isn't (another name) then i'm not home" 1,2,1: The group count "1, 1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1..." and so on all the way up to 8 (each number representing the 8 notes in an octave). And then they count back down again "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1..."etc. |
> I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop > Sheena leads, Sheila needs > Santa's short suit shrunk > Pirates private property > The Queen in green screamed > She makes a proper cup of coffe in a proper copper coffee pot > Six sleek swans swam swifly southwards > She sells seashells by the seashore > Red leather, Yellow leather > Unique New York > Toy Boat > Black bug's blood > Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers |
| Sound Rounds Get the children to sit in a circle. One child starts making a rhythmic sound with their voice. The child next to them joins in with another complimenting sound. This continues around the circle until all the children are making a sound. The children then start dropping out in reverse order, so the last one to start is the first one to stop. This can be varied by having the last one to start be the last to drop out, or the teacher can tap peoples shoulder as a signal for them to stop. You can also use a mix of vocal and bodypercussion. |
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| Tongue Twisters Tongue twisters are a great way of practicing articulation and clarity- a MUST for theatre performers! As well as these lised twisters you can also get kids to make up their own. |