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Writer's pictureMr Kyles

Outline of First 50% of Course

Guide to Practicing: First 50% Outline

Overall Procedures

This course is designed to teach you what and how to conduct a one-hour individual practice at home. This is a 6-week course since we are on a 6-week grading cycle. What you learn from each module needs to be incorporated in the next. At the end of the course, you will know 6 different that can be practiced for 10 minutes each, resulting in a 60-minute practice. However, you will get a chance to create your own practice schedule.


Since each module is a week, you will have the entire week to practice the techniques covered. To be clear, your videos are for me to check for understanding, not for how long you practiced. I expect you to practice before you upload, and if you decide to upload early then I still expect you to continuing practicing after.


Each week is separated by modules labeled by the week number and the topic of that week.


The first resource in each module will introduce the topic of the week and provide context on why proficiency is necessary for practice. It will also provide definitions for vocabulary words covered in the module.


Next you will find resources that are informative to the topic that week. It is important to view these resources and participate with full engagement to properly develop your musicianship.


Lastly, you will see your assignment for that week. The assignments may include an interactive activity, or for you to record and upload a video. When recording videos, please ensure that you are in a quiet place with good lighting. Also, only videos of 500MB can be shares so please keep your videos to 6 minutes or less.


Peer Review: You will be automatically assigned 1 peer review per week. Choose one positive thing that you observed that you will add to your practice. Ex: “I should keep my shoulders controlled like yours when breathing.”


Week 1

Breathing- In this module we will focus on the importance of breathing in music. Quality breathing produces quality vocals. Breath control exercises improve your lung capacity and enable you to sing longer and more powerfully. Beginning with breathing exercises will help you to maintain proper breath control throughout your practice.


Video- The video introduces breath control and covers three different breathing exercises.

Exercises- These exercises help you ensure that you are breathing deeply from the diaphragm, instead of chest and shoulder breathing.

1. Lay on floor with a book on your stomach.

a. Raise the book as you inhale and lower the book as you inhale (with your stomach, not hands).

b. Raise the book and keep it held for 5 seconds before you exhale.

c. Stand up and hold the book against your stomach. Push the book outwards as you inhale.

2. Place one hand on your stomach and suck air quickly through your fist with the other. Suck the air all the way down from your stomach.

3. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your diaphragm. Inhale and exhale while making sure that your chest does not move, but only your stomach is expanding.


Vocabulary-Breath control: Using your diaphragm to inhale and controlling the speed of the release.

Diaphragm- The muscle below the lungs that contracts and flattens when you inhale. When you exhale, the diaphragm relaxes, and the air is pushed out of lungs.


Desired Results- Breathing from diaphragm without tension of shoulders, chest, and neck.


Week 2

Warming Up- In this module, you will learn how to properly warm up. Warming up your body and voice before singing is equivalent to stretching your muscles before exercising. Your practice should consist of a proper warm up to avoid strain on your vocal cords and lungs.


Video: Breathing Exercise- A good warm up starts with good breathing. This exercise helps with breath control. As you exhale with the “Ts” sound, there is resistance. Start at 15 seconds until you can comfortably complete it, then 20, then 25 seconds. Make sure to breathe from your diaphragm.


Video: C-Major Scale Vocal Warm Up: The C-Major Scale is the foundation of melodic rudiments. Recognizing the intervals of a major scale is natural because all of the piano keys are white. Once you understand the intervals of the C-Major scale, you can apply the formula to practice any scale you want. Sing along to this video using solfege as a vocal warm up.


Video: Vocal Exercises: This vocal exercise stretches your vocal cords by increasing the range and also warms up your mouth with different pronunciations. Sing along to this video as a vocal warm up.


Desired Results- Participation, execution of exercises with proper breathing.


Week 3

Tone quality- During this week, you will practice some techniques for vocal tone quality. Some notes are more difficult to sing than others, and you want to make every note sound as good as possible. We practice this by pitch matching, pitch recognition, and experimenting with different ranges. Do not get tone quality confused with volume. The volume of a note does not determine its quality. A note of great quality can be soft or loud. Tone quality is about singing the correct note with confidence and proper breath support.



Video:

Vocal Warm Up: Pitch Matching- In this warm-up, you will sing “me” at the original pitch. The notes will change, getting higher and then lower. You will have to adjust your voice to match the pitch changes. This will require a little bit more practice to get used to.


Pitch Recognition- During this activity, you will use your listening skills to try to determine how two different pitches relate to each other. Two different notes will be played, and you have to use your ear to figure out if the second note is higher or lower than the first note.


Vocabulary

Pitch- The quality of a sound; the highness or lowness of a tone


Desired Results- Matching the correct pitches, recognition of higher and lower notes.

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