RACHEL KELLY: To obtain a pure choral tone, we want our choir to be in their head voice as much as possible. This is more easily achieved in a higher register. So, to help bring the head voice down to the lower register and practise a smooth transition, you can use exercises that start on a high note and descend.

The next one we're going to do-- we've tried this one before-- this is when we sing down an arpeggio. So we're going to start on a fairly high note on an ooh vowel. (singing) Ooh. (speaking) And we'll sing, (singing) ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. (speaking) Eyes this way. Arms by sides. Ready.

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: Let's try it on a different vowel sound. What's another vowel sound we could sing it on? Amelia?

AMELIA: Ah.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ah. I like it. Ready, (speaking) and--

ALL: (singing) Ah, ah, ah, ah.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. Make sure your arms are staying by your sides. What's another vowel sound? Zoey?

ZOEY: Ee

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ee. Ready.

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: Good, let's stay on the ee vowel, but we're going to go up a semitone. (singing) So that was our note. Now we're starting on this one, (speaking) and--

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ooh!

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ooh!

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ooh!

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Ooh!

ALL: (singing) Ee, ee, ee, ee.

RACHEL KELLY: Nice job. Well done.

Number 4 is also to do with making that ng sound. And we're going to sing-- I think we've done this one before. We're going to sing the word hung to get that ng. And then we're going to change it into an aw vowel. (singing) Hung aw.

Try that, (speaking) and--

ALL: Hung aw.

RACHEL KELLY: Good, and then when I show you, we're going to come down the scale. So watch. (singing) Hung. (speaking) Watch first. (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

Your turn.

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Then starting here.

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) And then starting here.

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: So I'm going to show you 3 things. I'm going to show you when to start singing, when to change to the aw, and then went to start going down the scale. OK? (singing) Let's try it on that one again, (speaking) and--

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Da, da.

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. Nice open mouths on the aw. (singing) And then starting on this one.

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: And we'll do one more starting-- (singing) Ooh! (speaking) And--

ALL: (singing) Hung aw, aw, aw, aw, aw.

RACHEL KELLY: Nice work.

So this one is to a noo, N-O-O. Everyone say noo.

STUDENTS: Noo.

RACHEL KELLY: Noo. And it starts quite high. It goes, (singing) noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo. (speaking) That's it. Listen one more time. (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

(speaking) Sitting forward. Let's give it a go. Ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. So we're just singing very gently. We're up in our head voice. (singing) Noo. (speaking) We're not trying to force anything out. Think of it as coming out of the top of your head. It's all up here. (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo. (speaking) Go.

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: So the first little interval is very small. (singing) Noo, oo, oo. (speaking) It's just a semitone. Try it again. Ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: Good. Let's stand up. So for this warm-up, we start high in the voice, and we try and imagine the sound coming out of the top of our head. All the resonance is up here in our head voice. And we're going to start high. And then each time we sing it, we're actually going to come down further and further. But keep that lovely head voice tone. (singing) So we're starting here. Ready, (speaking) and--

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Good, and then we're starting on this note. Noo, oo, oo. (speaking) Ready.

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) And then this one.

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) And one more. Noo, oo, oo. (speaking) Sing.

ALL: (singing) Noo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo, oo.

RACHEL KELLY: Beautiful. Have a seat.

Often, when we do our warm-ups, we tend to do them in major keys. Have you noticed that? Like a major scale, or a major arpeggio, or something like that. We're going to try one in a minor key. So we're going to start up a bit higher, and we're going to a sound on an ooh vowel again.

(singing) So we'll start here, and we're going to sing in a minor triad. Ooh, ooh, ooh. (speaking) Sing that for me, and--

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: Then we're going to go back to the note we started on. Like this. (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. (speaking) Sing that, and--

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: And then we're going to get to our next note to start us off by going down a semitone from where we finished there. So it's (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. (speaking) Very spooky sounding. Try it, and--

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) And then that's the note we start the next one on. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Try it, (speaking) and--

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: (singing) Then we start from there.

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: And from there.

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: Yes, we want to make sure we're getting a minor triad going down. Because we're not used to doing this exercise in a minor key, it would probably help to have a piano helping us. But let's just try one more so, (singing) ooh. The minor triad is, ooh, ooh, ooh. (speaking) Sing that.

ALL: (singing) Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

RACHEL KELLY: Well done. That one was lovely.