Video transcript
Warm-ups for your choir (secondary) - eClass 3 - Vowels and blending the sound - 02. Vowels - part 2

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LIZ SCOTT: Can we just focus a little bit on our vowels, like we did yesterday, right? We need to start putting this really into our music, to making-- making sure that our music is super, super beautiful. So, remember yesterday, we-- let's have C major because I'm so sick of B-flat major.

[chord played on piano]

Let's have (singing) 'Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo'. Now you can take a nice, low breath. Very gentle sound. And remember, the most important thing is to listen to everybody else. Here we go. One, and breathe--

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo. Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo. Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo. Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Very nice. Really, really beautiful sound. Well done. Can you make the 'noo' even more focused for me? Sing for me-- (singing) 'noo'.

STUDENTS: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: And--

ALL: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Make it buzz in your head.

ALL: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Beautiful. That's the sound we want. Do it wide, so it doesn't have that beautiful kind of focus to it.

ALL: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Focus it.

ALL: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Make it go wide again.

STUDENTS: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Focus it. Don't be silly about it. Just make it-- just widen it. And focus it.

ALL: (singing) Noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Beautiful. Now do the same with the 'ee'. So, (singing) ee.

ALL: (singing) Ee.

LIZ SCOTT: Lengthen it.

ALL: (singing) Ee.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. Really very nice. So now, when we're doing (singing) 'noo-- noo-ee-noo-ee-noo'-- (speaking) and not (singing broadly) 'noo-ee-noo-ee-noo' (speaking) or anything kind of-- (singing nasally) 'noo-ee-noo-ee-' (speaking) or anything wide. (singing) 'Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.' (speaking) Go.

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: And--

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Listen to everyone else.

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo. Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Listen, listen--

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Keep the 'oo' focused.

ALL: (singing) Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo. Noo-ee-noo-ee-noo.

LIZ SCOTT: Very nice. Very nice. Well done. Same thing on (singing) 'ee-eh-ee-eh-ee'. (nasally) 'Ee-eh-ee'-- (normally) 'ee-eh-ee'--

(speaking) Get your narrow hands, your column hands. Start them low, below your waist, so you've got room to move. Here we go. One, and breathe.

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ee-eh-ee.

LIZ SCOTT: Beautiful. Well done.

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ee-eh-ee. Ee-eh-ee-eh-ee. Ee-eh-ee-eh-ee.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. Let's change it and do (singing) 'ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.' (speaking) And--

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: What happened? You suddenly went (singing broadly) 'ee-eh-ah-oh'-- you went all Australian on me. (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo. (speaking) Keep it narrow, keep it beautiful. Here we go. One, and breathe--

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: Breathe.

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: Breathe.

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: Yet, for me, that (singing) 'ee-eh'-- (speaking) goes wide. (singing) 'Ee-eh-ah'-- 'ee-eh'-- 'ee-eh-ah'-- Can you hear the difference? Keep it focused. Here we go from where we are, and--

ALL: singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. Last one.

ALL: (singing) Ee-eh-ah-oh-oo.

LIZ SCOTT: Good, and now, last vowel exercise, (singing) 'ee-eh-ah-oh-oo-oh-ah-eh-ee'. But, instead of doing this, we're going to start low and go (singing) 'ee-eh-ah-oh-oo-oh-ah-eh-ee'. (speaking) And then you can do a karate-chop breath. OK?

So you're going to descend in pitch, but you're going to keep your arm going up as high as you need to. Here we go-- low breath. And we're going to descend from where we got to. One, and breathe--