High Voltage Choral Recharge | Episode 1.3 | ACDA Senior HS Repertoire & Resources

Electrify, power up, and inspire your teaching through conversations with practicing senior high choral directors.

Today, we feature Jeff Knutson, choral director at Waukee High School in Iowa. Learn about a few of his outstanding teaching methods in this exciting episode!

Typical Warmup Progression:
Lip trills: 543212345, exercise ascends by half steps starting at C major, going up an octave, then back down

u - o - a: 134543421 (in 6/8 time, all 8th notes, except the 5 is a quarter note, last 1 is dotted quarter), exercise ascends by half steps from C major (or A Major for bass clef ensembles going to A Major)

mi e a: 5 5 54321, work on connecting through vowel changes (essentially, singers open on the repeated 5's), exercise starts at C major and ascends by half steps to A major

vi vo vi vo vi: 53 42 31 27 1, use consonant to engage breath, exercise ascends by half steps from C major to A major

ti e ti a ti o: 5 8 5 8 5 8531, exercise ascends by half steps starting with A Major, going to E major or F major

zi ah: 1234 531 (zi is running 8th notes, ah, descending quarter notes), start at E major, and ascend as high as needed

End with solfege scale, build a 1 chord on the way back down if you'd like to add some harmony. Ending with the solfege scale is helpful because the next activity in my classroom routine is always sight reading.