Partner Warm-Up #6

This jazzy vocal warm-up is also a partner song, which means that its two parts are stand-alone melodies that also work well when performed together. Partner songs are a great way to introduce or reinforce part singing, too. In this case, the parts also happen to be warm-ups that focus on specific vocal elements.

The most obvious focus is an exercise for the tongue and mouth thanks to the use of the syllables "dee" and "deet." The muscles in front of the jaws and under the chin will feel this if done properly. Tell singers to use a soft "t" on "deet," not a hard one. This will help them keep the flow and consistent muscle use for whole phrases. Breath support, intervals, and intonation at faster tempos are also covered in this exercise. And since the tune swings, they get a little practice with that, too. As fond as we are of our little jazz combo on the recording, you might consider doing this piece a cappella as well. That way it can be done faster and faster, really working those muscles. Use the optional patsching for this or not.

Speaking of patsching, as daunting as it may look on paper, it's actually pretty easy. Just have students keep their hands close to their thighs. If it helps, tell them to think of horse hooves with a little skip to get the pattern. If you don't want to include the patsches, you could have singers snap on beats two and four instead. Or let a separate group do the snaps in addition to the patsching. There is a count-off and drum set-up at the beginning so the patsching can start in the first bar.