My name is George Luken and I want to say Hi to all the guys in the

group.  I'm a 30 year barbershop singer from Dixie and I'm currently

taking music lessons under Jim Debussman.  As you know, the BHS

currently moved from Kenosha to Nashville.



Warmups are really important.  Singing is nothing more than supporting

a column of air properly.  If you don't practice the leaky tire, please

start doing so....  using a  sssssss,   try in on 4 out on 8, in on

4 out on 12,  16,   24,   longer if you can.   You do this 15-20 minutes

a night,  you will have so much support that you will stay on pitch,

cover the phrases and have enough to lift the ends of the phrase before

you take that needed breath.   Also, practice doing the motorboat with

your mouth (bubbling)  this tends to keep the sound focused towards

the front of your mouth and also utilizes a breath management.

Hi George.....Could you give me a complete warmup procedure

including an exercises to extend my range ?



Best Regards,

Ed Headley

Portland (K-015)









--- In BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com, "george.luken" <georgelj@...>

wrote:

>

> My name is George Luken and I want to say Hi to all the guys in the

> group.  I'm a 30 year barbershop singer from Dixie and I'm

currently

> taking music lessons under Jim Debussman.  As you know, the BHS

> currently moved from Kenosha to Nashville.

>

> Warmups are really important.  Singing is nothing more than

supporting

> a column of air properly.  If you don't practice the leaky tire,

please

> start doing so....  using a  sssssss,   try in on 4 out on 8, in on

> 4 out on 12,  16,   24,   longer if you can.   You do this 15-20

minutes

> a night,  you will have so much support that you will stay on

pitch,

> cover the phrases and have enough to lift the ends of the phrase

before

> you take that needed breath.   Also, practice doing the motorboat

with

> your mouth (bubbling)  this tends to keep the sound focused towards

> the front of your mouth and also utilizes a breath management.

>

Hi you all,

    As you can guess, I am in the Dixie District.

        I am not expert in extending range. On  my own (with some work shops

by the society), I know the only way to  up range is up. Therefore, good head

tone learning is  essential to increase range. Leaning how to sing a warm tone

which is part of  head tone process will enables you to get a better head tone

sound. The down  side is you cannot sing above P to MP level depending on

strength of you voice  when singing a warm sound. You will know when you have

warm sound if you  feel warm moist air on hand as you sing. You can go very high

with less of  the head tone sound. One choir director at a church I attended

said  you most see you self pulling your tone through your head like a string.

Practice singing high is a good way to get better. Once you feel you are

catching on, try higher parts like baritone, lead, and later even tenor.

After years of doing the above, I usually can manage 3 octaves without  a

problem.

I recently was trying tenor in some weird arrangement and hit a high E  Flat.

Being a screamer note, I actually got reasonable volume. I actually  believe

with more work I can increase my range. I have no incentive now since I  have

enough range to  sing to nearly all barbershop arrangement in all four  parts.

    A note about going lower. When I started singing bass in a  church choir

in the mid 80's, I had always sang tenor. I knew I could probably  sing bass

cause I found I could hit some of the lower notes. I found out you  can add few

notes by singing melody in church an octave down. It seems  going lower is

more natural for most people than going high. So pure practice  singing lower

notes  will add range. Going higher is not as easy, but you  can add a lot more

to you range by concentrated on going  high.



Don Widenhouse

BASS RTP

LEAD Sir Walter

















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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In a message dated 4/14/2008 9:23:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

ewheadley@... writes:



Hi  George.....Could you give me a complete warmup procedure

including an  exercises to extend my range ?





Ed, and other basses,



I wouldn't attempt to give a complete warm-up procedure, but I'd like to

mention something based on my own experience. Don't forget about the lower part

of your range. Often, when going through chorus warm-ups, the upper part of

the  range is emphasized, along with doing transitions from falsetto down

through the  normal chest voice range. While this is important and beneficial to

all

singers,  I've found if I don't use the lower part of my range, and then

later in the  rehearsal if a low D or E is called for, it may not be easily

available. Doing  slides from the top of your range, down through the bottom,

ending

in a very  relaxed "bubbly" growl at the very bottom is helpful for me. Work

on developing  smooth transitions as you move through head voice down through

your  range.



In quartet warm-ups, I do the high stuff with the other guys, then drop an

octave down to be sure my lower notes get some exercise as well.



Duane Johnson











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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Paul Mayo CD is an excellent resource for developing your singing

skills, and warming up I might add. Also, I found that by increasing my

upper range, it also extended my lower range. But, as was pointed out by

Duane, if you just stay in the upper ranges for a long time and then want to

grab a E below the clef, it might not be there in the quality that you

desire. Work to increase your upper range but don't forsake the low notes.

Here's the link to the Mayo CD.

<

<http://www.barbershop.org/web/groups/public/documents/pages/pub_id_057384.h

csp>

http://www.barbershop.org/web/groups/public/documents/pages/pub_id_057384.hc

sp >



--Tom





   _____



From: BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com [mailto:BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf

Of johnsondp@...

Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 10:26 AM

To: BBSBasses@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [BBSBasses] Re: Warm Up









In a message dated 4/14/2008 9:23:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

ewheadley@yahoo. <mailto:ewheadley%40yahoo.com> com writes:



Hi George.....Could you give me a complete warmup procedure

including an exercises to extend my range ?



Ed, and other basses,



I wouldn't attempt to give a complete warm-up procedure, but I'd like to

mention something based on my own experience. Don't forget about the lower

part

of your range. Often, when going through chorus warm-ups, the upper part of

the range is emphasized, along with doing transitions from falsetto down

through the normal chest voice range. While this is important and beneficial

to all

singers, I've found if I don't use the lower part of my range, and then

later in the rehearsal if a low D or E is called for, it may not be easily

available. Doing slides from the top of your range, down through the bottom,

ending

in a very relaxed "bubbly" growl at the very bottom is helpful for me. Work

on developing smooth transitions as you move through head voice down through



your range.



In quartet warm-ups, I do the high stuff with the other guys, then drop an

octave down to be sure my lower notes get some exercise as well.



Duane Johnson







**************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money &

Finance. (http://money. <http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850>

aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850)



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]