This text by James Jordan summarizes his 25 years of experience teaching and reinforcing healthy vocal technique for choirs at all levels of development. The book is a comprehensive guide to the teaching of vocal technique through the choral warm-up that he has presented to thousands of choral directors in workshops across the country. Philosophy, teaching procedures, and specific exercises are presented in the text. Among the topics included are: alignment (using Alexander Technique and Body Mapping principles), use of the sigh for diagnosing vocal problems, breathing, inhalation, exhalation, support, resonance, vowel colors, leaps, range extension, crescendo/decrescendo, martellato, staccato, procedures for teaching diction plus general diction guidelines, teaching and reinforcing rhythm and consistent tempo, and strategies for good intonation. This is a comprehensive vocal guide for choral directors. Accompaniment CD included.

The Choral Warm-Up is designed to: help conductors plan and implement efficient choral warm-ups, build healthy voices within the choral rehearsal, provide vocalises that have accompaniments complete with modulations upward and downward, and categorize vocalises according to specific vocal objectives.

James Jordan, Senior Conductor and Conductor of The Westminster Williamson Voices as well as the Westminster Chapel Choir for more than a decade, both at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University, is recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent conductors, writers, and innovators in choral teaching.

"Highly Recommended."

— Stephen Town (Choral Journal, July 2005)
 

A "...comprehensive and practical guide."

— Robert Troeger (The American Organist, January 2006)
 

"Conductors of all kinds of choirs (e.g., amateur, professional, children’s, education, church, or community) will benefit from this book. It contains many useful charts, diagrams, photographs, and drawings that clearly illustrate the materials presented, an area where other books on choral technique fall short."

— David W. Roe (Music Educator’s Journal, November 2005)

The Choral Warm-Up Core Vocal Exercises: Accompanist Supplement with CD includes Marilyn Shenenberger’s masterfully written accompaniments and modulations for the 25 vocalises found in The Choral Warm-Up text by James Jordan, reprinted in a convenient format for use by accompanists. Includes a CD with recorded versions of the accompaniments, which can be used as a musical model for new or inexperienced accompanists or as the accompaniment when no accompanist or piano is available. 

The CD containing The Choral Warm-Up Core Vocal Exercises is available separately for use by multiple accompanists, to replace lost or damaged copies, or for placement in multiple-classroom settings. This is the same CD included with The Choral Warm-Up text by James Jordan and The Choral Warm-Up Core Vocal Exercises Accompanist Supplement by Marilyn Shenenberger.

The effective teaching techniques addressed in The Choral Warm-Up text by James Jordan are reproduced in a convenient teaching and rehearsal card pack, which can be taken into the rehearsal room. Also contains essential interval training drills in all modes in addition to a template for rehearsal planning. Spiral-bound.