Can I suggest Victoria Meredith's "Sing Better As You Age" from Santa Barbara Music Publishing.  Not only is it a book that you will find useful, but it's also a book that you can suggest that they get - it's very readable for the untrained singer, and full of useful things they can work on outside church choir!

 

Brigid Coult

Richmond, BC

 Jennifer:

I second what Carl Smith says.  In addition, you might find my article, "Working with Aging Singers," in the May 2008 issue of The American Organist, helpful in general.

Donald Callen Freed

Associate Professor of Music

Sul Ross State University

Alpine, Texas

 There isn't nearly as much study on this age group compared to children, but their is a chapter in the book "Choral Pedagogy" (2nd edition) by Brenda Smith and Robert Sataloff on teaching the "aging voice." It doesn't address the week-to-week problem, but maybe a fuller, systematic approach (without taking too much rehearsal time) will help.

 

Jeff Caulk

Jennifer-I have older singers in my church choir and the new community chorus I direct. What works for us is to begin rehearsals with stretching and breathing exercises,such as the following: stretch the arms out- then breathe. Focus on the feeling of expanded rib cage. Put hands on rib cage (side) to feel action of ribs in breathing. Another exercise: bend over at waist; breathe and feel action of ribs in breathing. Slowly straighten up, singing a vowel of your choice.  Begin every rehearsal with these exercises; or find others online, or from colleagues, and adapt the exercises to your chorus.

 

Older singers need several rehearsals to get the new task, which they are learning, past sensory perception, and hopefully, into short-term memory, and eventually long-term memory. The only way to achieve these goals is to rehearse them (do them over and over and over).

 

Are you near a college or university music department? Check out a voice faculty and learn from them.  I did! 

 

Cordially,

Carl W. Smith, Ph.D., Choral Music Education

Founder and Artistic Director, Community Chorus El Paso, Texas

Music Department, El Paso Community College

Jennifer:
I have a community chorale of about 114 singers with an age span of 18 to 80+....

I have come up with a good way of helping those folks who can't stand long. Have your singers sit up right, backs away from the back of the chair. Have them take a big breath, lift one foot and keep it off of the flooor, and then have them sing what ever exercises you use. This helps to develop the abs and to create the kind of breath support that we want from our singers.

Then the same exercise and have them lift and keep the other foot up until the exercise is finished.

Give it a try.

Cheers,

Frank

Ciao

In my community choirs which consist of singers with a range of experience  up to age 70 or so,  many of them didn't actually know what was meant by breath support.  

 

For what it's worth, I'll tell you what I did to help them understand.

 

I asked them to sing a name (we use Zoe) as if they were calling this person.        We did this together for 8 beats: a slowish 4 beat to a bar , 1 bar per syllable.    

First call - our imaginary Zoe is in the same room.

Second call - Zoe is several rooms away.

Third call - Zoe is way down the end of the street.

 

At the third call,  I could see the singers take a deep preparatory breath, their whole posture changed for the better, and it became immediately apparent to them that it was this mysterious thing called breath support which would carry their voices through those 8 beats. 

 

Hope this is clear and hope it helps.  

 

Jane

 

Thank you all for your suggestions!  I can't wait to try them out at our next rehearsal.  It's nice to have a forum where we can ask more-experienced colleagues what has worked for them.

 

Jennifer

Hi, Jennifer--

   You have some really good answers here already!  I'd like to add to the discussion that for some of your singers, it may be really helpful to understand what is happening physically when they use good breath support.  An explanation of the physical process of breathing (diaphragm pushes the viscera out of the way, rib cage expands both front to back and side to side, muscles in throat and tongue relax, air naturally flows in to fill the vacuum created) may help some of them key in to what breathing is about and how to take a good breath.  From there, you can explain that support comes more from the abdomen than from the throat or chest. 

 

Exercises help and explanation help--but both together will likely be most effective.  Good luck!

 

AJ Lund