What's Poppin'?

WHAT’S POPPIN’?

When I was young, the hot air popcorn popper was all the rage. It was one of those kitchen gadgets that became a must-have for every family in an era before microwave popcorn. The way the hot air popper works is simple: raw popcorn sits on a grate atop what is effectively a hair dryer pointed at the sky. Hot air blasts upward, causing the kernels to jumble around like balls in a lotto ping-pong ball selection machine. When the kernels get hot enough, they pop. Fluffy, popped kernels are then blown forward down the chute into the bowl.

The hot air popper is a great visual for singing for two reasons:

(1) The air is constantly blasting upward, creating activity and keeping the kernels (tone) in motion. They spin at the top back of the popper, like we wish to have the tone spinning and mixed in the pharynx with a lifted soft palate. This warms the tone before it moves forward.

(2) The heat of the air causes the kernels to go from a hard, inedible state to a larger, softer, edible-nay-delicious state, just as the presence of air in a singer’s tone helps eliminate harshness and instills beauty. Only the popped kernels exit the popper.

Choir Bites Interactive Slides can enhance online/hybrid lesson plans or be used as supplemental assignments. Your singers’ awareness will rise as they engage with these simple, “sticky” concepts! Click here to learn more! 

I don’t know if such visualizations ring true for everyone, but I use them a lot. Certainly they are just tools to give foundational technical advice in new ways to budding singers. They aren’t life-altering by any stretch, but if this can help you in even one situation in one rehearsal, it’s worthwhile.

And that friends, is the point of Choir Bites. Not to reinvent the wheel, but to constantly have thoughts / images that might some day be pulled out of your bag of tricks to a good end.