It seems the director is concerned that the students are concentrating more on hitting their notes than what they are singing about, thus their faces are showing concentration when it would be more beneficial to reflect emotion of the song.
Start out with stretching exercises - ones that are exaggerated - Wide open eyes, mouth, etc. then move to scrunching everything to the nose. I would do this several times to warm up the muscles. Theatre students should be familiar with this type of exercise for diction, however, I have had a yoga teacher put me through this exercise in yoga class, so it is a good general warmup.
Then make a game of having them do exaggerated emotions: smiles (a good one to start with, especially if anyone is self conscious), horror, fear, sad, etc. If everyone is doing it at the same time, no one should get embarrassed. Of course you will be up front leading them with the most animated face of all. Once you are done with the faces, try involving the entire body in the game. It seems these students may need to loosen up, and this is a great way for them to start connecting to their body.
You may have to go further by having them deal with the emotions of a song or two they are preparing. Take them through it first with words only and the emotion. Add the face and body. Then add the musicality to it.
Hope this sparks more ideas for you. Have fun and good luck!
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Valerie Farschman, Drama Director
Amherst Junior High
Amherst, Ohio
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-07-2019 07:15
From: Thomas Davis
Subject: Facial expression exercises for a large "non-theatre" group
The music department chair has asked me to come in and do a workshop with the choir (roughly 50 students) to improve their facial expression during their singing. This is a high school group with students in grades 9-12. Most, if not all, of these students do not have any theatre background. I am looking for a few exercises that I can do with the limited time that I have to work with them (30-45 min.).
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Thomas Davis
Mansfield MA
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