beginning choral ensemble...apply the same terminology to recordings of the ensemble itself in...

Beginning Choral Ensemble

The Beginning Choral Ensemble is an elective course that is available without audition to students in grades nine through twelve. Members of the Beginning Choral Ensemble will build a strong foundation of choral singing technique and will begin to perform choral music in three or more parts with a difficulty of level two or three.

Category Minimum Standard Virginia

Standard of Learning

Singing, alone and with others The beginning choral student will:

Sing with pitch accuracy and appropriate diction, posture, and tone quality throughout their ranges.

HCB.3

Sing with good breath control throughout their ranges.

HCB.3

Sing selections with a difficulty level of two or three from memory with expression and technical accuracy.

HCB.3

Sing music representing various styles and periods in three or more parts.

HCB.7.1

Respond to basic conducting gestures.

HCB.4.6

Practice appropriate concert etiquette as an involved performer.

HCB.7.6

Practice appropriate concert behavior as an involved listener.

HCB.7.6

Suggested Activities:

Teach intervals and routinely sing scales and patterns.

Practice singing unaccompanied or with minimal accompaniment to help in developing relative pitch (especially in warm-up activities).

Teach the concept of internalizing the pitch before externalizing.

Utilize rhythm flash cards to the beat of popular and classic instrumental music.

Have students conduct varied patterns with director to help understand change in tempo and articulation.

Sing on risers on the stage multiple times during the year in addition to the time used on stage to prepare for concerts.

Improvisation/ Composition The beginning choral student will:

Create variations of familiar melodic phrases.

HCB.2.5

Compose rhythmic exercises using traditional notations.

HCB.2.5

Arrange an accompaniment for a given melody.

HCB.2


Include opportunities for students to improvise variations on warm-up exercises with which they are familiar.

Encourage students to improvise variations on solo sections within the choral pieces that they are currently rehearsing

Allow students to improvise variations on ostinato patterns in the harmony parts within the choral pieces that they are currently rehearsing.

Lead students in tapping or speaking eight beat rhythmic phrases in a call and response style by section. Then have students write their own eight beat answers using quarter notes and quarter rests. Repeat the call and response exercises with an individual student performing the answer that he or she has written. Repeat the exercise in subsequent rehearsals adding more variety of notes and rests to the answers.

Teach students a basic body percussion pattern to accompany a section in a choral selection that they are currently rehearsing. Encourage the students to experiment with their own body percussion patterns and perform a new arrangement of the accompaniment in subsequent rehearsals.

Fundamentals of Music Theory

The beginning choral student will:

Rhythm Understand and recognize values for whole, half, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes and rests in simple time.

HCB.1.2

Sight-read patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty level of one, two or three, . . using syllables or numbers.

HCB.1.5

Respond to clear and basic conducting gestures in simple time.

HCB.4.6

Understand and recognize tied notes and slurs, pick-up notes and syncopation.

HCB.1

Melody

Recognize melodic contour as well as similar and contrasting phrases.

HCB.2.3

Sight-sing patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty of one, two or three, using solfeggio syllables or numbers.

HCB.1

Read melodies in both treble and bass clefs.

HCB.1

Harmony Analyze 2 and 3 part selections.

HCB.1, HCB.2

Understand and recognize chord structure, using correct terms.

HCB.2.4

Understand and identify key signatures. HCB.1.4, HCB.2.2

Distinguish between monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic textures.

HCB.2.4

Form Study AB and ABA forms, variations and through-composed literature.

Follow vocal parts and interpret musical symbols.

HCB.1

Score Reading Identify and define musical terms.

HCB.1, HCB.2

Identify the corresponding symbols for these terms, referring to dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression.

HCB.4, HCB.1


Clap and sing rhythmic examples using the Kodaly method.

Subdivide the beat vocally.

Write in rhythmic counts in selected measures of music. Then perform each part on counts.

Practice conducting in simple meter with changing tempo and articulation.

Sight-sing diatonic and arpeggiated exercises.

Aural Analyzing and Evaluating


Develop and apply criteria for evaluating all aspects of choral performances using appropriate terminology.

Analyze the various elements of music in the choral selections that are currently being rehearsed.

Suggested activities:

Write a choral music term of the day on the board for each rehearsal. Discuss the term briefly and instruct the students to keep a vocabulary list of the terms and their definitions. Ask the students to indicate points in that day's rehearsal at which the ensemble demonstrates that term.

Listen to recordings or attend live performances of choral ensembles at varying levels of proficiency. Develop an assessment tool using correct musical terminology that is taken from your term of the day list and have students use the assignment and terms to evaluate these performances. Then discuss their evaluations.

Apply the same terminology to recordings of the ensemble itself in rehearsal or performance.

Inter-disciplinary

Understanding


Describe ways in which the subject matter of music, such as history, expression and text, and acoustics and vocal production, are interrelated with those of other disciplines that are taught at school.

HCB.7

Explore careers in music.

HCB.7.4

Describe the distinguishing characteristics of a musical style and its corresponding period in history.

HCB.7.1

Compare the roles that music and musicians play in diverse world cultures.

HCB.7.2

Suggested activities:

Coordinate with the Social Studies Department to listen to, analyzed, and perform choral music selections from, about, or in the style of, music that was composed in the historical periods that are being discussed in the Social Studies classes.

Take a field trip to a local recording studio or radio station and discuss the music related career opportunities that are available in each setting.

Study and perform music from at least two different historical periods of music. Discuss the evolution of music, from one period to the next, including a variety of styles.

Study great composers from different periods and styles of music, ultimately being able to classify the period, the composer and style from the work being performed.

Perform multicultural pieces, possible displaying the talents of students from these cultures.

Research the roles of men and women in music from around the world.

Advanced Choral Ensemble

The Advanced Choral Ensemble is an elective course that is available by audition to students in grades nine through twelve. Members of the Advanced Choral Ensemble will continue to develop a high quality of choral singing through the performance of choral music in four or more parts with a difficulty level of three of four.

Category

Minimum Standard

Virginia Standard of

Learning Singing, alone and

with others The advanced choral student will:

Continue to sing with pitch accuracy and appropriate diction, posture, and tone quality throughout their ranges.

HCI.3

Continue to sing with good breath control throughout their ranges.

HCI.3

Sing selections with a difficulty level of three or higher from memory with expression and technical accuracy.

HCI.3

Sing music representing various styles and periods in four or more parts.

Respond to complex conducting patterns and interpretive gestures.

HCI.4.6

Continue to practice appropriate concert etiquette as an involved performer.

HCI.7.8

Continue to practice appropriate concert behavior as an involved listener.

HCI.7.8


Routinely sing scales and patterns other than major/minor (i.e., whole tone, pentatonic, and chromatic).

Practice singing unaccompanied or with minimal accompaniment to assist in developing relative pitch (especially in warm-up activities).

On a weekly basis, have students lead warm-ups in class, emphasizing good listening skills and creativity.

Improvisation/ Composition

The advanced choral student will:

Create variations of familiar songs.

HCI.2

Improvise simple harmony lines to familiar melodies.

HCI.2

Compose rhythmic exercises and short melodies using traditional notations.

HCI.2

Arrange a harmony part or a countermelody to a given melody.

HCI.2


Use simple, familiar canons (i.e., Dona Nobis Pacem, Frere’ Jacques) as warm-up exercises and encourage individual students to create variations on the melody. The other students in the ensemble can then repeat the variation as a canon.

For refreshment breaks during rehearsals, teach students the melodies from familiar- oldies (i.e. Goin’ to the Chapel, The Shoop Shoop Song, A Teenager in Love). Encourage students to improvise harmonies after they have become familiar with the melodies.

Give students a major scale and instruct them to write a simple ascending or descending phrase to use as a warm-up exercise. In subsequent rehearsals have students write a second, and then a third, phrase to lengthen their melody. Photocopy these original melodies and use them as sight-singing exercises for the ensemble.

Give students a short, familiar melody and instruct them to write a harmony line using only consonant intervals. Photocopy the melody and original harmony lines and use them as two-part sight-singing exercises for the ensemble.



Rhythm Understand and recognize values for whole, half, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes and rests in simple and compound time.

HCI.1.2

Sight-read patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty level of three or higher using syllables or numbers.

HCI.1.4

Respond to complex conducting patterns in simple and compound time, and changing meter.

HCI.1.5, HCI.4.6

Continue to recognize and accurately perform tied notes and slurs, pick-up notes and syncopation in the style that is appropriate to the musical selection.

HCI.4.2

Melody Recognize melodic contour as well as similar and contrasting phrases.

HCI.2

Sight-sing patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty of a three or higher using solfeggio syllables or numbers.

HCI.1.4

Sight-sing a four-part score.

HCAD.1.4

Continue to read melodies in both treble and bass clefs.

HCI.1.9

Harmony Analyze four or more part selections.

HCI.1

Continue to understand and recognize chord structure, using correct terms. (Include subdominants, sevenths, and inversions.)

Understand and identify major and minor key signatures.

HCI.1.3



HCI.2.3


HCI.1


HCI.1


HCI.1





Study the circle of fifths in both major and minor keys.

Sight-sing diatonic and arpeggiated exercises, and exercises with leaps of fourths, sixths, sevenths and octaves.

Practice following changing meter in simple and compound times in warm-up exercises.

Direct the class in student written sight-singing exercises, being sure to note the key signature and time signature.

Aural Analyzing and

Evaluating


Continue to develop and apply criteria for evaluating all aspects of choral performances using appropriate terminology.

HCI.8

Analyze recorded examples of choral selections that are currently being rehearsed by describing the various musical elements and expressive devices that area contained in those selections.

HCI.9

Inter-disciplinary

Understanding


Examine characteristics of the various arts within a particular historical period and form cultural perspectives.

HCI.7


HCI.7.5


HCI.7.1


HCI.7.3

Compare the musical styles from different historical periods.

HCI.7.1


Using a selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing, discuss the major influences, historical events and constraints, prevailing religious and philosophical views, and mediums that influenced the arts within the historical period in which the selection was written. Examine selected works of art, architecture, and literature from that same period of history and discuss how the historical factors affected each of the art forms of the period.

Invite the conductor or principal vocal soloist from a local professional or University choral ensemble to visit the class and discuss his or her education, daily preparation, and work-related responsibilities. Take the class on a field trip to sit in on a rehearsal or performance of that ensemble.

Study and perform music from at least three different historical periods. Discuss the evolution of music, from one period to the next, including a variety of styles.


Building on the term of the day list (see ―Beginning Choral Ensemble Suggested Activities), have the students develop a checklist of the various elements of music involved in choral singing and the correct musical terminology, which is used to describe the quality of each element.

Use the checklists that were written by the students to analyze each choral selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing. Have the students check off the qualitative terms that will be their goals in performing each selection. Periodically, as the rehearsals progress, record the ensemble's performance. Play back the recording and have the students evaluate it using the same checklist.

Use the checklist to evaluate recordings of other choral groups that are performing the same or a similar selection.





Use simple, familiar canons (i.e., Dona Nobis Pacem, Frere’ Jacques) as warm-up exercises and encourage individual students to create variations on the melody. The other students in the ensemble can then repeat the variation as a canon.

For refreshment breaks during rehearsals, teach students the melodies from familiar- oldies (i.e. Goin’ to the Chapel, The Shoop Shoop Song, A Teenager in Love). Encourage students to improvise harmonies after they have become familiar with the melodies.

Give students a major scale and instruct them to write a simple ascending or descending phrase to use as a warm-up exercise. In subsequent rehearsals have students write a second, and then a third, phrase to lengthen their melody. Photocopy these original melodies and use them as sight-singing exercises for the ensemble.

Give students a short, familiar melody and instruct them to write a harmony line using only consonant intervals. Photocopy the melody and original harmony lines and use them as two-part sight-singing exercises for the ensemble.




HCI.1.2


HCI.1.4

Respond to complex conducting patterns in simple and compound time, and changing meter.

HCI.1.5, HCI.4.6

Continue to recognize and accurately perform tied notes and slurs, pick-up notes and syncopation in the style that is appropriate to the musical selection.

HCI.4.2


HCI.2


HCI.1.4

Sight-sing a four-part score.

HCAD.1.4


HCI.1.9


HCI.1

Continue to understand and recognize chord structure, using correct terms. (Include subdominants, sevenths, and inversions.)

Understand and identify major and minor key signatures.

HCI.1.3



HCI.2.3


HCI.1


HCI.1


HCI.1





Study the circle of fifths in both major and minor keys.


Practice following changing meter in simple and compound times in warm-up exercises.

Direct the class in student written sight-singing exercises, being sure to note the key signature and time signature.

Aural Analyzing and

Evaluating


Continue to develop and apply criteria for evaluating all aspects of choral performances using appropriate terminology.

HCI.8

Analyze recorded examples of choral selections that are currently being rehearsed by describing the various musical elements and expressive devices that area contained in those selections.

HCI.9


Building on the term of the day list (see ―Beginning Choral Ensemble Suggested Activities), have the students develop a checklist of the various elements of music involved in choral singing and the correct musical terminology, which is used to describe the quality of each element.

Use the checklists that were written by the students to analyze each choral selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing. Have the students check off the qualitative terms that will be their goals in performing each selection. Periodically, as the rehearsals progress, record the ensemble's performance. Play back the recording and have the students evaluate it using the same checklist.

Use the checklist to evaluate recordings of other choral groups that are performing the same or a similar selection.

Inter-disciplinary

Understanding


Examine characteristics of the various arts within a particular historical period and form cultural perspectives.

HCI.7


HCI.7.5


HCI.7.1


HCI.7.3


HCI.7.1


Using a selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing, discuss the major influences, historical events and constraints, prevailing religious and philosophical views, and mediums that influenced the arts within the historical period in which the selection was written. Examine selected works of art, architecture, and literature from that same period of history and discuss how the historical factors affected each of the art forms of the period.

Invite the conductor or principal vocal soloist from a local professional or University choral ensemble to visit the class and discuss his or her education, daily preparation, and work-related responsibilities. Take the class on a field trip to sit in on a rehearsal or performance of that ensemble.





Show Choir

The Show Choir is an elective course that is available by vocal and dance auditions to students in grades nine through twelve. Members of the Show Choir will develop movement skills and continue to develop advanced choral singing technique through the study and performance of choral music in jazz, pop, and Broadway styles. The members of the show Choir will perform choral music in at least four parts with a difficulty level of three or higher.

Category

Minimum Standard

Virginia Standard of


with others, a varied repertoire

The show choir student will:

Sing while performing choreographed movements with varying levels of difficulty.

HCAR.3.10, HCAR.5

Sing with pitch accuracy and appropriate diction, correct posture, good tone quality and intonation throughout their ranges, while incorporating choreography into the musical selections.

HCAR.3

Sing with good breath control throughout their ranges, while performing a variety of choreographed movements.

HCAR.3


HCAR.3.11

Demonstrate and apply the knowledge of correct vocal production and the understanding of the physique of the voice as an instrument.

HCAR.3

Sing music representing various styles and historical periods in four or more parts.

HCAR.3.10

Perform with a variety of accompaniments.

HCAR.3.10

Continue to practice appropriate concert etiquette as an involved performer.

HCAD.6


HCAR.7.7


Sing choral arrangements in a variety of musical styles, including but not limited to, popular, rock and roll, jazz, swing, and Latin styles.

Attend choreography workshops offered to teachers and/or students.

As an end of the year project, have students choreograph a simple vocal arrangement.

Incorporate movement into warm-up activities, emphasizing good breath control, blend, and balance between parts.

Listen to the original composition of the music being studied. Analyze which elements of music are the similar and which are different from the arrangement that the class will perform.



Improvise original melodies over chord progressions in jazz, pop, and Broadway styles.

HCAR.3.10

Improvise more complex harmonies, which are appropriate to the styles of specific choral selections.

HCAR.6.1

Compose longer melodies using traditional and nontraditional notations.

HCAR.6.1, HCAR.2.2

Arrange a melody using teacher-specified rhythms or notation.


Use four part chord progressions sung on neutral syllables as warm-up exercises. Encourage students to improvise original melodies over the progressions, as they become familiar with them. Record these improvisations and notate some of the outstanding ones. Add lyrics written by the students to these four part melodies and use them as warm-ups or encores for performances.

Using a choral selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing, discuss the stylistic components of the harmonies that are used by the composer or arranger. Subsequently, teach the ensemble a melody in the same style and encourage students to improvise harmony parts that are similar in style to those that you have already discussed. In subsequent rehearsals, the ensemble will sing the melody with this new harmony part while another student improvises a third harmony line.

Show students pieces of music that are written in nontraditional notations. Include jazz charts and guitar tablature. Analyze each example with the students. Instruct each student to create a melody using his or her own nontraditional notation system or one of the nontraditional notations that you have analyzed in class. Divide students into groups of two or three and have them explain their new notation systems to each other. In subsequent rehearsals, have the students in each group try to sing or play the other students’ melodies in this new notation.

Discuss some of the rhythmic techniques that are used by the composer or arranger in one of the choral selections that the ensemble is currently rehearsing (i.e., augmentation, diminution, syncopation). Discuss the effects that each of these rhythmic techniques suggests for choreographing movement. Give the students a melody and ask them to write a new arrangement of it using that same rhythmic technique. Photocopy the arrangements and use them for sight-singing exercises.




HCAR.1.2


HCAR.1.4

Recognize and accurately perform tied notes and slurs, pick-up notes and syncopation in a style appropriate to the musical selection.

HCAR.1.2, HCAR.4.3


HCAR.2


HCAR.1


HCAR.1


HCAR.1

Continue to understand and recognize chord structure, using correct terms.

HCAR.1

Understand and identify key signatures.

HCAR.1.3



HCI.2.3


HCAR.1.1

Score Reading

Identify and define musical terms.

HCAR.1


HCAR.1.1





Study the circle of fifths in both Major and minor keys.

Sight-sing diatonic and arpeggiated exercises.

Create warm-up exercises that complement the music being studied. For example, to introduce syncopated rhythms in a jazz piece, the teacher may echo-sing offbeat patterns to students.

Build chords vocally from the root of the chord up, and then accurately transfer the chords performed to paper. This emphasizes listening and intonation as well as understanding how chords are written.

Aural Analyzing and Evaluating


Continue to refine criteria for evaluation and offer constructive suggestions for personal and group performance and composition.

HCAR.8.1

Evaluate specified musical works and explain how the various elements of music are used in them to evoke human response.

HCAR.8, HCAR.9

Create and perform choreography in conjunction with selected choral pieces.

HCAR. 5


Using student-constructed checklists (See --Advanced Choral Ensemble Suggested Activities‖), have the students write a list of constructive exercises that could be used to address difficulties with the performance of each of the elements (i.e., to address singing under the pitch, students might visualize the pitch as a helium balloon rising). Then have the students use this list of ideas to offer constructive suggestions as they evaluate group and ensemble performances.

Listen to recordings of choral ensembles or use the ensemble’s own current performance or rehearsal as a basis for a discussion of the emotions that are evoked by a specific musical work. Discuss how specific elements of music, (i.e., dynamics, tempo, timbre) are used by the composer to evoke these specific emotions.

Watch excerpts from movies, television shows, or music videos and discuss why the specific music and choreography might have been chosen by the director to accompany the dialogue, the lyrics or the visual images. Have the students discuss the use of various elements of music to evoke the emotions that the director was hoping to touch in his or her work.

Inter- disciplinary

Understanding


Investigate and describe in significant detail additional interrelationships between choral music and other subjects such as foreign language, computers, and science.

HCAR.7


HCAR.7.5


HCAR.7.1


HCAR.7.3


HCAR.7.1


Listen to or perform a choral piece with computer-generated accompaniment or voices. Use keyboards and music software to allow the students to experiment with computer generated sounds. Record some of their compositions and use them as preconcert or intermission music at the ensemble‘s next performance.

Invite a choreographer or musical theatre performer to visit the class and discuss their daily preparation, education, work schedule, etc. Include one of these guests in your next concert or arrange to have the ensemble perform with them in their next performance.

Visit a local hospital, rehabilitation center, or nursing home and observe a music therapist at work. Invite the therapist to visit the class and teach the students some Basic music therapy techniques. Include a discussion of the therapist‘s education, work schedule, etc.

Take a field trip to a local music store or music publishing house. Discuss the many business- related careers that are involved in music publishing and sales. In a later rehearsal, discuss each career that is involved in the creation, production, and sale of a selection that the Show Choir is currently rehearsing.


Study great composers from different periods and styles of music, ultimately being able to classify the period, the composer and the style of the work being performed.

Perform multicultural pieces, possibly displaying the talents of students from these cultures.


Small Vocal Ensemble

The Small Vocal Ensemble is an elective that is only available by audition to students that are grades nine through twelve. Members of the Small Vocal Ensemble will develop advance choral singing technique through the performance of choral music in four or more parts within a small ensemble setting. This ensemble will perform choral selections with a difficulty level of four or higher.

Category Minimum Standard Virginia Standard of


with others, a varied repertoire

The small vocal ensemble student will:

Sing with pitch accuracy and appropriate diction, correct posture, good tone quality and intonation throughout their ranges.

HCAD.3

Sing with good breath control throughout their ranges.

HCAD.3


HCAD.3

Demonstrate and apply the knowledge of correct vocal production and the understanding of the physique of the voice as an instrument.

HCAD.3

Respond to more complex conducting patterns and interpretive gestures.

HCAD.1.6, HCAD.4.5

Continue to practice appropriate concert etiquette as an involved performer in an ensemble.

HCAD.6


HCAD.7.8


Sing a wide range of music from the Renaissance to the Contemporary Periods, developing the appropriate styles.

Sing unaccompanied often, developing better listening skills in a smaller group.

Routinely sing scales and patterns other than major/minor, (i.e., whole-tone, pentatonic, and chromatic).

Redefine pitch and unify vowel sounds on a continual basis.



Improvise rhythmic and melodic variations in pentatonic, major and minor tonalities.

Improvise more complex harmonies, which are appropriate to the styles of specific choral selections.

Compose longer melodies using traditional and nontraditional notations.

Arrange a melody using teacher-specified rhythms or notation.


Teach the ensemble to perform pentatonic, major and minor scale warm-up exercises and encourage individual students to sing back a rhythmic or melodic variation of each exercise in a call-and-response pattern.

Using a choral selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing, discuss the stylistic components of the harmonies that are used by the composer or arranger. Subsequently, teach the ensemble a melody in the same style and encourage students to improvise harmony parts that are similar in style to those that you have already discussed. In subsequent rehearsals, the ensemble will sing the melody with this New Harmony part while another student improvises a third harmony line.

Show students pieces of music that are written in nontraditional notations. Include jazz charts and guitar tablature. Analyze each example with the students. Instruct each student to create a melody using his or her own nontraditional notation system or one of the nontraditional notations that you have analyzed in class. Divide students into groups of two or three and have them explain their new notation systems to each other. In subsequent rehearsals, have the students in each group try to sing or play the other students' melodies in this new notation.

Discuss some of the rhythmic techniques that are used by the composer or arranger in one of the choral selections that the ensemble is currently rehearsing (i.e., augmentation, diminution, syncopation). Discuss the effects that each of these rhythmic techniques suggests for choreographing movement. Give the students a melody and ask them to write a new arrangement of it using that same rhythmic technique. Photocopy the arrangements and use them for sight-singing exercises.




HCAD.1.3

Sight-read patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty level of four or higher using syllables or numbers.

HCAD.1.4

Recognize and accurately perform tied notes and slurs, pick-up notes and syncopation in a style appropriate to the musical selection.

HCAD.4.2

Respond to complex, conducting patterns in simple and compound time, and changing meter.

HCAD.4.5


HCAD.1

Sight-sing patterns accurately, with a level of difficulty of a four or higher using solfeggio syllables or numbers.

HCAD.1

Sight-sing a four part score.

HCAD.1


HCAD.1


HCAD.2

Continue to understand and recognize chord structure, using correct terms.

HCAD.2

Understand and identify key signatures, major and minor.

HCAD.1.3



HCAD.2.4


HCAD.1


HCAD.1


HCAD.4.3



Write in numbers (corresponding to place in the scale) in selected measures in each part. Have each voice part sing alone. Then have all perform together on their own parts keeping a balance and blend within parts.

Study the circle of fifths in both Major and minor keys.


Practice following changing meter in simple and compound times in warm-up exercises. If done vocally, use a common vowel or consonant.

Aural Analyzing and

Evaluating


Continue to refine criteria for evaluation and offer constructive suggestions for personal and group performance and composition.

Evaluate specified musical works and explain how the various elements of music are used in them to evoke human response.


Using student-constructed checklists (See --Advanced Choral Ensemble Suggested Activities‖), have the students write a list of constructive exercises that could be used to address difficulties with the performance of each of the elements (i.e., to address singing under the pitch, students might visualize the pitch as a helium balloon rising). Then have the students use this list of ideas to offer constructive suggestions as they evaluate group and ensemble performances.

Listen to recordings of choral ensembles or use the ensemble’s own current performance or rehearsal as a basis for a discussion of the emotions that are evoked by a specific musical work. Discuss how specific elements of music, (i.e., dynamics, tempo, timbre) are used by the composer to evoke these specific emotions.

Watch excerpts from movies, television shows, or music videos and discuss why the specific music and choreography might have been chosen by the director to accompany the dialogue, the lyrics or the visual images. Have the students discuss the use of various elements of music to evoke the emotions that the director was hoping to touch in his or her work.

Inter- disciplinary

Understanding


Investigate and describe in significant detail additional interrelationships between choral music and other subjects such as foreign language, computers, and science.






Listen to or perform examples of choral music selections in foreign languages. Discuss the influence that the country of origin of the selection had on the history of music. Watch a movie describing the biography and works of a composer or vocalist who was from that country or region.

Discuss difficulties in tone production that are associated with the foreign language in which a specific choral selection is being performed. Invite a foreign language teacher to write a translation of the selection or to visit the class and demonstrate correct pronunciations.

Listen to or perform a choral piece with computer-generated accompaniment or voices. Use keyboards and music software to allow the students to experiment with computer generated sounds. Records some of their compositions and use them as pre-concert or intermission music at the ensemble‘s next performance.

Invite performing vocalists representing a variety of musical styles to visit the class and discuss their daily preparation, education, work schedule, etc. Include one of these vocalists in your next concert or arrange to have the ensemble perform with the vocalist in his or her next performance.

Visit a local hospital, rehabilitation center, or nursing home and observe a music therapist at work. Invite the therapist to visit the class and teach the students some basic music therapy techniques. Include a discussion of the therapist‘s education, work schedule, etc.

Take a field trip to a local music store or music publishing house. Discuss the many business- related careers that are involved in music publishing and sales. In a later rehearsal, discuss each career that is involved in the creation, production, and sale of a selection that the ensemble is currently rehearsing.


Study great composers from different periods and styles of music, ultimately being able to classify the period, the composer and the style of the work being performed.

Perform multicultural pieces, possibly displaying the talents of students from these cultures.

APPENDIX ONE - GLOSSARY Antiphonal- one group echoing or answering another

Arrangement- a composition that is different from what was originally written

Ascending- pitch progressing from lower to higher tones

Atonality- music in which there is no sense of a tonal center

Augmentation- doubling the note value of all given notes

Body percussion- rhythms produced by striking part of the body Cadenza- an elaborate solo passage of improvisatory style played or sung by a soloist; frequently played near the end of a composition

Call and response- a follow the leader process in which a melody begins in one part and then is answered by a melody in other parts

Canon- a polyphonic composition consisting of one or more voices imitating what has already been sounded on one voice and starting at later points in time

Choreography- movement specifically created to coordinate to specific music

Chromatic scale- 12-tone scale that moves by half steps

Consonant intervals- the intervals of a unison, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and octave

Countermelody-a melody which moves in opposition by consonance to another melody to enhance or ornament the original melody

Descending- pitch progressing from higher to lower tones

Diatonic Diminution step-wise movement in singing- cutting the note values of all given notes in half

Dynamics- loudness or softness of sound

Fluidity- the degree of smoothness in movement

Major scale- an arrangement of eight tones in a scale according to the following steps: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step

Meter- the way the beats in music are grouped

Minor scale- a scale based on a pattern distinguished by the minor 3rd, minor 6th, and minor 7th intervals

Nontraditional- notation any system of musical notation other than the traditional system

Ostinato- any pattern, rhythm, chord change or melody that is repeated several times to form an accompaniment

Pentatonic scale- any scale that contains only five pitches

Phrasing- the way a section of music is performed to become a musical thought, not just a succession of pitches

Sequence- the repetition of a melody pattern at a higher or lower pitch level

Sight-singing- singing any piece of music which the vocalist has not seen or previously rehearsed

Solfeggio- the system of syllables used to help pitch memory: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do

Strophic- a form in which all of the verses of the text are sung to the same music

Syncopation- an alteration from the normal eat, placing the stress on the weaker beats

Tempo- the speed of the beat

Tessitura- the general location of the majority of pitches in a song for each vocal part Timbre- the aspect of sound that defines its quality or color

Traditional notation- the Western system of musical notation involving the use of a five line staff

Variation- a changed version of a melody that varies one or more of the original musical elements

Whole tone scale- a consecutive succession of six tones, each a whole step apart

APPENDIX TWO - CHORAL EVENTS

As a high school choral director, the following performance list is the annual minimum requirement in Loudoun County Public Schools.

• Two (2) Concerts per performing ensemble (Winter and Spring)

• All-County Chorus (Participants auditioned by choral director)

• All-District Chorus (Participants auditioned by neutral judges)

• All-Virginia Chorus (Based upon the Students’ audition at All-District Chorus)

• District Choral Assessment

• Virginia Honors Choir (Based upon the students‘ audition)

The following events are listed as optional, and participation may vary from school to school.

• Talent or Variety Show

• Musical

Teachers may be required, at the discretion of the principal, to perform for feeder schools

and/or other school functions and celebrations, such as Music In Our Schools Month and

American Education Week.

Set all performance dates early, making certain that they are on the official school calendar.

For all events outside the school, be sure to make proper transportation arrangements

through the county.

APPENDIX THREE - DAILY REHEARSAL/CLASS OUTLINE Objectives:

Define clear objectives for each rehearsal. For example, state the following as you

create your lesson plans, ―The Students will . . .― Each goal does not have to be performance based. You may have a combination of concept and performance based goals to work on in one rehearsal. Objectives should be challenging, yet realistically set for the amount of time allotted in the period.

Procedure:

Class should always begin by taking roll, in accordance with school policy. After all preliminaries have been taken care of you may proceed to warm-ups.

Warm-ups should consist of a variety of activities, including both vocal and

physical exercises. Pacing warm-ups should be consistent on a daily basis, but the content should vary in order to help meet the rehearsal objectives for that day. Students should not be so accustomed to a routine that the warm-ups become mundane, and not as effective as when you first introduced them. Encourage individual student participation and/or leadership during this warm-up time.

Rehearsing music will usually take up the majority of the class period. However, it

is suggested that the class period be divided up into rehearsal time and break time. Especially for those teaching and learning under block scheduling, it is imperative to give the students a water break, allowing the class to mentally regroup for the next activity. Theory work and sight singing are two important elements of the choral curriculum, which may be used effectively in the class period between rehearsal segments. Ending the rehearsal segment of your rehearsal by singing a piece in its entirety is an important factor for the students to feel accomplishment and closure of the class period.

Review:

Review can incorporate performance or question-answer based activity. Regardless of the method, a review session may be imperative in some cases to help students retain the information learned during class. Again, in block scheduling, a review session can be extremely helpful since you will not see the class for two days.

APPENDIX FOUR RESOURCES Books and Periodicals

• Michelson, Stephen K., Getting Started with High School Choir. NAfME, 1994 • Robinson, Russell L., ed. Getting Started with Jazz/Show Choir. NAfME, 1994 • Music Educators Journal. NAfME, monthly publication. • Teaching Music. NAfME, monthly publication. • Vocalese. Diamond Rock Productions, monthly publication.

Films. (available on video tape) • Amadeus (1984) — rated PG — the life of Mozart • Impromptu (1991) —rated PG13 — the life of Chopin • Funny Lady (1975) — rated PG — the life of Fanny Brice • LaBamba (1987) — rated PG13 — the life of Ritchie Valens • Lady Sings the Blues (1972) — rated R — the life of Billie Holliday • Selena (1997) — rated PG — the life of Selena Aquillano • A Great Day in Harlem (1994) — documentary — various jazz artists

Web sites:

Music Therapy Websites • American Music Therapy Association www.musictherapy.org • National coalition of Arts Therapies Associations (NCATA) www.ncata.com/home.html

Music Career Websites • National Association for Music Education http://www.nafme.org/

beginning choral ensemble...apply the same terminology to recordings of the ensemble itself in...

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