Repertoire Project Rationale

Idumea
This song is meant for an all men's ensemble. I have hopes to have the oportunity to work with one of them at some point. The piece would be great educationally because it has quite a bit of doubling for the singer who may need more reinforcemnet than the other. It also opens the opportunity to talk about Shape note singing. The arranger is also alive and well, so being able to directly communicate to him about why he did what he did would be a great learning experince for the boys. There is also the opportunity to work with the band program because the music calls for two flugelhorns.

Dubula
This music would allow for an all girl choir to sing something not in the traditional style. The piece is a traditional Xhosa folk song. This would allow for the conductor to have a platform to talk about different cultures and ways cultures perform their music. The vocal color needed for this text would give the irls an opportunity to explore other sounds in their voice.

Lollipop
This was a pop song from the 1950's. It is well known by audiences and would be a fun bit for the girls to perform because it is light hearted and carefree. Altos have an oppotunity to read from the tenor clef (exposure to other clefs besides treble).  The music also calls for accents on NOT the down beat. The singers also have the option of soloing. It is also a cappella so the students won't be relying on the piano for their tuning or musicality.

Shenandoah
Written for 3 part treble this song will be perfect for a group of women. The music doesn't have any one part singing too low thus making it easily accessible. The arrangment has all the women sing the melody and ends with a major second interval that gets traded off between two parts giving intrigue to a folk song while also dveloping the young singer for more difficult music that doesn't always have the most consonant harmonies.

City Called Heaven
A pathway to exposure of the gospel music from the African-American tradition. This could lead to a discussion of what that means and the significance of its heritage. A conductor-teacher may have a very excellent soloist who would love to take on the challenge of the solo written in this piece. It also would give them opportunity for improvisation which is fairly rare in a choral setting.

Lullaby
This is a beautiful song that the student swould love to sing. The text is simple with lovely imagery and the music sets t up perfectly. The sopranoes and altos sing together in unison and so do the basses and tenors. Everyone is given the opportunity to sing the melody and sing supporting harmonic parts. The music gives the students lots of opportunity to have musical interpretation. There is an a cappella section for the singers to really test their ears. This song is perfect for the excelling SATB ensemble.

Zion's Walls
One of if not the most famous Copland choral piece. This is just standard repertoire for the choral singer. The music is well written while also having the singers in unison and also with each individual line. As the piece goes on it splits and then joins back together from parts to unison. It usually keeps the sopranos and altos together and likewise for the tenors and basses. This would reassure the singers if they felt insecure with their part.

Come Be My Love
Music for the ensemble with a ton of women and not enough men. The text is simple as are the harmonies. Each part will be able to sing the melody at some point. The piano reinforces the parts almost the entire time. Perfeect for a beginning mixed ensemble with tenors and basses that aren't as experienced as your sopranoes and altos.

Repertoire Project Pieces

Links for my Pieces

Lollipop for SSAA
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqY1UxelFRMTA2bFpqNlVEa1ZHZElMYVcyUDFR/edit?usp=docslist_api

Dubula for SSAA
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqaHFwcFIweEhBUGR2RnRjbzlXbDhHamc2NjFF/edit?usp=docslist_api

Shenandoah for 3 part Treble
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqTkg4RVYwYzM5c2ttVk00R1FNdklPemllMHRv/edit?usp=docslist_api

Remember from Two Rosetti Songs for SATB
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Doc%20-%20Mar%2031,%202015,%2011-01%20PM.pdf

Lullaby from Three Nocturnes for SATB
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqWmxPN1hfVlZrd0RQUFlCSXpCckRjcHNWTmc0/edit?usp=docslist_api

City Called Heaven for SATB
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqZ3FUSUVwMGF6ZTBiUERMbUhYMllDbmdyWlV3/edit?usp=docslist_api

Zions Walls for SATB
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqNk9wM0FpRDNYRDdKTFFuaE5UWWg1M3o1dmlN/edit?usp=docslist_api

Come Live With Me and Be My Love for SSAB
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-vh62v4VekqNk9wM0FpRDNYRDdKTFFuaE5UWWg1M3o1dmlN/edit?usp=docslist_api

Observation Charlotte: 5/1/15

After a few discussions with Bethany, I have learned that the class that I am observing has not always been the easiest for her. She has felt as though there has been some animostiy directed to her from the kids. The ensemble I observe is mostly  freshman or entry level choir members. The students in it are either obligated to take an arts credit and thought that this would be an easy class to take or don't really have an interest but needed a schedule filler. The problem with that is you get students who don't want to be there. It is very hard to motivate those who don't want to be there.
But from what I was able to observe over the course of this semester was a lot of community builiding. Especially on  a day where there were only a few boys, but they decided to be class clowns. Instead of getting hot headed about what the boys were doing, and how they were wasting time by standing behind the risers or using a goofy voice, Bethany was able to just laugh with them. I think it is important to have work be the priority, but there is also more to choir than just getting through repertoire and singing it well. I think Bethany has done well to make a great community with her students, giving them a place to be a little goofy and to feel more at ease than the other pressures of school allow.
She has also discussed quite a bit at the hard hit her program has taken because of the ephasis the A.P. classes in the school. The students are basically told that if they don't take A.P. classes that they should expect to get to college. This is not true, nor should the children have so much pressure to perform academically. Yes, there should be emphasis on them doing well. There is not one good teacher out there that would not want students to exceed. But the expectations to be set so high for the kids is crippling. There is no room for mistakes or for being immature. Both things are supposed to be allowed in the age that they are. But there is no allowance made for them anymore. It is sad to hear that there is such a strain on something I find so important for the health and well-being of young people.

Observaton Charlotte 4/7/15

Students. My goodness! How do they have so much to talk about. Bethany is teaching them choreography for their upcoming concert and the students will not stop talking about anything. I have no idea how they have so many topics to discuss! Frankly it is impressive and a little frustrating at the same time. But to me the students have learned to become such great mulri-taskers because of thi terrble habit.They will be talking during the entire class and they still can kind of catch onto what is supposed to be happening.
It was also amazing to me at how much time it had taken to get the students into lines. The decision one what row they wanted to be in was such a high level of commitment you would think Bethany was asking them to pick out their new life partner. It was borderline ridiculous. Once they had all settled into some sort of semblance of a line, the talking continued at full force because they could decide to stand next to whomever they desired.
Where Bethany may not have been using this in the past in her classroom, she had a microphone to help project herself in the classroom. I am not sure exactly my views on this now. I never really felt comfortable with the idea of a microphone in the classroom. For some reason it makes me feel like it distances the teachers and the students because there is a divide of machine and man. But with such a large setting, where there are so many students and only one teacher, the demand for the technology is rather high if not just to save the voice of the instructor. There is not a reason in the world that a profession should affect the health of the worker.

Observation Charlotte: 4/28/15

Bethany actually had a binder with written out vocalises for the students to sing from. It had a fancier piano part that may have been the reason why she used it. But she only used the binder for one of the warm-ups. The rest of what she had done were similar to what she usually will start the class with.

Another interesting thing is that she does not use the number system for her attendance taking. In any other program I have only seen the attendance taken with assigned numbers for each student. Her reasoning behind this that there is so much turnover with the semester changes that it is not worth it to try to assign numbers. I believe this to be fairly sad that the students switch around so much and are not consistantly able to participate in her classes.

I led a sectional with the altos in a practice room on the song "Black Bird." The students I heard were bored with their part because they did not have words and just sang on a syllable while doing the same thing over and over again. I tried to identify with them, but also let them know the perks of singing alto. I tried to make their part seem really cool (which I think it is so it wasn't hard). And by making a couple jokes they seemed to be respond better than what I had anticipated. There were a couple students who just sat in the back and didn't really participate. But then again, if they don't want to participate I don't really have the authority to tell them they have to. I don't really think I have the right to discipline. But I don't want to be a teacher who demands respect but earns it. But there is the careful balance of trying to do this. You don't want to be a push over. There needs to be a boundary.

Observation Charlotte: 4/14/15

For the first time in class I led something. I did the warm-ups. I made sure to wear something that made me distinctly older than them. I know that I have to be concious of how I appear because I am young, and even more so that I look young for my age. As I began the vocalises, I ran through the very typical warm-ups, having the students sing with a bright sound, humming with no tension (not necessarily in that order). The last activity I did was a beatboxing exercise, like the one Maura did in class. I began with the altos, giving them something to vocalize. As I was modelling what they should do, one of the altos says "what the f**k* loud enough for me to hear, but she covered her mouth towards the end of it as if she was just realizing how loud she said because I made sure to look directly at her.
I didn't say anything about it. I am not sure if Bethany heard. But I made sure to give her a very long look telling her that I had noticed it but proceeded with the activity. I don't need to know that they like it or not. I do want them to like it, but I am trying to become very comfortable with the idea that every student will not like me. And even more so that I will not win eveyone over. I think that I did not let what she said bother me or make me feel self-concious about my teaching. I proceeded just as I would have if no one had said anything at all. The social norms were very evident.
But the boys absolutely loved it so I was able to feed off of their positivie energy and make the activity work and have the other students start getting into it.

Observation Charlotte: 3/31/15

Today when we went over the warm-ups the students sang with much better tuning than the very first time I had heard them six weeks ago. The excersise which they began on was "bim bom" where the students sing each on a member of a triad and repeat the syllables "bim bom" with a staccato articulation. I don't know if I find this exercise the most useful because if the students wanted to work on developing their ears, switching between vowels may not be the most condusive to this process. Sustained notes may be the best so that they have more time to hear what they are singing against another singer rather than doing quick notes. If their ears were a little more developed I may find this to be much more useful.
The interesting thing that has happened over the course of the past few weeks is that the sopranos would improve their tuning as the exercise would get higher. Luckily, they stayed fairly together this week in comparison to previous ones. This may be an example of their ears and voice adjusting to the range they are not normally using in the other times of their daily life.
Bethany was also an example of when you are unable to use a piece you had orriginally planned. Their concert is not til the end of their school year. So there was time to go back on what was already chosen. But she made a concious decision to take out a piece and to go with another one. She said that they were trying to decide between two and they went for the harder one. I think it was a smart decision to have another one just incase the piece would be too hard. Also, the way she approached it to students was very good. By saying the PIECE was the problem it let the students know that it wasn't their fault at how they were progressing making them understand that things are a progression rather than blaming themsleves for their inadequate skills.

Final Teach

Piece: Shenandoah

Arranged by: Mary Goetze

Goals of Learning

• Proper vowel shapes in English
• Sounding in unison 
• Singing without the aid of a piano to increase listening ability
• Phrasing
• Singing with Fermatas 
• Close major second interval clashing 
• This occurs at the end
• Gives opportunity for independence of ears
• Women navigating the passagio 
• Chest and mixed voice
• Mixed and head voice

Lesson Plan_______________________________________________________________

• Proper Vowels

• Establish Tonality
• Model the song’s melody as you hand out the music
• Sign 
• Sol – do
• First phrase on solfege
• Have everyone sing the melody
• Stop and model tall vowels with a right and wrong exercise
• Give a “right” sample
• Give a “wrong” sample
• Give a “right” one more time
• Start again
• Stop at the end of the first verse

• Phrasing

• Model phrase while conducting the shape
• Make sure to mimic the gesture to the voice
• Have them try the melody again
• Correct by stopping them and demonstrating what they should be doing

• Application of the Vowels and Shapes

• Split into 3 parts
• Sing through the second verse and listen for the direct application of the phrasing

• Major Seconds

• On the last page
• Break into two parts
• Start on measure 39
• Model part 3
• Model part 2
• Have them try
• Retry if needed (probably)

• Sing through the piece

• Split into four parts
• Bring all elements together
• Remind of tall vowels
  

Two Rosetti Songs: Remember

file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Doc%20-%20Mar%2031,%202015,%2011-01%20PM%20(1).pdf


Lesson Plan for the excelling high school group
A. Sing the song as you are passing out the music.
B. Begin with everyone on the melody and alto on the syllable "do" and work until the first fermata
C. Have everyone on the tenor and bass
D. Read the poem and have the students listen to the words
E. Share your story - create a personal connection with the piece
F. Set the words to music
G. Concept of being one voice - how the music begins in unison and then branches out into four singers

Choral Methods: Charlotte High School Observation #3

It is incredible to me to see what these choral teachers do in a day. And then when you have a day where you are going on a field trip to choral festival, forget about having room or time to think! The top choir was filing in and out of the choir room in their choir dresses and suits. They definitely had a buzz of excitement that they were going to be able to leave school during the day. The class which was going to go tomorrow, Concert Choir, meets at the time of my observation. They came in the room and the chaos became oh so real. I started feeling a little overwhelmed. There were 120 students approximately in the classroom at that time. And I have heard my teacher say this before, but I never really thought much about it. But Bethany said that she was not going to talk over all those students. "It is 120 against 1." Now, I have had teachers say that, but it had never felt so real as it did standing by the front of the room. There were so many of them! And it was just her, against all those students. Yet she was able to maintain control of the classroom. Bethany rehearsed both groups in the time period before they left for the festival.

Another notable factor was how many questions Bethany was getting asked. You could could five seconds or less between each little thing that the students came up to her for. She was asked about hair spray, bobby pins, safety pins. Even the parent chaperone followed her around with questions and other things to fill her in on. In her office, Mrs. Zeuch had every little thing you could think to find in a bathroom linen closet. And through all of this, Bethany answered every question with a cool response and moved onto the next question without skipping a beat. I felt bad about interacting with her during the observation just because of everything she had to juggle I was just an extra added thing. It was really incredible to watch.

In comparison to other disciplines, I can't imagine there being as much dependency on the teacher as there is in a choral setting. I don't know if that is because they allow their students to need them more or if it is because the students create a bond that allows them to let themselves become more dependent on this particular adult. It could just be a result of the security in the relationship that was established between teacher and student.

Sight-reading Excerpt with Rationale

Lesson Plan:
A. What is the key signature?
B. What is the meter?
C. Count singing on Do and Mi while having their hand across the shoulder to tapping so that they may keep the beat on their body in a way that engages both sides of their brain.
D. Using hand signs speak the solfege
E. Continuing the tapping, audiate the music. Each time there is a rest there is an audible hit on the chest
F. Try it out

Choral Methods: Hayes Middle School Observation

Doug Armstead. An incredible musician, and an incredible teacher. The two things are separate, but when together, they create an unstoppable addition to the music and educational world.

We first began with seeing an energetic and fun-loving Josh Gronlund teach the group of almost 60 girls! He began at the piano having the vocalize up and down. There was a large incorporation of movement. He used analogies as if they were going out of style. His method of classroom management during the warm-ups matched up very similarly with Doug's. He would NOT try to talk over the ensemble, but rather he would voice his disappointment and say that he was willing to wait for them to begin behaving. When he would do a movement that he wanted the whole ensemble to mimic and he had a student that would not be matching, Josh would make a joke about it. He would do the movement and then look at the way his body was quizzingly and make a thoughtful sound. He would say something like, "huh, I thought for sure my arms were straight..." And then once the student(s) who was out of alignment fixed their position he said, "oh, there we go." He cleverly made the management into a joke rather than calling out the students which established the atmosphere and learning environment for these students. Josh also frequently modelled for the students which is something that we have learned and has been reinforced in our classes here at MSU.

Doug seamlessly took control of the classroom and began to run the warm-ups. Josh would stand in the classroom and give as much if not more energy than Doug. After they finished warm-ups they moved into sight-reading. He utilized technology so that he would be able to design the type of sight-reading that he wanted and knew they needed to practice. This is a great way to hone in and help your students practice where they are weak.

Another interesting thing that they incorporated in the classroom is the reading for the day. They had a quote Doug reasoned would help improve the students in their daily lives, something that would lead them to becoming better people. They also had to include math in their daily routine by

While they were running the songs he picked out one student to compliment and said that we can all do what she is doing. And that was a way to not call out the other students for not doing a good enough job, rather positively affecting one student.

Armstead's overall teaching methods led to a positive environment for his students. He neither called them out for their behavior nor did he let them slack on their work. His motto is "WHAT WE TOLERATE BECOMES OUR STANDARD." I believe this to be completely upheld in his classroom. He did not let his students slack off in his classroom. He is a very capable teacher.

Choral Methods: Charlotte High School Observation #2

Second Day. Round Two. I'm in the ring. And I have my gloves on tightly. I know now how to park. I know now how to find the room...I think. Getting back to the class was no problem this time and I've started to build myself a routine. I sit down once more in the auditorium. The students are now getting prepared for the choral festival that will take place for them the next day.

Bethany was prepared, a seasoned veteran at the processes that accompany taking an entire ensemble to festival. She began the rehearsal not with talking about the festival but rather with the warm-ups. I think that this was a notable choice because she was reinforcing the idea the music class should begin with music rather than talking technicalities over the "fieldtrip" they were about to take. That can wait. But she was also making the conscious decision to allow for an "interruption" in the music-making when she begins to pass out the details of the trip before they run through their repertoire. One thing that did happen was the students exploded into conversation as soon as she began to pass out the itineraries. She did not give them the option to read it on their own time which I thought was interesting because that may be for her protection. If a student were to say that they missed something that would end up affect the possibility of their attendance, reading it in class does not give allowance for that excuse. She may do this differently with the more advanced groups since this is not an auditioned ensemble.

But once she finished with the sheets they began to work on their sight-reading. A notable factor is when she asked a question she called for a band person to answer. Another trick she did was to ask a section to answer questions she had. This was a technique, I believe, to not single anyone out but would grab the attention of a large amount of students. It also would solidify and reinforce section pride. If a section were to be held accountable for answering questions rather than a single students, this would make it easier for students to identify with the person who answers instead of having one smartypants always answer the questions.

At the very end, she gave them compliments and an overall ego boost over how well they would be performing in the festival. She went on to say that she was impressed by their work and the progress made over the past years to make the group who they were that day.

I think it is important for teachers to remember that students are not just their to learn and participate but also to seek reassurance. So much of what classes have turned into is the value of the grade the may receive. And some students have a hard time getting the results they want for one reason or another. In the end, what they may see too often is red marks on the page. Their  value and intelligence being measured by a letter grade evaluated by another person. We offer one of the few things that can allow for group participation that can reward unbiasedly creating a collective of students that exist on equal playing fields and may be rewarded equally as well.

Choral Methods: Charlotte High School Observation #1

The school is large. I did not grow up in a district that had so many different students, rooms, parking lots. Simply put, it was a maze. And it was a maze I had to figure out on my own because for some reason I was unable to approach faculty members who were able to direct me to the choir room.

In that simple statement, I believe the culture in most school systems becomes apparent. The choir teacher remains separated, secluded, and locked in a corner over by the drama teacher and the dungeon. And it is very rarely that we break our shackles of time constraints or concerts to venture out in to this chaotic-normal world where people would look at us weird if we were to harmonize with the pitch of the elevator or the tardy bell after it rings for the second time.

Once I was able to make it past the sea of the students and swim into the last hallway and safely land in the music wing, I walked into the choir and found no students. I reassured myself that I was in the right location by re-reading Bethany Zeuch three or four times on her office door.

But luckily I saw an adult someone standing outside of a door on my way out and ventured over that way in hopes that it was Mrs. Zeuch. And it was!! She was prepping for their concert and needed to meet in the auditorium with the students. So I was able to sit in the audience and observe the process in getting ready for the concert, the dress rehearsal in the eyes and perception of the teacher's standpoint.

It was very different having to think about where they would be sitting during the concert. The classroom management was interesting as well. She would talk while they were talking she would not waste her energy trying to talk over them while they were chattering, but it never seemed to get out of hand. This was the first time I got to see a method that allowed for students to talk. It seemed to work very well with the number of students that she had. The boys were trying to distract the girls of course. Who would be funniest was a very obvious competition. But in the end she would joke with them and would laugh when appropriate, but she knew when to reel them back in to get started in working.