Treble+Intonation


 * Drew Neneman March 2008

Grade Level: 11 and 12th grade Girls - Varsity Treble Choir** **(Girls' Choir)**

This lesson was a huge success and marked a tremendous stride for the choir and for myself as a teacher. This lesson is meant for a 90 minute choral period. Time allotments would be altered for traditional school scheduling.

The largest struggle in treble choir is the intonation. Large groups of treble voices battle over vowels, creating tension and driving the pitch sharp. This lesson plan is designed to relax the singers, unify the vowels, train the ears and allow the pitch to settle through relaxation. A reciprocal problem with intonation in adolescent choirs is naturally the lack of aural training. Teenagers of intermediate skill often can hear right and wrong but search for the pitch with their throats rather than find the pitch first in their imagination and ears. This exercise introduces the girls to essential chordal listening skills. The lesson will begin with sung chords that change by semi tones on neutral vowels. This will slowly transition into singing their current piece (in our case Rupert Lang's Cantate Domino) which utilizes particularly tight harmonies. These harmonies have been a consistent struggle for the girls. Particularly the soprano's, often like the sound of their individual voices so much that they make effort mistakes or over sing, polluting the vowel and integrity of the section and ultimately the choir. The goal at the end of the lesson will be that the girls have attained a sensitivity to the chord, being aware that they are singing the right note without insisting that their section is the loudest.

Sing, Listen, Evaluate.
 * Standards:**

Students will listen to the chord. Students will be able to discern correct vs. incorrect intonation after hearing chords internally and externally both sung and played. Students will manage their volume as sections and as individuals to the end that no section out balances another. Students will relax their jaw and vowel formations to unify the vowels and avoid tension.
 * Objectives:**

A piano is necessary.
 * Materials:**

BE CAREFUL as you commence that you rely on modeling. These exercises can encourage too much speaking instruction and waste time. Teach yourself to command attention by using models, keeping pace and demanding that the girls listen by eliminating down time.
 * Sequence of activities:**

A full vocal warm up is presumed before this activity commences.

First play a D major chord and have the choir sing it on a sustained "Doo" with Alto II on D, Alto I on F# Sop II on A and Sop I on D (8va).

Ask the girls to massage their faces down and forward as they sing, to relax and unify the "Doo" they are creating. The tessitura of this exercise should make this an ideal vowel. As the lesson progresses, frequently allow the girls a moment to exhale and remind themselves how to breath diaphramatically. Demonstrate by placing your hands on your own stomach and showing them the motion of a deep low breath. Ask them to equivocate the hands on the stomach as a signal to breath well during this exercise. Good aural training will fail a singer who has no support.

After they sing this chord clear their ears by playing something chromatic on the piano, asking them to hold the pitch silently and come back in on the original chord. Still on "Doo" (feel free to assume "doo" henceforth your choir needs something new).

From this point assist the tuning of the chord especially noting clashing vowels, tension of jaw and mismatched sectional dynamics. Incorporate breath support as necessary. Remind them to periodically massage their jaw to relax the "Doo." Only use a piano if absolutely necessary. **When reminding students to relax their vowel formation, don't repeatedly stop and articulate that instruction verbally! Simply stop, and model, then indicate by gesture that you desire them to mimic you. The hand cue of massaging your face is very obvious and will remind them to follow suit. This "instruct by modeling" routine, particularly the singing while massaging the face, is a crucial trend for this lesson.**

Repeat this no more than four times. This lesson may need to be repeated in successive classes to reach its optimum value. By the third try the students should be hitting the chord relatively well, if they are not, move on but explain the goal, and note their progress. This first stage of the exercise should take not more than 5-6 minutes.

Now regardless of their independence, and using the piano as little as possible, guide the choir through essentially the same physical tuning routine, but raising and lowering each part in half steps. Freeze on complicated and chromatic harmonies. Let the choir relish them and listen to them. After every four half step motions return to the tonic chord. Repeat this several times. Spend no more than 5 or 6 more minutes on this exercise either.

Occastionally try these half step alterations to the chord isolating one or two parts at a time, such as Soprano I and Alto II, or Soprano II and Alto I...etc. In addition to isolating parts, have different parts sing at different dynamic levels to demonstrate the differences in blend created by a disparity of dynamic. If there is time, attempt the same with small groups of singers, so that girls are listening for balance within the section. **Again, remember this lesson can be repeated for 2 or 3 classes before it reaches its optimum result.**

During every chromatic motion as you hold the chord, stop and readjust the dynamic level of each voice part (AI AII SI SII). The goal is for them to listen and grasp better a ensemble wide understanding of balance. Isolate different parts as necessary, both for aural and pedagogical reasons. Sometimes, at some pitches Sopranos may be practically perfect, while Alto's may struggle. Don't be afraid to isolate.

After 10-12 minutes has been spent on the last two mentioned activities. Begin working on Rupert Lang's "Cantate Domino", or which ever piece you would choose that requires work on balance, technique and intonation for tight treble harmonies. Continue working through varied sections of the piece freezing on tight harmonies, adjusting balance, and repeating trouble measures. Don't be afraid to isolate parts singly and dually. Constantly remind the girls to relax their jaws, adjust their balance and re-evaluate their breath management. Again, model relaxation and model correct vowel formation. Don't rely too heavily on verbal instruction. Switch back and forth between the Latin (or whatever text you are on) text and the syllable "doo." Spend a maximum of 20 minutes working the piece in this way, frequently switching which section of the piece is being rehearsed.

Did the girls relax their articulators? Did the girls consistently evaluate and execute breath management? Did the girls heighten their understanding of intonation and balance? Did the girls apply the skills quicker in the piece than they did initially in the exercise? Did I stick to my allotted time prescriptions?
 * Assessment:**

// Drew, // //This is really a great lesson that addresses a problem that many choirs struggle with. Here are my suggestions:// // - You could add to your title something about girls choir because then when someone is working with a girls choir they could search for “girl choir” and it would bring up your lesson // // - Your lesson is very detailed and I would know exactly what to do for the entire lesson but you might want to **bold** some of the headings, like standards, objectives, materials, etc. so that if a teacher were to print out your lesson they would be able to find what materials were needed or what the sequence was more quickly. // // -  There are a few small grammatical errors with spelling, just double check the wording on some of the directions. // // -  In the objectives section, I would try to condense your objectives to one or two lines, so that you can more easily carry out those objectives. You can still include the ones you have written, just make them into one or two objectives instead. For example, “The students will be able to discern correct vs. incorrect intonation after hearing chords internally and externally both sung and played” already includes “students will listen to the chord” so you probably wouldn’t need that sentence. You could also combine “Students will be able to sing their pitches correctly without over singing and balance their volume as sections and as individuals.” By combining these it becomes more obvious to the teacher what the objectives are in a more concise manner. //  //Objectives:// //Balance, Intonation, Vowel Formation/Unifying Vowels// // - The lesson itself is very well thought out and detailed. Some things I might change in the lesson are suggesting ways to constantly remind the girls to relax their jaws, adjust their balance and re-evaluate their breath management, without slowing down the pace of the class or becoming like a broken record, constantly reminding them to do these things. You gave the caution at the beginning that you want to use minimal verbal instruction and rather vocal modeling, so how could you keep reminding the girls what they are focusing on without constantly telling them? Maybe you could use physical modeling too, putting your hands by your stomach to remind them to breath or hands on your jaw to remind them to relax? // // -  You might also suggest that the warm up prior to the lesson involve arpeggios of some sort to tie in with your lesson. // // -  Because you want the girls to be able to hear if they are singing the wrong pitch, or if they are not in balance with each other you might need to incorporate some type of peer evaluating, such as have the alto 1 and alto 2 sing together and have the sopranos evaluate their intonation and balance and give them suggestions on how to improve the sound. Then switch and have the altos evaluate the sopranos. This way they are learning to not only focus on how they sound individually, but also how the whole choir works together to form one unified sound. You could add “evaluating” as one of your national standards also. This might also make it easier for you to assess them. // // -  To apply your assessments to your objectives, you would need to add to your objectives something about breath management (the students will be able to use proper breath support) and also were the girls able to apply the skills from the warm up to the piece. //  //Just some suggestions! Great lesson Drew!//

- //Jenn Bede//