High+School+choir+lesson

This lesson was used to teach a freshman mixed choir. It covered sight-reading, warm-ups, and reviewing and polishing performance pieces. At one point, we split into sectionals. This would require the accompanist or an additional teacher to lead one sectional while the main teacher led another. This was a very fast-paced lesson, completed in 45 minutes. National Standards used were Sing, Listen, Evaluate, and Read/Notate.

The materials required for this lesson included: Sight-reading packet [A packet that I composed and created], ”Surely He Hath Borne our Griefs” by Handel (Public Domain), “Written in Red” arr. Camp Kirkland, Lift Thine Eyes (“Elijah”) by Mendelssohn (Public Domain), Livin’ on a Prayer from A Tribute to Bon Jovi (Medley) arr. Mark Brymer, a piano, extra space

Assessment: Students will be asked to rate themselves on their confidence level on certain pieces. The goal is for them to rate themselves at a 5. If students are not giving a 5, they will be asked to share what parts of the song they are not comfortable with. We will work on these sections in the future. After students give their feedback, the teacher will share his or her evaluation.

1. Warm-ups (3 minutes) • Sing an F-major scale on solfege: do-do-re-do-do-re-mi-re-do,etc. Then from top: do-do-ti-do-do-ti-la-ti-do, etc. • Show through hand signs different patterns, such as do-mi-so-mi-do. Students then have to sing after you sign them. They should sign as well. Possible patterns: do-re-mi-so-mi-re-do; mi-fa-mi-so-la-la-so

2. Sight-reading (9 minutes) • Give students a few moments to write in solfege for #4 on page 2. • Speak solfege in rhythm for #4. Ask for trouble spots. • Sing #4 slowly with solfege. If students make a mistake, have them raise their hand. At the end, ask if there were any trouble spots. What is the correct way? Repeat line if necessary. • Repeat these first three steps with line #8 on page 2. Only have students write in solfege for first 4 measures. • Have guys sing #8 while girls sing #4. Switch.

3. “Surely” (6 minutes) •Ask if students want to review any sections, rhythms, pitches, etc.

• Sing through this piece. If something such as getting off from the piano, or missing a cue occurs, then stop and address the problem. Otherwise, try to sing straight through (for diagnosing purposes). We are practicing the performance. Ask students to rate 1-5 how well they feel confident with this piece. If students are not giving a 5, ask what parts of the piece are the problem spots. Write these down for future reference. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• Ask what went well, and what didn’t go well. Work on the spots they say did not go well.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">4. “Written in Red” (8 minutes)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• Fix alto pitches in measure 24. They are changing pitches on the downbeat of measure 25, when they should be changing on beat three of measure 24. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• Sing through this piece. Follow the same pattern as explained in step #3. Ask students to rate 1-5 how well they feel confident with this piece. If students are not giving a 5, ask what parts of the piece are the problem spots. Write these down for future reference.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">5. “Lift Thine Eyes” (16 minutes) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• Separate into boys/girls to work in their respective pieces. Boys are singing “Hush, Somebody’s calling my name.” The accompanist will lead this sectional, unless there is a student with the knowledge and maturity level to lead a sectional with little teacher supervision. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• With the girls, work on the sections we have learned, from mm. 1-31. Concepts to work on: dynamics, breathing, vowels, tone. Model how you want things to sound. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• If time, learn from mm. 31-35

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">6. “Livin’ on a Prayer” (3 minutes) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">• Sing through this piece. Remind them to be energetic and into it. They can rock out! This is for the next concert, so it is just a quick refresher of what we have already learned in this piece. This is a fun way to end the rehearsal today.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #5c626d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">My goal for sight-reading was for 90% accuracy (rhythms and pitches). Students accomplished this! "Surely" and "Written in Red" ended up being a memorization check as well, as many students surprised me by putting away their music. The goal for students rating themselves was at 5. I would also rate them as well, providing feedback about how I perceived their confidence level, as well as correct pitches, rhythms, dynamics, etc.