Choral Net Dialogue - Choir Assignments

I found an interesting post in the forums section of the website. Here is the original post:

Hello!

I am a first year teacher and I'm looking for fun assignment ideas. I want my students to be doing more than just singing in my room, creating, collaborating, etc., but as a first year teacher I haven't quite figured out what works well and what doesn't. Just curious what some of you assign your students. I would love group project ideas as well as individual project ideas. Last year the teacher had them create a parody and they absolutely hated it and begged that I wouldn't make them do that this year - but I want them to work on something! Any ideas would be appreciated! Thank you! :)

Emily Ayres

6-12 Vocal Music Director

Beresford, SD 

I think this is a problem that a lot of music teachers encounter. How do you evaluate students without singling them out in class or finding enough material for a written test? 

A couple teachers said that they have their students write "mini-musicals." One said that she splits them into small groups of 4 or 5 and assigns them 3 of the pieces that they've sung throughout the year. She has them write their own musicals with a script, in which they have to perform at least a portion of the three pieces. She said that her students love it.

Another teacher had several really fun ideas that I thought would work really well with groups of any level. He said that he puts his students in teams and assigns them areas of town to put up promotional posters for their concerts. They have to talk to the manager of the stores they put them up in and they have to keep note of which businesses they go into. Then they have to take a "selfie" with the poster in the window of the store, and post it to the choir's Facebook page. I thought this was a really cool way to get students excited about being a member of a choir, and also show them what it takes to promote a musical group. This same teacher also said that he splits his choir up into Hogwarts Houses (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, etc.) and they remain in the same house from year to year. He said that they have lots of competitions over the year and it really helps boost the motivation of the choir.

What do you guys think? What sorts of suggestions would you give to this teacher? Is it important that students enjoy the assignments you give them?

Vocal Warm-up Handout

Physical:

Diving Position (Exercise 16, #1)

Teaching Kids to Sing, Kenneth Phillips

Here we are going to mimic the stance of a diver getting ready to dive into a pool. Imagine you are standing on a diving board, with your legs relaxed, sternum elevated and eyes looking straight ahead. Hold out your arms so they are horizontal to the floor. Raise your body up on your toes, hold for a couple seconds, and then return the heels to the floor. Lower the arms to the sides, keeping the sternum high. Note how standing this way feels - this is how you should feel when you are standing ready to sing.

Breathing:

The Foul Shot (Exercise 18)

Teaching Kids to Sing, Kenneth Phillips

This time we’re going to imitate a basketball player making a shot. First, we’re going to bounce an imaginary ball. Relax the knees and inhale as you prepare for the shot. Shoot the ball, moving the torso and shooting arm forward and exhaling audibly. This upward motion will encourage air to be drawn from the diaphragm. 

Resonance: (with piano)

Unison movement (Exercise 53)

Teaching Kids to Sing, Kenneth Phillips

Alternate between vowel sounds “oo, oh, ah, eh, ee” as seen in example 9.13. Being the exercise on different notes. Be sure to keep the jaw open and the tongue forward. Work on making everything very legato. 

Diction: (with piano)

The Tip of the Tongue, the Teeth, the Lips

Tongue twisters are great exercises for diction. We will sing “the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips” on a sustained pitch, moving up the scale.

Flexibility: (with piano)

Bumblebee

Bumblebee is one of my favourite exercises so I decided to include it even though it has already been discussed in this class. I also like to do bumblebee on solfege syllables, which adds the extra challenge if you’re working on solfege with your choir. Hand symbols might be helpful.     

The Singing Network: International Symposium on Singing and Song

Thursday, October 2015
Session 1, Health and Wellness
Jane Gosine, Sophia Werden Abrams, Carol Beynon

This session talked about using choral singing as a means of music therapy. Dr. Gosine talked about a therapeutic choir that runs out of a children's hospice in the UK. The choir consists of children with disabilities and their families. Members of the choir reported that singing in the group allowed them to have fun in a social environment with families who understand their special circumstances and provide support for them. Having had a small amount of experience interacting with families of children with disabilities, I feel like I have a very small understanding of what a group like this can mean. This summer, I worked at a summer camp where young children with disabilities were given the opportunity to come to overnight camp with their parents. The parents got to interact one another in a safe environment, and I saw first hand the kind of impact that can have on families. I can easily see how singing in a choir would provide the same kind of relief and support.
Sophia talked about the benefits of singing in a senior church choir, and provided examples from choirs in the St. John's area. Carol Beynon discussed the intergenerational choral curriculum for seniors with Alzheimer's disease at Western University. They teamed up with a high school, and each week students would come in and sing in a choir with the Alzheimer's patients. Many benefits were observed. I'm excited to hear that a project like this might happen in St. John's!

Friday, October 2nd 2015

Session 2, Words and Gestures
Joel Katz, Melissa C. Brunkan

Joel Katz talked about music and memory. I found this really interesting as a pianist, because memory is something we deal with a lot. He talked about how a musician's memory differs from someone who is not a musician, and then how a singer's memory is different from other musicians. Melissa Brunkan talked about how gesture affects the voice. She studied the affects of two different gestures on the students in her voice studio (a low, circular arm motion and a finger point). What I found most interesting was that she studied the affect that these gestures had on the students' tuning. The finger point made students go drastically sharp, which was really interesting to me.

The Toronto Children's Chorus

The following is a choral review of the The Toronto Children's Chorus. Attached you will find a Prezi presentation as well as a handout. Information has been taken from the TCC website (www.torontochildrenschorus.com) as well as Wikipedia and iTunes.

Prezi:

http://prezi.com/bagpp2hl7vqh/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Handout:

The Toronto Children’s Chorus

Founded in 1978 by Jean Ashworth Bartle and based out of Toronto, Ontario, the Toronto Children’s Chorus comprises of over 300 members from the ages of 6 to 17.

Jean Ashworth Bartle:

• A Canadian teacher and chorister
• Holds ARCT’s in performance and teaching, as well as a Bachelor’s degree with Honours from the University of Toronto. She also studied at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.
• The founder of the TCC, she stepped down in 2007 after 29 years as artistic director.

Elise Bradley:

• Took over as artistic director after Jean Ashworth Bartle stepped down. 
• From New Zealand, known internationally for her achievements in choral music.

Ensembles:

• Kindernotes - ages 3 - 6
• Preparatory Choir - Ages 6+
• Training Choirs I, II & III
• Main Choir
• Cantare
• Chorale
• Boys’ Choir
• Youth Choir

Repertoire Recommendations:

• Cantique de Jean Racine - Gabriel Faure
• From How Sweet The Sound
• Challenging piece for a young choir
• Provides opportunity to sing with an orchestral ensemble
• Enjoyable for both choristers and audiences
• City Called Heaven - arr. Josephine Poelinitz
• From Songs of the Lights
• Gospel piece
• Not a lot of popular gospel music in their repertoire
• A fun piece to sing
• Micma’q Honour Song - arr. Lydia Adams
• From Songs of the Lights
• A truly interesting piece - incorporates animals/nature sounds made by the chorus
• Lyrics in a native language
• I’se the B’y - Traditional NL Folk Song
• From My Heart Soars
• A fun little arrangement of a traditional tune!
• A good piece for young groups in Newfoundland because it’s something they already know but still provides a certain challenge

• Song of the Mira - Allistar MacGillivray
• From My Heart Soars
• Provides the opportunity for a soloist or multiple soloists
• A really pretty folk tune that will please singers and audiences

Other Recommendations:

• Check out the TCC website and take a look at their marketing strategies. The contact information is at the top of every page, and almost everything on the website is centred around either encouraging new members to join, advertising upcoming events and concerts, or showing potential sponsors the kinds of programs that their money will support. 
• www.torontochildrenschorus.com