The Engaging Choral Classroom Sandy Knudson
TCDA, July, 2016 [email protected]
Favorite warm-ups and solfege techniques always teach a skill
4 beat movement canon Friendly policeman
Yoo hoo hoo hoo hoo (dmsmd)- point five different places Zee ah Zee ah zee ah ah ah ah (sd’ sd’ sd’smd)
May we follow you? Sfmrd
Slur exercises Freeze tone exercises
Solfege canons
• All good rehearsals start with good repertoire. Only the best is good enough for children. Choose music of the highest quality that immediately entices and engages the young singer. See my list of favorites and things to consider in programming in livebinders.com. (Access code? Come to the workshop!) http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1861412
• Score study inspires the teaching process. If I know the piece well, I can be improvisatory in rehearsal. What is prominent? Is this a melodic, lyrical piece? Teach with solfege. Is this a rhythmic piece? Read some rhythms and find them in the piece. ABA? Teach the A and let the teacher sing B. Verse-refrain? Teach the refrain and let the teacher sing the verses. …And so on.
• Begin with the end in mind- plan, plan, plan. (Sample grid in livebinders.com) But this is
another workshop….
After the foundational work is done, it is time to engage the singers.
Word Wall- why not use one for a semester or for a day? Instead of saying, “Take out Path to the Moon”, say,
“Take out the piece with syllabic stress, sequence and hemiola”
WORD WALL FAVORITES A cappella
Apex Augmentation
Canon Diction
Diphthong Fermata Hemiola Legato
Marcato Metric Accent Partner Song
Scat Singing Sequence
Staggered Breathing Syllabic Stress
Motivational techniques
Call backs: The Sky’s the limit; we’re digging deeper, Ms. K
JOIN ME IN KINESTHETIC PLAY
As we conduct a hemiola or a cutoff As we show syllabic stress or a slur
As we show articulation: marcato, legato, melisma As we show length or apex of phrase
As we fight gravity on a descending line As we keep a tempo in a canon or an a cappella piece
As we show metric accent As we show dynamics
As we listen for the melody or moving part As we sing in head voice, not chest voice
As we show different kinds of weight As we use a bicycle ride to shape the phrase
Additional ideas?
Management Techniques
• Post it notes and photo ops • Show me on a scale of 1-4 • Judges, points and gotcha!
• Written response: 4 x 6 card; Music: Art Thou Troubled? by Handel
1) Choose a British character
( from Harry Potter, Downtown Abbey, royalty, historical figure, Narnia, etc.) 2) Tell me why you chose him/her 3) Describe what this character is doing in the A part and in the B part
• After Carmen- which performer would you like to be and why? Men’s chorus; women’s chorus;
orchestra player, soloist, conductor
High Rise! Skyscraper! Be the best we’ve ever been! Quantum leap! Third Floor Music in body; picture in mind; performance ready! Second Floor Become an artistic ensemble, a team, a choir. First Floor Take care of instrument- rest, hydrate, Be MINDFUL Foundation Know notes, words, parts, musical terms
Brain Break Activities
Poison Inner hearing
Canons Sasha or similar game
Pair share Choice one or two
Fix the teacher
Good King Wenceslas from Quick Starts for Young Choirs
By Cristi Cary Miller and Angela K. McKenna Hal Leonard
Reflections/ Notes/ Goals for my Choral Classroom: