After last week, I wanted to see how Kyle gets his choir to sound the way he wants - mainly, how does he make technique/intonation/musicality accessible to kids.
Kyle does a lot with solfege to help the kids internalize pitch and the distance between notes. Last week, Kyle had a warm-up where the kids sang every major interval up a scale (on E natural, they would sing Do - Re (F#), Major (E) Second (F#) and continue up the scale). In addition to singing the solfege and syllable, the children would do the hand signs as well, to reinforce what they were singing. This week, Kyle included minor intervals in the scale (Do - Ra, Minor Second), which I thought was really cool. Again, the children did hand signs while they sang.
When the children began rehearsing their pieces, I noticed that they all use the hand signs while they sang, just like they do in warm-up. Many of them sang very well in tune, even when they were sight reading new sections. I really like having the kids sign the solfege even when they sing because it has that physical movement associated with the notes, which probably helps to internalize the intervals.
When the kids got to new section of the piece, Kyle had them write in the solfege, but while he did this, he played music of a choir singing as a background. I really love this idea because it encourages the children to keep thinking in music even when they are writing in solfege. It also helps their ear because Kyle is playing examples that are good examples of tone, consonants, vowels, musicality, and blend.
Again, throughout the rehearsal, Kyle treated the children like adults and held them responsible for their parts and their singing, which I love. During one song, the group was sight reading a new section and Kyle told them to "give it one more shot without trying to fix anything because you are smart." Instead of correcting everything that was wrong after one time through, Kyle asked every to "personally try to be more accurate," which I really loved. The kids responded too because they second time was much more in tune and much more together without Kyle having to fix things. It just showed me what these kids are capable of and how little talking you really need to do if you train each student to be responsible for their singing and comfortable with their pitches and musicality.
Another technique that Kyle uses a lot to help is having sections circle up so they can all hear each other. Kyle utilizes this especially on songs where rhythms are hard to fit together as a whole group or where individual sections have melodic lines that are very dissonant with other sections. I really love this idea because it allows each section to sync with each other, making them more secure when they return to choir formation.
All in all, I was really impressed with the critical ear and musicality that these kids demonstrate during rehearsal. Kyle told me the group ranges from 5th grade to 9th grade, but they already have highly developed ears and can identify balance issues, intonation issues, vowel alignment, and a whole bunch of other characteristics without Kyle needing to say anything. I hope that I can give my ensembles, choral or otherwise, this level of musicianship. Kyle truly is teaching these children to be musicians on their own rather than spoon-feeding them music.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Haslett HS Select Women's Choir - Observation #5/Teaching #1
Today, I got to lead some warm-ups for the choir. I was pretty nervous to lead warm-ups because I have not had much experience working with choirs. I was also very nervous because Ms. Valla uses the piano a lot during warm-ups and I do not have the skills to do that.
I tried to come up with a range of warm-ups that could focus on different aspects of singing. I started with the physical warm-up that Stuart did in class on Monday (clapping/patting different parts of the body and having the choir follow his movements 4 beats behind). In addition to tapping different parts of the body, I also included some sirens in the exercise to begin to bridge speaking voice and singing voice. This particular warm-up went pretty well, although, I need to get some more variety into it. I want to add in some lip trills next time and more difficult rhythms or tapping patterns. Despite this, I heard one of the altos say "That was cool!" when I finished the exercise, which was really cool to hear.
After the physical warm-up, I did "Mah Meh Me Moh Moo" (descending down a 5th and ascending by half step). I chose this exercise because consistent vowel shape is one of the things that Ms. Valla keeps bringing up with the choir, and I thought this warm-up would provide an opportunity to work on dropping the jaw and getting consistent vowels across the ensemble. I didn't go too high on this one since it was the first warm-up. Instead of playing the warm-up, I opted to sing each starting pitch and stay away from the piano. The choir seemed a little unsure about this given that their warm-ups are normally done with a piano. I need to find a better way to bring the choir in after giving the pitch - my cues were not very clear because the initial entrances for the exercise were very hesitant.
After the vowel warm-up, I did "The Lips, The Teeth, The Tip of the Tongue" (Descending down a 5th and descending by half step). Just like in class, I asked the students to try to spit on the person in front of them after the first warm-up didn't have enough "t" for my ear. Again, I stayed away from the piano. The students were much more unsure with the descending exercise and at one point, the exercise switched from major into minor. This made me wonder if the choir may be a little too dependent on the piano because they could not keep the same intervals on the new pitch. I think it might be really good for me to do warm-ups without the piano because this will challenge the choir to maintain intervals internally rather than mimicking the piano's pitches.
My last warm-up was "Zi (steps up a fifth) Zoh (steps up a fifth) Zah (up and down a scale)." I started this in F and worked on phrasing (crescendoing up the scale and decresecendoing back down). I had the choir sing it a couple times in unison in order to get the phrasing I wanted, then I divided the choir into two parts and had them perform the warm-up in a round. After that, I split them into three parts for a round. I had planned to have the choir sing the warm-up twice when I split into the 3-part round, but I forgot and only had them do it once, so one group finished right when the last group started. If I do this again, I will be sure to have the choir sing the warm-up twice for the 3-part round.
In addition to warm-ups, I also got to lead a sectional. The choir started a new piece, "Bright Morning Stars" by Jay Althouse, and Ms. Valla had me work with the first sopranos for about 10 minutes (she worked with first altos, Jeremiah worked with second altos, and the pianist worked with second sopranos). We were working on a small section of the piece per Ms. Valla's instructions. I started by having the girls sing on text while I played the part on piano with them. The first soprano part had some high es, so I worked with the girls to float those notes (I had them bend their knees on the high e to keep the note light and not strained). One girl said her private teacher had her do that all the time and completely understood what I was asking. The others were less committed to following through with the motion, but did it a little anyway. I also had them work on keeping all of the notes, especially the lower ones (a and g) light in order to match the quality of the high e. After playing the part for them a couple of times, I stopped playing and sang with them instead. The first time was shaky - I think because the group does most of their work with the piano - but they did much better when i had them do it again without the piano. Overall, I think it went really well and they sang all the correct pitches in rehearsal when the group rejoined, which was great!
One thing that was really cool was that one of the first sopranos told me before we started working that she and one of the other girls loved my voice (I had modeled my warm-ups before asking them to sing). Hearing this made me feel like I could potentially work with choirs since I haven't had voice lessons since high school and I haven't been in a choir since 2007. It also really made me want to sing again since I was able to impress these advanced singers! I feel much more relaxed about teaching this group after today and I'm looking forward to doing more next week!
I tried to come up with a range of warm-ups that could focus on different aspects of singing. I started with the physical warm-up that Stuart did in class on Monday (clapping/patting different parts of the body and having the choir follow his movements 4 beats behind). In addition to tapping different parts of the body, I also included some sirens in the exercise to begin to bridge speaking voice and singing voice. This particular warm-up went pretty well, although, I need to get some more variety into it. I want to add in some lip trills next time and more difficult rhythms or tapping patterns. Despite this, I heard one of the altos say "That was cool!" when I finished the exercise, which was really cool to hear.
After the physical warm-up, I did "Mah Meh Me Moh Moo" (descending down a 5th and ascending by half step). I chose this exercise because consistent vowel shape is one of the things that Ms. Valla keeps bringing up with the choir, and I thought this warm-up would provide an opportunity to work on dropping the jaw and getting consistent vowels across the ensemble. I didn't go too high on this one since it was the first warm-up. Instead of playing the warm-up, I opted to sing each starting pitch and stay away from the piano. The choir seemed a little unsure about this given that their warm-ups are normally done with a piano. I need to find a better way to bring the choir in after giving the pitch - my cues were not very clear because the initial entrances for the exercise were very hesitant.
After the vowel warm-up, I did "The Lips, The Teeth, The Tip of the Tongue" (Descending down a 5th and descending by half step). Just like in class, I asked the students to try to spit on the person in front of them after the first warm-up didn't have enough "t" for my ear. Again, I stayed away from the piano. The students were much more unsure with the descending exercise and at one point, the exercise switched from major into minor. This made me wonder if the choir may be a little too dependent on the piano because they could not keep the same intervals on the new pitch. I think it might be really good for me to do warm-ups without the piano because this will challenge the choir to maintain intervals internally rather than mimicking the piano's pitches.
My last warm-up was "Zi (steps up a fifth) Zoh (steps up a fifth) Zah (up and down a scale)." I started this in F and worked on phrasing (crescendoing up the scale and decresecendoing back down). I had the choir sing it a couple times in unison in order to get the phrasing I wanted, then I divided the choir into two parts and had them perform the warm-up in a round. After that, I split them into three parts for a round. I had planned to have the choir sing the warm-up twice when I split into the 3-part round, but I forgot and only had them do it once, so one group finished right when the last group started. If I do this again, I will be sure to have the choir sing the warm-up twice for the 3-part round.
In addition to warm-ups, I also got to lead a sectional. The choir started a new piece, "Bright Morning Stars" by Jay Althouse, and Ms. Valla had me work with the first sopranos for about 10 minutes (she worked with first altos, Jeremiah worked with second altos, and the pianist worked with second sopranos). We were working on a small section of the piece per Ms. Valla's instructions. I started by having the girls sing on text while I played the part on piano with them. The first soprano part had some high es, so I worked with the girls to float those notes (I had them bend their knees on the high e to keep the note light and not strained). One girl said her private teacher had her do that all the time and completely understood what I was asking. The others were less committed to following through with the motion, but did it a little anyway. I also had them work on keeping all of the notes, especially the lower ones (a and g) light in order to match the quality of the high e. After playing the part for them a couple of times, I stopped playing and sang with them instead. The first time was shaky - I think because the group does most of their work with the piano - but they did much better when i had them do it again without the piano. Overall, I think it went really well and they sang all the correct pitches in rehearsal when the group rejoined, which was great!
One thing that was really cool was that one of the first sopranos told me before we started working that she and one of the other girls loved my voice (I had modeled my warm-ups before asking them to sing). Hearing this made me feel like I could potentially work with choirs since I haven't had voice lessons since high school and I haven't been in a choir since 2007. It also really made me want to sing again since I was able to impress these advanced singers! I feel much more relaxed about teaching this group after today and I'm looking forward to doing more next week!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
MSU Children's Choir: Observation #1
I observed Kyle with the MSU Children's Choir on Tuesday night. My initial observation is that Kyle is GREAT with these kids! He is completely calm and approachable, but always using jokes and humor to connect with the students. It is obvious that he knows them well and he uses their names when he speaks to them individually. It is also clear that these kids are very talented and clearly want to be there and participate.
What I really loved about Kyle's teaching is that he treated the children like adults - he expected musicality in everything and wouldn't let the students get away without it. This was clear even in his warmups, which I especially appreciated. He had the kids sing "Me, Meh, Mah, Moh, Moo." After the first key, he told the kids to "make a musical choice with this" and to make the exercise "go somewhere." I am a huge fan of using warmups (whether instrumental or choral) to practice musical aspects that can be applied in repertoire. I am constantly telling my solo students to add dynamics to their etudes, to practice phrasing, vibrato, shifting, and anything else that they are using in their pieces in the etudes themselves. I challenge my students to make their etudes sound like mini-pieces so that they get more comfortable executing musical choices on their instruments, making it easier to apply in their solo repertoire. It was very clear that Kyle follows this as well with his students, even at a young age.
Another thing I really liked is that Kyle has the choir sing the scale of whatever piece they are about to sing right before they work on a new piece. He also has all the children use the hand gestures when they sing scales and their pieces, giving them a physical connection to pitch throughout warmups and repertoire work. Because of this, the choir is able to sightread incredibly well. Their first piece, "Hands Across The Universe," was first handed out that evening, but the group was able to sightread the work from m. 83 to the end and hit most of the notes in tune. They also started working on phrasing and dynamics right away, even when learning notes, which I really liked. Rather than focusing on notes alone, Kyle is focusing on making music, which in turn will reinforce note learning. At one point during the reading, when they went back to try to catch more things, Kyle told the group, "Each time (we sing) you should be getting more musical, more notes, better vowels."
It was very clear that Kyle respected the kid's musicality and the students respected him as well. When Kyle was working with other parts, the children not singing were very quiet and stayed still in their seats. I was amazed at the level of control Kyle had without ever needing to address behavior or procedure for when some parts were singing and some were not. They started getting a little louder towards the end of the two hour rehearsal, but never overly disruptive. Kyle never needed to shush them. At one point, he asked for people not singing to be a little quieter, but this happened once and in the last 10-15 minutes of a 2 hour rehearsal.
I loved watching this rehearsal and I found myself wishing I had been a part of a group like this when I was younger. It looks like a great community and everyone, including Kyle, seem to be having a great time.
What I really loved about Kyle's teaching is that he treated the children like adults - he expected musicality in everything and wouldn't let the students get away without it. This was clear even in his warmups, which I especially appreciated. He had the kids sing "Me, Meh, Mah, Moh, Moo." After the first key, he told the kids to "make a musical choice with this" and to make the exercise "go somewhere." I am a huge fan of using warmups (whether instrumental or choral) to practice musical aspects that can be applied in repertoire. I am constantly telling my solo students to add dynamics to their etudes, to practice phrasing, vibrato, shifting, and anything else that they are using in their pieces in the etudes themselves. I challenge my students to make their etudes sound like mini-pieces so that they get more comfortable executing musical choices on their instruments, making it easier to apply in their solo repertoire. It was very clear that Kyle follows this as well with his students, even at a young age.
Another thing I really liked is that Kyle has the choir sing the scale of whatever piece they are about to sing right before they work on a new piece. He also has all the children use the hand gestures when they sing scales and their pieces, giving them a physical connection to pitch throughout warmups and repertoire work. Because of this, the choir is able to sightread incredibly well. Their first piece, "Hands Across The Universe," was first handed out that evening, but the group was able to sightread the work from m. 83 to the end and hit most of the notes in tune. They also started working on phrasing and dynamics right away, even when learning notes, which I really liked. Rather than focusing on notes alone, Kyle is focusing on making music, which in turn will reinforce note learning. At one point during the reading, when they went back to try to catch more things, Kyle told the group, "Each time (we sing) you should be getting more musical, more notes, better vowels."
It was very clear that Kyle respected the kid's musicality and the students respected him as well. When Kyle was working with other parts, the children not singing were very quiet and stayed still in their seats. I was amazed at the level of control Kyle had without ever needing to address behavior or procedure for when some parts were singing and some were not. They started getting a little louder towards the end of the two hour rehearsal, but never overly disruptive. Kyle never needed to shush them. At one point, he asked for people not singing to be a little quieter, but this happened once and in the last 10-15 minutes of a 2 hour rehearsal.
I loved watching this rehearsal and I found myself wishing I had been a part of a group like this when I was younger. It looks like a great community and everyone, including Kyle, seem to be having a great time.
Haslett HS Select Women's Choir - Observation #4
This being my fourth observation, I wanted to especially look at how Ms. Valla identifies and responds to problems in the choir's singing. I've noticed while observing that my ear can identify some issues with choir sound, such as intonation, balance, color, and blend, but not others. For example, it is very hard for me to identify issues with vowels. I know this is because my ears are geared towards instrumental, but it makes me nervous that I cannot identify these aspects of choral sound right now - especially given that I need to teach starting next week.
Since the choir is preparing for festival and performing on Thursday, most of the basic issues of the pieces have been worked through already. Today was a run-through with some final touch ups and observations to consider before festival. For the first piece (Duo), some of the parts were not quite balanced. Ms. Valla wants more sound from the soprano I section, which she has said on a few occasions. I wonder if this section contains more of the new freshmen that Ms. Valla admitted into Select this year to fill gaps as they appear younger than some of the other girls. She also wants more contrast in phrases and with main dynamics.
One thing I noticed is that the higher notes, the Es and F#s were going out of tune. This increased when Ms. Valla asked for more volume from the choir. Ms. Valla said the singers were losing the core of their sound and asked for more focused sound. I believe this has to do with breath and getting more air initially in order to better sustain on pitch.
In the second piece, Dance, Ms. Valla is trying to inspire more movement in the choir and more animation in their faces. Apparently, this is something that Select has been marked down on at festival in the past. Some of the girls are not acting while they are singing and their faces are flat. Others are acting a lot and are focal points in the group, which only makes the girls who are not doing it stick out more. Ms. Valla is trying to inspire movement in the girls by moving more herself when she conducts, but in the end, it falls on the girls to move themselves and respond.
A couple other things that were said this rehearsal was that the "oo" vowel was not matching across the voices, especially when parts when high. Ms. Valla said this is because the girls going higher are spreading the vowel a little too much so that it no longer matches the girls on lower parts. She asked that everyone be more conscious of their corners, especially when going into higher section, in order to maintain consistent vowel production. She also asked for more responsiveness in general to her conducting gestures, especially when she shows dynamics or asks for them to take in more breath.
I am nervous to lead warmups next week as this is an advanced group and my piano skills are not where I want them to be. Ms. Valla plays piano a lot during warmups, and that is something I can't do, so I hope it will go okay. I am also a little nervous to lead sectionals given that I can't hear the text inconsistencies well. I feel confident with blend, phrasing, and intonation issues, but I am nervous about modeling when I have not had formal training on my own voice in over 5 years.
Since the choir is preparing for festival and performing on Thursday, most of the basic issues of the pieces have been worked through already. Today was a run-through with some final touch ups and observations to consider before festival. For the first piece (Duo), some of the parts were not quite balanced. Ms. Valla wants more sound from the soprano I section, which she has said on a few occasions. I wonder if this section contains more of the new freshmen that Ms. Valla admitted into Select this year to fill gaps as they appear younger than some of the other girls. She also wants more contrast in phrases and with main dynamics.
One thing I noticed is that the higher notes, the Es and F#s were going out of tune. This increased when Ms. Valla asked for more volume from the choir. Ms. Valla said the singers were losing the core of their sound and asked for more focused sound. I believe this has to do with breath and getting more air initially in order to better sustain on pitch.
In the second piece, Dance, Ms. Valla is trying to inspire more movement in the choir and more animation in their faces. Apparently, this is something that Select has been marked down on at festival in the past. Some of the girls are not acting while they are singing and their faces are flat. Others are acting a lot and are focal points in the group, which only makes the girls who are not doing it stick out more. Ms. Valla is trying to inspire movement in the girls by moving more herself when she conducts, but in the end, it falls on the girls to move themselves and respond.
A couple other things that were said this rehearsal was that the "oo" vowel was not matching across the voices, especially when parts when high. Ms. Valla said this is because the girls going higher are spreading the vowel a little too much so that it no longer matches the girls on lower parts. She asked that everyone be more conscious of their corners, especially when going into higher section, in order to maintain consistent vowel production. She also asked for more responsiveness in general to her conducting gestures, especially when she shows dynamics or asks for them to take in more breath.
I am nervous to lead warmups next week as this is an advanced group and my piano skills are not where I want them to be. Ms. Valla plays piano a lot during warmups, and that is something I can't do, so I hope it will go okay. I am also a little nervous to lead sectionals given that I can't hear the text inconsistencies well. I feel confident with blend, phrasing, and intonation issues, but I am nervous about modeling when I have not had formal training on my own voice in over 5 years.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Haslett HS Select Women's Choir - Observation #3
This has been a very hectic week for Ms. Valla. She has her pre-festival choral festival concert tonight and it is also hell week for the middle school musical, which she is responsible for running. Festival is next week on Thursday and Friday, the same week the musical opens. The middle school preview day, where the middle schoolers visit the high school ensembles, is also next week on Wednesday. Needless to say, she is quite short on time at the moment!
I met with Ms. Valla before choir to discuss her grading and practice requirements. Most of her grading comes from class and concert participation. She assigns participation points in class by week. Failure to bring materials (music, pencil, etc.), a lack of participation in warm-ups or rehearsal, or disruptive behavior results in a loss of points. She also assigns participation points for concerts. Occasionally, she assigns theory worksheets or questions on recording listening in class, which also have point values.
In terms of practice requirements, she has none for her choirs. Ms. Valla told me that over 3/4ths of her students do not take voice lessons outside of school, nor do they have access to resources that they would need to practice outside of class, like a piano. In addition, most of her students have only participated in school choirs and have no additional experience or ways to get it. Therefore, she feels it is unfair to assign outside practicing as a requirement, since most students do not have the experience or knowledge to be able to do that on their own. The most she will ask students to do outside of class is memorize words. Other than that, she prefers to work in class to ensure that things are learned correctly. This is different from what I have observed in Okemos, which does use practice logs for the strings program, but I feel like Ms. Valla's approach is probably more common across area schools. Okemos is in many ways an exception as the music program is incredibly strong and the community it very invested in continuing that tradition - especially in strings.
As far as evaluating students goes, she does this constantly in every rehearsal. Ms. Valla told me that every student in every grade level auditions for their spot in choir every year. This applies to choirs that meet during the day and after school as well. This way, she hears every student from 7th - 12th grade once a year. Sight reading is a part of this audition in addition to solo singing. She also works on sight reading throughout the year (especially when it gets closer to festival!) and has evaluations on this as well. In addition, she implements the new state requirements for pre and post evaluation to show student growth. Sight reading is a component of this, as is music history and theory. She has also included some pedagogy things, whatever the department chooses to focus on and highlight in their teaching. This is still a relatively new thing and the pre/post assessment, which includes a written component, is changing still as the department figures out what they want to do.
The rehearsal itself was more singing intensive than past rehearsals I have seen. Ms. Valla was focusing on tone and sound quality on the two pieces in preparation for their concert, so she was running sections and pieces and listening for blend and vowel shape. The girls are also continuing to work on feeling confident on memory, so sections were being run multiple times to help solidify text and entrances without music in hand. One thing was clear though - when this choir listens and blends and focuses, they sound amazingly good!
I met with Ms. Valla before choir to discuss her grading and practice requirements. Most of her grading comes from class and concert participation. She assigns participation points in class by week. Failure to bring materials (music, pencil, etc.), a lack of participation in warm-ups or rehearsal, or disruptive behavior results in a loss of points. She also assigns participation points for concerts. Occasionally, she assigns theory worksheets or questions on recording listening in class, which also have point values.
In terms of practice requirements, she has none for her choirs. Ms. Valla told me that over 3/4ths of her students do not take voice lessons outside of school, nor do they have access to resources that they would need to practice outside of class, like a piano. In addition, most of her students have only participated in school choirs and have no additional experience or ways to get it. Therefore, she feels it is unfair to assign outside practicing as a requirement, since most students do not have the experience or knowledge to be able to do that on their own. The most she will ask students to do outside of class is memorize words. Other than that, she prefers to work in class to ensure that things are learned correctly. This is different from what I have observed in Okemos, which does use practice logs for the strings program, but I feel like Ms. Valla's approach is probably more common across area schools. Okemos is in many ways an exception as the music program is incredibly strong and the community it very invested in continuing that tradition - especially in strings.
As far as evaluating students goes, she does this constantly in every rehearsal. Ms. Valla told me that every student in every grade level auditions for their spot in choir every year. This applies to choirs that meet during the day and after school as well. This way, she hears every student from 7th - 12th grade once a year. Sight reading is a part of this audition in addition to solo singing. She also works on sight reading throughout the year (especially when it gets closer to festival!) and has evaluations on this as well. In addition, she implements the new state requirements for pre and post evaluation to show student growth. Sight reading is a component of this, as is music history and theory. She has also included some pedagogy things, whatever the department chooses to focus on and highlight in their teaching. This is still a relatively new thing and the pre/post assessment, which includes a written component, is changing still as the department figures out what they want to do.
The rehearsal itself was more singing intensive than past rehearsals I have seen. Ms. Valla was focusing on tone and sound quality on the two pieces in preparation for their concert, so she was running sections and pieces and listening for blend and vowel shape. The girls are also continuing to work on feeling confident on memory, so sections were being run multiple times to help solidify text and entrances without music in hand. One thing was clear though - when this choir listens and blends and focuses, they sound amazingly good!
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Structure in a classroom
I believe structure is essential to any classroom, whether you are teaching a whole choir or an individual in a private lesson. While the content of a lesson or rehearsal will change depending on the repertoire and how the group sounds, having a basic overall structure provides a foundation for both the students and the teacher to build upon.
Having a consistent way to start and end classes helps establish expectations and procedures, which are especially crucial in younger age groups in order to effectively direct attention. Having a set structure can also minimize disruptions at the start and end of class since students know what they need to do and what is expected of them. For example, starting every class with a clear signal - having the concertmaster of the orchestra stand on the podium and give an A for tuning, or playing the introduction to a particular choral warmup - establishes a non-verbal means of beginning class and focuses student attention on music. Similarly, having a set structure for dismissal - such as establishing that the teacher dismisses the class instead of the school bell - helps eliminate chaos at the end of a rehearsal and allows the teacher to remain in control of the classroom for the duration of the lesson.
Flexibility within the rehearsal is dependent on student progress and output at the time of rehearsal, but following a broad structure, such as whole-part-whole rehearsing, can serve as a double check for the teacher to ensure that things don't get overlooked. I also like the above model of rehearsal structure because it helps each class begin and end with music, not spot checking or rehearsing. By doing this, my class structure can reinforce my goals of having musical experiences every rehearsal, rather than losing the forest through the trees of meticulously rehearsing spot after spot.
Having a consistent way to start and end classes helps establish expectations and procedures, which are especially crucial in younger age groups in order to effectively direct attention. Having a set structure can also minimize disruptions at the start and end of class since students know what they need to do and what is expected of them. For example, starting every class with a clear signal - having the concertmaster of the orchestra stand on the podium and give an A for tuning, or playing the introduction to a particular choral warmup - establishes a non-verbal means of beginning class and focuses student attention on music. Similarly, having a set structure for dismissal - such as establishing that the teacher dismisses the class instead of the school bell - helps eliminate chaos at the end of a rehearsal and allows the teacher to remain in control of the classroom for the duration of the lesson.
Flexibility within the rehearsal is dependent on student progress and output at the time of rehearsal, but following a broad structure, such as whole-part-whole rehearsing, can serve as a double check for the teacher to ensure that things don't get overlooked. I also like the above model of rehearsal structure because it helps each class begin and end with music, not spot checking or rehearsing. By doing this, my class structure can reinforce my goals of having musical experiences every rehearsal, rather than losing the forest through the trees of meticulously rehearsing spot after spot.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Haslett HS Select Women's Choir - Observation #2
Today was my second day observing Samara Valla and the Select Women's Choir. Ms. Valla is a little concerned about running out of rehearsal time with this group given that they did not have school on Thursday and lost a rehearsal. She is currently in the middle of prepping for a pre-festival concert, which is next Wednesday, and choir festival, which is the following week. I expected there to be a lot of dictation of musical ideas during today's rehearsal, simply because she was running out of time to get the group prepared.
As Ms. Valla started her warmups, I noticed that she went right into singing without any kind of body or breath warmups as we have done in class. I wonder if this is because the group meets after school and everything is warmed up already? Even so, I might do a little bit of transition from speaking voice to singing voice, but that did not happen. Ironically, while Ms. Valla's rehearsals are very speech heavy, her warmups are not. She begins warmups while students are still walking in and settling down as a way to begin class without having to call for attention (I do this in my Suzuki violin group classes as well!). She introduces a new warmup by singing it once at the piano, and then the choir joins on the second time as she moves to a new note in her progression. A student assistant from the choir takes attendance while the warmups start, allowing Ms. Valla to focus on the group and getting the sound she wants. She had the girls think about blend during warmups, especially on higher exercises, so that voices did not stick out and vowels remained aligned throughout the higher registers.
This discipline and lack of talking quickly dissolved as the warmups finished and students were asked to sit and take our the first piece. Ms. Valla had to briefly step away to speak to a student, there was a lag while her accompanist walked from the adjoining office to the piano in the choir room, and the delay was more than enough invitation for the room to explode into conversation and for attention to be diverted from music.
Ms. Valla began the rehearsal of "Dance on My Heart" by reminding the girls of the (fast approaching) concert and festival performances. She then explained how she had everything mapped out in order to be covered on time, but that there could be no talking. I found this ironic given that she spent 5 minutes of rehearsal explaining the lack of time she had, and some of the girls were very chatty during this time as well, which she did not address. She began the rehearsal by focusing on small parts, individual phrases, and walking the choir through text emphasis. She went through each phrase saying which words or syllables should be emphasized, a change from last week when the choir was discussing this same issue. She did not sing the phrase, just spoke, which I thought was interesting. As the choir sang, Ms. Valla sang with them, looking at her part. She was not conducting, more keeping time occasionally during tempo changes. After a little singing, she modeled the stress she wanted in her speaking voice, but she never sang it, which I thought may have been helpful.
After some part work and more text emphasis work, Ms. Valla had the group stand and perform the work again. This time, she did conduct more formally with her hands instead of the pencil she had been using earlier. I did notice that she mouthed/sung along during this time even though all the choir members were using music. I wasn't sure why she was mouthing words if the students were looking at them. Perhaps this is a habit of hers? Following the run, she had the choir sit and did some musicality work, adding some personality to the work (this should be more playful, cuter, melodramatic, etc.). During this part, she did model a little with her voice, but this was after saying something with words, hearing the choir, and not receiving her desired result. After she sang, the group gave it back to her and she moved on.
The second piece was a straight run, as the choir is clearly more comfortable with this work. Again, Ms. Valla mouthed and sung along with the choir while she was conducting, even though the group was using music. Her conducting appeared to be mostly doubling, but I did notice her use her left hand to show phrases that she wanted sustained. Her right hand was always moving in pattern and also showed cutoffs. She did a little part work with the choir after this run and she did use modeling for this piece, but not a lot of modeling with the first, which I thought was interesting.
Overall, it was a very speech heavy rehearsal, which I expected. I found it odd that her rehearsal seemed to be structured part - whole - part, as opposed to the whole - part - whole that I have been taught at MSU. It seemed to me that any musical moments were buried by the extensive part work after the singing had occurred. However, the choir responds very well to both her verbal and singing directives and they clearly have a great rapport with one another and a very relaxed atmosphere in the room.
As Ms. Valla started her warmups, I noticed that she went right into singing without any kind of body or breath warmups as we have done in class. I wonder if this is because the group meets after school and everything is warmed up already? Even so, I might do a little bit of transition from speaking voice to singing voice, but that did not happen. Ironically, while Ms. Valla's rehearsals are very speech heavy, her warmups are not. She begins warmups while students are still walking in and settling down as a way to begin class without having to call for attention (I do this in my Suzuki violin group classes as well!). She introduces a new warmup by singing it once at the piano, and then the choir joins on the second time as she moves to a new note in her progression. A student assistant from the choir takes attendance while the warmups start, allowing Ms. Valla to focus on the group and getting the sound she wants. She had the girls think about blend during warmups, especially on higher exercises, so that voices did not stick out and vowels remained aligned throughout the higher registers.
This discipline and lack of talking quickly dissolved as the warmups finished and students were asked to sit and take our the first piece. Ms. Valla had to briefly step away to speak to a student, there was a lag while her accompanist walked from the adjoining office to the piano in the choir room, and the delay was more than enough invitation for the room to explode into conversation and for attention to be diverted from music.
Ms. Valla began the rehearsal of "Dance on My Heart" by reminding the girls of the (fast approaching) concert and festival performances. She then explained how she had everything mapped out in order to be covered on time, but that there could be no talking. I found this ironic given that she spent 5 minutes of rehearsal explaining the lack of time she had, and some of the girls were very chatty during this time as well, which she did not address. She began the rehearsal by focusing on small parts, individual phrases, and walking the choir through text emphasis. She went through each phrase saying which words or syllables should be emphasized, a change from last week when the choir was discussing this same issue. She did not sing the phrase, just spoke, which I thought was interesting. As the choir sang, Ms. Valla sang with them, looking at her part. She was not conducting, more keeping time occasionally during tempo changes. After a little singing, she modeled the stress she wanted in her speaking voice, but she never sang it, which I thought may have been helpful.
After some part work and more text emphasis work, Ms. Valla had the group stand and perform the work again. This time, she did conduct more formally with her hands instead of the pencil she had been using earlier. I did notice that she mouthed/sung along during this time even though all the choir members were using music. I wasn't sure why she was mouthing words if the students were looking at them. Perhaps this is a habit of hers? Following the run, she had the choir sit and did some musicality work, adding some personality to the work (this should be more playful, cuter, melodramatic, etc.). During this part, she did model a little with her voice, but this was after saying something with words, hearing the choir, and not receiving her desired result. After she sang, the group gave it back to her and she moved on.
The second piece was a straight run, as the choir is clearly more comfortable with this work. Again, Ms. Valla mouthed and sung along with the choir while she was conducting, even though the group was using music. Her conducting appeared to be mostly doubling, but I did notice her use her left hand to show phrases that she wanted sustained. Her right hand was always moving in pattern and also showed cutoffs. She did a little part work with the choir after this run and she did use modeling for this piece, but not a lot of modeling with the first, which I thought was interesting.
Overall, it was a very speech heavy rehearsal, which I expected. I found it odd that her rehearsal seemed to be structured part - whole - part, as opposed to the whole - part - whole that I have been taught at MSU. It seemed to me that any musical moments were buried by the extensive part work after the singing had occurred. However, the choir responds very well to both her verbal and singing directives and they clearly have a great rapport with one another and a very relaxed atmosphere in the room.
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