Shenandoah Arrangement

Here is my arrangement of Shenandoah!

Haslett Middle School Observation #8 - 7th grade choir

This past Tuesday, I had my final observation of Mrs. Valla's seventh grade choir.  During this obsrevation, I had the opportunity to do a sectional rehearsal with both the soprano and alto sections.  We worked through putting their parts together during a passage of "Hey, Soul Sister" (a piece they are working on for their upcoming Pops concert).  I had the girls sing through the passage with their parts together, and then we broke it down to review the notes for each section.  Once the sopranos and altos were both confident with their notes again, we put everything back together. At one point, I noticed that many of the girls were slouched over, and that was really affecting their sound.  I simply said, "let's sit up tall and let our posture reflect what we want our sound to be like." The students sat up straight, and their sound instantly improved. We sang through the passage again, this time paying attention to dynamic changes, and the girls sounded great! This was a great experience for me, and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to do this every day while I student teach next year!

CMS Observation #2

This past Monday I had the opportunity to observe the Community Music School"s Youth Chorale for the second time. One remarkable thing that I've noticed about Kyle's teaching is that he gives instructions not only through his gesture, but by giving one simple line of instruction. For example, to keep the kids from dragging at a certain point in a song, he gave the instruction "This phrase is like a snowplow that just keeps moving. Sing it like that." The students immediately responded to this, and the phrase instantly improved. He also uses this strategy to draw out more effort and excitement about singing from the kids. For instance, there was a moment after the kids sang through a passage of a piece and Kyle said, "Raise your hand if you can do something to make that better. OK do it." There was another moment in which the girls were rehearsing an upbeat African piece, and Kyle told them to put their music down and look happy while they sing; look like they're actually having fun.  They did so, and their sound immediately became brighter. There was never a moment where Kyle's instructions became confusing or contained too many words - it is amazing what just a few simple words can do to change the sound of a choir!

Final Teach Rehearsal Plan - from 4/13/2015

Week 7: Haslett Middle School, 7th Grade

On Tuesday I had my seventh observation of Samara Valla's seventh grade choir. The choir received a new piece for their upcoming pops concert, and I had the opportunity to do a sectional with the sopranos! The students were learning "Hey, Soul Sister," the song made popular by Train, and I had to teach the chorus of the piece. I started out by trying break everything down and had the girls chant the rhythm on rhythm syllables, but I was WAY too verbal in my instructions, and ended up with just a bunch of confused stares. I paused and took a breath, and then realized that these girls probably already knew the tune so I just had them sing through the passage, and it worked! We went back through and added in dynamics and such, and everything went smoothly from there. We finished a little early, and the girls even asked if we could keep going! This was a really great experience for me - I've learned not to let my nerves get the best of me, and sometimes you just have to pause and change your course of action in the moment. It's scary, but also quite exciting! I look forward to having another chance to work with the students next week!

CMS Observation #1

This past Monday I had the opportunity to observe the CMS Youth Chorale rehearsal, led by Kyle Zeuch. It was really interesting to observe a youth choir outside of the typical classroom setting! You can tell that these kids really love to sing, they are there to work hard and they clearly know what is expected of them. Since the choir only meets once a week, a lot of content is packed into the rehearsal time. One thing that I noticed about Kyle's teaching is that his instructions are nearly always non-verbal, and if they are verbal, he uses very few words. This clearly helps keep the students focused and engaged, providing zero opportunity for talking or fooling around. At one point, he paused the choir and simply said "Sing with a color that is fire engine red." The students clearly knew what he meant, and the sound immediately changed - it was beautiful! I really enjoyed observing the CMS Youth Choir, and I look forward to sitting in on another rehearsal next week!