Sweet Melody (Repertoire #3) by David L. Brunner

My third repertoire choice is very different from my first two.  The first two were easily accessible and easily altered.  This however, is a whole different ball game.

The piece is "Sweet Melody" by David L. Brunner, which was apparently commissioned by Kris Schave, or at least so the cover says.  Small world, as always.

This piece is one of those songs about music.  There are so many of them...and so many poorly written ones, with corny text.   This is not that.  This piece could certainly fill the closing slot on a concert.  The piano part is also very accessible; with some practice, I could probably do it (ish) myself.

This piece has some fairly challenging aspects to it, rhythmically and tonally, so I would likely reserve it for an older high school ensemble.  I might consider doing it as a closer, and then it would include all students in the high school choral program, but that would certainly take some doing.

• The soprano range is B below middle C to A above the staff.  The tessitura is around B in the middle of the staff.  I think this is very reasonable.  The lowest pitches are few and far between, and the A only once in a divisi chord.  Those who struggle that high could simply sing the S2 part.  
• The alto range is A below middle C to D in the staff.  The tessitura is around bottom space F.  This is fairly reasonable.  The few sustained low A's are not my favorite, but certainly doable.  
• The tenor range is C (octave below middle C) to F (just above middle C).  The line sits around B below middle C.  This seems very reasonable for high school tenors.  It only once goes down to the C, so the higher voices would not have to worry much about that.  
• The bass range is low F flat to C# (just above middle C).  I wouldn't count on every one being able to sing these pitches, but the extremes are fleeting, so I wouldn't worry about it.  The tessitura is around middle of bass clef E.

"Sweet Melody" has some jumps to dissonances and chromatic pitches.  This would be a challenge, but not an unconquerable challenge for a high school choir.

This piece can certainly be used to teach shifting meters, as well as line.  I would strive for legato even in the disjunct melody, especially with more experienced musicians.  Certainly text painting and line are at play throughout.  The piece also offers a variety of textures: unison, chorale, accompanimental singing. echoing, and duets.  There are two instances of triplet,  once within a beat, and once across a beat.  This would be good time to teach triplets without a lot of pressure.

This text is pretty darn great.  It has beautiful imagery and a great vocabulary.  There are wonderful opportunities to play with consonants.  The only downside is the mention of God at the very end.  However, it is vague and could refer to any monotheistic religion.  I'm not crazy about that, but it's not a deal breaker in this case.

There is no material that needs adaptation, at least not obvious material.  I might revoice the chords with low Fs and Fbs in the bass, if I didn't have the men for it.  At different times, both the men and women split into three parts.  If the students can't do that, it would be possible to reduce to only 4 parts at all times.  I might not want to do that though, since it would considerably alter the piece, and there is likely a suitable alternative.

Observation #6

As is apt to happen on Friday, today was a movie day.  After a long and successful week at Festival, the girls watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".  But as much as I would have loved to take a break and find out why there is a movie about meatballs, I instead got to have some great teaching moments with the girls on their Solo and Ensemble repertoire.

Maura and I worked together with two girls today.  Both were in 7th grade, and just starting their solo singing "careers", however they were in two very different places.  The music Mr. Armstead assigned also reflected the differences between the two girls.

The first girl sang a very pretty and simple song about nature.  She had a very breathy sound, and struggled to make it to the ends of phrases.  She often had to breath in the middle of words.  After all of the master classes we've been watching for the mezzo candidate, I tried to keep in mind what I did and did not like in their style.  We kept her singing, and allowed her to sing each time we discussed a goal.  I also reminded her before she started singing of all of the things we were going after.  When all was said and done, there were four goals.  But we started with one: breathing.

1. It was very surprising to me that she knew virtually nothing about the breathing apparatus.  She was breathing completely in her shoulders, but had no clue that breathing should be happening lower.  This surprised me, especially because Mr. Armstead has such a solid grasp of choral technique.
2. The second goal Maura and I gave her was crisp consonants.  She grasped this pretty well, especially after I demonstrated.  My intention with the consonants was not only to make her understandable, but also to find more core in her sound.
3. Maura spear headed the next goal: holding notes for their value.  The young girl struggled to understand note lengths at first, but with a quick explanation she was able to achieve this goal.
4. The fourth goal was in response to an issue that developed as she added more breath and core.  She quickly found her chest voice and began trying to shove everything into it.  Maura and I modeled space and floatiness in a chant voice, which she then echoed.  This was very successful.  Once she began singing, it was much improved.  Of course, there is always further to go.

The second girl seemed much further along in her singing.  Mr. Armstead assigned her a piece with a larger range which was much more rhythmically complex.  Maura and I struggled with the syncopations at first, but mostly because of our piano skills, not mental musicianship.

This student sang with a fairly well supported and focused tone.  The most remarkable thing that I experienced with her was her conception of range.  While my fingers tried to grasp the music at the piano, Maura worked on warming her up.  As they went higher, probably around an E or F at the top of the staff, I heard the girl say, "I can't sing that high".  I turned to her and said, "Sure you can".  She responded, "I can?"  She was honestly surprised.  We then did some vocal sighs to engage the higher parts of her range.  I found it so funny that she just believed me.  I told her she could sing it, and then she could.  We worked on the song, and that was all well and good.  But for me, the most important part of that lesson was that one moment.   I am a teacher (kinda almost), and, if I'm doing it right, my students will trust my opinion on their voices, sometimes more than their own opinions.  That is a wonderfully terrifying realization.

Molly Malone (Repertoire #2)

Here's a link to the score: http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/b/bd/SchK-Molly.pdf

Molly Malone is a traditional Irish song from Dublin.  It is a sea chanty/drinking song, but it is about a girl, which is a rarity.

This piece would be appropriate for a Freshmen ensemble, or if you choose to do away with the baritone line, it would work for a Freshmen women's group.  The consistent parallel motion would not be ideal for a group just beginning to sing in parts.

The soprano part is a very reasonable range: from D to D.  The tessitura is around G.  This is a very reasonable tessitura for early high school singers.  The alto line sits lower: from B to G.  The tessitura is around C.  The baritone range is D to B, but the tessitura is around G.  This would not be an ideal tessitura for a group of changing voices.  I would strongly consider using this as a women's piece, and do away with the baritone line.

This song could easily be used to teach about the sea chanty tradition.  It would also be easy to teach internalized beat and dance motion.  I would also teach story telling and interaction with the text.  It would also be an opportunity to teach differentiation in strophic songs.

The text is about a woman, but shows her as valuable outside of her appearance.  There are quite a few words that are outdated or unfamiliar, and this would be an opportunity to teach them.

Like I said, I would likely use only the soprano and alto line in this song.

Fun song, and free!

Ah Robin, Gentle Robin (Repertoire 1)

Here is the link to the score:
http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/2/2e/192.pdf

Ah Robin, Gentle Robin is a short piece by William Cornysh.  This piece is worthy of consideration for many reasons:

1. It is historical, but still very accessible to inexperienced singers
2. The text is interesting because it tells a story and has literary merit (vocabulary and metaphors)
3. The text is still applicable to singers today (gossip and love)
4. The line of the music lends itself to musicality and shaping

This piece is very flexible.  In the key it is currently notated, it works well for older inexperienced singers.  But it could be easily transposed (up) to accommodate younger voices.  The piece is musically simple enough to be accessible to inexperienced singers, but it could easily serve as a lesson in line and story telling for experienced singers.  I could see this being used with groups anywhere from children's choir to groups like Burcham Sings.

The current range of the piece is the A below middle C to the D an octave and a step above.  However, as I mentioned before, this piece could be easily transposed as it is an a cappella round.  All of the voices sing all parts so the tessitura is not clear, however a good deal of time is spent between D above middle C and F.

This piece lends itself very well to legato singing and phrasing.  The piece demands varied dynamics to give an interesting performance.  The singers could also learn quite a bit historically from this piece about independence of line and absence of traditional metric stresses.

The text is full of metaphors and period language.  Familiarity with this sort of writing could be very helpful to students, especially if students were also studying Shakespeare or other writers of this time period.  The text also tells a story of gossip that is still relevant to today.  And on the plus side, the less sexist man gets the final word.

As for adaptation, key should be altered to match the choir's vocal capabilities.  There is also the possibility for solos during the verses.

I really do like this piece a lot.  I could see myself using it with students of all ages and abilities.  And, it's completely free.  Win!

Observation #5

The majority of my visit this week was spent observing, but about half way through rehearsal, Mr. Armstead announced to the choir that he had a surprise for me and Maura.  No warning or preparation time, he had each of us conduct for the choir.
After conducting the first verse, he gave each of us some practical tips on how conducting is different for middle schoolers versus college musicians.  We each conducted a portion of one of the pieces the students have prepared and memorized for festival.  He suggested that things like carry overs need to be more aggressive for the middle schoolers to pick up on them.  Sometimes the pulse in the gesture should be done away with entirely to show musicality.  I really appreciated the opportunity and the feedback.  However, I hope I get more opportunities to teach.  I was a little sad that I wasn't allowed to work with the choir at all.  I think I need more experience with teaching and classroom management than conducting.  Conducting I can practice on my own.
All that said, it was really cool to get to stand in front of a large group and have them really sing!

Sightreading

1. Go through on Gordon Du De's
2. Identify all unisons (first note, 3rd b 2nd m, 2nd b 5th m, 1st b 7th m, last note)
3. Take two minutes to go through solfege with a partner
4. Identify all jumps
5. Sing through

Observation #4

Today, I taught. And it was a day of new experiences. 

After warm ups, and all of the regular daily activities, I took the sopranos to the adjoining room. We skipped the sight reading because we were learning new music. I was fortunate to have the class accompanist to assist me. Unfortunately, the girls attention and effort was not greatly increased by her presence.

I am very used to teaching the Burcham Singers, but they never talk out of turn, so this was a very new experience for me. I have also never learned a piece entirely on solfege, which is their method. I struggled to keep the girls focused and interested. Girls constantly asked to get a drink of water. Some girls didn't stand until directly asked. We struggled to find the same spot.  A few times, I attempted to double check their solfege, but the girls were quite hesitant to give solfege in front of the class. And I struggled to understand their syllables while they sang. Learning the piece on solfege, although efficient, is not very entertaining. In order to get them out of sight-reading mode, the accompanist gave a speech about singing with real intention that I am sure they hear regularly. For me, it was pretty uncomfortable to be in front of a group of singers that I don't know, especially because I don't know what they have learned already or how things are explained to them. 

All that said, it was my first teaching experience with this class, and I'm sure I'll get better and more comfortable as time goes on. 

Observation #3

Mr. Armstead's classroom is highly structured and has many consistent operational procedures.

When walking into the room, you notice that there is one large, lecture style room with five small rooms off of it.  Two small rooms are offices, one is the music library, and the two largest are set up as practice rooms.  Whether or not there are chairs depends on the day.  On Monday, there were chairs, because much of the hour would be spent solfeging independently.

The choir uses solfege to learn every new piece, regardless of origin or style.  He gives the students time to write in syllables in class, and what they cannot finish is homework.  Every student must finish all syllables before they ever sing the song.  Monday was solfege day.  They began by warming up, and then took attendance.  Josh ran this portion of the class.  Mr. Armstead then stepped in to begin the new piece.  He helped them find the key, then he left the room.

Josh and I stood at the front of the room ready to answer any questions; there were many.  I was actually quite surprised by some of the questions.  I found that many students could solfege, but they didn't really understand the underlying concepts.

Mr. Armstead's classes are divided by gender and grade.  The men and women do sing together often, but they learn the music separately and combine only for the concert.  He grades solely based on participation and assignment completion.

Mr. Armstead also talked to me about Solo and Ensemble at length.  He sends 40+ students to S&E each year.  He sends them for comments only.  Most students do not take private lessons; only one student currently takes lessons.  Mr. Armstead assigns and teaches each student's piece to them during class time.

Observation #2

Mr. Armstead never ceases to surprise me.

When I arrived for my observation on Friday, he was observing while Josh Gronlund ran the class.  I joined the girls in their warm-ups, and really appreciated the amount of thought Josh put into each one.  Not only did each exercise have a kinesthetic, but also an emotional context.  And if the girls were lack luster, he called them out on it, and refused to move on until most, if not all, were enthusiastically participating.

Mr. Armstead only had Maura and I observing the class for maybe 4 minutes before he pulled us aside.  He pulled two girls from the choir, and sent each of us with a student to a practice room.  The girl I worked with was looking at this Solo and Ensemble piece for the first time.  It was also unfamiliar to me.  I worked on teaching her notes and rhythms, which was difficult as an outsider.  They learn all their music first on solfege, which is not a technique I use unless passages are tricky.  Most challenging though, was not knowing how to explain things to her.  For example, she asked me how long a certain note should be held before moving on.  I sang it to her, but she still didn't understand, obviously, because I didn't actually answer.  I tried swaying to macrobeats.  I tried having her tap to microbeats.  To no avail.  It wasn't until she said, "but doesn't a quarter note get one tap?", that I realized this issue.  At the beginning of the "lesson", I asked her was time signature we were in.  She said 6/8, but I didn't ask what that meant, and she didn't know.  Long story short, I helped her figure out that a quarter note got two "taps".  I suppose all that is to say, I think sometimes the hardest thing is not to assume that they know what I consider easy as a college musician.

I taught this one girl for most of the class period.  Which meant, that I really didn't get to observe Mr. Armstead teaching this week, and therefore I can't really comment on his teaching techniques.  At the very end of class, Josh gave a brief presentation on musical theater and its history.  The girls had a worksheet that corresponded with the presentation, and encouraged critical thinking.  Mr. Armstead apparently does similar presentations about once or twice a month.  I can definitely see myself nabbing this sort of setup for my own classroom.

Hayes Middle School Observation

Last week we attended a class at Hayes Middle School with Mr. Armstead.  The very same class is also my placement for the semester.  However, because of snow days, this was only my second visit to the classroom.  

Dr. Snow asked that we think about Mr. Armstead's techniques to eliminate silence in the classroom.  This was one of the first and most distinctive things I noted about his classroom.  I commented on it quite a bit in my first observation.  My original thoughts on his repeat after me structure were not very positive, however, one of our classmates pointed out some benefits I had not thought of.  Making the students say the words might help them process the statement.  Making the students repeat helps emphasize material and commit it to memory.  He also used this technique to try and trick students, which I did not notice before.  He would say, "in 4/4 there are 7 beats per measure", but the students would still have to answer correctly.  I thought this was a compelling exercise, especially because I even struggled to answer correctly.  Although, I still don't see myself using this particular technique, it is growing on me, and I certainly see its value.

Mr. Armstead's classroom is very structured.  Every class period begins with warm-ups, and then sight-reading, with a bit of theory mixed in.  He then incorporates the literature and math requirements, using attendance.  Then they work on repertoire.  Mr. Armstead emphasized that they follow this structure every single day, without variation.  I understand that middle schoolers need that sort of structure.  In my own teaching, I suspect I will do a slightly altered version of his structure.  I could see myself having a slot for ear-training/sight-singing everyday, but I would vary the activities more than I think Mr. Armstead does.

I truly admire how much fun Mr. Armstead makes his classroom, despite, and perhaps even because of the highly structured atmosphere.   The girls seem to really love the class.  This is very encouraging for me, because I know I will be able keep a structured classroom, but I'm not sure I can make it fun as well.