The Alpha and the Omega: A Play-by-Play of Starting and Ending your Choral Learning Year Texas Choral Directors Association Convention Friday, July 22, 2016 ~ 11:00am Christina Chapman ~ Willow Springs Middle School, Lovejoy ISD Lucas, TX (north of Dallas) Email: christina_chapman@lovejoyisd.net Website: wsms.lovejoychoir.com (Shared Folder) Think of your entire choral year as a football or basketball game (or your favorite sport with 4 quarters/periods). Here is an outline that will take you through the choral year game plan The Alpha and the Omega! Why should I plan out my ENTIRE year? Most asked question from student teachers Pre-Game: Training Camp (items that happen at the end of the previous year and during the summer) We all have our own style of teaching, preparations, planning - whatever works for you. Choir Theme for the year! or just a fun shirt theme (could tie into your concerts, etc.) (Disney, Superhero theme, Star Wars Theme, Olympics, Pokemon Go!, others ) o Room Décor: Plan it in August and have students come up and help decorate the room o TeachersPayTeachers.com: great décor ideas, worksheets, sub plans, etc. o T-Shirt Company: Gandy INK enough said. For me this is a 16 year partnership. Your School: Know your administration Your new BFF s o All of them principals, counselors, administrative assistants, custodians, athletic directors, etc. o Secretary of school, principal s administrative assistant, bookkeeper, etc. you need to be BFF s seriously!! Choir Classes (what classes do you need and when will they meet?): A Cappella Treble (8 th Grade only; Auditioned) Allow them to choose voice part, but keep it balanced Listen to each other 2-3 times a year Bel Canto 20 (Auditioned 7 th and 8 th Grade) Concert Treble (7 th Grade girls; non-auditioned) Varsity Tenor-Bass - try to teach boys before their lunch Voice Testing and Placement (That s another entire session, but so very important!) Communication: o Email, TXT, Remind 101, Google drive, Sign-up Genius, Dropbox, etc. o Booster Club or Parent Group o CHARMSoffice.com; utilize for emails, attendance, finances, all of the choir things. Calendar: Pre-Plan, Check out different calendar needs; important school events. Our district and school is on Google Calendar. See everything. Avoid conflicts ahead of time. Facility Requests: submit before the end of the previous year or submit in the first week of August o Your Room, Gym, Cafeteria, other music rooms. We have outside groups that reserve as well. Handbook: o Expectations, policies, forms, etc see example in Shared Folder Uniforms: Yes or no? Formal or informal or both? Finances: What s your budget? Do you HAVE a budget? Do you need to fundraise? o You know your classes, now what do you need for those classes? o Music, supplies, incentives, oh my! o Opening Lovejoy Excel spreadsheet Fundraiser Options: o Depending on your financial needs, find out what will help make you the most bucks! o Different companies, cookie dough, dinner nights at restaurants, sing-a-thons, others
Alpha and Omega ~ Chapman, p. 2 Music Selection: Pour over the music, and make a chart o Concerts (how many do you have for your choral year?) Fall/Courtyard, Winter/Holiday, Pre-UIL, Pop Show, Others? Are they themed? Can any of your music carry over? All-Region Audition pieces, UIL pieces o Beginning of the year Rounds to get your choir singing: see the file, and more later Audition Prep Days: Have 1-2 high school students help those who are new to your audition process Headshots Know their part of the Star-Spangled Banner (available on choir website), be prepared to sing your part against two other parts Perform the best 3 min. of a song of their choice. (Pop, Country, Broadway, other.) Sight-Read an 8 measure example in G or F, prepares ours for the All-Region process Team building Days: with your choir kiddos and with your choir team o Entire Choir or just officers; plan these out in May and do them in August Plan for REWARDS and INCENTIVES through the year o Choir Bucks or Star Bucks (went with the Star Wars Theme) o Become a Jedi Knight o Exit Tickets/Post-its usually a survey-type question when they leave for the day Weekly Routine: Make sure your students know the routine; Consistency is the key. o Mondays = Music Monday or Massage (Girls massage, guys chops). Allow students to share current jam. It s a great chance to get to know new music. o Tuesdays = Technique Tuesday (certain vocal or breath techniques) o Wednesdays = Word Wednesday (transfer from solfege to words, focus on text, poetry, etc.) o Thursdays = Theory Thursday (specific theory lesson) o Fridays = FUN FRIDAY (if they have earned it. 20 min rehearse, 20 min game time!) FUN FRIDAY ideas or activities Guitar Jam, Football, Gym Time, Play Horses with singing phrases, Karaoke, Musical Games, Relay Games, Music Jeopardy, ipod what s playing?, Pop Show Band American Ninja Choir Warrior; created in 2015. See the shared folder. Build A Castle: Sight-Reading. Created while watching my sons build with blocks (Each activity can take place during the last 20 minutes of class, or the entire class period if they earned an entire Fun Friday. You decide with the incentive charts per class.) Daily Routine: during class o Bell Ringers; worksheets, rounds, Vocal Connections-Whitlock Physical stretches (actual stretches, dancing, yoga, PiYo) Breathing work (concentrated inhalation/exhalation techniques; sports analogies. Vocalizing Rhythm Reading (every day) Sight-Singing (every day) Choral Repertoire Here s the catch connect everything from time to time. Go into battle with a Happy Heart We GET to play a game for 186 days of the year We GET to be with amazing young people and facilitate their creativity Check your mindset do you HAVE to get up and go to work each day? or do you GET to go to work each day?
Alpha and Omega ~ Chapman, p. 3 Have a Plan. Be Prepared. Be Prompt. First Quarter: Timeline (1 st day of school through the day after 1 st Concert; 6-7 weeks) Week 1: Aug 22 26 Welcome new singers or Welcome Back to the veterans How to Be a Choir Person Video or make Memes Sing!; Rounds, scale exercises, get them singing together. (story of the worksheet teacher) Humming Game - Hum that tune, use Rounds, popular summer songs, each student has a tune and must hum or sing on nonsense syllables Justin Timberlake Can t Stop the Feeling Prince 1999 Chicken Dance Meghan Trainor All About that Bass Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond Solfege Scramble - Sing or Play a popular song and have the kids find their solfege buddies to build the melody in solfege. (Kind of like Name That Tune ) Auditions for Pop Groups: we have them the first week Choir Council Elections - Friday Rhythm Reading and Sight-Singing Everyday! Week 2: Aug 29 Sept 2 Sing!: More Rounds or the ones introduced the first week. Get them comfortable with 1-2 Rhythm Reading and Sight-Singing and use your choral repertoire for literacy Vocal Connections - Ruth Whitlock (This series was created for tonal audiation and music reading. Included are aural CD, Music reading exercises, and Grids. I made PowerPoints to use after my students are comfortable with the grid sheets. For middle school, we do alter the key for our tenor-bass choir.) Repertoire: Start your first pieces o Number measures, Find the Key, Fill in the solfege, Identify music elements, etc. Boys Voice Testing: unless you started week 1 and asked them to come in before or after school (this is an entire convention session in itself to explain one of the most important elements of teaching middle school voices.boys Voices!) Musical Auditions: for us this happens early. Establish your officers: Make sure that students know their leadership jobs and are taking ownership with those positions. o Presidents, Student Directors, Secretary, Historians o Use Google Drive, Shutterfly, Flicker or Photobucket for your historians to dump the pics. Establish your daily routine for your classroom: Look back at Daily Routine o Folder process, at seat when bell rings or 30 secs after the bell rings, pencils sharpened, standing when bells rings for stretches. Choir movement, dancing, yoga, etc. Week 3: Sept 5 9 Consistency Sing!: More Rounds and start passing out music Rhythm Reading and Sight-Singing and use your choral repertoire for literacy o Be consistent each week with your Sight-Singing process Vocal Connections Choral Repertoire: Week 4: Sept 12 16 Auditions for first concert solos, groups, duets, etc. Courtyard Concert: ours is different this year. Week 5: Sept 19 23 Week 6: Sept 26-30
Alpha and Omega ~ Chapman, p. 4 Sight-Singing, Rhythm Reading, Voice Building (still happening) Week before the concert, sound set-up, solo practice Walk through the concert Week 7: Oct 3-7 Concert Week! Assign Solos and Ensembles for Fall Concert: Courtyard Concert Themed with Solos and Pop Groups o Other: Patriotic, Broadway, Folk Songs and Spirituals, Poetry Second Quarter: Timeline (day after 1 st concert through end of semester; 8-10 weeks) Week 7: Oct 3 7 (over laps from previous) Rhythm Reading and Sight-Singing (add in some pop tunes here and there) Assign Solos and Ensembles for January Solo and Ensemble Festival o Choose 6-8 favorite solos, make a packet, have them learn in groups, sing together and some gain the confidence to sing independently. Talk about All-Region music April 2017 Check your performance venues coming up for Pop Group Tour and All Choir Tour in Dec. Musical happens in this quarter Week 8-10: Oct 10-28 th - Sight-Singing, Rhythm Reading, S&E work, Winter Concert Rep Week 11: Oct 31 Nov 4 Musical Rehearsals late afternoons and evenings Week 12: Nov 7 11 Musical Week Week 13: Nov 14-18 Solo practices Pop Group perfection Week 14: Nov 28 Dec 2: Rehearsal for Concert and Concert Week (Saturday Concert) Lovejoy ISD Fine Arts Festival Friday evening and Saturday performances Week 15: Dec 5-9: Concert Evaluation, 5 th Grade Demo Music, Grade #1 for Solo, learned? 5 th grade demo note; use something from Fall Concert so you are only perfecting Week 16: Dec 12 16: Finals week. Third Quarter: Timeline Jan 3-Mar 6 (January back from Winter Break through UIL Contest; 8-10 weeks) Week 17: Jan 3-6 - Back to school - Ensemble Grade 2: Words/5th Grade Demo/UIL music Week 18: Jan 9-12 - S&E Grade 3: phrasing /5th Grade Demo/UIL Music Week 19: Jan 16-20 - S&E Grade 4: dynamics and memorization/5th Grade Demo/UIL Music Week 20: Jan 23 27 S&E Performance /5th Grade Demo Performance, Pizza Party after 5 th Grade Demo Concert Week 21: Jan 30- Feb 3-2 weeks until Pre-UIL Week 22: Feb 6-10 - 1 week until Pre-UIL Week 23: Feb 13-17 - Pre-UIL Concert Week and TMEA!! Week 24: Feb 20-24 - Pre-UIL Evaluation: example in shared folder, get feedback, see it, fix it. Week 25: Feb 27 - Mar 3 - UIL Contest for us!!! Wooohoooo!!! Week 26: Mar 6-10 Karaoke Project/Pop Show Talk #2/Prep for 4th Quarter Take it home! Fourth Quarter: Timeline (after UIL Contest or right after Spring Break through the end of school year) Week 27-30: Mar 20-Apr 14 Pop Show music, dance, dance, dance Week 31: Apr 17-21- Contest #2 week - Hurricane Harbor, Hawaiian Falls, NRH2O, Others. Week 32: Apr 24-28 Auditions for Pop Show; only take performance ready 6-8acts for show Week 33: May 1-5 Pop Show rehearsal week with choreography 3 days all choirs, 1 solos only Week 34: May 8-12 STAAR Testing (Solo rehearsals or what your principal will allow) Week 35: May 15-19 Pop Show Week - Start Karaoke Project Week 36: May 22-26 Finals Week - Perform Karaoke Projects!, Essay Writing or Theory Exam
End of the Year Choir Party! Alpha and Omega ~ Chapman, p. 5 Favorite Rounds and Books for getting your Choir Singing: See the attachment in the folder.