Advertise on ChoralNet
Crud, I'm in the"B" choir now!Date: April 9, 2010
I have been hired recently at a very fine private high school to direct their newly created 45 member "B" choir. I am loving the challenge and the kids, but I do find some inherent problems. I could use some advice.
First hurdle is that there are very few strong singers (virtually none). The cream has been taken to the "A" and left the "B" without the advantage of experienced singers (experienced means "I can match a pitch and sing a scale"). Most of the "B" have no church background and no instrumental background so they really have no technical musical foundation at all and quite actually struggle to match pitch. Compounding this problem is that the best of what remains in the "B" is subject to moving up whenever they can pass the audition for the "A".
Second hurdle is what I think I can safely call the, "I got busted from the "A" because I no good, so why should I care. I'll just coast on through", syndrome. The group is not "Bad", but they are prone to drifting if there is anything more interesting than just singing vocal exercises and the simple folk tunes we are doing. These Peter, Paul and Mary fav's are an effort to have them sing something that is approachable for range and simplicity of melody.
I hope I have not insulted intelligence by these conundrums, but I'm much more accoustomed to people who want to and can sing already-to some extent- joining the choir.
For your gracious help I would remain your indebted servant,
Peter D. McGuire Replies (13): Threaded | Chronological
Marjorie Boerema on April 10, 2010 1:45am
You have a wonderful opportunity to teach healthy singing and give the singers a great choral experience. Keep that as your focus, rather than putting on an impressive show. This will be difficult, given your "very fine private high school", but for now you have the advantage of lower public expectations than the "A" choir. If you keep your own expectations high, you will inspire the singers to work hard and take pride in their group. You can build strong singers through good vocalieses. Include high quality music (the phrase "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly" seems to apply here), which enriches excellent and less experienced singers alike. Try to foster comaraderie and loyalty in the group, perhaps through extra-musical activities. Encourage them to carve out their own identity in the program. You could use them in service to the community, at a seniors' home or something similar.
If you are "loving the challenge and the kids" you have a great basis to proceed. Don't let them or anyone else disparage the group. They're there to learn--teach them!
on April 10, 2010 6:25am
Maybe the B choir needs a new identity – something its members can be proud of. You might look at repertoire that's different from the A choir's style. Maybe "Hist Whist" (speech choir & percussion) by Robert William Jones; "Old Abram Brown" (or other selections from Friday Afternoons) by Benjamin Britten; or arrangements you create with your jazz band director that feature soloists from your choir along with simple choral refrains.
Get them independent gigs - like singing at a civic event or with a local community chorus as a guest choir.
Enable them to feel proud of mastering your challenges: track and reward their progress in sightsinging, rehearsal techniques, memorizing, and attendance. And in every way convey that you are proud to be teaching them.
Best of luck!
John Hoffacker
on April 10, 2010 6:33am
Peter,
You are on the right track with simple folk songs, but do more styles and types of music that are similar: ballads of ALL kinds, including some simple things from Broadway will still allow you to teach pitch matching, long tones, singing on the first part of a dipthong, using breathe for a crescendo, inside mouth space, good consonants withing the meaning of the delivery of the text, and so forth. My advice is to keep a lesson plan that is relatively fast moving, and have both routines and are repetitve (every rehearsal begins with stretches, jaw (masseter sp?) massage, tongue wiggle, lip trill, frequency swooop top to bottom, yawn sigh, and then repeated solfegge warm-ups that are used daily, with occasional new ones once a week that replace the latest ones: a favorite is Do Re Do, Sol La Sol, Do Re Mi Re Do) and progress up by half steps.
Follow the warm-ups by one of the already mastered folk songs.
Then divide remaining work time into 3 parts, with select portions of three pieces that are being learned. Keep things moving and keep everyone's mind focused on work and singing. Have a wrap up at the end "today our goal was to ....... and we managed ......and tomorrow we will ......."
Telling the students the goal for the day and then a wrap up gets them invested and they become part of the team.
For repertoire, check out BriLee publications for simpler but yet lyrical things, and you can also add harmony to cadences and endings of songs.
Consider a harmony warm up:
Sopranos: Do Re Mi Fa Sol ' Sol Fa Mi Re Do
Altos : Do Re Mi Fa Sol' Sol Fa Mi Mi Mi
B: up and down the five
Tenors up the five, then Sol Sol La Ti Do
ends in a four part chord. It's fun to let them hear, and reinforces solfegge and ear training at same time.
I could go on for pages, but maybe that will give you a jump start.... Good luck. Every day must be a good experience in choir -- that's what keeps them coming back and developing their love of music and singing.
Forget the A choir. It's history. Move forward and teach music and singing, one rehearsal at a time and let the music choices be the 'hook'.
on April 10, 2010 8:56am
I am a director at a public high school and have had the same issue in the past when I created my own "A" choir. I have recently stumbled upon a solution that has worked well for me. If your administration is willing to work with you, this might work. I did away with my "B" SATB ensemble and created a men's chorus and a women's chorus that meet in separate periods. Granted, I already had the periods blocked out for music classes, but this has been a very good solution for me. The two groups immediately have their own identities because they are completely different ensembles with different repertoire. I can focus on men's and women's vocal issues without boring the other group. I also encouraged members of my "A" group who had room in their schedules to join their respective gendered group so I have a few stronger singers back in the mix. This solution has worked well for me and I would encourage you to explore that possibility with your own school and administration to see if that would be a solution.
on April 10, 2010 11:30am
Hi, Peter. You've already gotten some GREAT advice, both philosophical and practical. I'd just like to look at the overall picture.
It seems to bother you that the new choir is expected to function as a feeder for the existing choir. May I ask why? Most great choir programs, at ANY level from Children's Choir to University Choirs, have what amount to training choirs, and it's vitally important that students see an opportunity to move on to levels that receive higher recognition. Just look at the choral program at St. Olaf! My younger son started playing trombone in middle school, and automatically went into the lower-level Concert Band in high school. But when he counted the number of chairs that would be available the next year in Symphonic Band and looked at where he sat in the trombone section, he realized that he wasn't going to move up, and he actually quit band and made it into the top select vocal ensemble (a Madrigals group), following in his older brother's footsteps. Seeing an opportunity for advancement is VERY important.
But that doesn't mean that the lower-level ensemble can't do good work and can't have high expectations, especially if you can sell the idea that you ARE preparing them for the next level, either in your high school or for a larger and less select choir in college. A typical situation is one where all the "extra" girls are placed in a girl's ensemble (typical also of District and State Conference ensembles, at least in this state). But we have had two choral directors now who have treated their Women's Chorale just like any other ensemble, selected good, challenging music for them that was written for treble or women's voices, and allowed them to achieve recognition for being in an excellent ensemble. And the choral director at another nearby college has always done exactly the same thing.
The one thing I wonder about in your post is that they can move up "whenever they can pass the audition for the A." Does that mean at any time, like in the middle of a semester or 2 weeks before your concert? THAT would not be good planning, and would definitely need to be discussed with the conductor of the "A." One of the things I did with my college show ensemble was to teach an "Alternates" class for students with good potential who didn't make the cast that year. They knew that it was NOT an automatic way to make it into the cast, since they had to re-audition, BUT they also knew that if I needed a quick replacement during the year I would pick that replacement from the Alternates Class, since they would already know some of the major routines from the show. And it happened more than once. But then the Alternates never performed as an ensemble, except for one show near the end of first semester when they did the routines they had learned WITH our showband and FOR everyone else in the group, which was the most demanding AND the most supportive audience anyone could ever have, and a really good bonding experience.
So yes, find an identity for your new ensemble that is DIFFERENT from that of the old one, but don't necessarily think of it or let the students think of it as a "worse" ensemble. Give them a reason to take pride in their work and to achieve recognition, while at the same time being quite open to the fact that you are preparning them to move on. As others have said, you have a unique opportunity to focus on the SINGERS rather than necessarily on the REPERTOIRE, and that's a rare opportunity and one you can certainly take advantage of. They have a lot to learn. So? That means you have a lot to teach!! And that's what this business is all about.
All the best,
John
on April 10, 2010 1:12pm
I taught at the high school level for 9 years. No matter what
anyone says, the "B" choir situation is real and concerning. I
gravitated to the following and it worked beautifully, at least for
me.
I taught in a three year school of about1100 students and had five choirs: Men's and Women's Glee: open to any one who wanted to sing, sophs, juniors and seniors. Music performed was variety from classics to cool. These groups averaged 45 students each per year, performed at contests, 4 yearly concerts and in the community. Concert Choir: a select group of sophomores and juniors. Music performed-the chestnuts of choral literature, music that every concert choir should have the experience of singing, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Handel, all of the European composers, This group was the younger select choir, but the expectations were not different than the older select choir, with some temperament. Performances included contests, 4 major school concerts, community events and tours to local schools. This choir was over 230 in numbers for several years, but because of music literature budget cuts, I reduced the group to 90. Carillon Choir: a select group of junior and senior students. Music performed was primarily contemporary choral literature, music by American composer, Modern European composers, and music from around the world. Performances included contests, 4 major school concerts, community presentations, tours in the region. This choir averaged 80 students per year. Dynamics: a select group of juniors and senior students. Music performed was jazz, original charts for the most part. There were 24 to 30 singers, a rhythm section including piano, bass, drums and guitar and a horn section, total number of students involved averaged 40. Performances included the jazz festivals around the country, community performances, and 4 major school performances.Each group was awarded and respected for their music accomplishments. All groups performed in a combined mass choir once or twice a year to build "choral community" and choral department spirit. My suggestion is to us music as the denominator. Cheers, Frank
on April 12, 2010 4:01am
Two other thoughts that chime with the great ideas you have already:
1. You need a name for the 'B' choir that doesn't define it in terms of failure to get into 'A'. It's hard to take pride in something where you're defined as second-best.
2. Rhythm is the key to the hearts of recalcitrant teenagers. SImple isn't boring if it has a good groove, and physical movement brings oxygen into the bloodstream and coordination to the group dynamic. So get everyone moving in your warm-ups and they'll be more up-for-it for the rest of the session.
liz
on April 12, 2010 9:02am
Peter,
When I was in grad school, I was put in charge of the University Chorus, the non-audition group that was comprised of a variety of students, from those who couldn't sing at all to those who could and wanted to sing but couldn't fit any of the other ensembles into their schedule. It met one night a week, so it was convenient for those students in the group. It was an ensemble that none of the other college directors wanted to conduct, so it had been handed down to graduate students. While many people didn't enjoy working with ensemble, I loved it, and the important thing was that they knew I loved it. Every Monday evening I would go into rehearsal excited about what I could do with them. Sure, some of them couldn't sing very well, but I approached them as if they could and expected a lot out of them. I tried to mix up the voicing so that the strong singers sat beside the weak singers. I began each rehearsal with some fast-paced warm-ups, and I kept it at a fast pace until the break. When they came back from break, we would hit it full speed again and wouldn't stop until rehearsal was ended. When it came to concerts, that group of 100+ singers would sing their hearts out for me. They were always one of the favorites of the crowd.
I would give you the following advice on working with your "B" choir: 1) Let the group know how much you love working with them. For all of the faculty college directors, the group I conducted was low on the tote pole of priorities for them. For me, it was the only group I had, and I loved it! 2) Expect the best from them. Even though they are considered a "B" choir, expect the same results as you would if they were an "A" choir. They won't give it to you at first, but continue to prod them. Make it fun for them when they mess up or don't give you their best. When they do succeed, make a big deal about it and let them know how proud of them you are. 3) Give them an identity they can be proud of. My group knew that they were the "worst" of the college ensembles, but they also knew that I was giving my best to the group, so they did, too. It turned out that they weren't so bad, after all. 4) Enjoy the experience. If you don't enjoy it, they won't either.
I hope that these suggestions can be of help to you. When my grad studies came to an end, I was really sad to have to leave the ensemble, and they were extremely sad to see me go. It was an experience that will continue to be one of the best of my life. I hope yours can be, too.
With utmost hope for your group,
Chris Lamb.
on April 12, 2010 9:57am
Hi Peter,
I really liked John's comment and I wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in all of the other advice. He said:
Enable them to feel proud of mastering your challenges: track and reward their progress in sightsinging, rehearsal techniques, memorizing, and attendance. And in every way convey that you are proud to be teaching them.
Earlier this year I looked into what the research shows about setting goals and actually accomplishing them. I got some really valuable tips that you can use to help your students feel like they've really accomplished something and be proud of their efforts.
You can read some of that research on this webpage http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_90.htm and many others like it.
But I would suggest this way to apply the principles to your students:
And one last thought on goals and your B choir before I go back to work here. For most choir directors, your goal is clear: put on a fabulous concert while using that experience to develop the student's musical capabilities. I would argue that your goal is a little different: grow the student's capabilities so they can pass the audition into the A choir.
Every time a student of yours passes the audition, I would say that's a measure of YOUR personal success. And you might even set your own personal goal of a certain number of students to pass the audition every year. Not only is that your job, but it's the single greatest gift you can give these kids. Yours is a selfless job, no grand applause, but so much more meaningful than the director of the A choir. You are in a position to take children off of their music-less road and redirect them onto a path of lifelong joy of music. The A choir director will just be pushing them further along a path that you started them on. I can't think of a job that is any more important! God bless you and good luck!
Misty Decker
on April 13, 2010 2:41pm
WOW! Talk about great attitude... that Misty Decker takes the cake. And her last paragraph deserves a Nobel (or Noble) Prize.
Bravo!
Jon Washburn
Vancouver
on April 14, 2010 7:12am
Thank you very much for your kind words Jon. You made my day and I truly appreciate it. I've been struggling with a number of difficult challenges recently and you gave me a little more lift to help me make it through. Thank you!
Misty Decker
CappellaFestiva.org
PS. To see one part of why I'm so stressed, check out our webpage. I'm organizing our first ever Gala and Silent Auction, which is also the first time I'm ever trying such a thing. Cross your fingers that this thing comes off! We're a small organization and I'm trying my best to make us look a lot bigger than we are. :-)
on April 28, 2010 12:14am
I have 3 high school choirs: beginning, intermediate, and advanced, and I have occasionally experienced a similar issue. This year, as we prepare for our end-of-the-year concert and awards banquet, the students voted for their choice of best bass, tenor, alto, soprano, and most improved in each individual choir. Instead of voting for one of their own, many students in the advanced choir gave the "most improved" award to the intermediate choir as a whole. That's a pretty cool warm fuzzy.
Scott Wickham
|
Help support ChoralNet by buying via these links
|
