1)  Yes - for 24 years

2)  Depends on the year - when beginning a program at a new school , I've had as few as 40 students. I've had as many as 320 students with no assistant. On average, I have 200-225 students each year with no assistant.

3)  I love Brilee Music for MS repertoire - great source with thoughtful ranges. Alliance and Hal Leonard also have some great stuff. JW Pepper's website has the state and festival lists of many different places and those can be very helpful. In my state (Texas), we have a Prescribed Music List with Grades 1 (easy) - 5 (difficult) in all voicings - it's also listed on Pepper's website.  I listen to every song on every publisher's CD I receive by email or snail mail. I also attend my state conventions twice a year and go to each new music reading session that involves MS/JH music. I also keep concert programs of other choirs and mark songs I enjoyed for future use.  I look for music by these MS friendly composers as well - Laura Farnell, Rollo Dilworth, Emily Crocker, Donald Moore, Lon Beery, Mark Patterson, and I know I'm leaving some other great ones - sorry!

4) Neither works particularly well - I prefer to separate into gender based choirs and use U/SA or SSA for girls and TB or TTB for boys. If forced to do mixed music, SATB tends to work best. Rollo Dilworth is currently working on a neat project he presented at ACDA in Dallas last month. It involves composing music for mixed voices with variable voicings to accomodate changing voices.

5) Who hasn't changed pieces mid-stream at any level of choral conducting?!?!?!? There is no shame in realizing you picked a piece that just does not work and changing to a more suitable piece.

6)  Kids get over it quickly if you don't make it their fault. Just move on without beating yourself up (and without making them feel they failed) and everything is fine.

7) If you do not adjust music for MS singers, you are not doing your job. I have re-written parts, switched octaves, turned particularly difficult passages into solos, etc. Most composers who specialize in middle school music encourage this to a certain extent. If you need to completely re-wite an entire voice part of the whole song, then you need to choose another piece that is more suitable.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Mary Jane

1. Yes.  Since 1994, I have taught middle school choir all but two years.

2.  I have had as few as 9 and as many as 46 in one class.  This year there are a total of 152 students in 5 sections.  They don't all perform together all the time.

3.  I use many resources.  I go to reading sessions.  I go to publisher's websites and listen to music.  I find middle school choirs on Youtube and listen.  I listen to other choirs at festivals and concerts.  This is THE most time consuming part of my job. While I know a lot of repertoire, each choir and each year is different.

4.  This is the first year I have ever been able to really use SATB music.  It is the mix of students I have this year.  It all depends on the ranges of my students and the ranges of the music. Don't judge a piece by whether it is SATB or SAB, but how the range fits your students.

5. There have been many times that a piece doesn't fit in the way I thought it should.  I usually keep working on it for a few more rehearsals.  Sometimes, I 've decided to put it away and not perform it and other times, it works well enough.

6. For the most part, my students realize when a piece is not working.  There are always some that are disappointed.

7. Working with middle school boys you always have to be flexible and adjust.  In addition to shifting octaves, I've had to modify notes for some boys at the last minute, just so they can sing something!!!! There are some octavos (primarily from BriLee) that have optional notes.  That's always a plus if I have mostly tenors in September, because I know by a December concert, they won't all be tenors!

 

I hope this helps.  Good luck!