Sarah Warsco

VTCTML Day 1

Content and Achievement Standards

Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music o Students sing expressively, with appropriate dynamics, phrasing, and interpretation o Students sing in groups, blending vocal timbres, matching dynamic levels, and responding to the cues of a conductor Reading and notating music o Students use a system (Solfege) to read simple pitch notation in a do clef in minor keys o Students use a system (Takadimi) to read simple rhythmic notation in simple meters .

Class Goals and Objectives

By the second try, students will read Level 3B simple rhythms with 90% accuracy. By the second try, students will read Level 2C major tonal patterns with 80% accuracy. When not singing consonants, students will demonstrate better vowel consistency. By the end of the warm-up students will demonstrate active breath support by maintaining pitch.

Materials
Projector Rhythm Level 3B Simple Exercise Transparency Tonal Level 2C Minor Transparency Melodic Level 1: Minor & Simple Transparency Piano

Procedures
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Students will echo Level 3 Simple rhythmic patterns Beat, beat, echo me Students will echo translate Level 3 Simple rhythmic patterns Beat, beat, echo translate Students will echo Level 2 Major and Minor tonal patterns Students will echo translate Level 2 Major and Minor tonal patterns Physical warm-up a. Stretch arms up, lean to the left then right. b. Roll shoulders front and back c. Roll head (do not let it fall back) d. Ten jumping jacks 6. Four sips in (4 beats) and hiss out for 4,8, 16, and 24 beats a. Make sure that you use all your breath when hissing out b. Make sure youre breathing low. Stomach should be moving 7. Students will sing hung aw S SFMRD starting in the key of B going up to the Key of G a. Work on having proper breath control through whole scale and a mature, dark aw vowel. 8. Starting on Key of C, y/i/ DRMFS y/o/ DRMFS y/a/ DRMFSFMRD going up to the Key of A a. Work on full breath support and consistent vowel sounds throughout scale b. Dont let the students strain on the top note. If they are, have them squat as they sing higher notes.

Sarah Warsco VTCTML Day 1 c. It may be necessary to touch on vowel modification as the exercise goes higher 9. Starting in key of C, DMRFMSFRD on /u/ /i/ to key of E, /o/ // to key of G, plain /a/ to key of B flat a. Work on not moving jaw as you change vowels. Notice movement of tongue. b. Focus on getting students to maintain one vowel tract. c. Stop the choir before changing vowels to speak the sound and notice the tongue movement. 10. Starting in B flat, yoh yoh yoh oh oh oh SD SD SDSMD going up to the key of F (switch to ah vowel around D) Use hand motion on high notes to encourage full energy and breath. a. Try to maintain the same vowel sound throughout b. Use hand motions to encourage students to float the top note. c. Keep energy and breath active 11. In key of D, D DRD DRMRD . . . a. Make sure students are using the same pure vowels we just worked on. b. Ask students to focus on their intonation, if need be slow the exercise down. Pay particular attention to top half of scale 12. Break students into two parts and do it in a round. Second part starts after first part gets to M a. Instruct them to listen to the other part. b. Ask if they ever sing together. (Answer should be yes) 13. Have students read a Level 3B Simple rhythm exercise a. Look 2nd page of Can You Feel the Love Tonight and identify a ta di di rhythm. 14. Have students read a Level 2 Minor tonal exercise number 2 a. Break it down into small chunks if the students have trouble 15. Have students read a Level 1 Minor Simple melodic exercise

Assessment of Goals and Objectives

Instructor can informally assess breath control by observing which students can maintain their hiss for the full 24 beats early in the rehearsal and by their ability to stay in key during the final exercise. Vowel consistency should be audible throughout. The rhythm and tonal reading goals can be assessed through the group exercises at the end of the lesson.

Follow up Lessons
Future lessons need to further address simple rhythms and minor tonalities in Sound Connections until accuracy is close to 100%. Much more emphasis is needed on vowel consistency focusing in more on the mask and getting loft into the tone. In addition, vowel consistency in conjunction with dynamics should be explored as students begin to feel more comfortable with the darker tone. The scalar CT exercise can be divided into more parts and taken at a much faster tempo once the students become more comfortable with it.