Mama Sang Bass, Daddy Sang Soprano: Gender-Based Modeling

Clinicians: Cynthia Douglas and Nick Likos from Cypress Ranch HS

Feb. 12th at 10:00 11:00am, CC103
This was a clinic on the most efficient way to get the intended sounds and timbres from your choir.
The focus was on helping the director of the opposite gender than students; model the proper
placement for that gender group. Male directors teaching womens choirs can brighten their sound
too much if they model placement they would used as a male soloist. If female directors do the same
for mens choirs, they will have a darker, heavier sound than what is intended. The clinicians took
turns modeling the correct ways and incorrect ways of doing just this without the female director
having to singing heavily in chest voice or male director sing heavily in falsetto.
The Art of Assessing the Score: What to Know Before You Teach a New Piece of Music
Clinician: Kenneth Davis
Feb. 12th at 11:30am 12:30pm, CC103
In this session Kenneth Davis talked about his process of score study. It was a very straightforward
session. The was Davis does his score study is quite effective, however the main point of this session
was to figure out what score study process works best for you. The one great advice he gave the
audience that I thought was the most helpful, was to document the score study information with the
music in you library or somewhere you can refer back to it if you ever decide to do that piece again
in the future. Even if I interpret the piece differently the next time, I at least have the bare bones of
the piece figured out.
Meet Me in the Middle: Choral Music for Middle School Voices
Clinician: Andy Beck
Feb. 12th at 2:30-3:30pm, CC001
Any session with Andy Beck will be more of a reading session than a lecture. We always begin with
examples of warm-ups where the words outline what the warm-up is doing. Ex. Warming up our
voices, ready set lets go is and ascending scale, do re mi fa so so do re mi fa so. When we entered
the room we received a packet of octavos and we simply read through each of them after the warmups. Beck always explains why the piece is a good fit for the voice arrangement before we begin
singing.
Singing Games and Activities that Teach Form and Expressive Concepts
Clinician: Denise Gagne
Feb. 12th at 4:00-5:00pm, CC EXHIBIT HALL A-8
This was a much like the Andy Beck session, but for elementary school and the music was either
taught by rote or on the power point during the session. We went through different games and songs
that would work well for elementary school kids. Gagne explained the benefit for each one and
explained step by step how to play the games. This session was both informative and fun.
All State Rehearsal: Techniques and Best Practices
Mixed, Mens and Womens Choirs
Feb. 13th at 2:00-3:00pm, Grand Hyatt Lone Star A, C, and DEF
I just rotated around the three rehearsals and just observed. The concert was the next day so they
were mostly fixing tone and solidifying dynamics. Mixed choir was working on Chariots so they
were working on facial expressions and the percussiveness of the text.