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MUED 376: Choral Music, Materials & Techniques

MIDTERM EXAM
Suggested Due Date: November 1, 2019 - midnight

NAME_____Rachel Pennington____________ DATE_10/19/19

GENERAL DIRECTIONS: help each other, share ideas, strategies and definitions!

Part I: From O% to 100% in 10 Rehearsals of 15 Minutes:

One Suggested Sequence of Rehearsal Threads

Directions:
 Take the piece you are doing for VMRC and design a full lesson sequence as
indicated below, based on a fifteen-minute rehearsal.
 Modify each class as needed from this template. Add or delete activities and
chunks as needed.
 Do not do a Direct Instruction Script for this assignment, only outline the
activities and chunking that will complete each rehearsal thread.
 Be creative and include lots of kinesthetic and learning experiences.
 Please spend no more than 60 minutes on this part of the exam
 Please feel free to work with others on this exam! Share answers!

Rehearsal 1 – “Hook” and introduction to the piece (rote introduction, and rote to
note in the music.)
Time: (3/9) Activity 1: Introduction and History

Chunk 1: Welcome Good Morning VMRC! The piece we will be working on

today is: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.

Chunk 2: Here’s a little history of the piece: I Heard the Bells on Christmas
Day" is a Christmas carol a based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator's
despair, upon hearing Christmas bells during the American Civil War that "hate
is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men". The carol
concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among men.

Chunk 3: The four verses we will do are not exactly from Longfellow’s poem.
They were altered by the English organist, John Baptiste Calkin, who first used
the poem with another melody in church services.

Chunk 4: Since this is really our American Civil War repertoire for our Lessons
and Carols, let me read you these four verses. I think you will hear the theme of
bells, and the call for peace here. (I read the poem)

Transition statement: Isn’t that amazing? You can really hear Longfellow’s
despair about the war.

Time: (3/6/9) Activity 2: Chromatically Altered Tone Sets and Emotional Despair
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Chunk 1: This piece is also different than any other piece we have done thus
far, because it has some really cool ‘color notes’ or altered solfege tones in the
melody and the harmony! Usually these kind of things are just done in harmony
parts, but this song has it in the melody. And I think these color notes are to add
the ‘despair’ into the melody to more fully accentuate the text itself. It’s really
cool!

Chunk 2: 1a. So! Let’s learn the altered syllables in this piece! Yay!

1a. Echo me: d – m – r

2p. Choir echos

1a. (ri) echo me: d – m – ri!

2p. Choir echos

1a. Echo me: d – m – r

2p. Choir echos

1a. (ri) echo me: d – m – ri!

2p. Choir echos

1a. m–f–s
2p. Choir echos

1a. m – f – fi – so
2p. Choir echos

1a. m–f–s
2p. Choir echos

1a. m – f – fi – so
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – t1 – d
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – t1 – t1
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – t1 – teh1
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – t1 – teh1
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – teh1 – t1 – d
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – teh1 – t1 – d
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – di – re
2p. Choir echos

1a. d – di – re
2p. Choir echos
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1a. re – ri – mi
2p. Choir echos

1a. re – ri – mi
2p. Choir echos

Transition statement: Wow! That was amazing altered syllable solfege!

Time: Activity 3: Soprano Verse 1 on Solfege and Text

Chunk 1: 1d. JMU students sing the soprano part on solfege and you listen
2p. JMU sings soprano on solfege, VMRC listens

1a. Again
2p. JMU sings soprano on solfege, VMRC listens

1d. Now, JMU singers, please sing soprano on text

2p. JMU sings soprano on text, VMRC listens

1a. Again
2p. JMU sings soprano on text, VMRC listens

1a. Now let’s have everyone sing soprano melody on text!

2p. Everyone on text

Time: Activity 4: Bass Verse 1 on Solfege and Text

Chunk 1: 1d. JMU students sing the bass part on solfege and you listen
2p. JMU sings bass part on solfege, VMRC listens

1a. Again
2p. JMU sings bass part on solfege, VMRC listens

1d. Now, JMU singers, please sing soprano on text

2p. JMU sings bass part on text, VMRC listens

1a. Again
2p. JMU sings bass part on text, VMRC listens

1a. Now let’s have everyone sing bass part on text!

2p. Everyone on text

Transition statement: Listen to your beautiful altered tones!

Time: (2/9/9) Activity 5: Putting Soprano and Bass Together

Chunk 1: 1d. Let’s put it together! Sopranos and basses only!

2p Sopranos and Basses sing!

3sra! Good work today! Don’t you love hearing how the altered
syllables add the tension to the story?

1a If time! Let’s try one last thing? Let have the tenors and altos
just sightead their parts on text while we all sing and Haley
helps us at the piano!
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2p Tutti sing!

3sra. Listen to your beautiful harmony! We now have the basis of

our song!

Chunk 2: Thanks everyone for a great rehearsal! We worked on five songs this
week! Next week we will start our last three songs, and then we will have all our
pieces started for the December concert!

Rehearsal 2 – Learning the Tenor and Alto lines, Reviewing the soprano and bass lines,
then running the whole piece
Time: (.5/8) Activity 1: Introduction and Rehearsal Threads

Chunk 1: Welcome: Good Morning VMRC! Please turn to page 14 in your

music folder. My rehearsal threads today are: Learn, Review, Run.

Time: (1.5/2/8) Activity 2: Learning the Tenor Part

Chunk 1: Let’s start by learning the tenor line

Chunk 2: Listening to the tenor line

- Please listen as I sing the tenor line on solfege
- Please listen while I sing the tenor line on text

Chunk 3: Singing the tenor line

- Everyone sing the tenor line on solfege
- Everyone sing the tenor line on text

Time: (2/4/8) Activity 3: Learning the Alto Part

Chunk 1: Let’s now learn the alto line

Chunk 2: Listening to the alto line

- Please listen as I sing the alto line on solfege
- Please listen as I sing the alto line on text

Chunk 3: Singing the alto line

- Everyone please sing the alto line on solfege
- Everyone please sing the alto line on text

Chunk 4: Let’s put the two parts together

- All sopranos and altos be an alto, and all tenors and basses be a
tenor, singing on text

Time: (2/6/8) Activity 4: Reviewing the Soprano and Bass parts

Chunk 1: Since it’s been awhile since we’ve gone through the soprano and bass
parts, let’s start by reviewing them. All sopranos and altos be a soprano and all
tenors and basses be a bass
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Chunk 2: Singing the two parts

- Everyone please first sing the parts on solfege
- Now on text

Time: (2/8/8) Activity X: Putting it all together

Chunk 1: Putting all four parts together.

- Everyone on their own part on solfege
- Everyone on their own part on text

Chunk 2: You all sounded wonderful and really got the hang of the altered
syllables! Thank you all for a great rehearsal!

Rehearsal 3 - Review and Run

Time: (.5/8) Activity 1: Introduction and Rehearsal Threads

Chunk 1: Welcome: Good Morning VMRC! Please turn to page 14 in your

music folder. My rehearsal threads today are to review and run.

Time: (1/1.5/8) Activity 2: Reviewing Alto and Tenor

Chunk 1: We’re going to start by reviewing what we did last week. So, if all
sopranos and altos be an alto and all tenors and basses please be a tenor.

Chunk 2: Performing
- Everyone please sing on solfege the first time then move to text
immediately after

Time: (1/2.5/8) Activity 3: Reviewing Soprano and Bass

Chunk 1: We’ll now review the soprano and bass parts. All sa be a soprano and
all tb be a bass.

Chunk 2: Performing
- Start with solfege
- Now sing on text
I will listen and fix any parts or sections needed.

Time: (5/7.5/8) Activity 4: Full Run

Chunk 1: Let’s now put all 4 parts together.

Chunk 2: Everyone on their own part on text, singing all 4 verses.

Time: (.5/8/8) Activity X: Learning Summary

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Chunk 1: Great work today! You all sound wonderful and were really blending
well together! Thank you for a wonderful rehearsal!

Rehearsal 4 - Sing all the way through, improving and perfecting tone and
adding reminders about meaning
Time: (.5/8) Activity 1: Introduction and Rehearsal Threads

Chunk 1: Welcome: Good Morning VMRC! Please turn to page 14 in your

music folder. My rehearsal threads today are: Run, improve pitch and tone, and
go over the meaning again.

Time: (2/2.5/8) Activity 2: Running the Whole Piece

Chunk 1: If everyone could please sing on their own part, we’re going to run
through the whole song on text

Time: (1.5/4/8) Activity 3: Fixing pitches

Chunk 1: (I will listen to hear if any specific parts need to be fixed)

Time: (3.5/.5/8) Activity 4: Meaning and Tone Color

Chunk 1: To get the right tone color for this song, I just wanted to remind you
all of the meaning of this piece. The composer wrote this in desperation of war,
but still finding peace at Christmas. I think we should really try to tie the
meaning into our singing as we run all the way through.

Chunk 2: If we could try singing all the way through again on text, and try to
incorporate the meaning of the text into the tone of your sound

Time: (.5/8/8) Activity X: Learning Summary

Chunk 1: Great rehearsal everyone! I think the reminder of the text really
brought out the sound and tone of the choir! Great work!

Rehearsal 5 – Buzzwords to deepen expression, tone, and sophistication

Time: (.5/8) Activity 1: Introduction and Rehearsal Threads

Chunk 1: Welcome: Good Morning VMRC! Please turn to page 14 in your

music folder. My rehearsal threads today are to go over buzzwords, deepen
expression, tone, and sophistication.

Time: (1.5/2/8) Activity 2: Buzzwords

Chunk 1: If everyone could please look over the text and shout out any words in
the lyrics that stick out to you.

Chunk 2: Now that we have some buzzwords for this song, let’s work to
incorporate those emotions into our sound.
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Time: (5.5/7.5/8) Activity 3: Tone and Sophistication

Chunk 1: Now that we have our buzzwords and know the meaning of the song,
let’s work to make our sound better reflect that.

Chunk 2: (We’ll sing through the piece, and I’ll see how they their tone sound,
and fix accordingly)

Time: (.5/8/8) Activity X: Learning Summary

Chunk 1: Thank you all for a wonderful rehearsal! Your tone and sophistication
are sounding great!

Rehearsal 6 - Run Fix Run

Time: (.5/8) Activity 1: Introduction and Rehearsal Threads

Chunk 1: Welcome: Good Morning VMRC! Please turn to page 14 in your

music folder. My rehearsal threads today are: Run, Fix, Run

Time: (2/2.5/18) Activity 2: Run

Chunk 1: Let’s start by running through the whole piece, with all 4 verses

Time: (2/4.5/8) Activity 3: Fix

Chunk 1: (I will go back and fix any parts that need it)

Time: (3/7.5/8) Activity 4: Run

Chunk 1: Let’s run through it again with all of the parts fixed.

Time: (.5/8/8) Activity X: Learning Summary

Chunk 1: Thank you all for a wonderful 6 rehearsals! You all have been
fantastic, and I’m so impressed with your improvement!

Part II: PHILOSOPHY STATEMENTS LIST
Directions: Pick 10 out of the 20 philosophy statements below and define them in 1-3 sentences.
Please spend no longer than 20 minutes on this portion of the exam.
Philosophy Statement
97% of what you teach is who you are.
Be the Music.
Controlling the environment that in turn
controls us.
Creating the culture that in turn creates the
community.
Cultivate FLOW and the culture will GROW!
Circularize the social and deliver highly
effective music curricula.
Everything is related to everything.
If it is meant to be, it is up to me.
JAHEES? SHRED’M!
Learning occurs at the intersection of the
academic and the social.
Meet your students where they ARE, not where
you think they should be.
Positives come and go, negatives accumulate.
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Definition
I think this statement means that you can only
be as good of a teacher as you are outside of
the classroom, (your personality, and your
everyday life). Although there are days where
you have a bad day, you must still be the
teacher that the students know you to be. The
3% of what you teach that isn’t you, are those
bad days. You should always give the best
version of yourself to your students, and always
strive to keep improving.
I think this through-line means just like people
say be the light in a world of darkness, be the
music. There will be hardships and obstacles
that we must face through life, but learning to
be the song, and one with music, will help you
get through it. We as musicians must advocate
for the music, and give it credit it deserves.
By creating a culture, you are shaping the
mindset of your students or your classroom.
Your students won’t be in your classroom 24/7,
so that means that they are out with other
people which can share with culture with them.
Eventually you have created a whole community
by creating the culture.
To me, this means to block out anyone negative
in your life (JAHEES) that isn’t contributing to
your wellbeing or your happiness. Although
people around you may act differently, I think
it’s important to be confident but stay humble,
and to show kindness even when they don’t
show it to you. “Shred’m” by being the bigger
and better person and walk away even when
your natural instinct may be to not.
This line speaks to me, because I have a bad
habit of only focusing on the negative things

The Concert is the Celebration of What Has
Already Happened.
What is your agenda?
When you know better, you do better.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Who am I to judge?
Who claps for you?
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
You don’t know what you don’t know!
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happening in my life, or the negative things that
have happened, or that people have said.
Instead of focusing on the positive things
happening, I tend to stay in the negative and
dwell on them, which isn’t good for my mental
health. I need to, instead, take joy in the positive
things happening, and positive things people
say to me instead of the negative. This will, in
turn, create a happier person, which ultimately,
will create a happier life.
I think this through-line means that with
concerts, and music, all the preparation leading
up to a concert, is the celebration. The concert
is what showcases all our hard work and talent
that we’ve dedicated to it. But throughout our
rehearsals, learning to listen to each other,
blending, making the music sound perfectly, and
the message we want to convey through the
piece is the true celebration.
I think this statement means that by learning
from your mistakes, you will know how to do
better the next time. We often look down on
ourselves when we’ve made a mistake, but they
are what help us to grow and be better.
Who am I to judge when I have flaws and
mistakes of my own? You never know what
people may be going through, so as the saying
goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. This
is a constant reminder that I tell myself every
day, especially when I have my own classroom
and will be creating my own culture.
This philosophy statement, to me, means that at
the end of the day, who supports you and stands
by you no matter what you do or what you’re
going through? These people that “clap” for
you, should be the people that will stick with
you no matter how tough life gets. The same
people that clap for you are the same people
that you, too, should clap for.
I think this line is important to keep as a
constant reminder. I think it means to not be
upset or apologetic when you don’t know
something, it’s not always your fault! Along the
same line, however, if you don’t know
something, don’t act like you do!