ChorTeach Vol. 3, No.

1 Fall 2010
Practical Teaching Ideas for Today’s Music Educator
Dr. Terry Barham, editor
tbarham@emporia.edu

Welcome to ACDA’s online magazine for choral director/music educators who are searching for
answers and need fresh ideas or techniques to meet practical needs. The articles below have been
gleaned from state ACDA newsletters around the United States and submissions from seasoned choral
directors with topics germane to the profession.

ChorTeach, our name, is derived from the German word for chorus, chor. It is pronounced, as most
of you know, like the word, core. I hope ChorTeach’s articles will be a breath of fresh air for you, pro-
vide you with a few ideas or techniques that give you a lift and help your singers reach the goals you
and they have set. ChorTeach is designed for those of you who work with amateur singers at all levels.

What’s in this issue?

1) Facebook, Email, and Twitter: How Tweet It Is! by Joelle Norris, Olive Branch, MS

2) Oakdale Prison Community Choir: A Person is a Person Through Other People by Mary Cohen, Iowa City, IA

3) Dynamic (and Effective) Teaching with Junior High/Middle School Singers by Karen Sims, Maize, KS

4) Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Reflection and Personal Growth by Phil Hesterman, Grand Island, NE

5) A Systematic Approach to the Placement of Singers in Large Choirs by Brian Lanier, Maryville, MO

Facebook, Email, and Twitter:
How Tweet It Is!
by
Joelle Norris, Olive Branch HS, Olive Branch MS
(Reprinted with permission of Mississippi's Choral Advocate, Fall 2009)
“My daughter never brings anything home to
me!”.…“I didn’t even know we were selling
Krispy Kreme donuts until last night and the or-
ders are due today?”.…“When is that concert?”
We’ve all heard these statements numerous times and
in various forms during the school year. It can be frustrating
to send notes home to parents and then realize the mes-
sages aren’t getting there. Important information is often left
crumpled at the bottom of a backpack, stuffed in a choir folder,
or left on the risers for you, the teacher, to pick up after the
class has left.
We all know that effective communication with our stu-
dents and parents is a sure way to better organize our pro-
grams and solve problems before they arise. Parents want to
know what’s going on. Making sure they have the information
they need is the best way to keep them fully supportive of our
choral programs.
Within the past decade, the world of technology has
presented us with new and improved vehicles for personal
communication and dependable means of solving any number
of problems such as those mentioned in the opening paragraph.
These new tools can make our lives much easier.They can help
us communicate with parents, students, and colleagues effec-
tively and efficiently. What are these tools? Email, Facebook,
Twitter, and internet websites.
Email
• Email messages cannot be left in the choir room or at the
ChorTeach Volume 3 • Issue 1
bottom of a backpack. Email does not waste paper. Email
does not require you to make copies or save them for
the student who was absent that day. Email is my friend.
I love it!
• Set up an email account just for your choir. Choose a name
that parents will be able to remember easily. Our choir
account is called olivebranchchoirs@yahoo.com. Choose
the service (Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc.) that is the easi-
est for you to use.
• Send home one final paper note with your student singers
asking parents (and students, if you want their addresses as
well) to email you at your new choir email address from
the email address they use most often. They can simply
type the word, “subscribe,” in the subject line and then you
will be able to save that address to your address book.
• You can also have students or their parents fill out an infor-
mation sheet (paper) with their preferred email address.
You collect them and enter each yourself; however, there
is more room for error with this approach and a much
greater time commitment on your part.
• Create an email group with all the addresses you have col-
lected for the current school year. Every time you have an
announcement or important information to send home,
you enter the group name in the “TO” field, type your an-
nouncement and hit send. You can even add attachments
containing permission slips, concert flyers, fund-raising
activities, etc.
Facebook
Did you know that there are over 500 million active Face-
book users around the world? More than 250 million users
log on to Facebook at least once a day, as of September 2010.
Many students spend more time on Facebook than they do on
their homework each day!
• A Facebook (FB) account is easy to set-up. Go to www.face-
book.com and follow the instructions under “Account.” At
first, you may have some difficulty finding your way around,
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but after a bit of exploration, you’ll find FB easy to use.
• The simplest way to use FB as a communication tool is to post
status updates reminding your students about upcoming
events, e.g., “Mrs. Norris reminds all her students that they
should get off Facebook now and go study for their sight-
singing test tomorrow!”
• You can create “groups” (similar to email) to send all of your
students a message with minimum effort. The benefit is
that when someone responds to your message, everyone
you emailed can see that response and the thread of other
messages.
• FB is great for group discussions. I use it often for brainstorm-
ing ideas with student officers or setting up meeting times.
• You can also create Event Invitations to publicize your up-
coming concerts or fundraisers. Students can forward
the invitation with all the necessary information about the
event to their friends and family on FB.
• NOTE: Recently, many school districts have prohibited teach-
ers from using social networking sites like Facebook or
MySpace to communicate with students. Make sure to
check your district’s communication policy. One pos-
sible solution would be to set up a FB account solely for
your choir rather than using your personal account. You
could also have a student you trust be in charge of post-
ing updates for you. Either way, be sure that you save all
communications about school/choir activities in case a
problem arises.
Twitter
Next to Facebook,Twitter is probably the most-mentioned
social networking tool in the news today. As an avid Facebook
user, I didn’t see the point of Twitter at first. It seemed like a
watered-down version of Facebook.You can add friends whom
you then follow. You see their “tweets” which are like status
updates in FB lingo. Twitter can be a helpful communication
tool for choral programs in any situation—school, church, etc.
To create a Twitter account for your choir, go to www.
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twitter.com and follow the sign-up instructions which are user
friendly and self-explanatory.
• After you create your choir account, your choir parents and
student singers can create their personal accounts and
begin following your ensemble. Every time you tweet--
post a short message--your parents and student singers
will immediately get a text notification sent directly to their
mobile devices. Twitter is a great way to send messages
to parents and students in real time.
• Often, an email message may not be read until the informa-
tion it contains has expired. With Twitter, you can be sure
that the message is received immediately. Most students
and parents have text messaging on their phones or Black-
berry’s which everyone carries all day, every day.
• To encourage students and parents to sign-up for Twitter,
send an Email (through your choir email list) explaining the
benefits of Twitter and why they need to start following
your tweets. Include precise instructions on how to set up
the account. If you would like a print-out with my school’s
instructions for Twitter, visit www.olivebranchchoirs.com/
info and download it.
• Design a way to make your students want to have a Twitter
account for themselves, e.g., during our last choir retreat, I
posted a tweet giving an extra clue for the scavenger hunt
we were having at that moment. Students who had not
signed up for a Twitter account were obviously at a disad-
vantage. Another teaser: Offer candy or a pizza lunch, etc.
Websites
Websites are another fine tool for sharing information
with your students and parents. Websites take time to set up,
but you will make up for it when you direct student and parent
questions to the choir website rather than having to repeat
answers, in person, to the same questions over and over again.
In the past, only a few tech people knew how to create
web pages. Today you can find user-friendly sites to guide you
through the process of creating your own webpage. Try www.
wix.com, a site that walks you step-by-step through the process.
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 ChorTeach page 3
Start with a simple design and modify/enlarge your page as time
moves on. Yahoo SiteBuilder is user friendly and allows you more
freedom in designing your site.
Items to consider including on your website include: choir
events calendar, choir description page, an information page with
details about upcoming events, audition requirements, links to
resources and recordings, downloadable documents such as
your choir handbook, school permission slips, and trip itineraries.
If you aren’t currently using email, Facebook, Twitter or a
website with your choir, choose only one or two of these tools
to begin. If you get stuck, don’t despair. One or more of your
students will be happy to help you.
Using the internet, another option is to do a Google search
and find step-by-step instructions or forums where you can ask
questions about a specific problem. Whatever you decide to use
as communication tools, make sure you are committed to them
so that parents and students can adjust to your new methods
of communication. Happy tweeting!
Change your thoughts and you change the world.
—Harold R. Mcalindon
Oakdale Prison Community Choir:
A Person is a Person Through Other People
by
Mary Cohen, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Each Tuesday at 5 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters,
fifteen to twenty-five men and women travel with me to the
ChorTeach Volume 3 • Issue 1
Iowa Medical and Classification Center (IMCC) known as Oak-
dale Prison in Coralville.There they join approximately twenty-
five imprisoned men to form the Oakdale Community Choir.
I started the choir in 2009 after six years of studying, as-
sisting, and directing prison choirs. Before moving to Iowa City,
I assisted Elvera Voth with the East Hill Singers (EHS), a chorus
of minimum security males incarcerated in Kansas at the Lan-
sing Correctional Facility and other men from the Kansas City
region (Go to www.artsinprison.org for more information on
the East Hill Singers and to www.choralresearch.org for an
article I wrote about a Robert Shaw sing-along that provided
seed money to start Arts in Prison, Inc.).
For six months I directed a subgroup of the East Hill Sing-
ers, the Osawatomie East Hill Singers, which was comprised
of men incarcerated on the grounds of the Osawatomie State
Hospital known by the Kansas Department of Corrections as
“Lansing South.”These men were participating in a therapeutic
community where they learned how to deal with substance-
abuse issues.
I have completed a number of research studies about
prison choirs, so after assuming my new teaching position at
the University of Iowa School of Music, I inquired about forming
a prison choir where I could combine research, teaching, and
service. In 2008, I met with Lowell Brandt, the warden of IMCC
at that time, who supported the idea of forming a combined
community-prison choir.
Messages were sent to choral directors in the Iowa City
area inviting interested singers to join the new choir. As of
September 2010, we have had a total of 59 community people
(“outside singers”), including University of Iowa students, fac-
ulty, staff, and individuals from the region, plus 51 men in the
general population of IMCC (“inside singers”) participate in
this unique choir.
We usually have an equal number of “outside” and “inside”
singers during a season, 22-28, although this fall we have been
inundated with community members who want to participate.
I am working with the prison administration to create a rotating
schedule of community participants so that our numbers do
not overwhelm staff and security. Warden Daniel Craig and his
administration have been very supportive of this program, and
we are grateful for their partnership.
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All participants voluntarily sing in the choir unless they are
enrolled in one of the graduate classes I teach. These students
are required to sing in the choir as a service/learning compo-
nent within the course.
Many students, outside singers, had misperceptions about
prisoners and the criminal justice system. One wrote: “When
I first started the project, I was not thrilled about singing in a
prison choir. I thought the prisoners were going to be rough
looking and not very friendly. I expected them to be in shackles
and not interested in singing. I quickly learned that they were
human beings, had feelings, and wanted to sing.”
I co-taught an undergraduate course on human rights.
Those students were required to attend a rehearsal or con-
cert. In their reflections, nearly all noted that they learned that
prisoners were people, too. It seems that television shows and
movies tend to give the public a mistaken view of people in
prison.
The Oakdale Community Chorus performs two concerts
in the prison gym at the culmination of the choral season. The
first concert is for other prisoners at IMCC and a few guests.
The second concert is for outside guests including choir mem-
bers’ families. During the concerts, a few singers read written
reflections about the songs’ texts and the theme of the con-
cert. A writing component is included in this project, a feature
designed to help build camaraderie, deepen thinking about the
choral singing process, and provide a communication channel
between choristers and me, the director. Introductions for the
various works are drawn from the written reflections.
Our concert themes have included Peace and Place
(spring 2009), Rivers and Rocks (summer 2009), Light in the
Darkness (winter 2009), and More Love (spring 2010). We
record each performance and send CDs to family members
of the men in the prison.
Upcoming concerts are scheduled for Tuesday, December
7, and Wednesday, December 15. A limited number of “outside”
audience members may attend these performances. If you are
interested in attending, contact me at mary-cohen@uiowa.edu.
People who participate in music-in-prison programs derive
multiple benefits from their experience. As you know from
working with choirs, in order for an ensemble to succeed, cho-
rus members must subsume individual wants and desires and
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work for the good of the entire group. This process helps par-
ticipants develop a sense of group responsibility, an important
skill for everyone to hone, particularly for people behind bars.
One community participant wrote, “In four-part harmony,
there is a process like weaving or DNA twisting as the strands
of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass intertwine; the parts sung
together are more beautiful and stronger than on their own.”
The coming together of both “outside” and “inside” singers is
powerful as we move through the process of creating beautiful
choral music during each semester.
In addition to rehearsing and performing choral arrange-
ments, I have also facilitated songwriting with choir members.To
date, we have performed five original songs. This past summer,
I offered a songwriting workshop for men in the prison. These
opportunities for self-expression give participants a sense of
ownership in the choir and help build self-esteem through
worthiness and competence.
According to one of the men in prison, “Since joining the
choir, I’ve noticed more self confidence around other people.
At first I was scared, thinking I might not be good enough or
maybe others would look down on me. I was greeted by the
volunteers with grace and kindness.” Another wrote: “I feel
more confident about myself. My self-esteem is much higher. I
feel more important in knowing that there are people on the
outside of prison that care about me.”
Two other prisoners have written about how the choir
has helped them: “Since the formation of this choir, I’ve noticed
numerous changes within myself in various areas. I was all about
myself and didn’t care much about others. The choir, through
bringing me to a happier, well-adjusted place in my own thought,
changed that.” Another stated: “I believe that being part of this
choir, being a small part of something bigger than ourselves,
something outside of ourselves and seeing the example of
people who live outside of themselves can wake more of us
up. . . . to who we have been and who we can be.”
In general, prison populations are hidden communities in
our society. One perception is that when someone has com-
mitted a crime, he or she should be “locked up” and “do time”
without the outside community thinking critically about societal
or personal factors that contributed to the criminal’s behavior.
One of the reasons I initiated a combined prisoner-
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ChorTeach page 5
volunteer choir was to increase awareness of the problems
facing our criminal justice system and to think more creatively,
productively, and humanely about how to improve it.
Rehabilitation does not happen on its own. An underlying
foundational concept within this Oakdale choir, “Ubuntu” (see
Fisher, 2006/07), means that a person is a person through other
people. When people join together for choral singing, whether
inside or outside a prison, participants develop human and
musical relationships created in rehearsals and performances
that affect their identities in a positive manner.
Best wishes to each of you as you provide meaningful op-
portunities for those people lucky enough to sing and grow as
people in your ensembles.
Helpful Resources
•A recent issue of the International Journal of Community
Music focused on criminal justice and music. International
Journal of Community Music (2010). 3(1). doi: 10.1386/
ijcm.3.1.3/2.
• Vivien Stern wrote a simple-to-read book that covers the
challenges of incarceration and crime: Stern, V. (2006).
Creating Criminals: Prisons and People in a Market Society.
New York, NY: Zed Books.
• Cohen, M. L. (2008). “Mother Theresa, How Can I Help You?
The Story of Elvera Voth, Robert Shaw, and the Bethel Col-
lege Benefit Sing-Along for Arts in Prison, Inc.” International
Journal of Research in Choral Singing 3(1), 4-22. See www.
choralresearch.org
• Fisher, S. (2006/07).Why we need choral music—Ubuntu. The
Voice of Chorus America, p. 40.
ChorTeach Volume 3 • Issue 1
Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.
—Mike Ditka
Dynamic (and Effective) Teaching with
Junior High/Midle School Singers
by
Karen Sims, Maize South Middle School, Maize, KS
(Reprinted with permission of the author)
• Talk little, sing much.
• Focus on the three E’s: eyes, energy and emotion. “Where
the eyes are, the brain is.”
• Avoid working just for correct notes with singers. Become a
master at identifying problems and then determining the
most efficient way to solve them.
• Use the Socratic method. Ask questions requiring one word
or short answers, e. g., Does that note go up, down, or
stay the same? Then ask a specific student (not the entire
group) for the answer. Keep the pace moving quickly and
the students engaged.
• Lead students to make musical decisions. Don’t tell students
what they can discover for themselves.
• Work from what is good and positive to what needs correc-
tion. Always end with success.
• Avoid asking questions like “Do you want to sing ...........?” un-
less it really doesn’t matter to you.
• As much as possible, work with ALL sections of the choir.
Address the entire class, not just one section, as you teach.
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• Have a plan; work the plan; and list the plan on the board.
Make sure students know for what they are working. Hold
them accountable and be ECSTATIC when they get it!
• Develop visual anchors and consistent signals to communicate
with your singers. Be interesting to watch. Remember:
“What they see is what you get.”
• Do not over-sing the easy sections of a piece or merely sing
through the entire work every day. Start at other places
than the beginning of the score. Rehearse based on the
structure of the music, e.g. ABACA.
• Teach (rehearse) classroom and performance procedures:
how to pass in the music, how to walk on to risers, how
to transition from one activity to the next, how to ask a
question during rehearsals, how to walk into the classroom.
For most students, choir is a new experience. Train them
intentionally.
• Have fun! Start traditions and establish a special identity as a
team. Remember: T E A M = Together Everyone Achieves
More. Give your customers, your singers, a reason to come
back for more every day.
• Nip mistakes and errors quickly before your students form
wrong habits.
• Always have your antennae up and your ears turned on. Let
singers know you are listening and watching intently to
their progress.
• Avoid TB -- Tired Butt! Include movement, a change in stand-
ing order, standing up when singers have an important
musical entry, etc. in every rehearsal. Kids can’t sit still;
they have to move, so channel their energy!
• Relate as much as you can to the feeling in the music. Let
students own the music; talk about what it means to them
(at the right time).
• If you, the teacher, are taking a problem home, it’s time for
action. Do something different; talk to a trusted colleague.
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ChorTeach page 6
• The voice is half-way between the mind and the heart. Re-
member to nurture all three in your rehearsals.
• A love of music is caught not taught. Your students may not
always remember what you teach, but they will remember
you!
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall:
Reflection and Personal Growth
by
Phil Hesterman, Trinity Lutheran Church, Grand Island, NE
(Reprinted with permission of Nebraska's Short Notes, Spring 2010)
In computer science, reflection is the process by which a
computer program can observe and modify its own structure
and behavior. For musicians, the programming paradigm driven
by reflection is called reflective programming. As choral directors
and music educators, we practice reflective programming within
the human dimension.
Reflective programming involves giving careful consid-
eration to the literature we have chosen for rehearsals and
concerts. As the end of another school year quickly approaches,
it is an appropriate time to reflect on the year drawing to a
close.Were there successes? I would hope so.Were there things
that were not so successful? Undoubtedly. As an educator and
choral director, I want to build on the ideas that were successful
during the past year while trying to learn from the things that
were not so successful.
In the fairy tale “Snow White,” made famous in the 1937
Disney movie, the queen would ask the mirror on her wall,
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?” The
mirror always replied: “You, my queen, are fairest of all.” Always
expecting the same answer, the queen was shocked when the
mirror reported one day that Snow White was fairest of all.
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 ChorTeach page 7
As choral directors, are we always expecting positive re-
flections which stroke our egos? Are we prepared for honest
feedback, honest thoughts given by others?
For directors new to the field, the idea of reflection might
be difficult at first, since there are relatively few experiences on
which to practice this helpful technique; however, reflection is
essential, I believe.
Each day, one usually glances briefly (maybe longer) in a
mirror to check ones appearance before leaving home. Ad-
justments are made based upon what one sees. In the same
manner, a choral director who looks into the mirror of past
experiences--concerts and rehearsals--learns to make neces-
sary adjustments to move forward and progress.
College methods classes, practicum experiences, student
teaching, workshops, and conferences are valuable tools. As the
young choral director becomes more proficient in working with
choirs and developing a choral program, new avenues and new
perspectives can bring into focus additional ways to improves
one’s teaching, conducting, classroom demeanor, etc.
Professional interaction with music teachers in the field
and with other teachers in ones school setting are important
since these colleagues can share their ideas about you, your
teaching, and your program; they share their reflections, their
thoughts, with you. This takes courage on your part, but the
rewards are great.
Just as a glimpse in the mirror can give a person an idea
if he or she is the fairest in the land, so a heart-to-heart visit
with a trusted friend and/or colleague can shed light on how
you are progressing--whether or not you are the fairest choral
director in the land.
Recently, a young teacher asked me to write a letter
of recommendation for her because she was applying for a
new teaching position and needed to update her professional
portfolio. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on how she had
grown as an individual and as a professional. In the letter, I noted
how passionate she was about teaching and how she is fully
committed to her school and to her students.
This young teacher has established high standards and
expects her students to meet them. She knows that if she
lowers the bar, her students’ standards will suffer.This individual
makes it a habit to treat her students in a positive manner. She
frequently shows them how they are part of something unique
ChorTeach Volume 3 • Issue 1
in her school.
I appreciated the opportunity to provide a letter for this
talented young choral director because it gave me an occasion
to reflect upon my own work. And, yes, I discovered that there
are still things for me to learn as a veteran teacher and choral
director.
A choral director’s methods and teaching strategies form
a toolbox of sorts.These techniques and ideas form a resource
for productive teaching. One’s collection of skills grows through-
out the various stages of a teaching career, most likely shaping
one’s outlook with the help of reflective programming. Take a
look in your mirror with an eye toward the future as you con-
tinue to work at becoming the fairest in all the land.
Each time a person stands up for an ideal or acts
to improve the lot of others or strikes out against
injustice, that person sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope. Crossing each other from a million different
centers of energy and daring those ripples build a
current that can sweep down the mightiest walls
of oppression and resistance.
—Robert F. Kennedy
A Systematic Approach to the
Placement of Singers in Large Choirs
by
Brian Lanier, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO
(Reprinted with permission of the author)
One of the most important factors for successful choral per-
formances is the proper placement and distribution of voices
within a choir. In order for singers to demonstrate acceptable
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 ChorTeach page 8

levels of competence with musical elements such as balance, section (as in the usual self-select method). All members of
blend, intonation, and textual unity, it is paramount that each the choir should complete a vocal placement form on which
singer be placed in the section where he or she is most com- they write their name, their vocal part (if they have a prefer-
fortable. By designing a plan based on the quality, range, and ence), their gender, and the number of years they have sung in
character of individual voices, a conductor is able to effectively any choir (Figure 1).
guide performers to successful and satisfying results. On the form above are two staves, one in treble and one
In the case of small- to medium-sized choirs of eight- in bass clef, with a series of note-heads from low to high range.
sixty members, the task of hearing each individual singer is The conductor leads each section through a series of vocalises
relatively easy.The conductor can arrive at a placement arrange- during which singers are asked to circle their highest and lowest
ment which satisfies his or her concept for choral sound; how- comfortable pitches.
ever, when the membership of a choral group is larger, there To help identify the singers’ highest comfortable pitch, use
is typically not enough time to hear each singer and develop a a three-note arpeggio (do-mi-sol) on nee-ee-ah starting in the
plan for systematic placement. middle range for each section (Figure 2). To simplify the form,
It is not uncommon for choirs at universities and in accidentals should not be used. Singers are guided to add them
many cities to exceed 100 members. Some choruses number as needed throughout the testing process. As the exercise
150-200 or more members. Our university choir recently ascends by half-steps, the conductor offers ideas which help
had 160 members meeting twice a week for 50 minutes per singers understand basic concepts of good choral tone and
rehearsal. While it is exciting to have so many people involved comfortable singing, stopping occasionally to offer support and
in singing, this situation creates a dilemma for
the conductor when it comes to voice testing
and placement. How much time would be
needed to hear each singer for even a few
minutes? Too much!
When faced with a large number of sing-
ers and little time to listen to individuals, a
common approach has been to permit the
singers to self-select their section (soprano,
alto, tenor, bass) and then sit in the area des-
ignated by the conductor. While this may be
a quick way to get the group organized and
begin the rehearsal process, it is not the most
efficient or logical method. This article intro-
duces the use of a guided approach to self-
selection which can lead to a more balanced
choir, more accurate voice placement within
sections, and, ultimately, a more manageable
choral organization.

The Process
As the singers enter the rehearsal room, Figure 1
each should sit in the designated areas by

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ChorTeach page 9

the repertoire to be rehearsed. This task works well when using

the numerical system, e.g., if a choir has 90 female singers and
60 male singers, divide the vocal forces to fit the repertoire. A
workable division of SSAATTBB voices is shown in Table 1.
The final step for implementing this system is to place
the singers in the room according to their number. Using 4 x
Figure 2
6 cards (colored cards work best), write a number on each (1
answer questions. – 90 for females and 1 – 60 for males). In order to expedite
To help singers identify their lowest comfortable pitch, use the process and minimize confusion, use one color for women
a five-note descending scale (sol-fa-mi-re-do) on mah (Figure 3). and another for men.
Begin in mid-range and descend by half-steps. Help the singers Prior to the next rehearsal, tape the cards on chair backs
identify their lowest audible pitches. in the desired formation for the first work to be rehearsed.
As singers enter the room, tell each person his or her seat
number from a master list. Each singer then finds his or her
seat with ease.
Seating arrangements will vary, obviously, depending on the
literature and the configuration of the rehearsal room.Table 2 is
an example of a successful female voice seating arrangement in
a large choir. A similar arrangement works well for male voices.
Figure 3 By placing the singers in columns of five, distinct sections
When singers in all sections have completed the form, are both visible and audible. Furthermore, if the conductor
collect them. Sort the forms from the highest pitches circled wishes to modify the balance within sections, it is easily ac-
to the lowest. By noting the range of comfortable pitches on complished by adjusting the part assignments through the use
the forms, the conductor can design a type of vocal map. of the numerical system.
In order to create systematic and manageable seating, it A conductor may discover, during rehearsal, that there are
is useful to consider the choir as having two major divisions-- too many soprano I’s for a particular work or section. Rather
female and male voices. After sorting the information forms than pointing to three or four and re-assigning them to the
from highest to lowest comfortable singing pitches (male and
female), assign each singer a number: 1 = highest voice among Table 1
females, males, etc., 2 = next highest voice among females, Vocal Part Starting number Ending number
males, etc., 3 = next highest voice, etc., until all singers of each
Soprano I 1 20
gender have been assigned a number which corresponds to
his or her indicated vocal range. Soprano II 21 45
Naturally, several singers will have circled identical Alto I 46 65
numbers. In this case, the conductor may use the additional Alto II 66 90
information on the form to help decide the particular number Tenor I 1 14
for these singers, perhaps noting the number of years sung in Tenor II 15 30
a choir or personal knowledge of a singer’s skills. Bass I 31 41
Once the numbers have been assigned to each singer,
Bass II 42 60
decide how to divide the voices within the sections based on

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 ChorTeach page 10

Table 2
1 10 11 20 21 30 31 40 41 50 51 60 61 70 71 80 81 90

2 9 12 19 22 29 32 39 42 49 52 59 62 69 72 79 82 89

3 8 13 18 23 28 33 38 43 48 53 58 63 68 73 78 83 88

4 7 14 17 24 27 34 37 44 47 54 57 64 67 74 77 84 87

5 6 15 16 25 26 35 36 45 46 55 56 65 66 75 76 85 86

soprano II part, make a one-sentence announcement: “The

soprano I part will now include singers 1 – 16; soprano II’s are
17 – 45.” An additional benefit of this system is that this type
of change will keep singers singing the same part seated close
to one another.
This system allows for numerical adaptation from one
work to another and keeps singers informed and confident
regarding their part assignments, eliminating guesswork and
confusion.
To help singers, write part-division information for each
work on a chalk board. Once this information is common
knowledge and new music is handed out, the conductor can
refer to the visual division of parts, thus saving time.
While the day-to-day management of a large choir can
be a challenge, the use of a systematic approach for singer
placement allows one to organize and create seating arrange-
ments based on a carefully thought-out process, thus helping
each singer experience success. I believe the implementation
of this system can lead to healthier vocal production among
singers, improved balance across the choir, more efficient
use of time in rehearsal, and, ultimately, better performances.

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