PRESENTATION SCRIPT:

1. Good morning. I would like to present to you the salient points of Chapter
16 of our Jordan and Holt textbook entitled: Building Early Choral
Experiences: Part Two The Middle School Choral Program

2. You have my handout that is a summary of this chapter.

3. This chapter was written by Judy Bowers

4. Specifically, this chapter will be a valuable resource guide for you when
you are out teaching and you need information and resources concerning
adaptations and structural hierarchy for middle school choirs

5. Perhaps the most valuable part of this chapter are pages 367-370
discussing: Independence Hierarchy

6. I would like to draw your attention to the following 4 main points of this
chapter:

a. Pitch Matching
a. Pitch Matching
i. Pitch matching is the first skill to teach for every
middle school director who wants to take all possible
students that want to join chorus regardless of
experience or musical knowledge
b. Small numbers of students in program
i. Most likely will be placed in one class which created a
more challenging teaching environment because those
who know a lot about music are placed in the same
class with those just beginning and thus it will be harder
for teachers to create a curriculum suited for all
students.
c. Larger numbers of students in program
i. Developmental levels can be established by classes
(Beginning, intermediate, advanced; beginning boys,
beginning girls; advanced mixed; etc.)
d. All decisions on ensemble mixes should be made with
careful thought and planning
b. Independence hierarchy
a. Independence Hierarchy
b. While pitch matching must reign supreme when beginning with
middle school singers, there is an eventual price to pay with
spreading students across 3-5 vocal parts. It creates a greater
need for independent part singing ability by these students.
c. The temptation to bang out parts on the piano and drill, drill,
drill can be strong but should only be a last resort when
teaching.
 d. Once pitch matching is established, tone has been addressed,
music reading has been introduced, and expressive elements
have been successfully added to melodies, the novice middle
school singers are ready to add harmony.
e. Some steps are remedial in the beginning of the process to
what students have previously accomplished in elementary
school but are necessary and can be set apart by a more mature
song selection.
f. Solfege syllables should be introduced in the first two steps of
the process and should be utilized to teach further lessons.
c. And teaching to transfer.
a. Teaching for Transfer
i. Performance assessment and written assessment can
inform teacher weather students have learned the
material taught.
b. The ability to transfer is not an automatic by-product of
teaching but a skill students acquire from learning
opportunities carefully devised by the teacher
c. Students learn to use old knowledge in new situations and then
structure their thinking around how the old knowledge might
function in the new setting.
d. For example, creating and establishing rules for students to
transfer to each piece. With a reminder at the beginning of the
transfer process the teacher will help students learn to transfer
but will eventually not have to remind as much.
i. Rule of the steady beat
ii. Rule of punctuation
e. Anything important to the conductor for rehearsals or
performance can be generalized through using rules: slurs,
articulation, consonant releases, word stress, etc. Students can
easily learn to transfer these principals.
d. The references listed in the chapter are some incredible resources to
help both novice and experienced middle school teachers.
Chapter 16: Building Early Choral Experiences: Part Two
The Middle School Choral Program
By Judy Bowers

1) Successful Middle School teaching requires mastery of many competencies:

a) Vocal development, literature selection, rehearsal procedures, sight
reading/literacy, assignment and evaluation, classroom management, professional
standards, collegiality, student recruitment and motivation, contemporary
methods, student risk factors, and many other curricular and non-curricular skills.
2) Understanding the value of task analysis is defined by some to be “good teaching”
a) There are two steps for reaching goals in rehearsals
i) Analyzing the skills needed for a student to perform the task or goal
ii) Determining what sequencing will be most beneficial for that student to reach
their goal.
3) Pitch Matching
a) Pitch matching is the first skill to teach for every middle school director who
wants to take all possible students that want to join chorus regardless of
experience or musical knowledge
b) Small numbers of students in program
i) Most likely will be placed in one class which created a more challenging
teaching environment because those who know a lot about music are placed in
the same class with those just beginning and thus it will be harder for teachers
to create a curriculum suited for all students.
c) Larger numbers of students in program
i) Developmental levels can be established by classes (Beginning, intermediate,
advanced; beginning boys, beginning girls; advanced mixed; etc.)
d) All decisions on ensemble mixes should be made with careful thought and
planning
e) Novice singers
i) Tend to drop the bottom of their range and speak instead of sing.
ii) Limited ranges, for boys especially, will be a noticeable problem that can be
fixed with proper instruction and time.
4) Determinizing individual singing range is important and can be done most effectively
in a group singing situation
a) For Girls
i) Range is not generally a challenge in terms of vocal maturation
ii) Should be rotated between the melody and harmonies in music to develop a
healthy singing range
b) For Boys
i) Some will sing accurately, some will sing accurately within a certain pitch
range, some will be unable to manipulate the voice at all.
ii) With experience and time students will be able to sing more accurately but
until then their repertoire must reflect the needs of each student.
iii) Literature choice must reflect the ranges of the students so students can be
accurate immediately and experience success.
iv) The more parts in a choir, the more parts that the boys will have to be in their
ranges and the more successful they will be at pitch matching.
5) Irving Cooper’s model for group voice testing can be found in this chapter and is
highly recommended for sequencing the testing for young singers.
6) Revoicing Music
a) In addition to assigning parts to students to better suit their ranges a teacher can
also revoice music to achieve the same thing.
b) If boys are unable to balance the girls in a mixed piece then SATB is not a good
choice
i) SAB music could be better in this instance.
ii) Revoicing treble music would be better to help with overall balance as the
boys could double at an octave they can sing in.
(1) Bass -> double melody down the octive
(2) Higher men -> double the soprano two at the actual pitch
(3) Changing men -> Double the alto line
(4) Of course, these decisions would need to be made on a piece by piece case
7) Independence Hierarchy
a) While pitch matching must reign supreme when beginning with middle school
singers, there is an eventual price to pay with spreading students across 3-5 vocal
parts. It creates a greater need for independent part singing ability by these
students.
b) The temptation to bang out parts on the piano and drill, drill, drill can be strong
but should only be a last resort when teaching.
c) Once pitch matching is established, tone has been addressed, music reading has
been introduced, and expressive elements have been successfully added to
melodies, the novice middle school singers are ready to add harmony.
d) Independence Hierarchy – Building Harmony skill
i) Sing a melody
ii) Add an ostinato
iii) Sing partner songs
iv) Add a descant
v) Sing chord roots, then add vocal chording
vi) Sing phrases or sections in a round
vii) Sing rounds and cannons
viii) Sing “transitional pieces” (Music with more than one pervious element)
ix) Sing two- to four- part homophonic music
e) Some steps are remedial in the beginning of the process to what students have
previously accomplished in elementary school but are necessary and can be set
apart by a more mature song selection.
f) Solfege syllables should be introduced in the first two steps of the process and
should be utilized to teach further lessons.
8) Teaching for Transfer
a) Performance assessment and written assessment can inform teacher weather
students have learned the material taught.
b) Another way is to establish student mastery over a skill by having them use the
skill in another setting
c) This transfer leads students toward such critical-thinking components as analysis
and evaluation.
d) The ability to transfer is not an automatic by-product of teaching but a skill
students acquire from learning opportunities carefully devised by the teacher
i) Students learn to use old knowledge in new situations and then structure their
thinking around how the knowledge might function in the new setting.
 (1) For example, creating and establishing rules for students to transfer to
each piece. With a reminder at the beginning of the transfer process the
teacher will help students learn to transfer but will eventually not have to
remind as much.
(a) Rule of the steady beat
(b) Rule of punctuation
ii) Anything important to the conductor for rehearsals or performance can be
generalized through using rules: slurs, articulation, consonant releases, word
stress, etc. Students can easily learn to transfer these principals.
9) Perspective
a) A necessary ingredient for anyone preparing to teach choral music is an
awareness of the adaptations needed in the teaching/learning process based on
where each student begins in a choral classroom.
b) As students progress, the teacher must monitor how much each student has grown
in vocal, musical and choral skills.
c) Musical growth can occur with most music, but a balanced approach seems
especially important during those middle years as we attempt to keep students
singing and making music
i) Therefore, students should be exposed to more traditional choral literature in
addition to popular music.
d) If a teacher’s goal is to embrace all students wanting to take middle school choir
while still creating independent singers who can sing with artistry, then teaching
in a way that supports those goals is critically important. Planning, hard work, and
incredible persistence are essential to this process.
i) There should be room for all developmental levels in a middle school choral
program as structured and approved by the teacher.
e) The references listed in the chapter are some incredible resources to help both
novice and experienced middle school teachers.