(An excerpt from the interest session “Embodying Music: Transferring Movement from Rehearsal to Performance,” presented by Marci Major during the 2014 ACDA Southwestern Division Conference)
After attending or hearing about the session on Embodying Music at the SWACDA conference, choral directors might want some specific activities to try with their students to help them engage in a more organic approach to movement in rehearsal and performance. Here are three easy suggestions everybody can try:
1. Remain perfectly still while listening to music. Starting in a standing position with their eyes closed, ask the singers to focus on letting the music flow into their ears. After several minutes, engage the students in a discussion about how they felt the music and the difficulty they experienced restraining movement. You can follow this activity with repeating the music and allowing the students to explore the movements they originally repressed.
2. Explore beat keeping in different parts of the body. While listening to recorded or live music, call out different focuses or ways of keeping the beat. For example, while keeping the beat in a way of their choice, ask the singers to focus on how their lower back feels. Or, ask students to try keeping macro and micro beats with an isolated part of the body. Lead the students in a discussion that allows them to understand how all parts of the body connect and work together. End this activity with the students identifying their most comfortable focus areas for movement.
3. Isolate movement from singing. Before combining singing and movement together, divide the choir in half using one group to sing and the other group to respond with movement.
WATCH these concepts in action.
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