Back-to-School Gems for Middle Level Choirs

with Graphite guest repertoire curator Dr. Shekela Wanyama

“August is like an interminable series of Sunday scaries,” one of my colleagues said the other day. I couldn’t agree more! This is the time of year when a) I am certain I forgot how to teach over the summer; and b) I am sure I will never find The Perfect Pieces for the first few weeks of school with my middle level singers. Fortunately, I have enough experience now to know that neither of these things aren’t true! I just need to breathe and jump into the repertoire search with curiosity. Once I find those first few pieces, the rest of the planning starts to fall into place.

Here are some gems from the Graphite catalogue that I’m excited to introduce to my singers this fall.

Spark and Breath	Spring Hymns	Let My Voice Be Heard (SAB)
Timothy C. Takach 3-part round & body percussion Difficulty: 2 Duration: less than 3 min.	Shara Nova SA choir & piano Difficulty: 1 Duration: 5-10 min.	Emily Drum SAB choir, body percussion, & piano (+ practice tracks); also SSA (+ practice tracks) Difficulty: 2 Duration: less than 3 min.

Minnesota-based composer Timothy C. Takach‘s “Spark and Breath” is a three part canon just waiting for your singers’ playful ideas! The accessible melody is straightforward, lending itself nicely to exploration with solfege and rhythmic notation or learning by ear. Takach includes suggestions for body percussion as well as a clapping game that can be done in small or large groups as the song is sung. He encourages you and your musicians to add accompaniment of your choosing as well. The text, written by Takach, is short but full of imagery and would be good for getting-to-know-you discussions about motivation and passion.

Shara Nova may be best known for her work with My Brightest Diamond, her multi-genre and multi-instrumental project comprising six albums (so far). Those unfamiliar with My Brightest Diamond may recognize Nova as a collaborator with Sufjan Stevens, The Decembrists, A Far Cry, and many other leading voices of our time. It was a delight, then, to stumble across Nova’s “Spring Hymns” – a set of three pieces for soprano-alto choir and piano. Modeled after Benjamin Britten’s Friday Afternoons, these three pieces are perfect for the young treble ensemble at the start of the school year – or any time!

The first piece, “How Far Can A Bird Fly?” begins in unison and halfway through moves to two parts, achieved mostly through echoing. Fans of Britten’s “The Cuckoo” will enjoy the reference in this piece. “Laudamus Sancta Matrem” is a lilting song in 6/8 time. Despite the title, the text is mostly in English. The third piece, “A Thief! A Thief!” is a short song that ends the set with a flourish. The three pieces can stand alone or work nicely as a set and are sure to be well-received by audiences and singers alike.

“Let My Voice Be Heard” is one of those pieces that just works with our middle level/emerging high school ensembles! Composer Emily Drum got her start writing and arranging music for her collegiate a cappella group, and this is evident in the singability of her pieces. The text, written by Alabama middle school student Lucia May and adapted by the composer, is uplifting and inspiring without being simplistic, and features powerful imagery. The vocal and piano parts are fun and energizing, straightforward body percussion occurs intuitively, and the composer invites you and your singers to explore pop-related techniques such as scoops and brighter vowels. If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and dig into Drum’s catalogue. There’s plenty more great music to discover there.

It is not easy to find repertoire for middle level voices that matches the singers’ vocal needs while fully engaging their musical and literary minds, social-emotional intelligence, and remarkable imaginations. When I am programming, I look for harmonically and rhythmically supportive accompaniments; independent vocal lines; singable – but not simplistic – melodies; relatable texts rich with imagery, metaphor, form, and wonder; opportunities for student input; and – especially at the beginning of the year – flexibility in voicing. Identifying repertoire with these traits in mind helps me remember that a) I actually DO know how to teach, and b) there’s a whole world of music out there to explore! Feeling curious, confident, creative, and playful are surefire ways to diminish those August/Sunday scaries, and the repertoire search is one way to dive in. Here’s to another great year!

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Dr. Shekela Wanyama teaches 6th-8th grade choir at the Blake School (Minneapolis) and co-directs the Minnesota Chorale’s Youth Choirs. She is active as a guest conductor with local ensembles as well as state and regional honor choirs. Previous teaching engagements have been in the Columbia Heights and Hopkins School Districts, Lakeside School (Seattle), Hamline University (St. Paul), and University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. shekelawanyama.com