middle school

This is the 5th and final posting in the five-part series called “Why Won’t My Middle School Choir Sing?”

To start with the first reason, click here!

Reason #5:

We don’t know how to introduce music.

It is possible to turn this age group against a new piece of music in the three minutes of introducing it to them for the first time.

I struggled for years with finding good ways to introduce a new piece in a way that would peak their interest and excite them to want to dig into the song and make it great.

During my first years in the classroom, I kept hearing the voices of my college professors in my head:  “Don’t teach by rote!  Make them literate!”

I couldn’t figure out the balance of teaching “by rote” and teaching literacy when I was introducing a new song to beginners.

Ultimately, the guiding force for me became the energy in the room.

Like comedians in a comedy club, we can tell when we are bombing.   Kids this age are transparent, and it is not easy for them to hide how they feel when we are failing while we teach.

If you feel boredom and frustration from your students when you teach a new song, it’s probably time to try a new approach to the introduction of your new music.

In the early days of my career, when I introduced a new song to my students, my teaching process was way too slow.  I constantly demanded that they figure things out on their own yet I had not systematically taught them the tools they needed to do it.  I failed to see that there were ways to teach new music that were much quicker and more fun and included developing their ears using techniques that some might call “teaching by rote”.

I was teaching sight singing regularly to my students, but I failed to realize how long it takes for their sight singing abilities to catch up to their ability to sing a song that may be quite difficult.

My students just wanted to sing, and all I was doing was stopping to talk, or to complain about how they missed something in the music or explain things they simply were not ready or interested in learning yet.  I tried to teach everything about the application of sight singing techniques at once as they learned a new piece, and as a result, they were actually learning very little about sight singing.

..and I talked…and talked…and talked.

I finally asked myself, “What exactly is ‘teaching by rote’?  And who defines it?  And how can I actually USE “rote teaching” to give me opportunities to vary my teaching techniques while helping them become better musicians as they learn to use their ears better and learn to recognize form?

I had to let go of some of those voices in my head from my college professors.  I had to focus on finding ways to help my beginning students enjoy the process of learning a new song.

If they journey isn’t an enjoyable and rewarding one, programs shrink.

Most of my students had never taken a private piano lesson, so I had to work to find ways to keep them engaged during the learning of a new piece while instilling, unveiling and building the important skill sets they needed for sight singing.  Literacy is key to their continued growth and involvement as choral music singers, but finding the proper balance wasn’t easy for me.

Now, I take about 10-15 minutes per day to focus specifically on theory and sight singing, and I use the rest of the time while I am teaching repertoire using rote techniques mixed with literacy teaching.  If there is an opportunity to connect some dots from the sight singing lesson of that day, I do it.

I started allowing my beginners to listen to recordings on the first day of learning a new piece, and I turned it into a fun form exercise to help them develop their ears.  When working on form with my beginners, however, I learned that I needed to avoid turning it into a sophomore college theory class exercise that uses terms like “ABA” form etc.  When I tried that, the eyes of my beginners glazed over.   Instead, I worked to find ways to teach form that were engaging for beginners in this age group.

Here is a form exercise I often do with my beginners:

While they are listening to a piece of music for the first time, I ask them to draw pictures to represent new musical ideas when they hear them.  I encourage them to be as crazy and creative with their pictures as they want as long as they indicate the shape and form of the song.  If the chorus happens twice, but the second chorus has a different ending than the first, for example, their pictures should indicate the difference.  If they drew a smiley face for the first chorus, then they might draw a smiley face and add hair to the drawing when they hear the chorus that has a slightly different ending.

It is hilarious to see some of the drawings that they create.  When I call them up to share their drawings on the Smart Board in front of the class, there is lots of laughter!   The best part is that they get to listen to the song multiple times while they are creating the pictures.   We can teach many good listening skills during an exercise like this one when we teach them to listen to the smallest differences in various phrases and to indicate those differences in their pictures.

Creating excitement over a new piece of music is critical.  If the students “check out” on a piece because we’ve introduced it poorly, it’s really difficult to get them to give the song a chance.  The last thing we can be with our middle school students is boring.  It’s a nail in the coffin of our programs.   We must be open to varied teaching techniques, and we must constantly work to find ways to help them stay engaged and excited as we ease them into the learning of a new song.

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Dale Duncan is the creator of the S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Program for Beginners

Click here to see what people are saying about S-Cubed!

Click here to go to my YouTube Channel with free teaching tips and ideas.

This is part 4 of the series “Why Won’t My Middle School Choir Sing?”

Click here to see the first post in the series!

Reason #4:

We focus too much on technique and not enough on developing their true artistry.

In my 24 years of teaching this age group, I’ve seen lots of middle school choirs who sing proficiently.  By that, I mean, it is evident the teacher taught diction, phrasing, dynamics, etc.

…the basics.

Most of us spend a lot of time on the technical side of music because our middle school beginners NEED it!

However, we can suck the oxygen out of our singers if we relentlessly seek technical perfection.

Working toward it nonstop can become boring to them really quickly.

Why do people love watching Cirque de Soleil?

It’s not just the incredible athleticism that is displayed which took countless hours of training and technical work to develop.  It’s the unforgettable way our spirits are moved when the athleticism is combined so beautifully with music and lighting and costuming.

If we want athleticism alone, we can simply watch track and field or men’s gymnastics.

In our middle school classrooms, we have to inject more “Cirque de Soleil”.

When I watch the choirs of teachers who have focused entirely on technique, it feels like eating cake that has no butter and sugar.

To quote the famous movie “Sixth Sense”… When I see and hear a technically proficient performance in which it is clear the students are well trained but have no idea about what they are singing, “I see dead people.”

I feel nothing.

The performance is utterly unmoving.

That is not what music is.

Teachers often ask, “How do I get them to who facial expression?  Raise their eyebrows?  Smile?”

My answer:  From the inside out.

Here is how you DON’T do it.

Don’t say “Raise your eyebrows!  Smile!  Sing with facial expression”.  With this age group, it doesn’t work.

Regardless of the obscurity of the meaning of the song and how it seems to have absolutely no meaning to them in their young lives, we must find a way to help them emotionally connect to a song.  Just talking about the meaning of the song or giving historical context will NOT do it.

We have to be willing to make them think.  We have to help them connect the dots to their own lives in some way.

As part of our teaching priorities, we have to indicate to our singers the importance of singing honestly and serving the music.

I tell my own students that, as choir singers, they are also actors.  Actors must put their personal stuff aside and act the part.

Then, we, the teachers, must guide them through the treasure trove of their life experiences to find a meaning that they can sing for that particular song.   Believe it or not, they notice the fact that WE value their own life experiences enough to ask them to inject them and use them as they sing because, so often in their young lives, their pain and their life experiences are dismissed.

When I’m teaching “Sleigh Bells”, and they are singing with absolutely no energy at all because it is a Wednesday and not a Friday and they are hating school and their boyfriends just broke up with them and they have two projects due….blah, blah, blah…I stop the music, and I say:  “Do you like snow days?”  They usually scream “YES!”   Then, I say, “Pretend that you just found out tomorrow is a snow day and then sing it!”

It changes everything.

When I am able to successfully take them to some sort of internal emotional moment to which they can relate for a particular song, everything changes.  Many of the technical issues we’ve labored over correct themselves.  They breathe bigger.   They sing with truth.  Their faces come to life.  Their tone has energy.

The results must come from inside their hearts. When you are able to help them find it and deliver it in a performance, the energy of the audience is palpable as they receive this truly artistic moment.

…you will get goose bumps…

…and so will your students.

Sharing a “goose bump moment” has major positive impacts on your program.  It’s worth the work to help them get to that emotional place in rehearsal and then to deliver it in performance.

Honestly…I enjoy that part the most!

Click here to go to my YouTube Channel and see “To Do’s and NOT to Do’s of Middle School Chorus!”

To learn more about Mr D’s S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Program, click here!
Click here to purchase the S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Bundle.

Dale

Check out my blog!