Notes for Success

Notes for Success: Finding Repertoire

October 28, 2019 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

In May, August, and September 2015, the Choral Journal featured a three-part article series titled “Notes for Success: Advice for the First-Year Choral Teacher.” As part of the series, 11 choral conductors with teaching experience ranging from 4 to 34 years answered 10 questions related to setting expectations for your first year, classroom management, balancing a successful work and home life, finding repertoire, and more.

This column will address Question #8: Where can I find quality repertoire for the skill/size/balance of my choir?

A portion of the suggestions listed regarding this question are below. Read the rest of the article in the May 2015 issue of Choral Journal by going to acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose August 2015 from the dropdown options.
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“ACDA has an incredible amount of resources to help you select music for your choirs. Reach out to your divisional and national R&S chair regarding your needs. Additionally, make use of state contest lists such as the Texas Prescribed Music List. These lists have been governed by committees and the literature has been deemed valuable by experienced directors. Additionally, the Cambiata Institute has a wealth of resources for the changing male voice. There are even videos to help you classify boys’ voices and repertoire lists for various voicings.” – Jennifer Alarcon

“Finding quality repertoire is very time consuming for me. My choirs are all extremely young, and there is not a lot of material out there targeted at beginning singers. That said, there are some real gems if you know where to look. Find a music store that carries a lot of sheet music in its library and look through songs. Before each year, I go into JW Pepper’s store in Minneapolis and pour through the songs in their library. I can look at every page of every song, and because of this, I can find music that my choirs can perform, some of which I might never have found by searching specifically online.” – Seth Boyd

No decision you make as a choral music educator has greater ramifications than the repertoire you choose for your ensembles. To determine the quality and appropriateness of your choices, subject each piece you consider to rigorous review. The book Shaping Sound Musicians (O’Toole, 2003) lists nine criteria to gauge whether a composition has artistic merit: uniqueness, form, design, unpredictability, depth, consistency, orchestration/voicing, text, and transcendence. Goetze, Broeker, and Boshkoff (2009) offer six criteria for examining potential repertoire for younger choirs: text, singability, form, part-writing techniques, accompaniment, and pedagogical implications. Use these categories or create your own, but thoroughly examine all aspects of any piece you consider programming.” – Philip Silvey

“What I find comforting is how many different directions one can go to get assistance in planning educational, appropriate repertoire. I love seeing questions on the ACDA Facebook page pop up in my newsfeed in regard to repertoire, classroom management, etc., and see a plethora of comments and responses for each question. The repertoire lists that ACDA posts online are a great place to start. I have printed many of these lists out and have often taken an hour to listen to some of these pieces on YouTube and write descriptions for them so I can recall them quickly. The Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir texts are also helpful, giving you not only a difficulty level for each piece but a description of the piece, background on the composer, and units that could be discussed during the learning of each song.” – Jacob Truby
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Read the rest of the posts in this series on ChoralNet here.
And please share this post and Choral Journal article series with those who are in their first year of teaching!

Notes for Success: Classroom Management

April 9, 2018 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

This column will address Question #2: Classroom Management
What do I do with difficult students? How do I handle difficult classroom situations?

A portion of the suggestions listed regarding this question are below. Read the rest of the article in the May 2015 issue of Choral Journal by going to acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose May 2015 from the dropdown options.
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“Come up with a plan before day one of class starts. Know how you want rehearsal to flow and why in that order. Sometimes you will have problems with the rehearsal or your classroom management, so do not be afraid to ask a colleague or administrator to come observe your class; you can also videotape yourself, as I have done many times. – Elizabeth Batey

“I always begin the year with my expectations known and a high standard for my classroom. When it comes to rehearsals, I like to get started right away, even before the bell rings. A few years ago, I started requiring my students to begin a music journal. I write music-related writing prompts on the board for students to reflect on the minute they get into the classroom. This gets them thinking about music before we even sing the first note, and it allows me time to take attendance and answer any questions individually.” – Desiree Bondley

“Questioning and discussion can be a great rehearsal strategy to engage students in their own learning. For example, you can ask students, “What did we work on at the last rehearsal?” “How can we improve that phrase?” “How might we solve this musical challenge?” “What do you think we need to work on?” Ask students to review their own rehearsals and performances and the performances of others. These reviews can be in the form of a written prompt or in class discussion… In addition to the benefits in the classroom, questioning and discussion techniques are frequently included as a category in teacher evaluations.” – Jennifer Sengin

“We want our students to apply their best effort by their own choice, doing so because they want to learn and succeed. We can help this occur by 1) only asking students to do meaningful work—that is, work that has recognizable value to them and their future; 2) encouraging autonomy or ownership by teaching students transferrable skills and providing opportunities for them to put these skills into practice (i.e., allowing students to be responsible for their own learning and progress); and 3) reinforcing student efforts by praising the inherent value of the improvement (rather than complimenting the student for complying or pleasing you, highlight how the action is beneficial to the student)… The best way to engage students is to ask questions, allow time for them to talk, and keep them active.” – Philip Silvey

Read the rest of the posts in this series on ChoralNet here.
And please share this post and Choral Journal article series with those who will be starting their first year of teaching this coming fall!

Notes for Success: Finding Balance

April 2, 2018 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

This column will address Question #3: Balance
How do I balance my personal life and the stress of a new job? How do I balance the roles of educator and musician?

A portion of the suggestions listed regarding this question are below. Read the rest of the article in the May 2015 issue of Choral Journal by going to acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose May 2015 from the drop-down options.
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“Effectively balancing the dual role of educator and musician depends largely on recognizing each as dependent upon and inseparable from the other. I tell my college students they are essentially earning a “double-major” in both music and education. Functioning at a high-quality level of musicianship is expected from new choral teachers, along with competence in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are critical to the teaching process. This includes application of learning theories, growth, and developmental characteristics of children and teenagers, teaching methodologies, strategies, and daily lesson plans, along with the ever-increasing demand to implement valid assessment techniques.” – Darla Eshelman

“You are a better teacher for your students when you are happy and healthy. Find one way to continue making music where you are not in charge that fulfills your need to be creative. You are worthy of care! Because you are worthy of care, learn to employ the “noble no” when a request won’t fi t into your school and life schedule. People will learn to respect your forethought and follow-through when you only take on what you can manage.” – Elizabeth McFarland

“While still in college, a recent graduate and teacher returned to speak to our university’s student chapter of ACDA to talk about her first year of teaching. Paraphrasing, she said, “If you wanted to work twenty-four hours a day during your first year, you could.” This resonated with me, as I can often be one who wants to work until everything is finished. I learned to become comfortable with walking away from a project at the end of the day even if it was not completed. Music teachers have to think about so much all the time: lesson plans for the next day, repertoire selections for next week, field trip logistics for next month, course selections for next year. There will never be a time when everything is completed. The sooner you can be comfortable with this, the easier it will be to take some much needed personal time for yourself.” – Jacob Truby

Find more articles in this series on ChoralNet here.

Notes for Success: Staying Organized

August 14, 2017 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

In this column, I would like to address question #7: How do I stay organized when conducting multiple choirs?

A portion of the suggestions listed regarding this question follow. Please leave a comment below with a strategy that has worked for you (or perhaps one that hasn’t!) so that we can continue to learn from one another.

“Planning and organization are essential for maintaining a choral program. However, a very wise and successful choral director once told me, ‘Students don’t join choir for the music; they join it for the choir director.’ I think it is a combination of both that has made my programs successful… It is the environment of being welcome along with the permission to make mistakes and of being a part of something bigger than yourself that draws students into the classroom.” – Elizabeth Batey

“It may require some work to build the program at your first job. You may want to increases enrollment, add choirs, introduce new genres of repertoire, and raise the level of performances. On the other hand, you may be replacing the director of a strong, successful program. Each scenario has challenges, but building a program from the ground up allow you more freedom to structure the program you envision. If you do take over a strong program, be sure to respect the program and recognize the work it took to establish and maintain it.” – Philip Silvey

See also:
-Question #1: How do I set realistic expectations for my first year of teaching? Read it here.
-Question #3: How do I best balance my personal life and the stress of my job? Read it here.
-Question #6: How do I best establish a grading strategy? Read it here.

Click here to read Part 1. Click here to read Part 2. Click for Part 3. Note: you must be an ACDA member to read the Choral Journal. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today! Associate members can join for only $45 a year.

Notes for Success: Building a Strong Choral Sound

August 7, 2017 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

In this column, I would like to address question #9: How do I build a strong choral sound in my choirs?

“In my experience with adolescent singers, analogies and movement also aid a healthy tone production. During rehearsal, I will have my singers move their hands through a pool of Jello to help connect and energize tone, step forward to help sing an ascending skip in tune, step to the macro beat to help feel the “groove” or their unaccompanied piece, or simply tap the rhythm on the back of their hand to aid in rhythmic clarity.” – Jennifer Alarcon

“Be prepared to teach students to match pitch. As choral musicians, many of us have never experienced challenges in matching pitch. This may not be true in your teaching position. It is critical to develop strategies to teach pitch matching, and this is especially important with students whose voices have recently changed. Many students will be successful with a little extra attention to experiment with their voices. Take the time to meet with these students outside of the rehearsal to provide additional instruction regarding pitch-matching.” – Jennifer Sengin

“The vocal warm-up is the most opportune time to address vocal issues. Singing fast scales and arpeggios with no deliberate vocal coordination in mind is not the most effective way to teach vocal technique. I have discovered it is best to craft warm-ups that work toward a certain vocal coordination based on something challenging in the music. The transition from technique to literature could be seamless and can help facilitate independent transfer of training.” –Brandon Williams

See also:
-Question #1: How do I set realistic expectations for my first year of teaching?
Read it here.
-Question #3: How do I best balance my personal life and the stress of my job?
Read it here.
-Question #6: How do I best establish a grading strategy?
Read it here.

Notes for Success: Setting Realistic Expectations

July 31, 2017 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

In this column, I would like to address question #1 from the May 2015 issue: How do I set realistic expectations for my first year of teaching?

“Becoming a master at classroom management is vital. It does not matter what music you have selected, how extensive your musical knowledge is, or how well planned your rehearsals are. If you do not know how to get students focused and engaged on task, you will not be able to do anything.” – David Burton

“Care, communication, and conscientious repertoire selection are essential for addressing immediately in any new teaching position. First on my list of realistic expectations would be to better understand the truth found in Theodore Roosevelt’s statement, “Students don’t care what you know until they know that you care. … My students did not care to focus on what I knew from being a music major or performer; their level of trust and engaged interaction was always more directly correlated with how much they felt I cared about them.” – Darla Eshelman

“One first-year task often pushed to the back burner is potentially one of the most productive. Take time to set big goals by answering some very important questions: 1) Why do I teach music? 2) What is special/important about choral music? 3) What do I want my students to remember upon leaving the classroom? 4) What do my students need from me? From choir? From the world? Once you have answered these questions, think about how you will convey that purpose every day in your classroom.” – Elizabeth McFarland

See also:
-Question #3: How do I best balance my personal life and the stress of my job? Read it here.
-Question #6: How do I best establish a grading strategy? Read it here.

Click here to read the full article that contains the rest of these answers in Part 1 of this series. Click here to read Part 2. Click for Part 3. Note: you must be an ACDA member to read the Choral Journal. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today! Associate members can join for only $45 a year.