• Sign In
  • ACDA.org
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ChoralNet

ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • ACDA News
  • Events
  • Community
    • Announcements
    • Classifieds

Public School

Why Won’t My Middle School Choir Sing? Part 2

June 25, 2016 by Dale Duncan Leave a Comment

This is a five-part series designed to help other middle school choir teachers determine why their middle school beginning singers are unmotivated to sing in their classrooms. Click here to go to blog post #1 in which I state the first reason I believe causes students not to sing in our classrooms.

Reason #2:

They don’t like the music you’ve chosen.

With middle school children, we cannot be musical snobs.

Wow.  That is a bit harsh…

Hope you didn’t spit your coffee out!  🙂

However, based on all of my years of experience teaching this age group in the inner city public school setting, this has been my experience.

“This song is boring.”

“I don’t like this song.”

“Why do we have to sing this stuff?”

So, what can we do to improve our music choices for our middle school beginners while still helping them to learn something new?

We have to vary our music styles.

One of the first questions that teachers ask when I share my thoughts on varying our repertoire choices is, “Does this mean I have to teach Pop music?!”

The answer is unequivocally no…unless teaching that style of music really cranks your tractor!  🙂

Middle school students respond to our passion.  So, if we are passionate about teaching pop music, then that should be some part of what we teach in our classrooms during the school year.

Just recently, I interviewed an incredible middle school educator for my blog because I saw a video of her work with middle school children, and I was truly blown away by it.  The children were so engaged and uninhibited.  It was fantastic to see.  Andrea Squires, the teacher from Arizona who leads the students in the video, happened to be doing a pop song, but in my interview, I learned that only represents a tiny fraction of what she does with the children during the school year.  …But it works for her, and it works for the students.  Even in this blurry picture below, you can see it in their eyes and in the positions of their bodies!  These children are loving what they are doing!

Screen Shot 2016-06-24 at 10.17.18 AM

 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I don’t enjoy teaching most pop music.  Instead, one of my passions is teaching Broadway songs to the students.  They sense my passion.  The Broadway revues that we do at the end of the year are a huge highlight of our time together, and those events are the engine that runs my choral program even though we only work on it during 4th nine weeks.   I really believe they respond so well to it because they sense my passion about it.

Teaching rap music probably wouldn’t work so well for me, but it may work really well for someone else!

I believe that we must “throw our students a bone” during every term and sing at least one song that truly excites them.  It certainly should be something you enjoy teaching as well.

Most of us are classically trained, and when I speak to teachers who are struggling as they try to motivate this age group, I notice that some of my peers have a sort of “high brow” approach to teaching music.  “That’s hokey” they say when we mention a song that uses flashlight choreography or a fog machine or some other gimmick that the middle school singers, in my experience, truly enjoy.   One of the most successful songs I perform with students is one that I introduce very early in the school year as part of my “hook” to help get them invested in the program at my school.  It’s a Halloween song written by Teresa Jennings of Music K-8 magazine .  I share with my students that it will be sung in the dark and that we will use fog machines and strobe lights.  As they listen to the piece, they get so excited!  The energy in the room is palpable.

With this age group, we’ve got to re-think some of the hard-core classical approaches to which we get so married during our university training.  Should we ever teach madrigals to middle school beginners?  Absolutely…but, once again, it shouldn’t be all we teach.

As we often tell our students when we introduce a foreign language piece, you must remain open!  We must practice what we preach!  …Especially if we want to attract a variety of students into our programs.

I’ve spent my 24-year career in public schools in three states.   I have learned so much from all of the students who came from a variety of ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds about what they want in their choral experience.  They will sing just about anything you want them to sing if you have the correct balance in your repertoire of “fun” music and more serious music.  The balance is crucial to the success of building a choral program at the middle school level.

When I choose music, I keep three things in mind to help keep the proper balance of motivating my students while I teach the all-important components of good choral singing.

1)  Choose one “fun” novelty piece per term.

2)  I want to teach at least one lyrical piece and at least one upbeat, rhythmic piece.

3)  You…the teacher…must absolutely love every song you are teaching.  If you don’t love it, they will sense it.

Sometimes, I swear they are psychic!  If you choose songs you don’t like or songs you think you must choose for some reason outside of yourself, you will be miserable, and so will they!

If you stick to these three principles, not only will they sing for you in class daily, but your program will begin to grow in ways you may not have imagined.

Next Saturday, I’ll be posting Reason #3 right here on ChoralNet!

Dale Duncan

Creator of the S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Program for Beginners

Reviews from S-Cubed teachers!

About Mr D

Filed Under: Music in the Middle Tagged With: Chorus, Public School, sight singing

Mastering the music ed job hunt, with Kyle Karum

May 27, 2016 by Ryan Guth Leave a Comment

Kyle Karum is an expert music ed interviewee and shares his tips on creating a compelling cover letter, resume, and portfolio that your potential employers will love!

JOIN CHOIR NATION ON FACEBOOK

Episode 053

JOIN CHOIR NATION ON FACEBOOK

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE!

itunes3

KYLE KARUM’S BIO

Kyle Karum is a music educator originally from Muskegon, MI where he graduated from Mona Shores High School in 2006. He then attended Western Michigan University for his studies in music education. While at WMU, Kyle studied conducting under Dr. James Bass, Dr. Ronald Oliver, and Dr. Kimberly Dunn Adams as well as music education with Dr. Dee Gauthier. He graduated in 2012 with his Bachelor’s of Music: Music Education (Choral/General Emphasis).

Kyle recently held the position of Director of Choral Music and General Music Teacher at Prairie Heights Community School Corporation in LaGrange, IN where he taught two general music classes and five choir classes. In addition, he also taught Music Theory/Composition and Music History/Appreciation as well as acted as the Assistant Director/Conductor of the Theater Department.

Kyle is currently the Director of Choral Music at Seymour High School in Seymour,IN where he teaches over 200 students in five choir classes. Under his direction, the four choral ensembles at SHS attended the ISSMA District Choral Festival on 2016. There each ensemble was awarded a Gold rating in not only performance, but also sight-reading. As a part of his appointment, Kyle is also responsible for directing the spring musical each year.

Kyle continues to sing with the Bloomington Chamber Singers in Bloomington, IN.

JOIN CHOIR NATION ON FACEBOOK

RELEVANT LINKS MENTIONED IN THE INTERVIEW

Sheet music: Dominis Vobiscum – by Sydney Guillaume

Episode 29 with Dominick DiOrio

Episode 47 with Helmuth Rilling

JOIN CHOIR NATION ON FACEBOOK

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ACDA, American Choral Directors Association, choir, Choral, Cover letter, Find Your Forte, Interview, Job, Kyle Karum, Music Ed, Portfolio, Private School, Public School, Resume, Ryan Guth

  • ACDA.org
  • The ChoralNet Daily Newsletter
Advertise on ChoralNet

On This Day
June 30

Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator, was born on this day in 1588.

Would you like to submit a blog post for consideration?

Are you interested in becoming a regular ChoralNet blogger? Please contact ACDA Director of Membership & Communications Sundra Flansburg at .

RSS JW Pepper

  • 5 Things to Consider When Buying Color Guard Equipment
  • PYO Music Institute Presents the 9th Annual Ovation Award in Partnership with J.W. Pepper, Jacobs Music, and WRTI 90.1 FM
  • 10 Easy-To-Learn Funky Tunes for the Stands
  • Zoom F3 Field Recorder Review: The Easiest Way to Get Pro Audio for Your Music Ensembles
  • J.W. Pepper Names Eric King as New Chief Financial Officer
  • The Music Teachers’ Guide to Recording an Ensemble: The Samson C02 Mics Review
  • The Zoom Q8n-4K Handy Video Recorder Review
  • Directors & Parents: Download Our New Contest & Festival Checklist
  • If You Love West Side Story, Listen to These!
  • The Music of Rita Moreno, a West Side Story Icon

RSS NAfME

  • Recruiting and Maintaining a Diversified Teacher Workforce
  • Assessing the Standards: An Exploration of the Respond Model Cornerstone Assessment
  • Nearly Half of the 2023 GRAMMY Music Educator AwardTM Quarterfinalists Are NAfME Members
  • Reevaluating Professional Practice
  • The Importance of Knowledge Transfer in Music Education
  • Star-Songs and Constellations: Lessons from the Global Jukebox
  • NAfME Endorses the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act of 2021
  • 5 Things Teachers Can Do to Recharge over the Summer
  • 2022 Call for Applications: SRME Executive Committee
  • Yay Storytime! Musical Adventures with Children’s Picture Books, Part Sixteen

Footer

Connect with us!

  • Home
  • About
  • Help
  • Contact Us
  • ACDA.org

Recent Blogs

  • Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Talking With Friends
  • Gratitude for Those Who Serve in State Leadership
  • Midweek Meditation: The Inner Critic
  • K-12 Teaching: Repertoire Selections for School Choirs
  • Dropping the Covid Ball with Dr. Nikki Johnson

American Choral Directors Association

PO Box 1705
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
73101-1705

© 2022 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy