Chorus

Description:

COURSE/SUBJECT TITLE: Vocal Ensemble

GRADE LEVEL: 7th and 8th

LENGTH OF TIME: One class (40 minutes)Full Year (two 45-minute class per week)

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Vocal Ensemble is a choral ensemble where students work on vocal technique, music literacy, and collaboration.  Students work towards two major performances. The main components of choral ensemble are: continuing developing singing skills through vocalizes with the emphasis is on connecting the total vocal range, more advanced ear training, learning a variety of repertoire from various styles and cultures, learning movement to enhance vocal and rhythmic understanding, solfege scale work, more advanced interval work, sight-reading rhythm and standard notation, following a conductor, following a student conductor, 3/ 4 part harmony, developing active listening skills, improvisational singing, solo work, performance assessment, and contributing as a member to the overall ensemble.

ESSENTIAL OUTCOMES:

REPORTING STANDARD: Performance & Rehearsals Collaboration and Ensemble Work
1.    Students will sing and demonstrate proper posture and breath support for singing.  
2.    Students will develop a wide and consistent vocal range by singing a variety of vocal warm ups of different patterns, consonants, and vowel and will lead vocalizes independently from the teacher.
3.    Students will learn and practice the process of vocal auditions.
4.    Students will strengthen independent vocal part-singing by singing a variety of rounds, ostinatos, and partner songs.
5.    Students will sing a variety of repertoire of different styles, meters, cultures, and languages in 3/ 4-part harmony.
6.    Students will demonstrate concert and stage etiquette while performing two formal concerts within the year as well as other smaller performances in front of their peers and other venues.

REPORTING STANDARD: Listening and Literacy skills
1.    Students will demonstrate major, minor, and chromatic solfege scales with hand signs up and down working towards, intervallic skips and independent rounds.
2.    Students will sight read rhythm and pitch in a series of progressively more challenging musical notation of various keys.  Students decode the notes and evaluate examples through practice.  Students will be able to decode this same process in actual choral music pertaining to their literature.
3.    Students will actively listen to their own voice and be able to evaluate their personal range, growth, and changing voice.  Students will use vocabulary to describe this process.
4.    Students will identify where they are independently and as a group according to performance ready characteristics. Students will use a writing process to assess themselves and music on a weekly basis as well as a formal written assessment on a biyearly basis.  
5.    Students will critique music in classroom discussions and student led activities.

REPORTING STANDARD: Expressiveness and Technique
1.    Students will sing and demonstrate proper posture and breath support for singing.  
2.    Students will develop a wide and consistent vocal range by singing a variety of vocal warm ups of different patterns, consonants, and vowel and will lead vocalizes independently from the teacher.
3.    Students will learn and practice the process of vocal auditions.

KEY VOCABULARY

A capella
articulation
breath control
chromatic scale
diaphragm
falsetto
fermata
intonation
legato
phrase range
staccato
staggered breathing
time signature
tone
unison
vocalizes

EVIDENCE/ASSESSMENTS:
Weekly student evaluation sheet
Self-Assessments
Small group lessons and evaluation
Student led conducting, vocalizes, and classroom discussions
Written performance assessments (winter and spring)
District three-audition process
Video/ CD evaluation unit

TEXTS AND OTHER RESOURCES:
Teacher generated sight-reading worksheets
District three-audition piece
Choral music in student binders
Getting America Singing Again
CRMS Choral Library

Revised 8/12

 

 
Outcomes: