Choral voicing is a technique with long-standing history used by choral directors to seat singers based on characteristics of the voice - color, tone, timbre, placement, and vibrato. Contrary to popular belief, this technique is not just for college and professional choirs. Try it at home with your

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Often times, society makes us feel like we are one or the other, but in reality, these personality traits are two opposite ends of a spectrum, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle ( source ). Susan Cain, researcher and author of the New York Times bests

Ministry is often defined as "spiritual work or service." As it says in 1 Peter 4:10, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace." But I think it's more than serving; I think ministry has a way of giving back and bl

Have you ever considered teaching a class or workshop? Some of you may already do this - at a community music school, K-12 school, or local college or university. But, have you ever considered teaching members of your congregation? Short-term classes, workshops, and mini-series are a great way to

Take a moment to think about the choir directors you’ve had during your lifetime. What was your first choir director like? If you sang in a choir during high school, what was that director like? Think about the directors you’ve had as an adult, whether in a university, church, or community setting.

I love discovering new choral anthems, especially ones that are musical, have great text, and are accessible for small church choirs. A few years back, I wrote this post with my top 50 favorite church choir anthems. Today's post is a follow-up, with 50 more anthems to consider ad

CLOQUET, Minn. – One Northland choir director is asking for people to make singer-friendly masks for her choir students. The director for Cloquet middle and high schools found it was difficult to sing through a typical cloth mask. But now, she’s found a design for a mask suitable for signers. She has the pattern for it and is asking those...

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“Good! Now, sing it again.” How many times do you hear yourself saying these words in rehearsal? We all know the importance of repetition. This is how we learn - by trying, experiencing, and doing it again and again. The problem is, often, this becomes something we do mindlessly. When we

Success? Rehearsal? Have you met my choir?! I know, I know. Choir members can be chatty and they don't always show up on time and sometimes it feels like you stand up in front of them and say the same. things. every. week. I get it. But success doesn't mean everything will be perfect.

I ran across this video on YouTube one day last year. I think we may learn it in class. I don't like the format in which it is "notated". (I don't mind that there is no staff, but bar lines would be helpful) ...but it is pretty catchy. It is three different melodies sung added one at a time on top of each other. What you can not tell from the "notation" is that the second and third melodies begin on HIGH "Do". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH91ppPkAag Okay...I can't give that to my class...this is AP for goodness sake. The rhythms have to be correct ... So here it is in C Major ! TGIF ! See you next week,

Whenever I think of vowels, I think of this scene from Singin' in the Rain : Any other Singin' in the Rain fans out there? All jest aside, vowels are a vital component of the English language - spoken and sung. We talk a lot about consonants with our choirs, particularly with

Making progress, learning, improving, feeling a sense of accomplishment - ah yes, a productive choir rehearsal is something we all strive for, though attaining it may be another story. You might be really organized, good with time management, and good about getting things done on your own, but add

Spring and Fall is the time of year some of us want to do evaluations or individual auditions. If that's you here is a simple form to help you score a student and evaluate their voice for the Middle School age and can even be used for High School. ...

I am happy to report that I am typing this post from my big, cozy orange chair at HOME, enjoying my first official day of summer! Before I get to the "meat and potatoes" of my post, I want to take a quick moment to celebrate the work we do as Kodály educators. I have now had the chance to work in several buildings where I was the first teacher to use the Kodály method of instruction and the folk literature that accompanies it and, after finishing my first year in a new building, I can say with certainty that it is amazing! I heard parents comment all year with statements like, "Sarah won't stop singing at home" and "Drew can't wait to find out what the next rhythm you will be learning is!" I listened as students told me about how they taught their brothers and sisters at home the songs we learned in music. I saw kids playing music games on the playground and at girl scouts, watched as kids connected the dots of music literacy, and experienced the joy that comes from singing and playing together. Aileen posted about the upcoming opportunities for taking your Levels classes here. If you haven't already completed your levels, I can't recommend it highly enough! Okay...back to business. After reading Karla's last post, I was inspired to take a minute (well, many minutes) and reflect on my school year. As I tried to brainstorm what I could post about that would be helpful during this time of year, I decided to share some of my favorite choir pieces from this past year for you to consider as you plan for your concerts in the upcoming year! I would describe myself as a "Children's Choir Fanatic." I just love the sound of children singing together! I have directed children's choirs for the Denver-based Young Voices for Peace, the Spokane Area Youth Choirs and currently serve as the Preparatory Choir Director for the Boulder Children's Chorale. When it comes time to choose repertoire, I spend hours and hours wading through piles of octavos and playing through piece after piece. I often find it helpful to keep a running list of possible song ideas and use a concert planner, because it can become overwhelming to keep track of all the music that is available! I have a sample concert planner that you can download for free here and I'm working on a new and improved one that will be available soon! This year, I conducted a few of "tried and true" favorites and found some new gems, too! I hope you will find one or two new ideas or at least be reminded of an old favorite that you can use in the future! I have posted the links to the scores below, but I always encourage people to search YouTube if you want to hear a full recording! For Unison Choirs 1. Path to the Moon by Eric Thiman I consider this a must have for every children's choir library. Beautiful melodies, beautiful poetry, and great opportunities to teach breath control, phrasing, and dynamics. 2. The Little Birch Tree arr. Mary Goetze* This is based on the traditional folk song, which is a great way to make a connection to your classroom teaching. I also love to draw the connection between this melody and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. Great for teaching vowels (especially oo), dynamics, and phrasing. *Mary Goetze has a wonderful collection of folk song octavos for children's choirs. Some of my other favorite titles by her are Piglet's Christmas and Fire. You can see some of her other titles here. 3. Wee Little Piute arr. Heirholzer I taught this song for this first time this year and loved it. It is in a great register and has a lot of references to Native American traditions and language. Plus, it has some amazing "ahs" to help your young singers open up their head voice. 4. A Great Big Sea arr. Lori-Anne Dolloff A fiddle player and a spoons player are a must for this piece. The text painting in the piano is wonderful and opportunities to work on larger vocal leaps are great! For Two or Three Part Treble 1. The President's Tea by Tom Benjamin This is a piece by a modern composer filled with fun language like "sassafras silk" and "pillykin." It has several tempo and meter changes, making it a great piece to work on following the conductor! 2. Dodi Li arr. Doreen Rao (one of my favorite arrangers!) This piece sits beautifully in the child's voice. The piano is energetic and rhythmic, and it is great for teaching form to your singers. 3. Skylark and Nightingale arr. Audrey Snyder (another one of my favorites!) I already mentioned this piece in a previous post, but it is just so beautiful. It has an optional glockenspiel part which is pentatonic improvisation (perfect for tying in your classroom teaching) and the text is just lovely. 4. Kokoleoko arr. Donnelly and Strid I taught this for the first time this year after hearing the folk song in my Orff Level 1 class. It has very approachable harmonies and a fun, upbeat feel. It is a little bit long (I ended up editing one section out), but it is very easy to teach! I added some drums and other percussion to my performance to make it an energetic opener! 5. Fod! arr. Miller I love the humor and nonsense in this song, and my kids had fun singing it, too! 6. Windy Nights arr. Cynthia Gray Great poetry, 6/8 meter, and minor! My students really enjoyed this piece and it was a great way to break up the collection of major, duple meter pieces available for children's choirs! I could go on forever! I intentionally left out my Winter/Christmas/Hanukkah songs to post later in the year, but these were definitely some keepers from the year! I am always on the hunt for a new and wonderful song, so I would love to hear some of your favorites, too! And now...back to my summer book. I hope you have a great week!

"Magnetic Hand Signs" has quickly become one of my most popular posts, currently sitting at #2 in my most popular posts. If you missed the link, be sure to click the link and check it out. Several people have blogged about how they are using the magnetic hand signs in their classroom. I would like to share some more ideas on how to use the hand signs that I saw on Make Music Rock. I have provided 2 versions of the hand signs (one with the names and one without). Laura printed one version in blue and one in green. To help kids understand which pitches would be lines and spaces, she mixed the 2 sets alternating blue and green. I think this is an awesome idea! I, myself, am a visual learner and this would definitely help kids with visual learning styles. Next on my to-do-list: Print hand signs in another color!

We are in the final stretch!! I hope that you have had a moment to soak up some of the joy this season brings a midst all the insanity and chaos! Today, I am going to follow up my last post, "Ways to Practice and Prepare Rhythms" with the Melody Edition! Just like last time, this is not a comprehensive list. However, I keep this up as a reminder of the many, many ways I can help my students master melodic concepts! A quick FYI... These ideas are more related to helping your students learn to sing pitches and pitch relationships correctly, and not to staff work. Maybe that will be my next post. :) 1. Texting Sticks I first saw these used at the Colorado Music Educator's Conference. At first, I was skeptical. However, I find that my 2nd and 3rd graders really enjoy using them, and they are a great reinforcement of note relationships. The only draw back is that they have the whole scale on them... I simply sing a melody on solfege or a neutral syllable and then the students sing and "text" it back to me by playing the notes on their stick with their thumb. 2. Solfa Buttons/Melody Dots You can use these a lot of ways- echo singing, decoding, point to a pattern and then have your students sing it back. I especially like using this visual because you can remove/add notes as you introduce them. I find that it is a really great way to reinforce steps/skips and how notes relate to each other. Sometimes, I even have my students come up and put the buttons in the right order, leaving spaces where there should be spaces. If you don't have a set of Solfege Buttons, you can find my set on TpT by clicking here 3. Hand Staff I will often have students use a hand staff to "write" melodies. This is especially effective with limited pitch sets (so-mi-la), and it is a great visual and physical way to practice staff notation! 4. Hand Signs Using the Curwin Hand Signs is a great way to practice and prepare melodies. Some of the many ways I use them are: Sing my Sign- I will sign a pattern, but only sing the first note. Then they sing it back to me. Echo singing with hand signs Sign my Song- I will play a short melodic pattern on the xylophone or piano and they sign it back to me 4. Echo Sing This one is pretty obvious, but a very important part of developing correct intonation and pitch relationships for your singers! 5. Fill in the Missing Solfege I will notate a song in stick or staff notation and then have my students come up and write the solfege below the notes. You can have them fill in all the solfege or leave just a few blank. 6. Melodic Ostinato I love adding melodic ostinatos to reinforce the concept we are working on. For example, when my 3rd graders learned low sol, we used the song "Morning Has Come" and added an ostinato of "s, s, s, d" (three quarter notes followed by a dotted half). This is great practice of singing low sol and part work, plus it excites the kids to add complexity to the music! 7. Aural Decoding I sing a pattern on a neutral syllable and they sing it back in solfege. 8. Composition This could be a whole post, so I am not going to dive into it too much. However, composing is one of the best ways for kids to practice melodies (in my opinion). You can compose with manipulatives, using stick notation, on the staff... You can compose as small groups, a whole class, individual composers... The options are endless! 9. Orff Instruments Using Orff to reinforce melodic concepts is a great way to add variety to the singing-focused Kodaly lesson. When I teach ostinati or patterns on xylophones and other Orff instruments, I teach them completely through solfege. I have a big xylophone that I laminated so we can write the solfege on the bars along with the absolute pitch name, and that allows me to have a moveable do. It's also great, because you can take the bars off to represent the pitch relationships! Here are just a few ways you can use Orff to reinforce melodic concepts... Echo playing- you sing a pattern on solfege and they play it back on Orff Ostinati- add an ostinato to a folksong you are using to reinforce the note you are working on. Song Extraction- my kids love to extract "l s m s" and "m m r d" from 'Liza Jane and play it on the Orff instruments. Composition- Kids love to create melodies on the Orff instruments! 10. Question and Answer Phrases I sing a "question" in solfege and my student/students respond with an "answer." You can have a set answer that is a four beat melody everyone knows, have students come up with their own answers, or ask students to include some of your question in their answer. This is definitely challenging, but it can also be a lot of fun! 11. Don't Sing/Only Sing My kids love this one. When we are practicing a note, I will tell them "don't sing" or "only sing" the note we are practicing. For example, if we are are working on "la" I would have my students only sing the "las" in Bounce High, Bounce Low and I would sing everything else. You can also do the reverse and have them sing everything else while you sing the new pitch to help them hear the correct intonation. A final step is to split the class into two groups and have the groups sing each part. This works really well with older students, too! 12. Games that highlight the melodic concept The first example of this that comes to mind is "The Farmer's Dairy Key." The way I play this game, the gates lift up their arms at the high do (which is the concept I teach with this song). So, that is a great physical and visual reinforcement of that pitch. 13. Listening Examples I sometimes forget that listening is a great way to practice melody. Having students listen for melodic patterns, ostinati, etc. are GREAT reinforcements of new melodic concepts. I've mentioned it before, but if you haven't checked out "From Folksongs to Masterworks," I highly recommend it! 14. Dictation Dictation having students simply writing down what they hear, and it can be used at any phase of a melodic concept. If you are preparing, you can have the students write the solfege underneath the stick notation. If you are practicing, you can have them notate the melody on the staff. I like to mix-up my dictation by having them dictate from my singing, the piano, a xylophone, my recorder, etc. As your students get older, you can make the melodies longer and more challenging to keep them engaged! 15. Eraser Game. Write a melody (in either stick or staff notation) on the board. Have the students sing it and then "accidentally" erase it piece by piece until they have memorized the whole song. You can also have them rewrite the melody when you are done for extra practice! 16. Poison Pattern This is the same as the rhythm version, except with sung melodies. There are TONS of poison games on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can check out if you are looking for a specific concept to play with! 17. Mystery Songs Write a song in either stick or staff notation and have students sing it on solfege. Then have them try to identify the folk song. I often will give 3 or 4 choices to help students narrow it down! 18. Phrase Sort/Song Matching Cut up a song into phrases or short chunks and have your students put it back together. You can also show several short phrases and ask students to identify which song they came from (I provide a song bank for my students to use). It's also fun to include an extra or a mis-fit phrase to trick your students! 19. Flashcards Flashcards are pretty obvious, but there are SO many things you can do with flashcards. One game my students love is "Flashcard Elimination." I put 5 or 6 one measure melodies on the floor and then play a song for them to walk around to. When the music stops they stop at a flashcard. I then sing or play a melody from one of the flashcards. If they are at that card, they are eliminated and have to sit down. The game continues until their is one child remaining. It usually goes pretty quick (because you have a lot of control over which card you sing) and the kids are always asking to play again! This is a great way to reinforce reading and connecting sight and sound. 20. Resonator Bells/Boomwhackers While I don't love the sound of Boomwhackers, I really love that they allow you to practice how pitches are related to each other. Sometimes we will set up "Solfa Street" in my class with live people and instruments (like resonator bells or boomwhackers). Kids go for a walk down the street and "ring the doorbell" at each house. When they do, the child at that pitch plays their instrument. It's a fun way to get kids moving, listening and learning! I feel like I have only scratched the surface, but hopefully you have a new idea or two to take with you! Please comment with any brilliant ideas you have used in your classroom! Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season!!

A TikTok video shows Andi Bernabe being surprised with a gender reveal-themed party and cash to file for an official name change.

Im Mittelpunkt jeder Lichtplanung steht bei candela der Mensch. Er muss sich an einem Ort wiederfinden der zu ihm passt, an dem er sich wohlfühlt.