Week of DEC 1

Run program today.

Music Alone Shall Live-- Brianne
Compere Guilleri--Helen
Gavotte-- Helen
Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace--Paige
Somewhere Over the Rainbow--Brianne
S'Vivon--Brianne
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day--Paige
Wassail--Paige
Christmas Time is Here -- Paige

Housekeeping: take up music folders, pass out flyers for concert. Uniform reminders

Week of NOV 24

Complete Program
Music Alone Shall Live--run
Compere Guilleri--run
Gavotte--drill ending first, then whole piece from memory at slow tempo
Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace--split up Hebrew and English to review words
Somewhere Over the Rainbow--work with Brianne
S'Vivon--run
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day--run
Wassail--run
Christmas Time is Here--run

Collect Holiday Music at end of rehearsal--Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, S'Vivon, Christmas Time is Here, Wassail, Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace

Housekeeping: All TR-IMMS will rehearse at Druid Hills Presbyterian TUES and WED next week (DEC 1/2) No satellite rehearsals that week.

Week of NOV 17

So this is the week we really want to push memory on the words more than ever.
Wassail--pair down the word cues to 1. Wassail 2. Horse 3. Ox 4. Cow 5. Butler 6. Maid
Tomorrow Shall Be--memorize 2nd verse. How about a word scramble for memorization? Write all the words to v. 2 on separate slips of paper. Have the kids put them in order. How you do this depends on the size of the group.
S'Vivon--put parts together
Christmas Time is Here--run through
Gavotte--run from memory with the cuts. Chances are the endings will need memory work.

BREAK
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace--break off English and Hebrew parts into smaller groups to drill memory, then put back together

Housekeeping: Notes from Sing-a-thon; All music memorized next week!! No Wed and Thurs rehearsals. Those kids come to Tuesday rehearsal at EAST or CALLAN if possible. Recital at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church DEC 5.

Week of NOV 10

Gavotte--for this performance, cut mm 37-84. It's best to this part memorized and well-executed and save the rest for the Spring performance.

Wassail Song --review words and ending. Consider pairs of subjects and rhyming words to aid memory. Wassail/town bread/white ale/brown bowl/tree bowl/thee

Compere Guilleri--review words for 2nd page. The performance team for Nickajack did a great job on this piece, but did slip on words at bottom of 2nd page.

Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day -- Work words through with kids in pairs--one experienced, one new.

Christmas time is Here -- run through, holding out ends of phrases.

S'Vivon -- review basic melody. Try to memorize Hebrew words. When IMMs dismiss, review other two counter melodies.

IMMs--Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Children of Peace/Oseh Shalom (no IMMs) -- focus on Hebrew and English separated.

Housekeeping: Sing-a-thon reminders. TR Choir time period is 8am-noon on Saturday NOV 14

Week of NOV 3

Holiday program:
Music Alone Shall Live

Gavotte

Compere Guilleri -- unison only this term

Children of Peace/Oseh Shalom (no IMMs) -- divisi: A/B1 on Hebrew B2/C on English

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (IMMs only)

Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day -- vs. 1,2, and 4 only. divisi: unison, but may choose small "solo" group for descant

S'Vivon -- divisi: TR A's + all IMMs on basic melody, B's on Alto, C's on S1. Omit pp. with S2 and slow section. End with 4 pt. canon in this order CB2B1A. Teach parts by ear. If using solfege, please teach in parallel harmonic minor (do, re, me, fa, sol, le, ti, do). I prefer to use counts to keep them from rushing.

Christmas time is Here -- unison

Wassail Song -- divisi at the end: B's on Sop, C's on S2, A's on Alto

Housekeeping: Remind about fundraising packets. Next Workbook NOV 21 (not many TR kids came to the last one). Look at date when music is to be memorized.

Week of October 27

Review note values and counting this week
Review solfege hand signals and give some random melodies

Wassail Song--solfege through. (No descant)
Tomorrow Shall Be my Dancing Day--word stress and rhythm. We'll do verses 1, 2, and 4 for the recital.
S'Vivon--introduce concept of parallel minor to Tr Choir kids.
Christmas Time is Here--teach by ear. Memory as quickly as possible
Oseh Shalom--vowels/tone and long phrases stressed as teaching the Hebrew melody. Maybe just work with 1st two phrases

Housekeeping: Distribute Holiday folder, Repertoire List, and Music Library check-out slip
Sing-a-thon packets go out today. Uniforms.

Week of OCT 20

Last week of music for Spring
Skill of the week
Reflection on International Dinner performance

Review of these pieces this week:
Pythagorean Round

Eli Eli

Compere Guilleri
Wind and the Amfalula Tree
Gavotte

Holiday Music ditributed next week!!

Housekeeping: uniform-a-rama. Sorry, this will be over soon, everyone.

Week of OCT 13

Assign rows for concert formation this week--4 rows.
Procedure: A's B's and C's arrange in height order within their "letter" section. Form 4 rows from there and assign. They should write their row assigment in agenda.

Observation to report--Young ones are forgetting their A/B/C assignments. Hmmm.....

Compere Guilleri--review French words. Pick up one more click in tempo.
Wind and the Amfalula Tree--round tones. reinforce voiced consonants this week.
Music Alone Shall Live--Eb Major
form: Piano intro/Unison/interlude/2-part once through/interlude/3-part twice through. C's start the round both times. Ending: each part sing "Never to die" again and again until all parts catch up. On the last repetition, C's sing these pitches--Sol, Sol, Sol, Sol; B's sing Fa, Fa, Fa, Mi; A's sing the regular melody, (low)Sol La Ti Do.
Schooldays memorized. Although this is from a Broadway show, carful that intonation doesn't get out of whack.
Stand in that River--review form. Words should be memorized.

Housekeeping: Hand our remaining uniforms. International Dinner reminders

Week of OCT 6

Prep for International Dinner:
Training/IMM performing Schooldays, Music Alone Shall Live, and Stand in that River with TCC.
All TR/IMM singers sing the melody on Stand. A few have asked to try the upper harmony and that's fine, but only if they can hold the part absolutely without help.

Work expression on Schooldays. simple choreography for the ending--Jazz hands!!!
Never
let (right hand down, palms out)
me (left hand down, palm out)
go (bring both hands up with the ever-cliche shake)

last chord--"find a friend" and pose. This is a bit free-form ;-) but cute.

Music Alone
reinforce diction--IPA clarification. Just use the top 5 vowels for now A, E, i, O, U (no schwa, etc. yet)
Steve Ortlip's drill: single pitch chant -- for the a sound "How high the sky"; for the E sound "Send them ten men"; for the u sound "Do you moo, too?"; "we see thee flee" Anybody have a drill for O?

Stand in that River--long phrasing. No breathing on the bar line! Memorize the form that appears in the box on p.2

Review French on Compere -- pronunciation guide at this link. add one more phrase.

Run through Wind and Amfalula and Pythagorean if time permits. We need these to be ready for gig Nov 5.

Housekeeping: Collect Schedule forms. Distribute music folders for any new students. Int'l Dinner reminders. Uniforms?

Week of SEPT 29

Skill-building:
Review and combine skills from previous weeks--e.g. scale with steady beat or different note values; half-step/whole step exercise with dynamics, Diction/IPA with tonal patterns from music, etc. Everybody be creative!

Compere--1st and 2nd phrases of French this week. Use IPA as much as possible
Schooldays--Both parts together this week
Stand in that River--will sing with TCC kids at International Dinner
Music Alone Shall Live--review. make sure notes are held full value.
Pythagorean Round--review melody and skips. Try in a round--careful of notes held full value and rests on strong beat

Housekeeping: Take up yellow Schedule reporting sheets

Week of SEPT 22

Skill of the week:
keeping the beat--
1. set the beat and have the choir count silently from 1-5. clap sharply on 5
Increase to 8; 12;20
2. Movements in duple and triple meter: marching, swinging arms, step-clap-clap, etc.

Organization: Assign A,B, and C groups. Maybe use the 3-part divisi at the end of Schooldays to get balance. B should divided into 2 groups (B1 and B2)

Music Alone Shall Live--everyone should know the melody now. If review needed, take it. To reinforce steady beat, try having singers 1st clap on the first beat of every bar. Then, only sing on the first beat of the bar. For the ones who need a real challenge, see who can sing only on the 3rd beat of the bar. Test A, B, and C selections with the canon.

Pythagorean Round--review melody. Test choir's ability to keep steady beat. Try the round this week

TR only:
Eli, Eli--voicing "m" on 3rd beat of dotted half note. Holding out the half notes, phrasing. Dynamics following the ascending and descending line in bars 6-12.

Amfalula Tree--B1 and A on alto line; B2 and C on soprano line

Housekeeping: Some folks may try to turn in unform orders--don't take them. IMPORTANT: the deadline will have passed by Tues or Wed rehearsal and any late orders will incur extra rush fees. Please MAIL order forms to AYS office or fax if paying by credit card.

Week of SEPT 15

Pass out Practice Agendas--dictate some things that singers should write in them.
In addition to scale patterns with solfege, drill half steps and whole steps Page 3-4 in workbook. Find the half steps and whole steps in the scale


Other drill and practice: Have kids sing the scale "silently" while you do hand signals. Stop on any pitch you wish and they sing that pitch out loud.


Compere--solfege and intro counting
Gavotte--reinforce whole and half step lesson
Schooldays--opens with half step. Chromatic patterns
Wind and Amfalula Tree--not too much on solfege today; work diction instead. vocal line on The wind. [u] sound needs focus (as in "Who"). reinforce and review IPA symbols for pure vowels


Housekeeping: Uniform order forms to pass out; Used Uniform Sale tomorrow at Callanwolde
Auditions at East and West this week--SEPT 17 for West at Mable House and SEPT 19 for East at the Sanford Performing Arts Ctr

Week of SEPT 8, 2009

Top priorities this week:

Solfege patterns: skips to Do and skips to La; use pure vowels of solfege for good tone
IPA for first five pure vowel sounds A,E, I, O, U

TRE:
Schooldays -- teach tune by rote, focusing on facial expression. Ask kids for ideas on some "choralography"
Compere -- solfege melody
Gavotte -- solfege with hand signals
Any review from last week

TR Central, North, West:
Name game
Music Alone Shall Live -- teach solfege; work tone and vocal line
Eli, Eli -- intro minor scale; drill skips ahead; read language using IPA vowels learned
Gavotte -- review hand signals. work in pairs
IMM break out
Pythagorean Round -- same minor scale as Eli Eli
Schooldays -- run if have time

Housekeeping: mini-flyers about SEPT 10 All-Family meeting; uniform measuring; audition flyers

Week of APR 21

Million Clouds Away--memorized

Warabe Uta
1 work language
2 work language a's =alto; b/c=sop
3 memorize; parts a,b,c=S1,S2, alt respectively
4 memorize; a/c=alto line b=S1

Frog Song

Origami at break

Tour program -- pick one or two to go over
impromptu songs at attractions--Feelin' Groovy, Lion Sleeps, Siyahamba
mini-concert--Ombra Mai Fu, Tutira Mai, Shake the Papaya, Fairest Lady
Service--Siyahamba, Al Shlosha, Tallis, Ose Shalom

Housekeeping:
TOUR
Distribute Tour rooming and Tour packing list; remind about Saturday call of 8:00 am at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
MAY SCHEDULE
Workbook May 2 at Druid Hills Presbyterian, Dress Rehearsal May 8 6:30-8:30, Concert Saturday May 9 at Sanford Perf Arts Ctr on Rainbow Dr.; May 11 auditions for singers who would like to advance to Treble Concert Choir (during rehearsal); Singer Recognition night Wed May 20

Requirements for moving to Treble Concert Choir (TCC)

• must commit to rehearsals on Mondays 4:45-6:15 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
• be at least a rising 4th grader (preference given to rising 6th and 7th graders)
• Sing Ombra Mai Fu from memory--tone and diction assessed
• pass off through p.19 in your Sight-singing Workbook--concepts and basics of music-reading
• Sing your voice part on Siyahamba with other parts being sung by an instructor or ensemble members--vocal independence assessed

Instructors will also make recommendations for advancement based on a singer's preparation (e.g. practice time), personal and musical maturity as well as attendance at rehearsals and concerts.

Week of APR 15

begin with Warabe Uta Medley
memorize #4 Usagi
Drill phrases and pronunciation #3. Explosive K's and T's. Use visual cues to help memorize phrases.
#1 Memorize solfeged melody
#2 Same and different phrases--memorize the call/response using analysis of high-low patterns

Origami at break

Million Clouds Away--verse 2 memory drill using dry erase or overhead techniques

Housekeeping: Audition flyers, collect tour papers, camp registraions

Week of MAR 31

Begin Warabe Uta Medley
solfege hand signals on #1 and #2
On #2, A's are alto B/C is Sop
#3 and #4 focus on language, repeated sounds, etc.

Concert Eval

Million Clouds Away

Housekeeping: pass out tour forms

Week of MAR 24

Run majority of Recital Repertoire
Seating Chart firmed up
47 in attendance

Week of MAR 17

TR and IMM:
Run as much of program as you can.
Siyahamba
Tallis Canon
Tutira Mai
Pupu Hinuhinu
Shake the Papaya Down
Al Shlosha
Fairest Lady

TR alone:
Ombra Mai Fu
Hey Diddle Diddle

Housekeeping:
remind about location for next week and details of recital--Sunday, MARCH 29, call at 1:30, recital at 3:00 pm, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Rehearsals at Callanwolde next week Tuesday and Wednesday 4:45-6:15. Come to both if you can, but one for sure!

Pass out any uniforms that have come to your location this week. Names are on them. If possible, have the kids try them on before they leave rehearsal, so if there are problems, they can be fixed before the recital.

The TCC and YC will present BRITISH INVASION this weekend. Postcards are available for kids to distribute. TR and IMM kids get in free if they would like to volunteer as an usher.

Week of MAR 3

TR and IMM

Fairest Lady--work memory on primary melody using solfege. Pair with secondary melody. Drill 3rd melody.Fairest Lady: A=alto; B/C=soprano

Pupu Hinuhinu--work hula and memory

Shake the Papaya Down--drill form and assign parts: I=group B, II=group A, III=group C



TR

Ombra Mai Fu--work tone and open vowels; make sure to get plenty of repetition on each phrase

Hey Diddle Diddle--assign parts S1=B/C alto=A/B (more B's on S1)

Housekeeping: Distribute Camp Forms!!

Week of FEB 24

All singers:
this week, assign each singer a group: A, B, C
Tallis Canon--review for memory; split group A in half to assign parts. A=S1, A'=S2, B=A1, C=A2
Siyahamba--assign groups according to what parts they are comfortable with on this piece
Group A=Sop 1, Group B=Sop 2, Group C=alto
Fairest Lady: A=alto; B/C=soprano

TR singers:
Review Al Shlosha
Ombra Mai Fu

Housekeeping:
Performance Team Sunday MAR 1, next week look for AYS Music Camp forms

Week of FEB 17

All Singers
Pupu Hinuhinu
Fairest Lady-intro with solfege
Tallis Canon--memorize 1 verse

Tuesday singers--review Children of Peace/Oseh

TR alone

Hey Diddle Diddle

Ombra Mai Fu--intro aria melody with solfege

Housekeeping: reminders about MAR 1 gig at Shallowford

Week of FEB 10

ALL:

Pala Pala
Oye
Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace, Intro Wade in the Water, Motherless Child Medley (Wed. singers)
Tallis Canon with words--review


Training only:

begin Fairest Lady -- "London Bridge" musical scavenger hunt

Tutira Mai -- review

Hey diddle diddle



Housekeeping: distribute new practice sheets

Week of FEB 3

All:
Tallis Canon with words
Siyahamba
Oseh Shalom/Children of Peace
Intro Wade in the Water, Motherless Child Medley (Wed. singers)

Training only:
Al Shlosha D'Varim
Tutira Mai
Hey diddle diddle (sop part this week)

Housekeeping: distribute new practice sheets; distribute Fairest Lady; Madrigal donations, Madrigal RSVPs; collect registration (AYS north)

Week of JAN 27

TUES: Did solfege warm-up on Lion Sleeps instead of Siyahamba and Oye

Review solfege on Tallis, move on to text.
Continue memory work on Million Clouds Away
Review 59th Street
Review Hey Diddle Diddle work from last week

Siyahamba
Oye

Week of JAN 20

TR/IMM
Frog Song--warm up
Million Clouds Away--work memory on 1st verse
Hey Diddle Diddle--work 1st section first
Shake the Papaya--run for fun
Tallis Canon--reinforce solfege

Week of JAN 13

Rhythm and pitch drill
singing scale using different rhythmic patterns

Pala Pala--use the "p" for breath connection. Tuesday singers used panting breath exercise followed by melody to achieve good intonation on higher notes. Last year's singers/camp singers help model each of the melodies. Solfeggio for third melody.

59th Street Round
Divide into 4 groups by birthday. Memorize a line of each verse. Helpful hint: each part of the round works if you do all four lines of the round 1st, da capo with 3 lines + line of verse, da capo with all four, da capo 3 + line of verse, etc.

Haven't figured out how to end it!!

Pupu Hinuhinu
Review movement. Put the differing phrases on the board for the 3 verses: kahakai, e lohe, e moe
Add counter melody. Discover parallel harmony. Try 2 parts today.

Million Clouds Away
Memorize 1st verse. Sing all the way through piece.

Housekeeping: Madrigal Dinner auction forms distributed.

Week of Jan 6

TR/IMM
Reacquaint with music from the fall.
All singers--
59th StreetRound
Million Clouds
Kompira
Siyahamba

TR alone
Ombra Mai Fu
Lion Sleeps Tonight