Rehearsal Process and Standards
Rehearsal Process and Academic Standards
EXPERIENCE
Indiana Music Standards 1.3, 6.3
Objective: To place the piece into a context and facilitate an understanding of its concept as a whole.
Activity: Read or play through the piece once, or listen to a recording. Singers will follow along in their scores. Singers should highlight where the main themes occur.
Assessment: Are the singers following along in the scores? Are they engaged during the read-through?
Indiana Music Standards 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6.3, 6.4
Objective: For singers to gain knowledge about the nature of the musical issues they will need to solve.
Activity: Briefly comment on the piece. Why was it selected? Discuss some of the interesting musical features or ideas, etc. Point out the major issues in rhythm, melody, color, and phrasing. What are the challenges of performance?
Assessment: Are they singers engaged in the discussion musical features?
PRESENT
Indiana Music Standards 6.4, 7.1, 8.1
Objective: For singers to identify the main musical idea(s).
Activity: Isolate the most important musical statements in the piece, and provide singers with experiences from these parts first. Experiences are not limited to singing but may include clapping a rhythmic motive, performing hand signs to the main theme, etc.
Assessment: Does the performance sound secure? Do the singers demonstrate understanding? Are the singers making connections on their own.
Indiana Music Standards 1.3, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6.3
Objective: For singers to gain an understanding of the underlying structure of the piece. Whenever possible, music should be learned from the standpoint of how the composer wrote it.
Activity: Discover significant aspects of the structure of the music.
Assessment: Are singers marking their scores? Is the discussion of the music and text substantial and high quality?
PRACTICE
Indiana Music Standards 1.4, 1.5, 5.1
Objective: For singers to polish the fine points of the piece (pitch, rhythm, dynamics, phrasing, diction, etc.)
Activity: Teach and rehearse the piece as the composer wrote it, engaging the musical intelligence of the singers whenever possible. Decide which problems are "self correcting" and empower singers to take responsibility for correct notes, rhythms, and markings.
Assessment: Does the performance sound secure? Do the singers demonstrate understanding? Are the singers making connections on their own?
Indiana Music Standards 1.4, 1.5, 5.1, 5.4
Objective: For singers to build individual musicianship. They will continue to fine-tune the mechanics of the piece using different modalities and find new ways to approach the music being sung.
Activity: Be sure that singers make connections between warm-ups and music in the rehearsals. Emphasize listening to other parts.
Assessment: Are the singers performing with understanding?
EXTEND
Indiana Music Standards 6.2, 7.1
Objective: For the conductor to provide singers with opportunities to make musical decisions and critique their work.
Activity: During the informal cooperative learning, one group should listen while another sings and makes suggestions for improvement.
Assessment: Monitor the students' contributions to their cooperative groups. Are the singers taking personal responsibility for the musical issues?
Indiana Music Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8, 5.1, 9.2
Objective: For students to synthesize learning.
Activity: Present a performance of the piece.
Assessment: Do the singers sing in a way that reflects an understanding of the musical ideas and a mastery of the musical materials?