Date: 4/25/2013 Teacher: Zach Garcia Course Name: RMHS Singers Unit: Final weeks of the school year

Lesson: Read through new songs

Lesson Overview: The overview of this lesson is to bring two completely different pieces that are new to the choir. They will sight read both of them for the first time and we will focus on the specific concepts to produce an accurate interpretation of the styles of both pieces. Standards: National Standards o Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. o Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. o Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. o Reading and notating music. Colorado Music Standards o Expression of Music 21st Century Skills: Recordings will be played of both Requiem and The Storm is Passing Over This gives the class an idea of what the overall pieces should sound like. It gives the students a specific sound to hear in their heads and compare it to the music they make with each other. Daily Objectives: SWBAT: Students will be able to sing two brand new pieces and learn the basic idea of how the overarching pieces should be sung based on the discussed concepts during the lesson that they will demonstrate by singing in the choir.

Preparation: Arrive to class to write the agenda on the board noting on the board to do warm-ups, which will include both stretches and vocal warm-ups. Below the warm-ups will be written to move down from the risers into a circle with their chairs. Sight read the piece Requiem and The Storm is Passing Over will be written after in that order. I need to make sure my recordings will work on the computer at school for the students to listen to. Materials: Requiem Sore The Storm is Passing Over Score Copies of Requiem and The Storm is Passing Over for the class. Electronic recordings of both Requiem and The Storm is Passing Over My voice and lungs!

Anticipatory Set (10 Minutes): Warm-Ups: -Stretches: Have the class stretch as a warm-up to prepare them for the upcoming vocal warm-ups. First, have everyone stretch with their arms in the air. Have them keep their arms up and stretch pulling side to side. Have them bend over, and stretch their legs by touching their toes. Have them pull each arm across their body. Have them rotate their head, side to side and forward to stretch their neck muscles. Have them give each other shoulder massages, keeping them in their rows. Have them face right first and then left after.

-Vocal Warm-ups: On a Loo syllable, have the students smoothly connect each of the notes musically with quarter, half, and quarter rhythms. Go up and down chromatically. (Preps for Requiem) Sing through their routinely used Hip-Hip-Hip-Hip-Hippopotamus warm-up. Using a Yah-ha-ha-Yah-ha-ha-ha grouping of syllables, have the students sing a Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol pattern with the piano going upwards chromatically. This will help engage and energize the air for The Storm is Passing Over Using a Te-Tay-Tah-Toh-Too grouping, this will also help prepare the students to be able to sing sections of The Storm is Passing Over with clearer articulation.

Pre-assessment (2-3 Minutes): After the warm-ups have the students pass around the copies of the two new songs. Tell them to take a minute to scan through both tunes and then ask them what they think both songs are about or what their purpose is for. When and where would these songs be performed based on reading the text of the pieces? Connection to previous Learning or to Life (3 Minutes): Connect Eliza Gilkysons Requiem to Daniel E. Gawthrops Sing Me to Heaven Both of these songs are prayers for those who have gone through unfortunate times in their lives. Requiem was written as a song of grief following the Asian tsunami in December, 2004. It found a renewed audience after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region. Connect the Moses Hogans Im Gonna Sing Till the Spirit to The Storm is Passing Over. Both of these songs are spiritual tunes. Because of the uplifting and liveliness style of a spiritual tune, both of these songs call for a lot of high energy from a choir and both include many drastic dynamic changes to add excitement to these kinds of pieces. Agenda for the board: o o o o o Stretches Vocal Warm-Ups Move into a circle on the floor (Bring your chair) Sight Read Requiem Sight Read The Storm is Passing Over

Instruction (1 Hour): Stretches & Choral Warm-Ups (10 Minutes) Have students move to the floor to create a circle with their chairs. (Pre-assess.) Have the students scan through the music to make connections with the text.(2-3 Minutes) Listen to the recording of Requiem (5 Minutes) Have a first read through of Requiem (5 Minutes) After the first read through, work on having the choir speak specific sections of the piece so that each word gets its appropriate amount of space. Each word should have meaning and have a connection with the rest of the text throughout the piece. (5 Minutes) Once the students have gotten the idea of how the text plays a role in the piece, focus on sections of the piece where the dynamics are at their extreme high and low ends. (5 Minutes)

Listen to Recording of The Storm is Passing Over (5 Minutes) Move on to sight read The Storm is Passing Over (5 Minutes) Focus on the use of air support to create the high amount of energy that is needed for this piece. Breathing in time and using the air to crescendo and make other musical choices will be needed throughout this piece. Speak through the beginning section of the piece to help students grasp the proper diction and pronunciation for the text with these other concepts in mind. (5 Minutes) Next, focus on the tricky use of articulation and the syncopated rhythms toward the middle of the song. (5 Minutes) If students grasp the pieces very well, there may be time to run both of them one more time before the closure of the lesson. Closure (1-2 Minutes) Post Assessment (1-2 Minutes) Student Activities: None used Closure: (1-2 Minutes) What are your thoughts on these pieces? Do a thumbs up, down, or to the side check for overall thoughts on the new tunes. Post Assessment (1-2 Minutes) What were some of the specific concepts we touched on in Requiem? What about in The Storm is Passing Over?