Lesson Date: 11/21/13 Teacher: Laura Marshall Unit: Servants Chorus, Holiday music Lesson: Character development while

singing Total Estimated time: 90 minutes Overview:

Music is the art of thinking with sounds." ~ Jules Combarieu Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~ Victor Hugo

In the performing arts, it is imperative for students to understand exactly why they are singing the repertoire they are singing. In a performance setting, a choir strives to tell an audience a story, and idea, or portray a message. For this to be possible, the choir must first know for themselves what that story, idea or message is. A large part of telling the story involves the emotions and feelings behind the meaning. In an educational setting, choral students learn much more than just performing a piece of music. While a performance is typically an end goal and overlying purpose of the rehearsals, in my belief, it is actually the rehearsal process and students individual growth that is the most important. This lesson will focus on some of the individual growth within the rehearsal process. In choir, students learn problem-solving skills. They learn how to look at a piece of music and pick apart the different elements necessary to telling a story. Holiday music is relatable largely due to the fact that it is familiar and heard every year. Students can relate the music to the way they feel during the holiday season. Often there are individual memories of listening to holiday music with family and friends that can make a song special. In Servants chorus, while we are learning to collaborate and sing next to peers, the performance can be enhanced if each singer creates their own character for the performance. Producing a piece of music with individual character development creates a sense of accomplishment and joy. Standards: Standard 1.1.a o Students can perform music accurately and expressively, and use emotions and senses to convey the story and message of the music. Standard 1.3.b o Students can maintain tempo, dynamics and expression by listening and collaborating with other ensemble members. Standard 4.2.a o Students can apply specific criteria in evaluating music by others or themselves

21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Reasoning When students demonstrate musical knowing, they are able to integrate varying perspectives when expressing themselves in a variety of ways. Producing a quality musical performance requires a synthesis of creative, expressive, and technical skill; self-adjustment; listening; and adjustment of tone, pitch, and volume to create a balanced and effective sound. Music constantly challenges students to use multiple processes and diverse perspectives when performing, analyzing, or making informed decisions Collaboration The synergy and discipline that vocal ensembles foster create leadership skills and self-awareness. When students communicate the language of music to a variety of audiences through response to conductors cues and interpretation, they demonstrate collective problem-solving skills that are readily transferred in all aspects of life.

Daily Objectives: Students will know: The translation and meaning to Servants Chorus. Why emotion is important while singing.

Students will be able to: Demonstrate their understanding of the translation and the text of the pieces through the emotion and feeling they demonstrate while singing. Describe their individual character during Servants Chorus.

Preparation: I will have to do extensive score study on Servants Chorus and the two holiday songs, The Man with the Bag and Gabriels Message. This includes a complete IPA pronunciation guide and translation of the Servants Chorus, as well as articulations, breath marks, tempos and dynamics. For the new holiday pieces, I will know each voice part and be 100% confident singing each part, as well as conducting the pieces as a whole. I will have notes for staging/choreography for Servants Chorus written in the music. I will create a Prezi presentation for the character development presentation, including a link to a YouTube video of the opera chorus.

Materials: The Man with the Bag arranged by Paul Langford Gabriels Message arranged by John Rutter

Servants Chorus by Gaetano Donizetti, arranged by Scott Gilmore Prezi presentation YouTube video

Connection to Previous Learning or to Life: Prima Voce ladies have already performed Servants Chorus. They know the general meaning of the piece, and should be portraying emotion while singing. They are singing Servants Chorus at CMEA in January, and have continually discussed emotion and visual presentation while singing.

Pre-Assessment: During the class before my lesson, I did a pre-assessment, asking 5 questions related to Servants Chorus and emotion while performing. The five questions were: 1) Who is your character during Servants Chorus? 2) During the solo section, what drama are they describing? 3) Who are they complaining about in the waltz section? 4) What does zit-ti mean? 5) Why is emotion important while singing? These questions allowed me to discover how much the ladies were thinking about emotion and their character while singing. I discovered that most of the ladies understand the general story behind what they are singing, but not many have done individual character development.

Agenda for the Board: Warm-ups Holiday pieces Servants Chorus presentation

Instruction: Anticipatory Set: (3-5 minutes) Prima Voce Check-in: Often during the first few minutes of class while attendance is being taken, the ladies tell each other how they are on a scale of 110, and answer an individual get to know you question. My question for the day will be What is your favorite snack? Instruction/Student Activities Vocal Warm-ups (5-10 minutes) o *See attached warm-up sheet Rehearsal Portion: o Gabriels Message: (15 minutes) The ladies have only had this music for a few days and have not learned the entire piece. We will review verse one and two from the previous lesson. This piece has a lot of triplet vs. eighth note parts, such as measure 17-32. If needed the top two voices will be rehearsed separately, and then the bottom two voices.

o It is important to emphasize word stress, especially in English pieces. In a piece like this, word stress will help phrasing, which will alleviate much of the difficulty of the line. We will also discuss as a class what voice part is most important at any one given time, so they are aware of dynamics. For example, the top soprano line has the melody for the entire first page and a half, while the three lower voices sing on a hum indicating that they should be actively listening to the soprano 1 part. o The Man with the Bag (15 minutes) is a fun jazzy holiday song. I will have the ladies review measures 1-36. There are some cluster chords, such as measure 21, 24, 28. I will have the ladies lean into the cluster chords, and hold them confidently so they are aware of what they should be listening for when they reach those sections. o The second half of the song is Santa Baby. We will rehearse individual parts from measure 36 to the end. Word emphasis will be stressed from the beginning, as well as dynamics and paying attention to note values. Servants Chorus Character Development activity (45 minutes) o Prezi presentation. The first part of the prezi reveals a few of the responses to question 1 from the pre-assessment. Several of the students described creative individual characters, which will be a great way to introduce character development. o Second part to the prezi includes a YouTube clip of a video recording of Servants Chorus. The ladies will watch the video and I will instruct them to pay attention to individual characters. Do they seem to have an individual identity? Do you believe that they are actually that character, or can you tell that they are acting? After the video, I will have the ladies discuss what character traits they observed. o Next slide of the prezi will include things to consider while thinking about character development. o I will have the ladies split up into groups of 3-4, and brainstorm individual characters for themselves. They will have 5-10 minutes to do this, and by the end of the brainstorming, will have individual identities that they have created. o There are several sections of Servents Chorus. The sections are: measure 1-31(craziness of being a servant), 32-45 (acknowledging that it is a good job), 46-54 (drama between wife and husband), 55-63 (lazy and useless nephew, 64-95 (waltz section including nephew and mistress drama), 96127 (1st zip-it section), 150-end (final zip-it section). I will have the ladies quickly tell me the different sections. o Together we will choreograph the song, keeping in mind the different section of the song. We will do this first without singing, and then add singing.

Check for Understanding/Closure: If there is time, we will bring the song back to riser formation and sing it without full choreography, but still telling the same story through the emotion.

Post Assessment:

Accommodations/Modifications: There are a few ladies that are only in choir half of the time. If they are not there, or leave before the lesson is over, I will figure out a way to get the information to them.