Ensemble Rehearsal Plan

Title of Piece: Ave Maria

Conductors Name: Allison Ritter
Composer/Arranger: Igor Stravinsky

Ensemble Name: High School Select Chorus

Grade of Piece: 9 12
Learning Goals

What Learners will

Be able to do (behavioral): By the end of the class period, students will be able to
perform Igor Stravinskys Ave Maria true to the composers intent, and recall the elements of the
piece that make it a neoclassical composition with a success rate of 80%.
Understand (cognitive): Singers in the ensemble will be able to have perspective of the
neoclassical period and properly interpret the style of Stravinskys piece by incorporating
neoclassical elements in their own compositions.
Encounter (experiential): Students will sing in four parts demonstrating their
understanding of the text and style, and musical period in which Ave Maria was composed.
Students will also create a composition demonstrating their understanding of neoclassical
composition.
Construct meaning (constructivist): Students will appreciate the style of the neoclassical
period by applying elements of the period to their personal compositions.
Technical Skills (intonation, posture, breath, phonation, balance, bowing for strings, sticking
for percussion, diction for singers)
Singers will learn the importance of listening to every section of the chorus in order to
have the proper balance for such a strongly dissonant choral piece, focusing on vowel shapes and
blending. In their peer-pair, students will learn to balance their own voice while performing
with their partner, to get across their personal musical goal or idea.
Musical Concepts (melody, rhythm, harmony, form, timbre, texture)
Students will be able to understand and identify the musical elements of the neoclassical
period in Stravinskys Ave Maria, including the complex harmonies, varied rhythm across the
voice parts, and the chromaticism that Stravinsky incorporated.
Empowering Musicianship (historical perspective, stylistic integrity, musical artistry)
Students will establish stylistic integrity when creating their compositions, incorporating
neoclassical elements and will display musical artistry through their comprehension of the period
and style while performing Stravinskys Ave Maria.
Process
Partner: (Differentiated instruction by collaborating with ensemble members predicting the
performance challenges. Pose problems and brainstorm solutions together. Encourage students
to respond.)
Begin class by playing two different full recordings of Stravinskys Ave Maria from
Naxos Music Library. Allow kinesthetic learners to benefit by asking the students to stand and
move to what they hear, while the recordings are playing, and act it out with movements. The

teacher will ask the students, how did the music make you feel? What are difficult parts in the
piece; is there anything in the music that might be problematic? Are the pitches moving
stepwise? Does the meter feel strict or loose? The way in which the students moved during the
playing of the recordings should help them respond to these questions.
Revolve the questions asked around stylistic aspects of the song. Be sure the class
discusses the harmonies, the rhythmic structure, chromaticism, and the free chant-like
atmosphere of the song. Play the song again if students are hesitant to answer, or are unsure of
the answers to the questions, to help the students better develop their ear and ideas.
Once potential problems in the piece are discussed, ask the students, how might these
problems be solved in an ensemble setting? How should a choir handle dissonances? How can a
choir anticipate what is to come and practice good intonation? Discuss the importance of
agreeing on singing the same vowel for good intonation, how phrases affect the loose or legato
feeling of the piece, and how dissonances can be achieved successfully through careful listening
across an ensemble.
Present: (Sequence of the rehearsal steps. Present the steps to scaffold and allow time for
students to practice independently on their own. Differentiate instruction through questioning,
clarifying, summarizing, and connecting.)
Have students stand in their ensemble formation, and begin the rehearsal with a choral
warm up. Be sure to include body, breath, resonance, intonation, and a warm-up that connects to
the Ave Maria.
Tell the students briefly about Stravinsky, and that he is considered one of the most
influential composers of the neoclassical period. Discuss how Stravinsky was raised in the
Russian Orthodox Church, but remained inactive in the church until rediscovering his faith. Ave
Maria is a latin prayer that he set to music just after returning to the church. Some elements of
neoclassicism that appear in this piece are things we discussed previously: varied rhythm, the use
of chromaticism, more dissonances, and complicated harmonies.
Ask students to summarize the problematic places in their score that were discussed
previously. Have them circle or make note of dissonances, difficult rhythms and meter changes,
and chromatic passages in their score. Ask the ensemble which voice part has the most
chromaticism. The group should answer the alto section, and the altos will be made more aware
of the chromatic passages in their voice part. Spend five minutes exploring the difficult passages
of the piece that the group circled in their scores, without singing straight through the entire
piece. Take the tempo slightly slower than performance tempo.
Personalize: (Make the learning personal to the students. Provide opportunities for ensemble
members and their conductor to collaborate as musicians to create a musical experience and
add value to their lives.)
After rehearsing problematic passages in the music, ask the students to find a partner that
sings a different voice part than them. Have the students sit next to their partner. Tell the students
to think of a song they heard from their younger years or childhood that means something to
them; maybe it is a lullaby, or a nursery rhyme set to music, or a common folksong many would
know, or a song indigenous to their country, background, or origin. It must be something short or
a recognizable tune that the class would know. Allow three minutes for the class to discuss songs
with their partner.

Explain the assignment to the class: To demonstrate your knowledge of the neoclassical
period and their stylistic features, studentsalong with the partner they chosemust decide on a
song they discussed and compose a variation of that song using elements of the neoclassical era.
This may include a change in rhythm, a two-part harmonization including dissonances, or
chromatic changes in the melody, thus creating your own composition of a twist on a well-known
tune. These compositions must include one of these neoclassical elements, and you have ten
minutes to collaborate with your partner. At the conclusion of the ten minutes, each peer-pair will
perform for the class the composition with their partner.
Perform: (Demonstrate teaching music when students perform.)
Once ten minutes has passed, each group will take turns performing a variation of their
song in the neoclassical style. All students will applaud and show support for their classmates.
Students in the audience will raise their hand once students are done performing, and take a
guess as to what song was performed and in what way it was changed. The performing group
will explain their plan for their performance, what was changed from the original song, and how
they could have improved it. Upon returning to their seats, each student from the peer-pair will
write this on an evaluation sheet and hand it into the teacher.
At the conclusion of all the peer-pair performances, the entire ensemble will successfully
sing and perform Stravinskys Ave Maria focusing on the neoclassical elements that were
incorporated in their personal tune compositions, in all four parts, with dynamics and expression.
Assessment
Formative: The teacher is to walk around the room and observe the collaboration of the peerpairs during the composing of their song. Recognize comprehension of the material and which
element of the neoclassical period the partnership chose to highlight. The teacher must be sure
that both students are equally contributing to the performance and the teacher has the right to
inquire about their plans for the performance. When performing as an ensemble, notice the
difference and improvement in the sound of the ensemble and the stylistic coherence of the Ave
Maria.
Summative: The teacher will use the paper handed in from each student as a summative
assessment on how well the neoclassical period was understood. The students have written three
things on the evaluation: the plan for their performance, what was changed from the original
song, and in what ways it could have been improved. This evaluation gives the teacher a solid
understanding of each students enthusiasm, participation, and comprehension.
Integrative: After reading the feedback from the students, the teacher can then reflect on the
impact of the compositions and how it reflected in their performance of the Ave Maria at the end
of the class period. After their composition, did the student show comprehension in the
Stravinsky and his composition style? Did students respect the variety of their classmates peerpair song choices? The teacher can record these thoughts in their academic journal, and make
improvements in order to ensure the success of neoclassicism in Stravinsky repertoire.