Semester Chorus

*Only what I led and taught*

Tuesday, October 23rd

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Winter Wonderland
o Teach first two songs
- Reflections of Hanukah
o Teach the first song

Thursday, October 25th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Winter Wonderland
o Teach last song
o Review the whole thing
- Reflections of Hanukah
o Teach chorus
o Speak through words

Monday, October 29th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols Quiz
- Reflections of Hanukah
o Teach notes for verses
- Winter wonderland
o Review

Wednesday, October 31st

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols Introduction
o Sing We Now of Christmas
- Feliz Navidad
o Sing through whole piece
o Map out song

Friday, November 2nd

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Reflections of Hanukah
o Put whole piece together
- Carol of the Bells
o Teach parts section by section
 - Winter Wonderland
o Review
o Sing We Now of Christmas

Thursday, November 8th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols Review
- Feliz Navidad
o Learn Alto part
o Go over Key change
o Put all together

Monday, November 12th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols review
- Gloria
o Teach first 4 sections
- Feliz Navidad

Wednesday, November 14th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Gloria
o Teach last 3 sections
- Symbols review

Friday, November 16th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Gloria
o Put both sections together
o Run, fix, run
- Winter Wonderland
- Reflections of Hanukah
o Learn Dance

Tuesday, November 20th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols review

Tuesday, November 27th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
 - Symbols review
- Review Gloria
- Sing We Now of Christmas
o Focus on phrasing for sopranos
- Carol of the Bells
- Winter Wonderland
- Feliz Navidad

Thursday, November 29th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Run all from memory

Monday, December 3rd

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Symbols Quiz
- Uniforms

Wednesday, December 5th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Run-fix Run all pieces
o Reflections of Hanukah
o Sing We Now of Christmas
o Carol of the Bells
o Gloria
o Song of the Apple Tree
o Feliz Navidad
o The Gift
o Winter Wonderland
o Winter Holiday

Friday, December 7th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Uniforms
- Run-fix Run all pieces
o Reflections of Hanukah
o Sing We Now of Christmas
o Carol of the Bells
o Gloria
o Song of the Apple Tree
o Feliz Navidad
o The Gift
o Winter Wonderland
 o Winter Holiday

Tuesday, December 11th

- Physical Warm-up
- Vocal Warm-up
- Run-fix Run all pieces
o Reflections of Hanukah
o Sing We Now of Christmas
o Carol of the Bells
o Gloria
o Song of the Apple Tree
o Feliz Navidad
o The Gift
o Winter Wonderland
o Winter Holiday

Thursday, December 13th

- Party

Sing We Now of Christmas

- Listen to the whole piece
- Talk about cut time (symbol!)
- Teach melody
- Teach harmony
- Teach the M.14 pattern
- Things to consider:
o With gusto at m. 26
o S sing Noel at m. 14 needs to be elongated, instead of clipped
o Alto ‘oo’ at m. 47 needs to be sweet, and a pure vowel
o Dynamics throughout the whole piece swell, especially at the end.
Reflections of Hanukah/Freedom and Light
- Teach Reflections of Hanukah (no breath in between ‘reflections of
Hanukah’)
- Teach Freedom in light chorus, then verses, then ending
- Talk about telling a story
- Annunciation is the most important thing in this song to tell the story
- Learn dance
- Rehearse and review until memorized
- Things to consider:
o Crescendo in Reflections into Freedom
o Altos bring out m.8
o All students singing all parts of verses, not split up
o The two interludes have different dances
o Ending high G for soprano must be lifted and light with a huge
crescendo
Carol of the Bells
 - Only S2 in this class.
- Run/fix/run
- Things to consider:
o Ding and Dong MUST be closed to the ng at all times
o The whole piece builds from pp to FF
o Tall vowels
o Ding-dong-di-ing dong on pg 4 for S2/A
o Ending ding dongs need to be clear 2 part, closed to ng

Gloria
- Teach section by section (m. 17-20, 21-27, 28-35, 38-48, 50-59, 62-67, 68-
69)
- Things to consider:
o No breath: Gloria in excelsis Deo EVERY TIME
o In: EEN (diction)
o Solidifying counts in each section (different for S/A)

Apple Tree
Already learned when I got there (Ms. Little leading)

Feliz Navidad
- Read through the whole piece on melody
- Teach the alto harmony
- Map out the piece
- Go over the key change and echo section
- Rehearse and review until memorized

The Gift
Already learned when I got there (Ms. Little leading)

Our Winter Wonderland

- Many students know it, so sing through once
- Break up piece by song, and teach
- Put together
- Rehearse and review until memorized
- Things to consider:
o Fermatas at m. 3
o Hold out year and cheer for the full value
o Sing “There’ll be ooo” to help find note at m. 18
o Echo at m. 26
o Rhythm at m. 40/41
o Eflat not natural at m. 45
o Octave jumps in Let it Snow
o Echo at 64
o Echo at pickup to 72
o Sing ‘When it ah’ to help find note at m. 88
 o No breath from m. 94-98

Winter Holiday
Already learned when I got there (Ms. Little leading)