ADVANCED CHORAL ENSEMBLE – Tenth/Eleventh/Twelfth Grades

Units of Credit:.50 per semester – Full year course

Prerequisites:Audition and consent of instructor

Course Overview:

The competencies of this course are based upon the MCPS Fine Arts Standards and Music Content Standards. Advanced Choral Ensemble will expand upon fundamentals of vocal production, including an understanding of the student’s own voice, basic music literacy, and choral performance, emphasizing vocal chamber literature. Methodology is employed through group rehearsal. Assessments used are individual voice testing, written tests, live concert performances, invitational / district festival participation, and post-performance evaluation. Recommended class size: 20 – 24. Increased performance opportunities will be required.

Topics:Style periods

Vocal pedagogy

Presentation

Musical literacy

Cultural awareness

Aesthetic values

Standard #1:Students will sing alone and with others a varied repertoire of music.

Competency 1:Demonstrate advanced understanding of vocal technique, including appropriate posture, mouth position, breath management, register control, range development, octave identification, and accuracy of pitch and rhythm.

Competency 2:Students will sing in an expressive and musical manner, age-appropriate literature, from unison to 8 parts

Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. vocal warm-ups
  2. sight reading
  3. rehearsal of literature
  4. movement
/
  1. choral octavos
  2. standardized skill/theory program, such as the Innovative Learning Skills music literacy program
  3. audio/visual resources
  4. appropriate computer software
/
  1. individual/group singing tests
  2. written skills/theory tests
  3. self/group evaluations
  4. performance participation
  5. District Festival adjudication

Standard #2:Students will perform on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

Competency 1:Students will play accompaniments to choral selections.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. rehearsal/performance of literature
  2. incorporation of solo instruments into rehearsal/performance
/
  1. piano, percussion, wind and string instruments, electronic instruments
  2. choral octavos/accompaniment parts
  3. specialized instruction
/
  1. rehearsals
  2. performances

Standard #3:Students will improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniment.
Competency 1: Students will improvise style-appropriate vocal literature, including melodic and harmonic structure, and accompaniments.
Strategies / Resources /
Assessment
  1. demonstration
  2. experimentation
/
  1. audio/visual
  2. guest artists
  3. vocal literature
/
  1. rehearsals
  2. performances

Standard #4:Students will compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
Competency 1:Students will be encouraged to compose and arrange music employing musical notation gained through skills/theory program.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
a.melodic writing in theory program
b.notation of improvised materials
c.application of experimental forms
d.performance of student compositions /
  1. computer software
  2. audio/visual
  3. skills/theory program
  4. keyboard
/
  1. performance./critique. of student compositions

Standard #5:Students will read and notate music.
Competency 1:Students will be able to perform with a steady beat, employing simple and compound meter signatures, and mixed meter.
Competency 2:Students will employ traditional and non-traditional notation to read and perform rhythmic figures, including notes and corresponding rests from sixteenth through whole notes, the use of dotted figures and ties, and will apply the concepts of subdivision, augmentation, diminution, and syncopation.
Competency 3:Students will identify and utilize traditional and non-traditional notation, including the treble and bass clef, absolute pitch names of the grand staff, and the use of sharps, flats, and naturals.
Competency 4:Students will recognize, learn and sing solfeggio with attention drawn to accurate intonation, musical expression, and increased reading proficiency.
Competency 5:Students will identify and demonstrate use of musical terminology in the areas of tempo, dynamics, and style on an expanded level.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. appropriate choral literature
  2. written exercises, including dictation and composition
  3. call and response
  4. sight reading exercises
/
  1. pitched and unpitched instruments
  2. body percussion
  3. vocal literature
  4. student compositions
  5. audio/visual resources
/
  1. rehearsals
  2. written/oral tests
  3. performances

Standard #6:Students will listen to, analyze, and describe music.
Competency 1:Students will aurally identify and demonstrate stylistic characteristics, employing an advanced knowledge of the technical vocabulary of music.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. rehearsal
  2. performance
  3. aural analysis
  4. attend other performances
/
  1. computer software
  2. skills/theory program
  3. vocal literature
  4. audio/visual material
  5. guest artist(s)
  6. invitation/district festival participation
/
  1. rehearsal critiques
  2. written/listening tests
  3. performance critiques

Standard #7:Students will evaluate music and music performances.
Competency 1: Students will demonstrate the ability to identify criteria that constitute a musical and stylistically appropriate performance.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. rehearsal
  2. performance
  3. aural analysis
/
  1. vocal literature
  2. audio/visual material
  3. performance
  4. invitational/district festival participation
/
  1. formal adjudications
  2. audio/visual evaluations

Standard #8:Students will understand relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
Competency 1:Students will compare characteristics of two or more arts within a particular historical period or style.
Competency 2:Students will be exposed to and participate in projects outside the arts that identify and inter relate music as a strand of the total concept of life, including career options in the arts.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. interdisciplinary units within the arts
/
  1. computer software
  2. guest artist/lecturer
  3. vocal literature
  4. audio/visual material
  5. field trips
/
  1. rehearsal/performance evaluations
  2. written/listening tests

Standard #9:Students will understand music in relationship to history and culture.
Competency 1:Through choral literature and performance in a variety of languages, students will be able to distinguish characteristics of representative music genres and styles such as Native American, Latin American, African, Asian, European, and other music of the world.
Competency 2:Students will compare functions that music serves, roles of musicians, and conditions under which music is typically performed, in a variety of world cultures.
Strategies / Resources / Assessment
  1. interdisciplinary units within the arts
  2. world music units
  3. thematic concerts
/
  1. computer software
  2. guest artist/lecturer
  3. world vocal literature
  4. audio/visual material
  5. field trips
/
  1. rehearsal/performance evaluation
  2. written/listening tests
  3. audio/visual critiques

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Advanced Choral Ensemble – Tenth/Eleventh/Twelfth Grades

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Advanced Choral Ensemble – Tenth/Eleventh/Twelfth Grades