PDA Summative Reflection

Max Claycomb

For most of my hours this semester, I observed choirs of different ages from younger
grade school to college level and participated in Soulfege. I observed my churchs childrens
choir on 12/1 for an hour, my middle schools classes for four hours on 10/14, the day of
intermezzo, on 10/10 I observed the Princeton High Schools choir rehearsal for an hour, the
11/22 dress rehearsal for Williamson Voices for two hours, and a Schola rehearsal for an hour
the day before their concert.
In the childrenss choir, the children all seemed to learn music pretty well. The ages
varied from four to ten and consisted of both boys and girls and they were working on Christmas
music for our church services later in the month as they always do. The director stood at the front
of the group and for the most part helped the kids with memory of the words, where the notes
sounded decent for such a young group. When rehearsing the music, the director sat at the piano
and worked with the kids on the notes, and I found that the kids were working on harmony as
well. At such a young age I was surprised to hear harmony, but the kids handled it well and
loved singing. They enjoyed being able to sing even if things did not always sound good and just
loved to sing the songs.
With the classes at the middle school, I observed classes of sixth, seventh and eighth
grades for recorder, female sectional of altos an sopranos, and a small group of eighth grade
choir students. Unfortunately, students did not always desire to be there, especially with
recorder. The class was required for them and many did not enjoy the class as participation was
low and the students had a test that day on notes and being able to play back small melodies as

the teacher worked on ear training. With the sectional, students worked on music that they were
preparing for their December concert where the girls were divided into altos and sopranos and
learning to sing in two part divisi. These girls seemed to enjoy the class and this choir is not
required, so it was the girls that desired to be in the group. The girls matched pitch very well and
held their own parts well also, with very good behavior and constantly paid attention. Then, with
the eighth grade choir students, they also worked on Christmas music for the concert, but also
sight read new music and worked on warm ups for some time. These students also seemed very
excited to be singing and learning new music. This choir worked on STAB music and these
students learned to hold their own part well while developing strong musical ears as their sight
reading skills seemed to be well developed.
With Princeton High Schools choir, I saw the combined choir which worked on show
tunes for their concert the next night. The choir worked with choreography, music, and rehearsed
very well. The students were very attentive to the director and I could see when watching the
students worked very hard to prepare this music. The kind of music also intrigued students as
many of them got into the music a lot and seemed to understand and act the emotion of the piece
well. The only time students were criticized was for not watching and making small mistakes
where the director then had the students start again yet the students would begin again and fix the
mistakes quickly.
The Williamson Voices concert was very inspiring. The choir sounded phenomenal and
impressed me so much. The group ran through the entire program with breaks in between songs
and with a quick fix here and there but the group had such focus and amazing sound. They
listened to each other extremely well and treated the rehearsal like a performance while singing.
Each student engaged themselves completely and never let the focus or energy drop for a second.

That rehearsal for me was one of the most moving moments in my musical career. Williamsons
rehearsal left me speechless that night.
Finally with the Schola rehearsal, I went to the in class rehearsal before the concert the
next day. Again, Dr. Jordan, like with Williamson rehearsed the choir extremely well leading the
group in the beginning with warm ups and then continuing with the repertoire. The students were
all focused on the music and working to create beauty. The group showed preparation, desire,
and passion as the concert would be the next day and they showed that they could perform
amazing music.
In terms of what did I learn about the groups, there were a couple big things that I noticed
and learned. Each director had a great deal of patience, which was obvious to me. There were
times where the rehearsal could get off track or mistakes were made, and each director handled
the situation calmly. They would either stop rehearsing at the end of the music or they would
calmly stop at the moment and go over the music quickly and then continue. None of the
directors would lose any sort of patience and kept working hard with the time they had. Another
thing I saw was although each director stood at the front of their choir the entire time, they had
great control of the choir but for the most part the kids were willing to give that control to the
director and sing and have fun. The directors knew how to relate to the students they taught and
kept them actively engaged whether that meant calling on individuals for answers or making eye
contact and asking questions. Each director was able to keep the attention of their students and
for the most part the kids gave that attention very willingly. Finally, each director had prepared
the students very well but evidence existed that preparation outside of class was necessary. In
these choirs and classes, outside preparation seemed like it was required and not choice and as a
result, each group sounded very good and as an observer I could see the amount of time the

students put into their studies or music. Being prepare for class with the physical objects
necessary was also stressed. Each class and choir was required to either have their music with
them or memorized and the fact that in the older groups, a pencil was mandatory. Every student
followed this extremely well which was surprising but the directors obviously made a point to
say that each student had to be prepared of rehearsal with music and a pencil and more.
As a part of Soulfege, I am beginning to learn what it is like to be in an all-male a
cappella group. The music is very cool and I have really enjoyed singing with the group and
learning new arrangements to songs and how to be a part of a small ensemble. I have learned
also the importance of individual work outside of the group as some people may come
unprepared and it shows and can really hinder the group from sounding amazing, but those who
do prepare also are able to help those struggling to catch up and get into the music more. One of
the most interesting things I feel about the group this semester is although we have had
difficulties with personnel as some members have left the group and we have invited new
members and sometimes too many people want to lead the group, when we all decide to just sing
the music and enjoy what we are doing, the music is really good and fun to sing. We as a group
are able to groove well when we decide to really focus and listen to each other and enjoy the
music, because when we dont, rehearsal can be slow or boring. Yet, when we as a group can
enjoy rehearsal, the time goes really quick and is enjoyable. Im excited to see how next semester
play out with this group as I have really enjoyed sing with this group.
I have become a better music teacher because I am experiencing new things and learning
to absorb the teachings and how some teach in a school or ensemble setting. In observations, I
have learned how respect and patience and the idea of making music enjoyable allows for the
music to become so much more than notes on a page. Each director can connect with students

and help them to bring out the beauty that each person has to contribute to the group and the
music. Also, the patience that directors have allows for success to occur in the rehearsal but also
allows students to feel welcomed and comfortable. Students must feel good in an environment or
they will not enjoy the experience and not bring their best to the group. In addition, watching
how directors command a choir is a big learning experience as the director handles each situation
calmly with passion and joy, rather than anger and rage. It can be so easy to become focused
solely on the notes on the page and lose sight of why teaching younger students is enjoyable in
the first place. Creating music with choirs and classes and helping students learn how to produce
and enjoy music is why I want to go into music education, and the directors I observed help
reinforce that a lot. In terms of Soulfege, I am learning how to blend well with a group, my
reading skills are improving along with my rhythm skills, and I am really enjoying being able to
sing with this group of guys. You have to enjoy what you do, and I really love getting together
with the guys to enjoy the time and rehearse together where I am becoming a better singer as
well, experiencing new kinds of singing and working on different technical things than choir
would teach. All of these traits are important for being a music teacher because music teachers
need variety in what they teach, great musicianship skills, and learning how an all-male group
works is cool for when maybe down the road I could lead something with a high school group
where the guys want to sing together.