MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 1

LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE:

Please design your lesson and add to the google document!

Rehearsal 1/5: 7 minutes: Focus on Phrasing: A Section: Notes,

(Sept. 14 and 21) rhythms, tone, text

Chunk 1: Goals (.20/7:00)

1s. Good Morning VMRC!

2v. Good Morning!

1s/d. I’m Kathryn and I’m so excited to work on my piece, the Holly and the
Ivy, which is on page in your packets!

1a. My goals today are to learn the first 4 measures of the chorus, and to work
on overall phrasing.

Chunk 2: Melody Phrasing: (1:30/1:50/7:00)

1d. Let’s all start by singing the soprano part, starting with “O the rising of the
sun,” with Isabelle!
2p. Sing first 4 measures of soprano line chorus
1d. Please mark in your score that we are not taking a breath between sun, and
“and” in measure 10! Let’s try that again, and while you sing, let’s draw
the phrase in the air!
2p. Choir sings
3a/sd. That was beautiful, but I heard a few people try to sneak a breath after
sun…
1d. One more time to lock that in!
2p. Choir sings again

TRANSITION

1d. That phrasing will apply to ALL parts that we go over next, so don’t
forget! Mark it if you need to!

Chunk 3: Teach Bass Part: (:40/2:30/7:00)

1d. Everybody be a bass at the same spot. JMU students please always sing on
solfege, and VMRC, sing on solfege or any neutral syllable.
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 2

1d. Sing bass part

2p. Choir echoes
1d. On text
2p. Choir sings bass part on text

TRANSITION

1d. Basses review that in your head while we move on!

Chunk 4: Teach tenor part: (:50/3:20/7:00)

1d. Tenors, please sing on solfege or neutral syllables.

1d. Sing tenor part
2p. Tenors sing tenor part
1d. With the basses, on text!
2p. Basses and tenors sing on text

TRANSITION

1d. Tenors and basses keep reviewing in your head.

Chunk 5: Teach Alto, and combine with Soprano: (1:30/4:50/7:00)

1d. Altos and sopranos, please be an alto on neutral syllables or solfege.

1d. Sing the alto part.
2p. Altos and Sopranos sing alto part.
1d. With the tenors and basses on text! Sopranos, continue to be an alto
2p. Choir sings A/T/B
1d. Let’s add the soprano melody to that, on text!
2p. Choir sings all four parts on text
1d. Why don’t we draw ourselves the beautiful sunrise to really put us in the
spirit of this phrase!

TRANSITION

3sa. Beautiful! I loved how you shaped that phrase, and carried through
without a breath like I asked! I even heard some crisp diction which was
an added bonus, so thank you!

Chunk 6: Review the beginning part: (1:50/6:40/7:00)

1d. Since I believe that we have about a minute or two left, I’d like to review
the first part we did two weeks ago in super speed, so listen carefully!
1d. Sing the soprano, alto, bass, part fast.
1d. We didn’t go over the tenor part last time, but it is almost identical to the
part we just learned!
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 3

1d. Sing tenor part.

1d. Try it on your own part, and it is okay if you make a mistake!
2p. Choir sings
1d. One more time, and improve at least on thing this time, and lets draw our
phrase again!

Chunk 8: Learning summary(:20/7:00/7:00)

3sra. Thank you VMRC for your excellent musicianship with the long phrases
and diction! It was a pleasure, and you all did great!

1d. Let’s give our attention to our next conductor: ______________________-

 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 4

Rehearsal 2/5: 7 minutes: Focus on Tone Quality: B Sections:

(Sept. 28 and Oct. 12) Notes, rhythms, tone, text.

Chunk 1: Goals (.30/7:00)

1s. Good Morning VMRC!

2v. Good Morning!

1s. I’m _________ and I’m so happy to see you this morning!

1d. Please open your music booklets to page ____ to our song________

1a. My goals today are to review all the A sections of this piece from our last
rehearsal on text. We will also be focusing on sounding good and having
great tone while we are learning the B section of this piece.

Chunk 2: Review Section A (8 measures) Tutti: (1:00/1.30/7:00)

1d. Everyone please sing measures ____ to ____ as a review

2p. Choir echos
1d. Sing again and improve ____
2p. Choir echos
3sra. Very nice

1d. Sopranos only, please sing this section on text.

2p. Sopranos sing
3nra. Great

TRANSITION

1d. Before we move on, let’s learn all the verses in this A section.

Chunk 3: Other Verses in A section (8 measures) Tutti: (1:00/2.30/7:00)

1d. Everyone echo me:

1a. Chant the text of verse 2 in rhythm
2p. Choir echos
1d. Let’s do that again and get taller vowels.
2p. Choir echos
3sra/d. Give feedback if it improved or not

1d. Let’s do the same for verse 3 (if needed)

2p. Sing on text – verse 3
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 5

3sra. Very well done! We have a strong harmony on the A Sections of all 3
verses.

TRANSITION:

1a. Now let’s learn the B sections.

Chunk 4: Chunk 2: Teach Section B (8 measures) Soprano: (1:00/3.30/7:00)

1d. Everyone be a soprano and echo me.

1a. Sing first 8 measures on solfege or neutral syllables
2p. Choir echos
1a. Sing again
2p. Choir echos
3sra. Lovely. Your tone is great and you are singing on the breath!

1d. Sopranos only, please sing this section on text.

2p. Sopranos sing.
3nra. Great.

TRANSITION

1d. Let’s now learn the bass part and start adding harmonies!

Chunk 3: Teach Section B (8 measures) Bass: (1:00/4.30/7:00)

1d. Everyone EXCEPT sopranos, please echo me.

1a. Sing the bass part in solfege or neutral syllables.
2p. Choir echos
1a. Sing again
2p. Choir echos

1d. Now please echo me on text

1a. Sing on text
2p. Choir echos on text
1d. Sopranos, please sing soprano, and everyone else sing bass.
2p. Choir sings as instructed.
3nsra: Great job!

1d. Now let’s hear just the sopranos and basses together.
2p. Sopranos and basses sing
3sra. Very well done! We have a strong harmony.

TRANSITION:

1a. Now that we have the outer parts in place, let’s learn the inner parts.
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 6

Chunk 4: Teach Section B (8 measures) Altos: (1:00/5.30/7:00)

1s. Alto’s let’s start with you this time!

1a. I am going to sing the alto part 2x, once on solfege and once on text.
1d. Please just listen
1a. Sing on solfege
2nv: Choir listens
1a. Sing on text
2nv: Choir listens

1d. Altos only, please sing with Tracey and me on text

2p. Altos sing on text
3srd. (Fix anything that didn’t go well, or just do it again) OR
3sra. You learned that quickly!

TRANSITION:
1s. Tenor! This time you are the last group in!

Chunk 5: Teach Section A (8 measures) Alto: (:30/6:00/7:00)

1a. Your part is fairly ______, and I bet you can sing it on text with Tracey
playing it with you!
1d. Let’s live dangerously! We start on _____ (name solfege note). Here we
go!
2p. Tenors sing!
3sra/srd: (Correct if needed)

TRANSITION!
3sra. Great job tenors!

Chunk 7: Combine in Section B (8 measures) Tutti: (:30/6:30/7:00)

1d. Everyone! Please sing on neutral syllables
2p. Choir sing
1d. Please sing on text
2p. Choir sing
1d. Please sing on text WITHOUT Tracey
2p. Choir sing

Chunk 8: Learning summary (:30/7:00/7:00)

3sra. Well done today in this song! We are now about 75 - 80% of the way
through this piece and it is sounding lovely! Next time I see you, we will put the
whole piece together on the first verse, and then refine our harmonies and texts on
the other verses!

1d. Let’s give our attention to our next conductor: ______________________-

 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 7

Rehearsal 3/5: 7 minutes: Focus on Harmony: Review the B

(Oct. 19 and 26) section, and then run the piece on text, all
verses.
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 8

Rehearsal 4/5: 7 minutes: Focus on Vowels and Diction:

(Nov. 2 and 9) Chanting text for diction and then Fix- Run –
Fix
 MUED 376: Longitudinal Lesson Planning for VMRC 9

Rehearsal 5/5: 7 minutes: Focus on Concert Expression:

(Nov. 30 and Dec. 7) “Buzzwords” to deepen expression, tone, and
sophistication, and Run Fix Run.