Spring 2023

work on at home.
Middle School Choral
Emily Turner, Chair
Recharge and Renew
You know those colleagues in your county, or friends at state
conference who you always tell, “We HAVE to get together soon”?
Make the time as your after-school responsibilities wind down,
or plan to meet over the summer. You can each share a successful
lesson or a piece of repertoire or two, but plan to specifically take
time to talk about non-musical things! Get the benefit of time with
like-minded colleagues and new ideas for the year to come!
Orff Institute | Levels I & II
June 19-30, 2023
Wilmington, North Carolina
Since
2004
Many of you have shared beautiful concerts by now
and are in the last few weeks of school. Let me be
among the first to wish you heartfelt congratulations
on a successful year! The work you are doing in and out of your
classrooms to serve your students is immense, and can feel like
it often goes unnoticed. The work you do for the betterment of
your students and their development as choral musicians is so
important, and you are a treasure to our state and the choral music
community.
Here are 4 R’s that I hope will help you get the most out of the
end of your school year and summer:
Recruitment and Retention
Host a “Bring a Friend to Choir” Event
Rehearse new songs so that everyone, including your seasoned
choir member, is learning on the same level. Make sure whatever
you choose is something the students can fully learn in your
designated time frame so everyone feels accomplished and proud
when they leave your event.
• Try a piece from the Justice Choir Songbook, which you
can download with a suggested $10 donation from
www.justicechoir.org/songbook/
• Check out some new rounds.
Celebrate Your Students’ Wonderful Accomplishments
• Host an ice cream social and have each student sign up to
bring in toppings.
• Put your sections against one another in “Minute To Win It”
games.
• Watch your concert video and have your students fill out the
MS MPA Large Ensemble Rubric.
Play Games!
Don’t forget about those musical games that you always put off
until after the concert! Take time to enjoy them with your classes.
Here are a few of my students’ favorites:
• Pass the Beat Around the Room
• Encore – similar to the Pitch Perfect a capella riff offs, students
make teams and go back and forth singing songs with a
specific word in the lyrics or title.
• Rhythm Cups
• Solfege Improv – have your students stand in a circle and
designate the solfege syllables you’ll be using for the round.
You can work on specific intervals, or let the entire scale be
used for the game, whichever your students may need. For
the example, we will only be using do-mi-sol. Each singer
performs a pattern of the designated solfege syllables using
the last syllable of the singer before them. Here’s an example:
Student 1: do-mi-sol
Student 2: sol-sol-mi
Student 3: mi-sol-do
Student 4: do-sol- do, etc…
When this starts to feel easier for your students, experiment
with longer patterns or even rhythmic patterns. You can also
remove the solfege and choose a neutral vowel or syllable,
which can eventually get them scatting without knowing it!
Ready Yourself for Next Year
• File away your octavos
– Have students help on exam days, or when attendance is
low due to field trips or testing schedules.
• Make sub plans for both teaching and non-teaching
substitutes.
– Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) is a wonderful, inexpensive
resource.
• Think about your concerts for next year. Do you have any
themes in mind?
– If possible, go ahead and schedule your performances, dress
rehearsals, etc.
– Use the last bit of monies for this school year to purchase
octavos for the upcoming school year.
• Purchase and teach the MS Honors Chorus piece now, so they
can practice it over the summer. The audition piece is always
announced at the Middle School All-State event and posted to
the NCMEA website following the event.
– Create rehearsal tracks for your students to take home.
– Send home old sight reading examples for your students to
Need a refresher on takadimi? Hoping to see some
new repertoire for next year? There are lots of Professional
Development (PD) opportunities in our state, where you can
renew your love for choral music, while simultaneously learning
new skills or refreshing your technique. We’ll be adding some PD
opportunities specific to North Carolina on the Middle School
Section of the NCMEA website, so be sure to take a look!
Rest and Relax
Take this well-deserved time off to rest and do nice things for
yourself and your loved ones. Binge that streaming series or take
the vacation without your computer! Do things that feed your soul
and make you happy! This time of rest and relaxation will help
prepare you for next year with excitement!
it's time
TO START A
Tri-M MUSIC
honor
SOCIETY CHAPTER
FACULTY INCLUDES:
Christine Ballenger
Daniel Johnson
Joan Riley
• AOSA-Approved
• 60 Contact Hours
• On-Campus Housing Available
Discounted until May 1
Register now
$345 (LI) • $375 (L II)
Strengthen your school’s
Music. Honor. And Society.
Starting a Tri-M ® Music Honor
Society chapter will help show the
value of your music program to
the school. It will also benefit your
students by allowing them to:
• Build an impressive record for
college
• Grow as leaders in music
• Serve their community
Ready to start a chapter?
Visit MusicHonors.com
®
Tri-M@nafme.org | 1-800-336-3768
Start
3
22 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 23