Curricular Goals and Learning Sequence:
Encore
What do singers learn and do during their time in Encore? Read on to find out!
Grade level: 3-6
Rehearses: 1 hour per week
Performances: Approximately 10 per year (in October, December, March, and June)
Home practice expectation: 80 min/week (20 minute sessions 4x per week)
In Encore rehearsals, choristers use hand motions and visualization to learn more about their voices. They explore healthy vocal technique and work on accessing their range through a variety of fun, kinesthetic activities. Encore singers learn the “why” behind rhythmic notation, and are challenged to learn, grow, and connect with each other through playing semi-cooperative musical games.
Encore curriculum builds on all the skills noted for Debut, plus the following:
Rhythm: Singers will learn…
- How to perform and identify:
- Unpaired eighth notes, dotted rhythms, eighth and sixteenth note beat combinations
- Eighth rests and dotted rests
- Intermediate rhythm dictation and identification
- Syncopation
- Duple vs. triple time signatures
Solfege/Pitch: Instruction will include…
- Review of the major scale and hand signals
- Natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales
- Joseph Crnko and Jacob Winkler’s Solfege Tendency Drill
- Independently identifying and performing solfege intervals and simple melodies
- Identifying missing solfege in a melody when given “Do”
Singing/choral techniques: Singers will learn…
- Healthy vocal and breath production
- High and low exploration of vocal range
- Articulation techniques
- Vowel pronunciation for singing in multiple languages
- Director-led musical phrasing
- To place consonants on rests and utilize basic shadow vowels
- Choral/section blend and balance
- Performance repertoire that includes advanced unison, partner songs, and 2-part music
Literacy: Singers will learn…
- Dynamics including: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff
- Note names of the treble clef
- How to follow and read their vocal line in a musical system
- How solfege and rhythm relate to repertoire.
Performance/interpersonal skills: Singers will learn…
- To work together as a section and as a choir
- How to be a role model to support younger students
- To interpret and understand the meaning of musical lyric
- How to use the meaning in music to connect with others
- Responsibility in completing homework tasks
- To find joy in creating musical art
