Vocal Ensemble II-IV

Fall Semester

Students will review simple songs, warm-ups, and vocal technique concepts from Treble Choir/Tenor Bass Choir/Advanced Treble Choir I.

Students will practice vocal technique concepts and work to increase range, endurance, and control.

Students will practice consistent vowel shapes and clear diction.

Students will begin to work on vowel modifications.

Students will work on pop, jazz, and other contemporary music genre techniques.

Students will explore choral repertoire including unison singing, ostinatos, canons, and partner songs.

Students will perform in a concert setting which will allow opportunities to sing in an ensemble and solo setting.

Students will be introduced to appropriate popular music, popular music covers, and popular music arrangements.

Students will review music symbols, aural skills, and rhythm concepts from Treble Choir/Tenor Bass Choir/Advanced Treble Choir I.

Students will increase aural skills through listening and dictation, and sight reading with four-part passages.

Students will review and assess their understanding of music symbols as the intensity of aural training and sight reading increases.

Students will review jumps and skips within the I, IV, and V chords.

Students will review rhythm patterns that include dotted quarter notes, dotted sixteenth notes, and sixteenth notes.

Students will continue to work on sight reading passages to include minor and major third intervals in the tonic and dominant chord in four parts.

Students will review classroom norms, procedures, and rehearsal etiquette skills.

Students will review proper posture and body alignment during rehearsal.

Students will continue to monitor and adjust their adherence to classroom and ensemble procedures through ongoing teacher feedback.

Spring  Semester

Students will refine their vocal technique through the use of more advanced warm-ups.

Students will continue to work on vocal flexibility to include transition from chest voice to head voice, vocal passaggio, and healthy techniques for long-term singing.

Students will apply consistent healthy vocal technique to a wider variety of music repertoire.

Students will continue to work on vowel modifications.

Students will work on pop, jazz, and other contemporary music genre techniques.

Students will begin to work on solo repertoire. Solos may pull from a wide variety of genres to include musical theatre and popular music genres.

Students will work on increasingly difficult repertoire as they prepare for their spring assessments, possibly including pieces from the UIL PML and other publications.

Students will participate in district performance initiatives to include, but are not limited to, Fine Arts Fest, Los Leones, and more.

Students will begin to work on more challenging rhythmic patterns to include dotted quarter notes, dotted sixteenth notes, and sixteenth note patterns.

Students will continue to define aural skills by singing in multiple parts for the majority of their concert music.

Students will begin to notate simple melodic phrases by written notation or aural reproduction.

Students will begin to sing non-diatonic solfege notes.

Students will begin to incorporate intervals of 4ths and 5ths in their sightreading.

Students will continue to sight read in two parts while singing intervals of 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, and 5ths.

Students will be able to count rhythms that involve quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, whole notes, dotted quarter notes, and some sixteenth note patterns.

Students will be able to identify and count rhythmic patterns with simple syncopation.

Students will review classroom norms, procedures, and rehearsal etiquette skills.

Students will review proper posture and body alignment during rehearsal.

Students will continue to monitor and adjust their adherence to classroom and ensemble procedures through ongoing teacher feedback.

With director assistance, students will begin to mentor younger students in establishing and maintaining professional ensemble standards.