August/September 2017 Ala Breve

ala breve

TheOfficialPublicationoftheAlabamaMusicEducatorsAssociation

School of Music

DEGREES OFFERED

Bachelor of Music

Performance, Jazz Studies, Composition, Theory Music Therapy

Bachelor of Science

Music Education/Instrumental Music Education/Choral

Bachelor of Arts

General Music, Music Administration

Master of Music

Performance, Wind Conducting, Choral Conducting, Church Music, Composition, Theory, Arranging, Music History

PERFORMING ENSEMBLES

e Huxford Symphony Orchestra

Alabama Wind Ensemble

Symphonic Band

Concert Band

e Million Dollar Band

University Singers

University Chorus

Women’s Chorus

Men’s Chorus

University of Alabama Opera eatre

Master of Arts

Music Education

Doctor of Musical Arts

Composition, Performance, Wind Conducting, Choral Conducting

PhD Music Education

Education Specialist

Contemporary Ensemble

Jazz Ensemble

Jazz Band and Jazz Combo

Chamber Music

Early Music Ensembles

For audition information and our upcoming calendar of events please visit our website. music.ua.edu

Susan Smith, AMEAPresident

Rejuvenated and Ready!

Hello and welcome back to the 2017- 2018 school year! I hope that you each had some time to unwind and regenerate this summer. We all look forward to this time with anticipation and sometimes hesitancy for what the new school year will bring. I realized this summer I went to my 27th year of band camps, as I had the honor of watching and supporting my daughter at the start of her teaching career. I am struck by the similarities and differences of what today’s teachers encounter on a daily basis. There is nothing like the moment of making a difference in a child’s life or watching a lightbulb turn on for the first time. These are the experiences that keep all coming back to school each year.

Many of our members had the opportunity to participate in professional development by taking classes or going to one of the number of camps that are offered around the country this summer. I am inspired by those who take the time to refine their craft taking Orff and Kodálycertification classes or attending conducting clinics and summer conferences. Teachers were naturally inquisitive and driven and the summer is our time to grow as musicians and educators - although it usually seems too short!

Organizational Health

The AMEA Board has been working diligently to broaden the reach and strengthen the foundation and longevity of our organization.At our meeting in June, this group met to review the activity of the previous year and set our course for the coming year.The first order of business was to welcome our new members who have moved on to the board from several of the divisions. We have budgeted this year for a financial review by a third party for the information and protection of the organization. We are pleased to report the total increase in membership totals - especially in Tri-M. If you are interested in starting a Tri-M Chapter, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a board member for advice or suggestions.This is a great way to advocate for your program through your students.

AMEA Membership

We continue to refine our media outreach and member functionality of our website.Http://www.myamea.org is intended to be the unified face of our organization and we appreciate the leadership of Immediate Past President Dr. Carl Hancock in this venture.Keep a lookout for additions to the website as well as a Conference Attendance Justification Kit. Dr. Hancock is creating this valuable resource for distribution to our membership to help justify conference attendance. Another area we have made changes is our exhibitor sign-up

for the AMEA Conference.Exhibitors are now able to choose their booth from an interactive map and pay online. This will better serve the needs of our industry partners as well as streamline the process for the AMEA office.Special thanks to Garry Taylor for his leadership in this area of the organization.

The board is currently in discussion to house the AMEA Hall of Fame and other awards at Troy University in the John M. Long School of Music.

Alabama Course of Study

In April, the State Board of Education approved the Alabama Course of Study for Arts Education without any reservations. We appreciate all the AMEAmembers who worked on this. The next step is to unpack the standards to make them more practical for teachers. AMEA Past President Sara Womack presented to the board the progress of the Course of Study Committee she has chaired.The committee was asked to produce a vehicle for music teachers to make the implementation more practical. AMEA is committed to supporting music teachers by advocating for the development of these tools.

Advocacy

In June, members of your AMEA Board traveled to Washington DC for the annual NAfME National Assembly and Hill Day.AMEA Executive Director Garry Taylor and Assistant Executive Director Dr. Rusty Logan attended meetings on topics germain to running a state MEA.They joined myself, Past President Sara Womack, and Collegiate

AMEA Executive Director Garry Taylor, SDNAfME President Sara Womack, AMEA Collegiate Secretary Brenton Nash, AMEA President Susan Smith, and AMEA Assistant Executive Director Rusty Logan advocate for music education at the Capitol during the 2017 NAfME Leadership Assembly and Hill Day.

Secretary Brenton Nash as we visited the offices of Alabama Senators and Representatives.We visited the offices of Senator Shelby and Senator Strange as well as Representatives Sewell, Brooks and Roby.We shared with their educational legislative aides how important full funding of the ESSA law was at the suggested levels that were passed in the bipartisan bill.We discussed the importance of Title I funding and the need for professional development for teachers, especially in those areas where it is not funded by school districts. I was very proud of all the members of our delegation for their passionate advocacy for music education in Alabama. Following Hill Day activities, members attended informational sessions concerning ways to enhance the experience for our membership.

2018 Conference Preview

Much of our meeting in June was spent discussing our move to

Birmingham for our annual Professional Development Conference January 18-20, 2018.The new venue will enhance the experience for all at the conference.We will all have a learning curve as we navigate the new venue. The board will do everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible. We will announce most of our clinics and performing groups in the next Ala Breve. However, we do want to give you a preview by mentioning two of our performing groups.We have invited the Alabama Symphony Orchestra to perform an exciting program on Thursday evening of the conference . We are thrilled to feature Voctave as they perform during Friday’s general session.This Orlando based vocal group has become hugely popular and has multiple YouTube videos with views in the millions.For more information, visit www.voctave.com. You won’t want to miss this!

You can make the difference!

As we start this year, many of us will welcome new colleagues to our state and meet first year teachers.Please take the time to invite them to participate in your division area and become members of AMEA.You may remember being a music department of one person, and how much it meant when an experienced teacher reached out to help or guide. Be the mentor that you needed as a first-year teacher.

If you have ideas for our organization, please get involved. Find a way to give back to a career that gives so much.

Have a great year!

Susan L. Smith

David L. Walters Department of Music JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY

CHORAL ACTIVITIES AREA 2017-2018 Calend of Events f Students - SAVE THE DATE

ALL STATE CHOIR PREP WORKSHOP –

Saturday, October 14 - $5 registration fee

MADRIGAL DINNER - December 1-2

Advance Purchase required

Discounted $3 non-eating tickets available to high school students

HIGH SCHOOL VOICE DAY –

Saturday, January 27

Vocal coaching for high school soloists with JSU Voice faculty

$5 Registration fee

RECORDER FESTIVAL -

Saturday, February 17

Three levels, Elementary, Intermediate and Adult $28 (includes registration, lunch and t-shirt)

ALABAMA VOCAL ASSOCIATION

DISTRICT 4 SOLO AND ENSEMBLEThursday, February 15

Please consult AVA website

MUSIC DEPARTMENT SCHOLARSHIP AUDITIONS

Friday and Saturday, February 2, 3 9 & 10

HONOR CHOIR - Monday, April 30th

Elementary, Middle School and High School Choir $35 (includes registration, lunch and t-shirt)

Registration forms and further information may be found on the JSU Music Department website: www.jsu.edu/music or by contacting JSU Director of Choral Activities, Dr. Patricia Corbin, pcorbin@jsu.edu, (256)782-5544

AMEA Governing Board 2017-2018

President Susan Smith 104 Smith Hall Troy, AL 36082 (334) 670-3322 president@myamea.org

Immediate Past President

Carl Hancock University of Alabama Box 870366 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (205) 348-6335 past_president@myamea.org

President, AOA

Samuel Nordlund 405 Buchanan Hall Samford University 800 Lakeshore Dr. Birmingham, AL 35229 snordlun@samford.edu

President, AMEACollegiate

Madison Baldwin (256) 996-5369 madisontaylorbaldwin@gmail.com

President-Elect

Greg Gumina Shades Valley High School 6100 Old Leeds Road Irondale, AL 35210 (205) 956-4638 president_elect@myamea.org

RecordingSecretary

CarlaGallahan

113 Long Hall TroyUniversity Troy, AL36082 (334) 670-3502 recording_secretary@myamea.org

President, AVA

Ginny Coleman

Tuscaloosa County High School 12500 Wildcat Drive Northport, AL 35475 (205) 342 2670 gcoleman@tcss.net

AMEACollegiateAdvisor

Treasurer/Registrar

PatStegall

AMEARegistration

POBox3385

MuscleShoals, AL35661 treasurer_registrar@myamea.org

President, ABA

Doug Farris

Brewer High School

59 Eva Road

Somerville, AL 35670 (256) 621-0540

djfarris@morgank12.org

President, Elem/Gen

Phil Wilson

Ogletree Elementary School 737 Ogletree Road Auburn, AL 36830 prwilson@auburnschools.org

IndustryRepresentative

BeckyLightfoot ArtsMusicShop

3030 EastBlvd. Montgomery, AL36116 334/271-2787

beckyl@artsmusicshop.com

ExecutiveDirector

Editor, AlaBreve GarryTaylor

1600 ManorDr. NE

Cullman, AL35055 (256) 636-2754 amea@bellsouth.net

GarryTaylor, Editor& AdvertisingManager 1600 ManorDr. NE Cullman, AL35055 (256) 636-2754 amea@bellsouth.net

Edward (Ted) Hoffman UniversityofMontevallo Station6670

DavisMusicBuilding308 Montevallo, AL35115 (205) 665-6668 ehoffman@montevallo.edu

Assistant ExecutiveDirector

Rusty Logan

2020 Janabrooke Lane Auburn, AL 36830 (334) 663-1702 rlogan9853@gmail.com

ADVERTISING& COPYDEADLINES

Fall- August/September(BacktoSchool) issue: July15 Winter- October/November(Conference) issue: September15

Spring- February/March(All-State) issue: January15 Summer- May/June(DigitalOnly) issue: April15

President, HigherEducation

Becky Halliday

University of Montevallo

Department of Music Davis 317 Montevallo, AL 35115 (205) 665-6666

AHalliday@montevallo.edu

Alabama Department of Education

Arts Education Specialist

Andy Meadows

50 North Ripley Street Montgomery, Alabama 36104 (334) 353-1191

ameadows@ALSDE.edu

Unless otherwise indicated, permission is granted to NAfME members to reprint articles for educational purposes. Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of AMEA or the Editor. All announcements & submissions are subject to editorial judgement/revision.The Alabama Music Educators Association is a state unit of NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, a voluntary, nonprofit organization representing all phases of music education in schools, colleges, universities, and teacher-education institutions. Active NAfME/AMEA membership is open to all persons engaged in music teaching or other music education work.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Friday, February 9, 2018

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Nordlund- President, AlabamaOrchestraAssociation

Band Directors…

We want your Best and Brightest at 2018 All-State Orchestra!

Now that I’ve grabbed the attention of someone who would normally just flip past the orchestra page, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my column. If you are a band director, I sincerely hope you’ll encourage your students to audition for All-State Orchestra. Our auditions will run from late September into early October – visit www.alabamaorchestraassociation.org for specific District audition times and location times. Right now, you are considering turning the page, because surely you will have a football game or marching competition that conflicts. WRONG! Each District schedules multiple days for auditions, and students are even allowed to audition outside of their district. For instance, the Central District will most likely hold auditions October 6-8, Friday through Sunday. Even with a football game on Friday and a competition on Saturday, your students could still choose Sunday audition times.

Now that you know how feasible it will be for your students to audition, I encourage you to also think of the benefits that your students will gain. Over the past few years, I have heard from band students (or through their directors) who became involved in All-State Orchestra for the first time, sentiments such as “I had a solo part the entire concert!” and “It was amazing playing with strings!” Your students who participate

1946YaleH. Ellis

in All-State Orchestra will return to band the next week as new and improved musicians. They may even be inspired to pursue a career in orchestral performance or even conducting.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than by our 2018 Festival Orchestra conductor, Norman Huynh. A young man in his early 30s, Norman is the Associate Conductor of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, a coveted position for any conductor, not to mention one of his youthful age. Norman is also a graduate of the University of Alabama, where he was a euphonium-playing Music Education major, and marched in the MILLION DOLLAR BAND!!! I am extremely excited that he accepted my invitation to lead our 2018 Festival Orchestra, and the homecoming that he will receive.

Alabama has such a tremendous wind band culture and when a large number of these great players don’t audition for AllState Orchestra, we orchestra people scratch our heads. It is partly a cultural phenomenon, but I also believe Band Nerds and Orch Dorks are truly cut from the same cloth, and that there is simply a lack of understanding between our communities. I challenge you to play Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 or Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 for your band. Better yet, play them Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, performed by last year’s Festival Orchestra, or the Finale movements from Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 and Dvorak’s New WorldSymphony, Barber’s School for Scandal Overture or Stravinsky’s Firebird to get an idea of what’s in store for the 2018 All-State Orchestras. Believe me – your students will thank you.

AMEAPresidents- PasttoPresent

1972FrancesP. Moss

1996JohnnieVinson

1948WalterA. Mason

1950VernonSkoog

1952JohnJ. Hoover

1954LamarTriplett

1956CarletonK. Butler

1958MortGlosser

1960WilburHinton

1962LaceyPowell, Jr.

1964G. TrumanWelch

1966JerryCountryman

1968FloydC. McClure

1970JerryBobo

1974GeorgeHammett

1975FrancesP. Moss

1976S. J. Allen

1978W. FrankMcArthur, Jr.

1980PaulHall

1982LaceyPowell, Jr.

1984JohnnyJacobs

1986MerilynJones

1988RonaldD. Hooten

1990KenWilliams

1992DianneJohnson

1994JamesK. Simpson

1998MichaelMeeks

2000JohnMcAphee, Jr.

2002TonyPike

2004BeckyRodgers

2006JohnBaker

2008PatStegall

2010SteveMcLendon

2012SaraWomack

2014 CarlHancock

2016Susan Smith

Samuel

To arrange a visit, email music@uab.edu or call 205 934-7376

Each Member of the Jaguar Marching Band receives a scholarship

Full-Band travel opportunities to away games and exhibitions

Matching University-provided wind instruments

Fastest growing University in the state and region No fees and No fundraising! WOODWIND

One Pre-Game Show and Four Half-Time Shows each season

Becky Halliday - President, HigherEducationDivision

Greetings, and welcome back to a new school year! As we begin our fall semester, there are a few items to address in preparation for the 2018 conference in Birmingham.

The HED recital this year will feature student chamber ensembles (vocal or instrumental), so please let me know if you have a group that would like to perform. We would love to have a diverse program that represents institutions from across Alabama.

Each year, the AMEA Professional Development Conference offers a poster session for students and faculty who are engaging in innovative and rigorous studies toward the advancement of music education locally, nationally, and globally. This session gives faculty members an opportunity to meet with colleagues from across the state that may have similar research interests. The deadline for submitting a

poster is Monday, November 6, 2017 by 11:59 p.m. CST. More information can be found here: http://amearesearch.org.

The 2017 revision to the Alabama Course of Studies for Arts Education is complete and will be highlighted this year at the conference. In lieu of a panel discussion, the HED will host a presentation about the conception, framework, and format of the new CoS. We will also feature sessions regarding EdTPA, choral leadership, Universal Design, mentoring, and international band music. A music teacher educator roundtable discussion will give HED members an opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to supporting preservice music teachers.

I wish you much success as you return to your classrooms. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments (ahalliday@montevallo.edu). I look forward to seeing you in Birmingham!

Congratulations are in order for 9 Alabama teachers who completed Level 1 of the Kodály certification process at the University of Montevallo Kodály Institute. Participants in the 2-week course engaged in pedagogical activities, folk song research, skill development in choir and conducting, and eartraining activities meant to further the development of the individual’s musicianship. The completion of these activities required extensive work outside of class that included curriculum development, lesson planning, and musical score study.

2017 University of Montevallo Kodály Certification Program

Instructors for this year’s course were Jeremy Howard (Lexington, KY) and Cathy Dunstan (Hixson, TN). Participants were Trudye Confessore, Jenny Diamond, Kate Donaldson, Emily Hoekenga, Emily Hoppe, Ellis Landers, Emily Merrill, Robin Sims, and Marcia Staples. The 2018 Kodály Certification will be held July 9 – 20 on the campus of the University of Montevallo. For more information, please contact Dr. Becky Halliday: ahalliday@montevallo.edu

Pictured (L to R): Marcia Staples, Emily Hoppe, Kate Donaldson, Emily Merrill, Jenny Diamond, Emily Hoekenga, Trudye Confessore, Ellis Landers, Cathy Dunstan (Instructor), Robin Sims, Jeremy Howard (Instructor), and Becky Halliday (Director).

Doug Farris - President, AlabamaBandmastersAssociation

Evaluation: The Key to Success and Growth

As we begin another year of teaching music, whether we are on the practice field, in the general music classroom, or the choir room, we need to look at how we do our job. Evaluation is a necessity in anything we do. We need to constantly improve the job of teaching music. Let me encourage you to stop and take a look at the process you go about to achieve your goals. This is not something that comes naturally to some of us and very naturally to others. We all have had students that fly by the seat of their pants but always seem to come out on top and those that plan when they breathe, and we appreciate both types of students and their abilities. As educators we look at our students and evaluate their progress and set goals for them to achieve success. But do we do this for ourselves? It can be very difficult to find our shortcomings; places where we are weak and need improvement, but we must for our students. To become better than we were before is a challenge we all must put before us.

As we start this school year, your ABA Board is working on an evaluation policy that will look at all aspects of ABA. As an organization as large as ours, it can often become difficult to look at our policies and procedures as the leadership changes every two years. We must write great policies that will stand through the changes in leadership to continue to move the Alabama Bandmasters into the future. As a professional organization’s goal, we must ultimately grow as educators and allow our students to receive the best that the ABA has to offer. As we begin to evaluate, I would like to encourage you to participate in surveys, evaluations, or events and even getting the app for the AMEA conference and rate the conference and clinics you attend. Please remember the Alabama Bandmasters is an organization that serves its members and we can only do this through your input. We must strive to improve and if we see policies and procedures that concern us we need to bring it to the attention of the ABA Board. Band directors are great with solutions. Let’s remember there may be more than one solution to any problem.

ABA Summer Conference 2017 was great and very well attended. It helped that there was a tropical storm. This year was also a first with joining ASBDA for their conference. The ASBDA brought in Peter Boonshaft, who was very motivational. From the jazz clinics by James Crumb and Lloyd Jones to Smartmusic and Leigh Thomas with a marching band clinic and our own Becky Rodgers Warren with a music literacy clinic and Old Fogey series, the conference was filled with something for everyone. Also, the WGI winds clinic by Josh Walker hopefully planted a seed for

something new for some of our members. The conference closed with Southwind Drum Corps at Gulf Shores Middle School. Hopefully, you were able to attend and get recharged. The shrimp boil was a great success. We would like to thank the sponsors:

Southern PerformancesDavid Brannan

Mouchette EnterprisesRoland Mouchette

Group Travel NetworkJustin Shuler and Dayna Brannan

Demoulin Jeff Thurber and Frank Godfrey

AWB ApparelWayne Broom

Chester Bean

Art’s Music ShopMike Mason and Paul Freehling

Burns Tours Margaret Burns

The ABA would like to thank these sponsors for providing a great meal and event for our band family to come together and fellowship.

As I mentioned earlier, the ABA Board had a productive meeting. We will be working toward the AMEA conference to develop a five year evaluation policy. I am excited that we will be able to see how we are doing as an organization and profession and look at data to develop procedures to improve the organization. Terry Ownby met with the Music Selection Committee and they were able to look at the All State Survey data. We look forward to hearing from Terry about how they plan to move forward. Terry is also working on the AMEA/ABA website with our new recording secretary Joel Henson to post the All State material in a better format.

Finally, become involved. The AMEA and ABA provide great clinics and concerts. In addition to those events, just to sit and talk with colleagues about how they would handle a situation is invaluable. Why do we have to reinvent the wheel when our neighbor band director already has the plan? Renew your NAfME membership and register for the AMEA Conference at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

Remember the board is here for you. Do not hesitate to contact your chairman or vice-chairman or anyone on the ABA Board. I hope we all have a great start to school and the best year of our careers.

Phil Wilson -  President, Elementary/GeneralDivision

It’s Time!

A music teacher colleague tells the story of a farming family who awakens one morning to do their daily chores. The father climbs on his tractor and heads to plow the distant fields while the mother and their son stay behind to do work on the farm. The mother is expecting and due to deliver at any moment. While working, the time arrives for her to have the baby so she sends her young son to fetch his father. The son obeys, runs the distance to the father, and they both arrive back at the house to find the very pregnant and in labor mother picking tomatoes. The father asks the mother why she is picking tomatoes when she is in labor. She simply replies, because they are ready to be harvested; it’s time.

My friends, it is now time for us to do what we have done for years; teach music to the children who have been waiting all summer to learn from us. They deserve fresh, fun, and new ideas and it’s our duty to make sure they receive them. Your elementary division board has been hard at work planning professional development opportunities for you over the course of this next school year to assist you in educating the children of Alabama. I am honored to serve you as President of the Elementary Division along with Dr. Rob Lyda, secretary and Lori Zachary, treasurer. As many of you may know, Dr. Kelly Jo Hollingsworth was elected to serve as President-elect, but has since taken a higher education job out of state. I have asked Betty Wilson to fill this position. Cliff Huckabee will serve two roles this year; Past-President and Choral Festival Director.

This year, several professional development opportunities are available for you to attend beginning August 26. The East Alabama Music Workshop will be held in Auburn, AL at Grace United Methodist Church from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The guest presenters will be Dr. Sara Womack and Dr. Becky Halliday. The topic of discussion will be the new state standards. There is no cost for the workshop. Contact Dr. Rob Lyda for more details at lydarob@me.com.

The 12th Annual Elementary Music Festival will take place at Samford University’s Wright Center on Friday, October 6. Approximately 400 elementary students representing over 40 schools across the state have registered. The clinicians for this event will be Ericka Bridge and Vic Oates. This music festival is a great opportunity for our students. Thank you for your continued support of this festival.

Saturday, October 7th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. we will have our joint Fall Workshop sponsored by AMEA

Elementary/General Division and AOSA. This year our clinician will be Orff specialist Ericka Bridge. Stay tuned to the myamea.org webpage for further details as they become available.

The 2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference will be moving from Montgomery to the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama. You will not want to miss this one. This year we are honored to have Lorelei Batislaong as our featured clinician. She will be presenting three sessions for us, while an Alabama favorite, Roger Sams, will return to present a session. We will also have member guided sessions ranging from bucket drumming to around the world recorder. We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham January 18th -20th. If you have not renewed your NAfME membership, do so soon so that you will not miss a second of this conference.

We want to stay in touch with you and reach out to those who are not members of AMEA. Please email us at elementaryamea@gmail.com to update your information and please share this address with those who you know are not members.

As you step into your classroom this fall know that you will not be there alone. The voices and ideas of teachers from across the state and country will be there with you to help you along this journey. The professional development material you bring with you will interject new life into your class, and your students will see the difference a little time on your part makes. Please know how very hard your elementary/general board is going to work with and for you. We are always open for suggestions and hope that you will reach out to us. The tomatoes are ripe and it’s time to harvest them. Here’s wishing you a great school year!

See you in October, Phil R. Wilson, President Elementary/General Division

Dates

East Alabama Music Workshop, Grace United Methodist Church, Auburn, August 26, 9 a.m. to 3 a.m.

12th Annual Elementary Music Festival, Friday, October 6th, Samford University’s Wright Center

Joint Fall Workshop sponsored by Elementary/General Division of AMEA and AOSA, Saturday, October 7, 9 a.m. to 3 a.m.

2018 AMEA Professional Development Conference, BJCC, Birmingham, AL, January 18-20.

REFLECTING ON THE PAST TO PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE

Hello!It was good to see many of you at the ACDA Summer Conference in Tuscaloosa.If you are not already involved with ACDA, you should join now!John Kincaid, Meg Rudolph, and the ACDA team did a great job organizing the sessions and social events.This conference is a great reminder that it is time to get back to work and get ready for the new year.

The time leading up to a new school year is always a time of reflection for me.I reflect on what has (and has not) gone well in my classroom over the past year.I think about what I could do better and prepare to make those changes for the upcoming year.This is one of the things I love about our profession:each new year is a chance to make a new start.

As I reflected on the past year with the AVA, I re-read some of the goals that I had for our organization at this time last year.Briefly stated, they were:efficiency through technology, focusing on our mission statement, and reaching out to our membership.I am proud of many of the advances we have made.We have continued to use available technology to facilitate record-keeping, registering for events, and communicating with the membership.The AVA board, guided by quality input from the membership, has made decisions with our mission statement at the forefront of our minds.Our organization is becoming a group that is willing to put aside tradition to make room for new ideas that may better serve our students.I am so encouraged by this.

The goal that has proven to be the most difficult for us is reaching out to our membership.We are moving in the right direction.For example, the AVA and ACDA are involved in a joint effort to identify teachers who are not involved in our professional organizations.We have also made some small advances by offering free registrations to events and we will continue to offer these incentives.However, we have a chance to make a new start this year and need every member’s help with this goal.We all know someone who may be new to the profession or may be working in a lessthan-ideal situation.These new/struggling teachers need, more than any of us, a community of fellow teachers so that they can be mentored, ask questions, or just vent.Without a strong community, we may start to see our profession quietly fade.I would like to challenge each of you to invite one person who is not currently involved in AVA to come to Fall Workshop with you.Also, if you have ideas about how we can continue to reach out to membership, please let me or any member of the AVA board know.We are always interested in your great ideas!

SUMMER BOARD REPORT

As we prepare for the new year, I would like to give a brief

report from the AVA Summer Board meeting.We reviewed all of your comments and suggestions that we received over the year.We appreciate those of you who took the time to share your ideas with us.Some of the decisions were:

• We will continue to work to improve the efficiency of our online registration forms

• We are forming a committee to review SCPA sight-reading with the end goals of clarity of expectation, accessibility to various ability levels, and alignment with state standards

• We continued to discuss ideas for using technology to facilitate the All-State audition process

• We continued to discuss ways to update our AllState Show Choir process

• Fees were updated to reflect changes in cost

• Deadlines and late fees were restructured to be more efficient

• We adopted a new logo

At Fall Workshop, we will detail how all of these changes help to move our organization forward.We hope you will attend.

FALL WORKSHOP

Our Fall Workshop will be held at First Baptist Church, Montgomeryon Friday, September 8th.We look forward to this time of learning, sharing, and connecting with our colleagues.Judy Bowers will be our featured clinician and she always has something great to share!We will also have mini-sessions and round-table discussions that need YOUR input! Registration is open now.Visit the AVA website to register and don’t forget to bring a friend.

NAfME MEMBERSHIP

Now is the best time to renew your NAfME membership. You must be a current member to log in to registration forms on the AVA Website, so renew now.

AVA DATES

The 2017-2018 event dates are posted on the AVA website and page 41 of this issue of Ala Breve.Visit the website to find a printable list of dates.You will notice that there is only one deadline for each event date.This is now the registration AND payment deadline for that event.Please plan accordingly.

Thank you for taking time to read about your professional organization.As always, please send questions, suggestions, and ideas to me atpresidentofava@gmail.com.I look forward to seeing you in September!

Ginny

NAfME Collegiate Chapter of Excellence Recognition Congratulations University of Montevallo Chapter, William Yates, President and Edward (Ted) Hoffman, Advisor

The Chapter of Excellence Recognition was developed to encourage collegiate chapters to plan and execute successful chapter music programs, professional development projects, recruitment techniques, and service projects.Recognition of excellent projectsis conferred annually and is based onactivities completedby the chapter between January 1 and December 31st of the prior year.Chapters are encouraged to present a project promoting the importance of music education for all, or to assist in an advocacy effort taking place in their community. Annually, three Chapter of Excellence activitiescan be selected for recognition in each of the four categories. Each selected activity receives a plaque from NAfME and is recognized in an issue of Teaching Music or Music Educators Journal.

The University of Montevallo Collegiate Chapter was recognized this summer at the NAfME Leadership Assembly in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.

Professional Achievement Award - William Yates, University of Montevallo

The purpose of the Professional AchievementAward is to recognizeindividual Collegiate members for their commitment and dedication to NAfME and music education. This recognition is given to Collegiate members who have served their chapters in an exemplary manner. All Collegiate members who meet the following criteria are eligible to receive this distinction.

Criteria: (all requirements apply)

Student must be currently enrolled in an active NAfME Collegiate chapter.

Student must also have been a Collegiate member of NAfME in the school year prior to the current one.

Student must possess an overall minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or equivalent during the year of the application.

Student must verify participation and involvement in chapter activities.

William Yates was recognized this summer at the NAfME Leadership Assembly in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. Congratulations William!

University of Montevallo Collegiate Chapter

William Yates

All-National Honor Ensembles

The NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles (ANHE) represent the top performing high school musicians in the United States. So much more than a musical ensemble; it is a comprehensive, musical and educational experience. To be considered for selection, students must have been selected to participate in their state’s all-state music festival.

The ensembles will meet at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida under the baton of leaders in the field of music education. The NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles are represented in the following components:Concert Band, Mixed Choir, Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble.

AMEA congratulates the following students on their selection to the All-National Honor Ensembles:

Jon FeatheringillSymphony OrchestraGadsden City High School, Keith LaBenne, Director

Caroline HabigConcert BandHoover High School, Ryan Fitchpatrick, Director

Bethany SimonSymphony OrchestraHomeschool, Chin-Mei Li, Director

A large group of enthusiastic NAfME Collegiates attended the 2017 NAfME Collegiate Summit June 28 - July 1. A highlight of the summit for the future music educators was a visit to the capitol, along with MEA leaders from around the nation, to advocate for music education. Alabama was represented by Brenton Nash, AMEA Collegiate Secretary (pictured center).

FAME

(Future Alabama Music Educators) Scholarship Essay

Why I Want to be a Music Teacher

From a young age, I have always enjoyed being involved in musical activities. Whether it was singing in my church, elementary choirs, taking beginner piano lessons from my mom, and even learning how to play the recorder. I believe all of these experiences led me to the decision of becoming a part of our school’s sixth grade band. I had no idea of even what instrument I would play, but after some instruction and suggestions from my band director, I settled on the clarinet. After being a part of the band for the past six years as a clarinetist and drum major, the experiences and opportunities it has given me have ultimately led me to pursue a lifelong career in music, something I had never imagined when I began this musical journey.

The reason I have always loved and I have had a passion for music is because I believe music is a very important aspect of living a happy and fulfilled life. Music feeds the soul, but it also does much more than that. Research shows that music has an impact on brain development, it can help soothe emotional distress, it can be used for therapy with those with brain injuries, it can be used for aesthetic enjoyment, and ultimately, music can be used as an act of worship. I believe God has gifted me musical talents and abilities to serve others and to make a difference. That is why I am interested in finding ways to use music across and throughout all aspects of education. I have a personal interested in this, having a brother with autism and seeing the positive effects that music has on his ability to memorize information, to improve his verbal and language skills, and on his overall mood and affect. It is proven that the use of music can help students remember the periodic table, using music helps stroke patients recover speech, singing can help Alzheimer’s patients recover memories, and music therapies are used for students with disabilities. We are in exciting times in which brain scans reveal that music is the only activity that engages and activates every

by Keturah Kuchinski

area of the brain at the same time, especially when someone is playing a musical instrument versus just listening to music. Research also shows that students that are engaged in playing a musical instrument achieve higher standardized test scores than those that do not. The arts are so important in more ways than are realized, and I believe research into the education and psychology of music will prove how essential music is to our very lives and why music must remain a core part of education in the public schools. I believe that formal music education should begin early, as soon as students enter school, and should be continued and required each year through graduation due to the proven benefits that music has on brain development, learning and memory, and even mood and overall satisfaction with life. Through this journey, I have not only learned the fundamentals of music and how music has changed my life, but I have learned a greater impact and importance that music can have on the lives of others. I plan to pursue music education and performance in college, and ultimately hope to become a music educator so that I can teach, research, conduct, and perform, working to make music education an important part of every school curriculum that is fully integrated across all content areas.

Music education is vital to overall development, which includes academic achievement, social interactions, emotional regulation, and even spiritual connections that will last a lifetime. That is why every student and every individual deserves access to music education from pre-k through high school, no matter what their background or socioeconomic status. I believe that music is a necessity for a fulfilled life, and this goal can only be accomplished through having music as a part of all levels of public education.

Editor’s Note: AMEA recently awarded the FAME scholarship to Keturah Kuchinski, a 2017 graduate of Oxford High School. Scholarship recipients must have attended the FAME program and plan to major in music education at an Alabama university. Keturah plans to major in music education at Auburn University beginning this fall.

PERFORMING ENSEMBLES

“Pride of Dixie” Marching Band

Symphonic Band

Wind Ensemble

Studio Jazz Band

Percussion Ensemble

Collegiate Singers

Chamber Choir

Vocal Jazz Ensemble

Opera/Musical Theatre

Shoals Symphony at UNA

DEGREES OFFERED

AUDITION DATES

The University of South Alabama Department of Music, through its innovative curriculum, empowers professional musicians, music educators, and those who wish to enrich their lives through the arts. The Department serves the needs of the University to promote general education and to provide a vital cultural link to the great state of Alabama and to the Gulf Coast region. Its excellent facilities and faculty, promotion of technology, and dedication to life-long learning provide a wide spectrum of experiences for both the student and the community.

Ensembles

Symphony Orchestra

Jaguar Marching Band

Clarinet Ensemble

Trumpet Ensemble

Trombone Ensemble

Tuba Euphonium Ensemble

Chamber Brass Ensembles

Chamber Woodwind Ensembles

Percussion Ensemble

USA Steel Band

USA World Music Ensembles

Piano Ensemble

Guitar Ensemble

Degrees

BM with Concentration in Music Education (Instrumental or Vocal)

BM with Concentration in Performance (Instrumental or Vocal)

BM with Concentration in Elective Studies (Business)

MM in Music Education (General, Instrumental, or Vocal)

MM in Performance (Brass, Percussion, Piano, Voice or Woodwind)

MM in Collaborative Keyboard

January

February

March

April 14, 2018

NEW

Total Percussion Series

Sound. Quality. Design.

At Yamaha, we believe that the first instrument in one's musical journey must provide excellent quality and tuning consistency. With that in mind, the new YX-230 xylophone is designed for the beginning percussion student. Featuring professionally tuned Padauk wood bars, this instrument produces a beautiful Yamaha sound that has been familiar to music educators for over 30 years.

Weighting only 22 lbs. and just over 45" in length, this xylophone offers a 3 octave range (C52-C88) with 1-1/2" wide bars. A pair of ME-103 mallets are included along with a cover to protect the instrument from dust and scratches. An optional stand (YGS-70) and soft case (PCS-YX230) are sold separately.

YX-230 Xylophone

Band Music Reviews

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a productive summer and you start the new school year energized and ready to go. I can remember when I first started teaching many years ago….one of the most anticipated deliveries for me were the presentations from the music publishers where they debuted their new publications for the year. Today, we don’t have to wait for the mail…we have access to so much information right at our fingertips! I hope you have had an opportunity to check out the new music for the upcoming school year from all the publishers. There is so much new literature available to us…the trick is finding the ones that work. Having spent a great deal of time this summer listening to so much new music, I hope the following suggestions will help you as you begin to build your curriculum for the upcoming year.

Along the Crystal Coast is a new Grade 2 publication by Michael Oare. Michael has written several wonderful pieces for young band and is a practicing music educator and performer. I really enjoy his work and have found it to be educational, entertaining, and engaging at every turn. His beautiful To Dream in Brushstrokes has gained much popularity in recent years, and his new work Along the Crystal Coast is another wonderful work from this talented composer. Along the Crystal Coast begins with a full ensemble fanfare section that is scored well for young bands. The opening section moves to a brisk “allegro” section that initially features the woodwinds with the brass section joining in on the second phrase. The piece utilizes the same maestoso fanfare as it ends with a quick restatement of the allegro theme. The piece stays in the key of concert Eb throughout and utilizes simple syncopation with the low voices. Highly recommended for your Grade 2 ensemble for concerts or your assessments.

Brian Balmages is one of the most performed composers in our genre today. Brian writes exceptionally well for all of the instruments and his pieces become fast favorites for your students. Commissioned by Bruce Zeiger and the St. John Paul II Catholic High School Band in Huntsville, Alabama, Renaissance Reimagined is a brilliant new piece that brings renaissance music to life in a modern, contemporary setting. Published at the Grade 3.5 level, I would say this piece might be more accurately classified as a Grade 4. Utilizing scoring techniques that are very idiomatic of the Renaissance sound, the piece is an excellent teaching tool for introducing the Renaissance period music to your students. Renaissance Reimagined requires the performers to be secure in both duple and triple subdivision, as the composer uses the duple subdivision and triple subdivision simultaneously, creating a unique hemiola effect. Strong rhythmic stability would be essential to a quality performance of this outstanding piece. Endurance may also be an issue for younger ensembles as the piece is approximately 5 ½ minutes in length.

Nathan Daughtrey’s StarCatchers is an incredibly fun and entertaining work that is inspired by the young fiction series “Peter and the Starcathers” by Dave Barry and Ridley

Pearson, which explores the younger adventures of Peter Pan. StarCathers relies heavily on percussion to set the groove for this wonderful new work that is a fantastic teaching piece that strengthens your ensemble’s pitch sensitivity, vertical alignment skills, and rhythmic stability. Your students will absolutely love this piece that is suitable for your fall or spring concerts. StarCathers is listed as a Grade 3, but many of the challenges, including the percussion skills required and the ranges for some of the brass players, tend to push it comfortably into the Grade 4 category. Nathan Daughtrey’s music always includes highly exceptional work for the percussion section. You can’t go wrong with StarCathers

Please feel free to contact me with your questions. I look forward to hearing your outstanding ensembles this year!

Randall Coleman, Wind Band Music Reviewer The Ala Breve Associate Director of Bands The University of Alabama rocoleman@ua.edu

Randall Coleman

Campus Connections

University of North Alabama

New Faculty/Staff

The University of North Alabama Department of Music is pleased to welcome the following new faculty and staff:

Dr. Tom Lukowicz, low brass

Ms. Grace Ashley, voice

Ms. Karen Cantrell, collaborative pianist

Upcoming Events

UNA Department of Music events—visituna.edu/music Shoals Symphony at UNA 2017-2018 season— visitshoalssymphony.una.edu

UNA Honor Choir, October 24, 2017—contact Dr. Ian Loeppky,irloeppky@una.edu

UNA Honor Orchestra, January 12-13, 2018—contact Dr. Daniel Stevens,dstevens1@una.edu

UNA Honor Band, April 26-28, 2018—contact Dr. Lloyd Jones,lejones@una.edu

Alabama Intercollegiate Band

The 2017 Alabama Intercollegiate Band performed in January at the Alabama Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference in Montgomery. The Alabama Intercollegiate Band was designed by Alabama college/university band directors to be a collaborative, educational experience. Dr. John Locke, Director of Bands at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, served as the conductor.

The John M. Long School of Music – Troy University

New School of Music Faculty

Professor Kenneth Beck is a Lecturer of Music Education and Music Industry at Troy University, where he teaches courses in audio/computer techniques and supervises interns. Mr. Beck received both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Music Education from Troy University.Professor Beck is active as an audio engineer and a lighting/sound technician and has worked with a wide variety of performing artists throughout the Southeast. He is the owner of Five Point Productions, LLC.

Dr. Dave Camwell is Associate Professor of Saxophone and Director of Jazz Studies at Troy University. Dr. Camwell studied at the universities of Calgary, Jacksonville State, and Northern Colorado, and received his DMA in Saxophone Performance with a Secondary Emphasis in Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon. Prior to his appointment at Troy University, Dr. Camwell taught at Simpson College, Iowa, from 2005-2017.He has been a Yamaha Performing Artist since 2004, a D’Addario Performing Artist since 2009, and occupies the Tenor Saxophone chair in the Oasis Quartet. He has over thirty publications available through Jeanne, Dorn and UNC Jazz Press, many of which have been performed throughout the world. Since 2008, Dr. Camwell has released nine recordings on

the Innova, Enharmonic and Teal Creek labels.

Dr. Heather Small is Assistant Professor of Flute at Troy University, where she teaches applied flute, music theory, class woodwinds, and directs the flute ensemble. Dr. Small received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master’s Degree in Flute Performance from the University of North Texas and a Doctorate of Music Performance from The Florida State University.Prior to her appointment at Troy University, Dr. Small was a faculty member at Morehead State University, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Southern Adventist University, and Messiah College. Additionally, she has five years of teaching experience in public schools in Pennsylvania.Dr. Small frequently performs as a soloist and in chamber ensembles at venues throughout the United States.

Professor Susan L. Smith is a Lecturer of Music at Troy University, where she teaches music education courses, applied horn, and supervises student interns. Mrs. Smith received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from James Madison University and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Troy University.Prior to her appointment at Troy University, Professor Smith taught for 17 years in the Virginia, Florida and Alabama Schools. She is the current President of the Alabama Music Educators Association and an Educational Consultant for Music for All. She is a published curriculum author and editor and has presented clinics at multiple state, regional and national conferences.

Dr. Jason Sulliman is Assistant Professor of Trombone at Troy University, where he teaches applied trombone, class brass, and coaches various chamber brass ensembles. Dr. Sulliman received a Bachelor’s degree in Music-Trombone Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Master’s Degrees in both Performance and Conducting from the University of New Mexico, and a Doctorate in Brass Pedagogy from Indiana University. Dr. Sulliman is currently finishing a Master’s Degree in KinesiologyMotor Learning/Motor Control from Indiana University.Prior to his appointment at Troy University, Dr. Sulliman taught at the University of North Alabama and Vincennes University, and freelanced in the Indianapolis area. He played with several orchestras there including the Indianapolis Symphony, Carmel Symphony, and Terre Haute Symphony. Dr. Sulliman was the music manager and conductor for the Broadway show “Blast!” for several international tours and currently serves as the trombone tutor for the North American Brass Band Summer School as part of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tatoo in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dr. Sulliman is in constant demand as a presenter and visiting artist and has given presentations at dozens of state and regional conferences.

Special Performances

The Troy University Concert Chorale and their conductor, Dr. Diane Orlofsky, have been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. The concert will take place on May 25, 2018 in the Isaac Stern Auditorium. The Troy University Symphony Band and their

Colleges and universities are encouraged to submit newsworthy material and announcements for publication in Ala Breve

conductor, Dr. Mark Walker, have been selected to perform at the 2018 CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference in February in Tampa, Florida.

Annual Events:

Southeastern United States Middle School Band Clinic – Dec. 7-9, 2017.

Contact Dr. Mark Walker

Southeastern United States Choral Clinic – Jan. 12-13, 2018.

Contact Dr. Diane Orlofsky

Southeastern United States HS Honor Band/Conductors Clinic – Feb. 1-3, 2018.

Contact Dr. Carla Gallahan

Guitar Festival – Feb. 16, 2018.

Contact Dr. Robert Gibson

Vocal Jazz Festival – Mar. 28-29, 2018.

Contact Dr. Diane Orlofsky

Clarinet Day – Mar. 24, 2018.

Contact Dr. Tim Phillips

M.I.C. Check – April 3, 2018

Contact Robert W. Smith

Saxophone Day – April 14, 2018

Contact Dr. Dave Camwell

Additional information about the John M. Long School of Music may be found at music.troy.edu. We invite you to visit us online or in person soon.

Samford School of the Arts Division of Music

Samford School of the Arts Division of Music welcomes Dr. Beth McGinnis as a full-time faculty member this fall.Dr. McGinnis has been with Samford as a lecturer and now takes on a permanent role with the piano program. She is the organist and children’s choir coordinator at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and the pianist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.She has her Bachelor in Music from Samford University, her Masters in Music from Texas Christian University and her Ph. D. in Musicology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Six Music Classroom Management Strategies

Rachel Maxwell and Jessica Corry

We see 375 band students every day and have very few discipline issues or distractions during class. Below are six music classroom management strategies we use in our program.

Teach, Model, and Reteach Routines

Explain and show students how you expect them to do EVERYTHING. Include even the easiest behaviors: entering the room, where to build instruments, where to store cases, how to set up the music stand as a workstation for the class period (pencil, tuner, warm-ups, music). Insist that routines are done correctly every time and it will become habit for you and the students.

Use Nonverbal Signals

A simple arm raised by a teacher indicates all students need to raise their hands and become silent. Nothing proceeds until the room is silent. This sounds too simple but it works. When used consistently and diligently it quiets a noisy room of 80 sixth grade brass players in about 10 seconds. We have gotten to the point that students will initiate the arm raise when they hear talking among the students. Develop your own plan and use it every rehearsal every day.

Keep Rules Simple

Our classroom rule is “Act in a way which does not create problems for others.” We follow that up with our posted Rehearsal Expectations:

1. Pencil on EVERY Stand

2. Music out of Plastic

3. Mark Corrections (The more you mark, the less we stop!)

4. Eye Contact with Director (Track)

5. Instrument to Mouth on Count-Off

6. Correct Playing Position & Posture

7. Raise Hand for Comments & Questions

8. Positive Body Language & Energy

9. Apply What You Already Know

10. Behavior Is Productive & Effective

Organize Your Space

Set up the room with aisles for you to be able to roam the room. Get off of the podium and move throughout the ensemble. Proximity does wonders for student behavior and allows you to see the rehearsal from their perspective.

Keep the room clean and organized. Have the room set with the correct number of chairs and stands. Have a spot for everything: extra music, pencils, tuners, lost and found, etc. Use binders for student materials to eliminate lost music. Put a pencil pouch in each binder to hold reeds, oil, tuners and pencils. Put the daily plan on the board so students know what to set up for when they enter the room.

Play More, Talk Less

Students are in band to play their instrument. The more they play the more they will like it. Many student errors can be fixed through slow repetition of small sections. Do not be afraid to repeat something a dozen times if needed. Your kids are tough, they can do it. When stopping to make corrections use three short phrases to include: who, where, what. For example: trumpets, measure 43, staccato notes-put space between. It is also very effective to model the correction on your instrument or by singing. Every stop should be 30 seconds maximum.

Consistent Expectations

No matter how tired or frustrated you might become, calmly insist that there is only one way to do things in your classroom: the right way. What you accept is what you will get. Firm expectations and a loving attitude toward the students will create a comfortable and secure environment for you and your students. The whole point of music classroom management is to develop a system that removes distractions and logistics and allows students to focus on the task at hand-music.

Jessica Corry is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Music Education. A current member of he National Association of Music Education, she is classically trained on clarinetand enjoys playing jazz tenor saxophone.

Ms. Corry currently serves as a director of bands at Traughber Jr. High in Oswego, Illinois and is enjoyingher third year of teaching as a Traughber Panther!

Rachel Maxwell currently serves as the director of bands at Traughber Jr. High School n Oswego, Illinois and as the Jr. High performing arts and band coordinator for the Oswego, IL School Dist. #308.She has taught music ed. courses at VanderCook College of Music and North Central College and has been aguest conductor, clinician and adjudicator at many music camps and festivals.

Under her direction the bands at Traughber JHS have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic (as a clinic presentation and rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All State Conference (1999, 2008, 2010, 2014), the University of Illinois Super-State Festival and at the ASBDA 2004 National Convention.

Auburn Junior High Choir Performs World Premiere of Choral Work by Composer

Rosephanye Powell

While the school year kicked into overdrive with end-of-year activities, students in Teresa Rhyne’s select girls’ choral class had a rare opportunity: they performed the world-premiere performance of a new work by internationally known, local composer Rosephanye Powell. The piece, “When I Sing”, was written as the eighth piece for ChoralQuest®, a series of music for middle-school choirs published by the American Composers Forum (ACF). The series is designed to place world-class choral composers in the middle-school classroom at no cost to the schools.

This winter, composer Rosephanye Powell began a residency at Auburn Junior High School in Auburn, Alabama. The school’s choir teacher, Teresa Rhyne, worked with Dr. Powell to engage the students in the composition process and introduced them to the composer and her work. This experience also gave choral students at Auburn Junior High School the rare opportunity to get to know a composer, to interact with Dr. Powell and learn about writing music from a living composer. On the experience, Teresa Rhyne said, “The AJHS Elites are a group that has a special musical camaraderie.It’s been a joy to see the students work together to contribute to Dr. Powell’s composition and come to understand that “When I Sing” belongs to them – it’s their song.”

The premiere performance of “When I Sing” took place at Auburn Junior High School’s Spring Choir Concert and Show on May 10, 2017 at Auburn High School. To guarantee that this experience is free for Auburn Junior High choir students, ACF received funding support from Alfred and Ann Moore and by other individual donors.

About Composer Dr. Rosephanye Powell

Dr. Rosephanye Powellhas been hailed as one of America’s premier women composers of choral music. Dr. Powell serves as Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor and Professor of Voice at Auburn University.Recent commission and premiere highlights include:

“Friendship” composed in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus; “What Shall I Come” (SATB), composed for the St. Olaf Choir 2015 Winter Tour in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Dr. Anton Armstrong, conductor, and premiered at Carnegie Hall, (Feb. 2015).

Dr. Powell travels the country and internationally serving as a workshop clinician, conductor, and adjudicator for solo vocal competitions/auditions, honor choirs, choral workshops and festivals. Recent commitments include the Oklahoma MEA All-

State High School Women’s Choir, conductor; Kansas MEA AllState High School Women’s Choir, conductor;Festival Disney Choral Festival, clinician and adjudicator;North Carolina MEA Professional Development Conference (presenter) and High School SATB Honor Choir (conductor); Melbourne International Singers Festival (AUS), conductor-composer-in-residence; Georgia All-State Chorus, Senior Women Chorus, conductor; the New York State School Music Association (Rochester), presenter; the Georgia Music Educators Association Conference (Savannah), presenter; the Middle Tennessee Vocal Association Treble Honor Choir (Nashville), conductor; the World Choir Games (Cincinnati, OH), adjudicator; the Italian Feder Gospel Choirs Workshop (Milan, Italy), conductor-composer-inresidence.

She holds degrees from The Florida State University, Westminster Choir College, and Alabama State University. Dr. Powell served on the faculties of Philander Smith College (AR) and Georgia Southern University prior to Auburn University.

About ChoralQuest®and American Composers Forum

ChoralQuest is a music series for middle-level choir, written especially for middle-level choirs by world-class composers. The series is designed to breathe new life into the available repertoire for choral students in middle school and junior high, introduce students to the composition process, and give commissioned composers the unique opportunity and challenge of writing new works for young, changing voices. Based on the success of ACF’s decade-long BandQuest® program, the composers selected for ChoralQuest partner with a middle school in their area. Composers will visit rehearsals and engage with the students before composing a piece specifically for them. These pieces are published by ACF and distributed exclusively by the Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s largest music retailer.

Kim Bain - Jazz Chair

ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND

Greetings! I hope everyone had a relaxing summer and a great start to the school year. In addition to your many marching band activities, fall is the time to help your students prepare for Alabama All-State Jazz Band auditions. Please check the ABA website for audition requirements and registration information. High school students are required to perform a recorded audition consisting of two jazz standards (including some improvisation), an etude, and several scales. Middle school students will perform only one jazz standard with improvisation, etude, and scales. Students should be able to improvise after learning just a few scales, so please do not let them be intimidated by the improvisation component. We will have three high school bands again this year (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) and one middle school band. Last year we had over 200 students audition, and we hope to see continued growth. Please encourage your students to audition for the band.

We will be using a new procedure for submitting student auditions this year. Directors will forward registration forms and fees after which they will receive a link for submitting their students’ recordings using Dropbox. All the directions on how to submit audition recordings are at http://www.myamea.org/ABA/all-state-jazz-band/

Remember to allow enough preparation time to get recordings completed by November 1, 2017.

ALL-STATE JAZZ CLINICIANS

I am excited to report that we have four outstanding clinicians for the 2018 all-state jazz bands.

Dr. Gordon Towell will be directing the Gold Band. Dr. Towell, coordinator of Jazz Studies at Loyola University, directs the Jazz Band I, jazz combos and teaches jazz history, arranging/composition, and improvisation. He holds a Bachelor of Education in music from the University of Alberta, a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Indiana University, and a Doctor of Music Education with a cognate in Jazz Studies from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati, Morehead State University, Indiana University, Kenyon College, and Grant MacEwan College. He also finds time to adjudicate, guest solo, and perform with national and international artists and conducts throughout U.S and Canada.

Dr. Michael Pendowski will be directing the Silver Band. Dr. Pendowski is the Professor of Saxophone and the Director of the Jazz Program at Auburn University. His career has encompassed a wide variety of musical styles and venues. He is a prominent composer in the educational field, writing for the full spectrum of ensembles available in today’s schools and universities. In addition, he has composed, arranged, and produced over a dozen albums; has scored for off-Broadway productions and animated features, including the

“Getting to Know the Artist” Series. Dr. Pendowski has worked extensively as a freelance performer, appearing with Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin, Carol Lawrence, Louis Bellson, George Shearing, Ray Charles, The Four Freshmen, and The Jazz Orchestra.

Mr. Chris Gordon will be directing the Bronze Band. Mr. Gordon is a professional musician who has spent the last 40 years performing, recording, composing, arranging, producing, and publishing or conducting music. He has been involved in advertisements for radio and television, theater productions, industrial films, and recordings in the genres of R&B as well as big band and small group jazz. His published works for jazz ensemble are in the catalog of Kendor Music Publishing. He composed for the Tonight Show Band, directed by Doc Severinsen, during the Johnny Carson years. He regularly performs on piano and trumpet on stages all over the US, backing up member groups in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including The Temptations, The O’Jays, The Four Tops, The Spinners, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, The Impressions, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, and Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. Most recently, he produced the Steve Sample Legacy Project for JRL-SGS Records in Los Angeles.

Dr. Mark Foster will be directing the middle school jazz band. Dr. Mark Foster is the band director at Mountain Brook Junior High School in Birmingham, Alabama and has taught band for27 years. He previously taught in the Jefferson County School System as band director at Gardendale High School and assistant band director at Hueytown High School. Bands under his leadership have consistently earned superior ratings and best-in-class awards at the district, state, and regional levels.Dr. Foster holds the Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Education degrees from The University of Alabama. He also holds National Board Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. He has served as guest honor band clinician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Montevallo, the University of Georgia, and Mobile County. As a trombone player, he has performed with the Temptations, The O’Jays, the Alabama Ballet Orchestra, the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of Birmingham’s Superjazz Big Band and is also a founding member of the Renaissance Trombone Ensemble in Birmingham, Alabama.

All four of these clinicians are truly top-notch jazz educators. I am confident they will provide an excellent experience for our students.

Please feel free to contact me (bainka@vestavia.k12.al.us) if I can be of assistance to you with your jazz programs, and I hope you will encourage your students to audition for the all-state jazz ensembles.

Have a great school year!

Choral Music Reviews

Where Your Bare Foot Walks

Music: David N. Childs (b. 1969)

Text: Rumi (with World English translation by Coleman Barks)

SATB divisi, with piano

Publisher: Walton Music

Approximate performance time: 5’20” (approximately)

Complete audio performance is available on the Walton Music website.

Childs utilizes three Rumi poems (translated by Georgia native and leading Rumi expert, Coleman Barks) for this evocative and delicate selection. Dedicated to his wife, Lesley, the piece premiered at their 2008 wedding. Childs is careful to provide very detailed composer notes where he encourages expansive use of rubato throughout. He also speaks to issues of blend and provides other text painting suggestions. The lovely soprano melody is a bit challenging due to its intervallic leaps and it moves independent of the alto, tenor and bass parts in several parts. The piano accompaniment will sit well under the fingers of an accomplished pianist. This unique love song has programming versatility; with the depth of text meaning, it will allow for meaningful classroom discussion.

I want to be where your bare foot walks, because maybe before you step you’ll look at the ground. I want that blessing;

I open and fill with love and all objects evaporate. All the learning in books stays put on the shelf. Poetry, the dear words and images of song, comes down over me like water;

I want to be where your bare foot walks, because maybe before you step you’ll look at the ground. This is how I would die into the love I have for you; As pieces of cloud dissolve in sunlight; This is how I would die into the love I have for you.

Abide with Me

Music: William Henry Monk (1823-1889)

Arranger: Greg Jasperse

Text: Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)

SATB divisi, unaccompanied

Publisher: Ausberg Fortress

Approximate performance time: 3’45”

Greg Jasperse, Assistant Professor of Vocal Jazz and Director of Gold Company/GCII at Western Michigan University, is best known for his vocal jazz and show choir arrangements and professional vocal work with groups like Vertical Voices and Sixth Wave. One of the things I love about Jasperse, however, is his ability to write pieces that work well in either the vocal jazz or traditional choral performance worlds. His arrangement of the hymn, Abide with Me is one such example (Want proof? Listen to St. Olaf Choir’s rendition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaI__UfcGPk)

This setting of the hymn tune, Eventide, explores “crunch” dissonances found in most vocal jazz arrangements, moving from dissonance to resolution to dissonance in effortless and text appropriate ways. The tenor section is featured on melody for the first section (quarter note = 68); sopranos take the lead in the second section (quarter = 84) over an openfifth bass ostinato) and the final stanza moves to quarter= 92, modulating up a fourth. Jasperse’s sensitive harmonization of this poignant hymn supports the plea for Divine Help to be present through loss and hardships.

If Ye Love Me

Music: Philip Stopford (b. 1977)

Text: John 14:15-17

Publisher: Ecclesium Publishing

SATB divisi, unaccompanied

Approximate performance time: 3’48”

British born composer Philip Stopford began his career as a singer in the choir of Westminster Abbey. Most of the music he has composed has been written for his own choirs and this setting of If Ye Love Me is no exception (composed for the main Cathedral Choir of Chester Cathedral). The piece alternates between sparse harmonies that open up to full lush chords, utilizing mixed meters (3/4, 5/4, 6/4, 3/2, 2/4). I have always been intrigued by Stopford’s use of repetition of text; for example, he chooses to repeat the phrase “keep my commandments” three times (even though it is not reiterated in the John 14 passage). It is as if he is foreshadowing a later conversation between Christ and Peter (John 21: 15-17) where the question “Do you love me?” is repeated three times. This is an excellent teaching piece that will reinforce part independence, blend, and unified diction through the use of accessible dissonance. This will be a thoughtful and beautiful addition to the repertoire for advanced high school groups and church or community choirs. Want a great program pairing with this Stopford composition? Try the well-known setting of the same text by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585).

Dr. Diane Orlofsky is Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at Troy University, where she oversees the choral program and teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in music education. She is the conductor of the Troy University Concert Chorale and the Director of the Troy University vocal jazz ensemble, frequency.

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Elementary/General Division Event Date/s Location City Fall Workshop September 8, 2017 First Baptist Church Montgomery ASSC Auditions October 5-7, 2017 Tuscaloosa All-State Auditions November 10-17, 2017 AMEA Board Meeting January 17, 2018 BJCC Birmingham AMEA Conference January 18-20, 2018 BJCC Birmingham Solo and Ensemble Date Location City District I April 3, 2018 Highland Baptist Church Florence District II April 5-6, 2018 University of Alabama Tuscaloosa District III February 10, 2018 Cahaba Heights United Methodist Church Birmingham District IV February 15, 2018 Jacksonville State University Jacksonville District V February 12-13, 2018 Trinity United Methodist Church Huntsville District VI March 15, 2018 First Baptist Church Tallassee District VII (Fall) October 20, 2017 University of Mobile Mobile District VII (Spring) February 27, 2018 Springhill Baptist Church Mobile SCPA Date(s) Location City District I March 1, 2018 First Baptist Church Decatur District I March 2, 2018 Highland Baptist Church Florence District II April 5-6, 2018 University of Alabama Tuscaloosa District III March 19-21, 2018 Gardendale Mt. Vernon UMC Gardendale District IV April 13, 2018 Gadsden City High School Gadsden District V March 22-23, 2018 Columbia High School Huntsville District VI March 15, 2018 First Baptist Church Tallassee District VII March 22, 2018 Springhill Baptist Church Mobile OCS/OA/ME Date Location City District I November 28, 2017 Decatur High School Decatur District II November 28, 2017 Paul W. Bryant High School Cottondale District III November 27, 2017 Cahaba Heights United Methodist Church Birmingham District IV November 28, 2017 Alexandria High School Alexandria District V November 28, 2017 Bob Jones High School Madison District VI November 29, 2017 Montgomery Academy Montgomery District VII December 5, 2017 University of Mobile Mobile

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Sight-Singing: What Is It Good For, Absolutely Everything!

For decades, choral music teachers have recognized the importance of teaching sight-singing and continue to use a variety of teaching methods as Kodaly, solfege syllables and Curwen hand signs, numbers, pitch names, and intervals to teach sight-singing to their choral ensembles. Teaching singers to sing from notation without hearing the music first remains a perennial challenge for choral music educators. Why is sight-singing important for choral ensembles? Sight-singing gives choral ensembles the opportunity to sing through choral selections with more musical independence. As the choral ensemble becomes more musically independent, choirs develop more confidence when sight-singing. By using sight-singing, how can choral ensembles improve their overall musicianship skills? Choral members improve overall musicianship skills through sightsinging with the ability to sing ascending and descending intervals correctly using solfege syllables. Sight-singing also provides choirs the opportunity to improve rhythmic patterns as well as melodic phrasing and dynamics. What are the methodologies being used to teach sightsinging? Are choral teachers only using sight-singing to improve state musical performance assessments?

Sight-singing is defined as the ability to sing from notation without assistance of a musical instrument or without hearing the melody first. The ability to understand musical notation to sight-sing is a useful skill for choral musicians. Without this understanding, singers will be dependent on other singers or the choral teacher playing their respective part to learn the music. This phenomenon grew out of the idea for improving congregational singing in church music in hopes the overall singing would improve. In order to improve overall singing, choral members need to be made aware of the problem. Once the problem is established, a sight-singing teaching method is then put into place to assist the choral members in eliminating the problem. The teacher must show a visible enthusiasm for singing, for music, and for the people he or she is teaching in order to teach people how to sing.

Solfege Syllables and Curwen Hand Signs

In 1841, John Curwen was commissioned to find the simplest way to teach singing by note. This teaching method was used for choirs and in congregational hymn singing. His method evolved leading to publication in 1858 of The Standard Course of Lessons and Exercises in the Tonic Sol-Fa Method of Teaching Music (Curwen & Zinar, 1983). Through these lessons and exercises, Curwen employed the moveable “do” concept in conjunction with a system of hand signals to illustrate the scale degrees. The hand signals became known as the Curwen Hand Signs. These hand signals represent each syllable in the scale degree and the relationship each degree has to the tonic or home tone, “do”. Tapping into a

Dr. Jeramy A. Nichols

student’s kinesthetic learning mode is an important pedagogical feature to Curwen hand signs (McClung, 2008). By using kinesthetic and visual models when learning pitch patterns, scale degrees, intervals, etc., students have the opportunity to reinforce their auditory skills.

A study of trained high school students using solfege syllables with Curwen hand signs and without Curwen hand signs was conducted by McClung (2008) at the University of North Texas. He selected a random group of trained high school students and had them sight-sing two melodies. His findings produced no statistical significance between using hand signs and not using hand signs. According to McClung and other researchers, movable solfege syllables (movable “do”) and movable pitch numbers (scale degree numbers) are the two dominant pitch systems used to sight-sing in American classrooms. Educators list the approaches they have used in teaching sight-singing: moveable “Do” with solfege, moveable

“Do” using numbers, fixed “Do” in addition with solfege, neutral syllables, letter names, and/or intervals. It is safe to say that the moveable “Do” with using solfege syllables is the most widely used teaching method for pitch accuracy. In addition to using solfege syllables and hand signs, teachers continue to explore different ways to use sight-singing to improve pitch accuracy for choral ensembles. Some of these ways has included the aspects of groups versus individual achievement, individual assessments, the use of tonal patterns, using pitch names versus solfege symbols, the pitches as they relate to the harmonics, and the use of visual-spatial representations as Curwen hand signs or similar actions. Interestingly, singers that have had instrumental experience tend to be better sight-singers than those singers who have had only a choral background. By using the above aspects of sight-singing and with some preparation prior to the performance, choral musicians have more opportunities to become a stronger sight-singer.

Why do we, choral music educators, teach sight-singing to our choral ensembles? We want to instill and equip our choral singers with independent musicianship skills in hopes of developing musical literacy. With proper and consistent implementation of sight-singing in the choral music classroom, choral students are given the opportunity to become stronger sight-singers, choral musicians, and can promote musical literacy. Johnson’s (1987) survey of choral directors from the North Central region of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) revealed there needs to be an emphasis on music literacy, but little time is dedicated to sightsinging in ensembles. Although sight-singing is important, giving rehearsal time to it is a different matter. With concerts, special performances, and musical assessments throughout the year, giving rehearsal time to focus on sight-singing could take away from learning repertoire. However, choral teachers find a variety of ways to incorporate sight-singing into the rehearsal. One way choral teachers incorporate sight-singing into the rehearsal is to use a portion of the warm-up to sight-singing. After singing ascending and descending patterns, a diction exercise, and a chordal pattern, choral teachers can use the next portion of the warm-up to sight-sing. As all choral teachers know, the use of warm-ups are to help vocalize the choir prior to a rehearsal and/or performance. As part of the warm-ups, choral teachers teach ascending and descending patterns. Choral teachers also use solfege syllables in those patterns. Often, there is a short exercise that is made up of solfege syllables and with numbers such as:

do, do re do, do re mi re do, do re mi fa mi re do, do re mi fa sol fa mi re do, do re mi fa sol la sol fa mi re do, do re mi fa sol la ti la sol fa mi re do, do re mi fa sol la ti do ti la sol fa mi re do

1, 121, 12321, 1234321, 123454321, 12345654321, 1234567654321, 123456787654321

By using these short vocal exercises, choral teachers are able to teach musicianship skills of solfege, intervals, and eight-note scale patterns. The vocal exercises can also be used in a round setting. When sung in a round, the vocal exercise teaches listening skills, independent singing, and tuning to assist in pitch accuracy.

Pitch Accuracy

Choral teachers continue to use a variety of techniques to assist with vocal pitch accuracy. One vocal technique used to assist in pitch accuracy is choral members singing unifying vowel sounds by using unifying vowel shapes. By having a more unified sound and shape of the mouth and lips, choral singers can have better pitch accuracy. As long as the singers are demonstrating “pure” vowel shapes with a unified sound, the choir has a higher chance of having better pitch accuracy. Another technique used is the dropped jaw. By dropping the jaw, this creates space inside of the mouth. Space inside of the mouth helps with the resonance of the sound; which in return supports the vowel shape. Unifying vowel shapes and dropping the jaw both assist in pitch accuracy. When sight-singing, pitch accuracy is very important. It allows the singers to sing through a melody with ease. As choral singers sing through melodies with ease, the singers continue to build confidence. In addition to dropping the jaw and unified vowel shapes, choral teachers often demonstrate the pitch by an echo-sing or playing the pitch on a piano. This helps the choral members to hear the pitch to internalize or audiate before singing the pitch. Although, this technique can be a controversial topic among choral music educators. It becomes an argument of teaching by rote. Teaching by rote is singing or playing

the respective part and having the choir sing the part back until the melody is learned. However, there are times in a rehearsal when it is necessary for the choral teacher to demonstrate a respective voice part by either singing or playing the part on the piano. Choral teachers are demonstrating phrasing, dynamics, style, etc. for choral singers to understand their part in reference to the piece of music. So, therefore, it may not be considered as teaching a piece of music by rote, but instead using correct vocal technique and proper vocal demonstrations to assist the choral singers with the respective vocal parts and the choir as a whole.

Sight-Singing Trends in Texas, Michigan, and Florida

It is with no doubt that sight-singing is an important part of choral music education and that choral music educators use a variety of method books, vocal excerpts, and rhythmic exercises to teach sight-singing. Texas choral educators (80%) reported that they provide sight-singing instruction at least four days a week; Florida choral educators (22%) allow an average of 14.3 minutes to have opening activities centered around sight-singing; and 97% of those choral educators were convinced that sight-singing resulted in the ability to read music faster (Norris, 2004). However, and since sightsinging is a requirement in state musical assessments, these percentages might be influenced by those state musical assessment requirements.

At the expense of developing sight-singing and enhancing overall musicianship skills, choral music educators are often criticized for rote teaching and placing emphasis on performance aspects. As a part of state musical assessments and competitions, sight-singing is required of all choirs. Choirs receive a participation and sight-singing rating which determines the overall rating of the choir. Choral educators (86%) surveyed from Texas reported rehearsing sightsinging more than 25 weeks of the regular school year while 80% rehearse four to five days a week and 78% practice sight-singing between six and fifteen minutes a day (Demorest & May, 1995).

The Michigan State Adjudicated Choral Festivals require choirs to sight-sing three eight-measure melodies within a twentyminute time frame as part of the adjudication. The choral directors select the grade level for their groups and each group can be adjudicated for a rating or just comments. If the initial sight-reading is unsuccessful, a second attempt may be allowed and taken into consideration in the final rating (Stegman, 2009). The Florida Musical Performance Assessment (MPA) requires each choir to perform one rhythmic exercise and one melodic exercise for the examples provided. Just as in Michigan, choral teachers are able to choose the appropriate exercises for their choir. Surveys have shown that Florida middle school choral teachers are teaching sight-singing by using sight-singing methods and elements of melody and rhythm, whether the piano is being used, and if they taught aural skills and staff notation. Results have shown that choral teachers use solfege syllables or Kodaly hand signs, rhythm syllables, physical movement, and movable “Do” during warm-ups. In addition, choral teachers use current concert literature, self-composed rhythm, and melody examples.

Surveyed Florida participants used choral textbooks that included sight-singing, rhythm, and melody exercises. In addition, other Florida choral teachers used published method books like The Sight Singer, Melodia, Successful Sight Singing, and The Jenson Sight-Singing Course (Kuehne, 2007). However, there were a small portion of choral teachers who used a technological based program through

Finale, Essentials of Music by Alfred, or Music Ace I and II. The remainder of the respondents answered they used their own or someone else’s unpublished self-designed methods that included melody, rhythm, and interval exercises in conjunction with Kodaly hand signs, rhythm syllables, and numbers to represent the pitch names.

Kuehne noted the common theme that drives the motivation for the Florida Vocal Association (FVA) members to teach sight-singing was in direct reference to the participation in choral contests, festivals, and assessments. The FVA members felt the contests were their form of assessment for the choral group(s). When polled, the respondents commented that their lack of assessment came from their lack of choral sight-singing experience either in their teaching career or in the undergraduate or graduate setting. For the majority of the respondents, their choirs are being taught sight-singing at least five to ten minutes during each class.

CONCLUSION

Choral sight-singing is the action of singing a melody or piece of music at sight without instrumental accompaniment. Choral sight-singing is an integral component of singing and is an ongoing challenge for choral music educators. Choral educators use a variety of sight-singing methods, i.e., solfege syllables, fixed “Do”, moveable “Do”, the use of Curwen hand signs, numbers, and tonal intervals with an anticipation of improving musicianship skills to create independent musicians. Interestingly, in the states of Texas, Michigan, and Florida, assessments and competitions are becoming a mainline sight-singing method to receive higher ratings at adjudications. The more traditional sight-singing methods of solfege syllables, fixed “Do”, moveable “Do”, the use of Curwen hand signs, numbers, and tonal intervals are being used as a sub-method to achieve higher ratings at adjudications. Have we, as choral music educators, begun to stray away from teaching the fundamentals of choral musicianship skills to improve the quality of the individual singer and the overall ensemble for the highest adjudication rating? Have we lost sight to why sight-singing is important for our choral ensembles? Although teaching sight-singing is a perennial challenge for choral music teachers, the skill of sight-singing is an important skill for choral singers to develop and master. Sight-singing helps choral singers to become independent singers and stronger musicians. It also assists with developing better pitch and rhythm accuracy; which again is creating stronger and more confident singers. Yes, the looming factor of receiving a higher rating at adjudication is a main contributor of teaching sight-singing. However, sight-singing is still being taught in the choral classroom and choral students are becoming strong, independent, and more confident choral singers. We, as music educators, need to be mindful to not merely go through the motions of sight-singing to receive a placard to hang on the wall, but we need to keep in mind that as we are preparing for that next adjudication that we are still preparing our choral students to be confident, stronger, better accuracy, and independent choral musicians in and outside of the choral classroom.

References

Apfelstadt, H. (1986). Learning Modality: A Potential Clue in the Search for Vocal Accuracy. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 4(3). Pp. 4-6.

Cooper, N. A. (1995). Children’s Singing Accuracy as a Function of Grade Level, Gender, and Individual versus Unison Singing. Journal of Research in Music Education, (Autumn 1995) 222-231.

Curwen, J. A. (1983). John Curwen: Teaching the Tonic Sol-Fa

Method 1816-1880: A English Minster Teaching Music through the Sound of Tones and Only Later Using Notation. Music Educators Journal, (October 1983) 46-47.

Demorest, S. M. (1998). Improving Sight-Singing Performance in the Choral Ensemble: The Effect of Individual Test. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46 (2). 182- 192.

Demorest, S. M. and May, W. V. (1995). Sight-Singing Instruction in the Choral Ensemble: Factors Related to Individual Performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, (43) 2. 156-167.

Frederickson, K. B. (1993). The Relationship of Spatial Ability and Encoding Ability to Kodaly Hand Signs and Singing Performance. (Doctoral Dissertation, Arizona State University). Dissertation Abstracts International. 53-12. 4244A.

Henry, M. L. (2004). The Use of Target Pitch Skills for Sight-Singing Instruction in the Choral Rehearsal. Journal of Research in Music Education, (52) 3. 206-217.

Jones, B. A. (1981). A Comparative Study of Spatial Reinforcement as a Means for Improving the Pitch Discrimination of Severn Year Olds. (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Mississippi). Dissertation Abstracts International, 42. 592A. (UMI No. AAT 8117286).

Killian, J. N. (1991). The Relationship between Sightsinging Accuracy and Error Detection in Junior High Singers. Journal of Research in Music Education, (39) 3. 216-224.

Killian, J. N. and Henry M. L. (2005). A Comparison of Successful and Unsuccessful Strategies in Individual Sight-Singing Preparation and Performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, (53) 1. 51-65.

Kuehne, J. M. (Summer, 2007). A Survey of Sight-Singing Instructional Practices in Florida Middle-School Choral Programs. Journal of Research in Music Education. 55(2). 115-128.

Martin, B. A. (1991). Effects of Hand Signs, Syllables, and Letters on First Graders’ Acquistion of Tonal Skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, (Summer 1991) 161-170.

McClung, A. C. (2008). Sight-Singing Scores of High School Choristers with Extensive Training in Movable Solfege Syllables and Curwen Hand Signs. Journal of Research in Music Education, (October 2008) 255-267.

Moore, R. S. (1994). Effects of Age, Sex, and Melodic/Harmonic Patterns on Vocal Pitch-Matching Skills of Talents 8-11 Year-Olds. Journal of Research in Music Education, (Spring 1994) 5-12.

Norris, C. E. (2004). A Nationwide Overview of Sight-Singing Requirements of Large-Group Choral Festivals. Journal of Research in Music Education, (52) 1. 16-28.

Powell, S. (1991). Choral Intonation: More than Meets the Ear. Music Educators Journal Vol. 77 No. 9, (May 1991) 40-43.

Stegman, S. F. (2009). Michigan State Adjudicated Choral Festivals: Revising the Adjudication Process. Music Educators Journal, (95) 4. 62-65.

Dr. Jeramy A. Nichols is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and Choral Music at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. Dr. Nichols coordinates the Music Education program and is the Director of Choral Music. He assists with local choral music educators, is an active choral clinician within the area and region, and has presented at state level conferences. Dr. Nichols earned a Ph.D. and Masters degree in Music Education with a concentration in Choral Conducting from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocal Performance with concentrations in Choral Music Education and Church Music from Olivet Nazarene University.

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