Ten Rehearsal Tips for Introducing a New Song BY TOM SHELTON
#1 REHEARSAL PLANNING Introduce an anthem six weeks before it is to be sung in worship. This gives you the time to plan activities that will reinforce the musical concepts VERSUS rote singing and drilling the music for a “performance.”
#2 TIME Keep track of the time you spend on each activity. As a general rule, if you are working singers ages 8 – 10, it would be helpful to change activities every 8 – 10 minutes.
#3 LEARNING STYLES When planning rehearsals, provide instruction through the following learning anchors: Aural, Visual, and Kinesthetic.
#4 WARM-UP CONNECTOR At the end of your warm-up sequence, have a warmup that is specifically related to the repertoire you are getting ready to sing!
#5 TRANSITIONS Transitions are SO IMPORTANT! Try to create transitions that lead and reinforce a musical concept going into the next song.
#6 MUSIC ACTIVITIES AS CONNECTORS It’s okay to have a short vocal activity/music reading exercise (or warm-up) between songs. Warm-ups definitely belong at the beginning of the rehearsal to prepare our voices for singing; however, they can be sprinkled throughout to help reinforce good vocal technique and address a possible problem within the song (interval; vowel sound; rhythmic issue, et cetera...)
#7 STUDENT KNOWLEDGE Find something in the music the singers should be able to “musically understand”” and create your plan from this starting point. • This could be a melodic phrase that moves by step (or has an easy skip (sol – do)
• Rhythmic patterns from the music that are familiar to them and they can easily clap •
Echo Patterns
•
Phrases that are similar/different
#8 REPERTOIRE CONTEXT Give some context of the piece and how it could relate to their lives! This could be a short discussion – simply asking, “What do you think this means”? “Where have you experienced this in your life”? Everyone has life experiences they can relate to the music they are singing – even 6-year-olds! Try to find a way to help them connect to the lyrics and to their life.
#9 MUSICAL LAYERING A young group of singers has to hear something 4 – 6 times before they can actually sing it accurately. (Gordon) How can you introduce this, adding one musical concept each time? “Repetition. A class may need to hear a song four to six times before most students are able to sing it accurately. Keep them actively involved in the listening process by adding a new task to each repetition.” (https://giml.org/ mlt/classroom/)
#10 CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS Incorporate questioning skills into the rehearsal process. Give students the opportunity to have input into the musical decision making.
EXTRA TIP In the rehearsal, plan activities that involve: Movement, Creating, Singing, Playing Instruments, Listening and Notation.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATION Tom has provided a short video to discuss and demonstrate these rehearsal tips, featuring his new anthem for Choristers Guild (CGA1651 No Hands But Yours) as an example. Watch the video on our Vimeo channel.
Tom T. Shelton, Jr. is a native of Greensboro, N.C. and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he earned both a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Choral Conducting. He is associate professor of Sacred Music at Westminster Choir College. Focusing on children’s and youth music at Westminster, he teaches classes in conducting, sacred music and music education. In addition, he is the director of Children's and Youth Choirs at Princeton United Methodist Church. He is also conductor of the Westminster Neighborhood Children’s Choir.
4 | thechorister | June/July 2021
