Our local elementary school asked us to come do a presentation on a cappella singing for their Arts Night. We occassionally do a cappella pieces but I don't have a group designated to the genre. I also like it, but am no expert.
While we do listening and chord building frequently, I wanted a unique chord progression to build a song off. So one morning I literally You Tubed "easy a cappella songs for beginners" and found this gem:
I don't know why I clicked on it, probably just to see how funny it would be. But it actually worked.
So I took it to my advanced ensemble and taught them the progression. *A lot of times I'll show them the video of this and teach using that, but since I wasn't crazy about the quality, I just used the content.* Once they learned the progression I began singing the melody over it. Then had them experimenting with different vowels and rhythms on their pitch progressions. Finally, I split them into groups and gave them a series of 3-4 class periods to work on their own arrangements. They performed after the first two rehearsals for each other for feedback. We then began to talk about the integration of movement and formations in a cappella, etc. The end result was super awesome and these students were able to not only take their arrangements to perform at this Arts night, they also helped the students make up their own arrangements. assignment/ handout link here
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This February I had the honor of conducting the auditioned choir, Chorale, from Meredith College at their winter concert while Director of Choral Activities, Dr. Shannon Gravelle, is on maternity leave. The concert was in conjunction with two other Meredith choruses, led by Sally Albrecht, and the Capital City Girls Choir Cantabile, led by Dr. Fran Page.
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Beth Philemon#ItsAllConnected Archives
August 2019
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