VMRC Intergenerational Choir

Rehearsal Number 4/5: Schedule and General Lesson Plan:

(50 x minutes = 30.9 min. = Golden Mean of the Class = Harder stuff
before this!)

1. LESSON #4/5: NAME Kathryn Bailey

REHEARSAL THREADS: Expression: Diction, Meaning

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: Fill our piece with clear expression of text and facial
expression.

Assessment Strategies:
Throughout this rehearsal I will engage in formal assessment by: Having them sing finished sections at the end
my teaching sequence.

Throughout this rehearsal I will engage in informal assessment by: Watching for engagement as I am teaching,
‘dialing it back’ if necessary to repeat or make things clearer

Start Timings Activity or Piece Developmental Hierarchy

Time Totals Level/Chunks, Plan and Sequence

Time: (:30/6:00) Activity 1: Chunk 1: Welcome and Goals

Welcome & Goals

Activity 1: DIRECT INSTRUCTION SCRIPT:

Chunk 1:
1s. Good Morning VMRC!

2v. Good Morning

1a. My rehearsal goals for today are to make our diction more zesty and crisp, and to dig
a little deeper into the meaning of this song.

TRANSITION WITH: 1d. Please open your music to page 22, the Holy and the Ivy

Time (1:00/1:30/6:00) Activity 2: Chunk 1: Review Diction

Review anything that
is unstable. Or skip
this step!

Activity 2: DIRECT INSTRUCTION SCRIPT:

Chunk 1: Chanting: mm:

1d. Repeat after me: Grown, crown, blood, good

2v Choir echoes

Chunk 2: Chanting: mm:

1d. The playing of the merry organ->sweet singing in the choir.

2v Students echo

1d. Do that again, but draw some kind of line in the air to help remind you to not breathe
between organ and sweet.

TRANSITION WITH: 3sra. That will be lovely when we add music! Don’t forget those ending
consonants when we come back!

Time: (1:00/2:30/6:00) Activity 3: SHORT Chunk 1: Review Bass refrain and put in
speaking echoes of context with other parts.
text: Isolate the
hardest things and
SKIP if not
necessary!

Activity 3: DIRECT INSTRUCTION SCRIPT:

Chunk 1:
1d. Everybody please be a bass at the pickup to the third system where the refrain begins.

2p. Choir sings Bass chorus

1d. Let’s put that in context. Everybody on his or her own part at the same place, pickup to the third
system.

2p. Choir sings chorus

3sra. Yes! Those harmonies are really locking into each other.

TRANSITION WITH: 1a. Before we do, let’s think about what this piece means!
Activity 4: Meaning

Chunk 1: Thinking

1a. This piece has always been a happy memory for me, but until now I honestly did not know what it
meant, so I decided to do some research that I wanted to share for anyone that is in the same boat as I
was.

I always knew that this song had traditional Christmas roots, but I also found out that it has evolved
over hundreds of years, and was originally a bucolic and sentimental song about the holidays, and did
not really take a recorded religious turn until about the 1800s.

1d. So take a moment to think about the meaning of this piece to you, and think about any feelings or
memories you have towards this song.

Chunk 2: Sharing #1
1d. Would anyone like to share?

2v. Chorister shares

3sra. Thank you!

Chunk 3: Sharing

1s. For me, it was the first song I remember my mother singing to me when I was younger, I have
always associated it with my family, and the warm and fuzzy feelings I get during the holidays.

1a. That doesn’t mean that we get to sit back and relax while singing this song, because the zesty
diction and dynamic changes are what can make this piece special for us and our audience!

1a. Just as a reminder, we are singing the first verse mf, the second verse p WITHOUT
COMPROMISING DICTION, and the third verse mp with a crescendo to a forte refrain at the end! I
will show these changes in my conducting, so please keep your eyes up as much as possible!

TRANSITION WITH: Let’s perform our piece all the way through with the introduction.

Time: (2.00/6:00/6:00) Activity 5: Perform the Chunk 1: Perform the entire piece or a
piece! huge chunk of it, time depending.

Activity 6: DIRECT INSTRUCTION SCRIPT: