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Choral Techniques
4 February 2018
good and bad that impacted me as a musician, and have continued with me as things
Firstly, I appreciated that the course was an open, accepting place that
encouraged students to make good grades, and try their best. The teacher was an
eccentric, but well-meaning woman, and tried to boost the confidence of her
students.
Secondly, the teacher was very good at knowing what her classes were, and
what they were not. The teacher did a good job choosing music that was appropriate
for most of the student’s abilities, and did encourage us to push ourselves, for the
most part. There was foundational music theory being taught, and music
Thirdly, there was effort to get out and give to the community. The choir
would perform locally, and tried to get several different ‘gigs’, as a way to bring
music all across the area, which was admirable. This was especially true during the
holiday season, when we would sing carols, travel to different locations across both
be in the class, and it was a well established expectation that you could be there and
have fun, but when it was time to do the work that you would be compliant.
Generally, she managed classes well, even if things could be chaotic at times.
Fifth, she was smart in how she laid out and arranged her choirs, using
people where they were most needed, and even though the group was lacking in
Despite these perks to the class, there were also many faults that were
First, if you were a more advanced student and wanted music that was more
at your level, you were kind of out of luck. The level at which the choir needed didn’t
considerable boredom that I had to sit through. I would remedy this by giving my
more advanced students projects, or small ensembles to sing in so that they could be
Secondly, there was a truly bleak music selection that could have been so
much better. Most of the music consisted of bad arrangements of Queen’s greatest
hits, ‘Evolutions of Music’ and bad folk tunes. There was rarely any classical, and
what classical there was wasn’t really implemented in a way that brought history
and its art to the forefront. I would fix this by choosing better music that I could
position with the teacher, and made me end up leaving the group. I wanted to
explore singing as a countertenor, but was placed as a bass II. That I could
understand and make peace with, as there were few males in the group, let along
ones that could fake being a bass. But when it came to solo contests, I had worked on
music with a private voice teacher as a countertenor, and wasn’t permitted by the
teacher to sing in my proper octave. Come solo and ensemble, I did it anyways, and
was scolded for it. The teacher didn’t want her name on that kind of singing, even
though I went to state and got a one there. I would fix by not doing that.
Fourthly, the way that lessons were taught could have been largely more
efficient. The teacher herself would often get off topic, or struggle to get what she
needed from her students, and then retention of previously learned material was
poor. I don’t know how I would fix this quite yet, but that’s why I’m in this class.
Lastly, there were way too many days that we simply didn’t do anything in
her classes. As a student, I appreciated this, but as a future educator, I can see that
there are obvious problems with this, and it caused unnecessary struggle as we
neared deadlines and concerts. I would fix this by using those kinds of lazy days as a
rare occurrence, if they ever happened at all. That way we would not be wasting