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On this page, an overview of the entire curriculum is first given, followed by pictures and listings for each of the curriculum items individually.
What is it? A choral music curriculum featuring simple lesson plans and teaching aids for in-rehearsal choir instruction. Teaching Choral Concepts is a 448-page book which contains the entire curriculum. Developed in the Salt Lake City area as the basis for a doctoral dissertation, the program consists of thirty-five powerful "mini" lessons. Each of the lessons states a series of essential concepts in brief, easily-understood sentences. Every lesson can be taught in 20 minutes or less—that's less than twelve hours of rehearsal time per school year. Add in time for effective review and demonstrations and the total still comes to less than 20 hours per year needed to effectively teach the essential principles. But what a tremendous impact those hours will have on the quality, sound, and increased learning ability of your choirs!
Who is it for? The lessons are simple in format and can be adapted to any age group, from junior high through college. The mini-lesson format also makes it an ideal training program for adult community choirs, church choirs, barbershoppers—it's great for any choral group!
What guidelines were used in developing the mini-lessons? The thirty-five lessons were developed to meet the following criteria:
Ease of teacher preparation
Availability of background reference material
Precise definition of learning objectives
Precise definition of behavioral objectives
Lesson outlines should follow the natural order of learning
Lesson plans should be easily followed, meaningfully stated, and consistent in format
Each lesson should be in "mini-lesson" style which can be taught in 20 minutes or less
Matters of controversy should be avoided—the lessons are based on principles generally accepted among qualified teachers of singing
The Curriculum Guide [#2910]
How is the curriculum organized in the basic Curriculum Guide? The 35 lessons are divided into four units. Each unit is supported with tools which the instructor can use to make his/her teaching more effective. These include a statement of unit objectives, a teaching schedule planner, three to ten brief but significant quotations from major sources about each topic, a notebook checklist, suggestions for review techniques for each lesson, and an overall unit review. Each lesson also contains suggestions for background readings for the teacher from a recommended basic library.
Here's what the lessons cover in UNIT 1:
1. Introduction and Course Participation Commitment--prepares your students for a positive leaming experience, explains the curriculum and tells what they will be expected to do.
2. Correct Sitting Posture--shows your students the effects of poor posture on singing and teaches four rules for good posture.
3. Correct Standing Posture--describes good posture for each part of the anatomy and presents various body-movement techniques for assuming correct standing posture.
4. The Breathing Mechanism--based on an explanation of the funcfioning of antagonistic muscles, your students learn key concepts about how their body functions in the breathing process.
5. Controlled Breathing--your students learn the relationships of air quantity, expulsion rate and throat-opening size to breath control. They learn six suggestions for breath economy, five practice techniques, and the need for personal physical vitality.
6. Voice-part Classifcations--your students learn the factors which determine voice classifications are timbre, tessitura, change-of-color points, and range. They review basic 2-, 3-, 4-, and 8-part classifications and examine the tone and style descriptions used to identify various solo voices (coloratura soprano, lyric tenor, etc.)
7. Vocal Ranges--after learning the octave numbering system (c I, c2, c3, etc.), your students learn the typical good and extreme ranges for each voice part and determine their own "good" and "extreme" ranges.
8. The Reed-flute Tone Continuum--a presentation of the tone-color continuum which explains "reed," "flute" and "mixed" voices, this lesson helps your students conceptualize "ideal" tone quality and learn how they can move their own tone quality toward that ideal.
9. Change-of-color Points--after learning that untrained voices have obvious change-of-color points where the vocal mechanism changes and adjusts, your students learn where those points are typically found for each voice part and how the points can be identified. They learn that a vocal training objective is to smooth out the voice so these points are not easily heard.
10. Audition Preparation--your students learn that the qualities being evaluated when vocal auditions are held are vocal ability, musicianship and personality. T'hey are taught how to prepare for auditions effectively.
In the ten lessons above are dozens of key concepts and behavioral objectives that your students should be applying on a daily basis--understanding that will make a remarkable change in the sound of your choir. But there's much, much more!
UNIT 2 includes the following lessons:
11. Objectives of Vocal Training--this lesson identifies ten objectives of personal or group voice lessons and encourages students to seek outside instruction.
12. The Singing Mechanism--in this non-technical explanation of the singing apparatus, the students acquire enough background concerning the generator, vibrators, resonators, and articulators to be able to receive later instructions on adjustments the instructor seeks from various individuals during rehearsals.
13. Open Throat--choir members learn how tension in the throat affects tone quality, and they acquire several techniques for achieving an open throat. They begin to evaluate their own tonal quality.
14. Personal Warmup--the students learn how to conduct a personal warmup prior to each rehearsal and practice period, and gain understanding of the importance and purposes of the warmup.
15. Care of the Voice--using information provided in the lesson outline, students present reports on vocal abuse, vocal-cord damage, head colds, laryngitis, allergies, tonsillitis, smoking, and correct speech levels.
16. Vocal Resonance--choir members experiment with changes in lip, mouth, and tongue positions, plus adjustments in nasality and tension of cavity walls to discover how each can affect vocal resonance.
17. Good Singing Tone--after learning that good singing tone is recognized by comparison to a correct tonal image, choir members learn appropriate criteria for judging the sound and feel of their singing tone.
18. Tone Color--students learn how and when to use "dark," "bright" and "straight" tone.
19. Attacks and Releases--emphasis is placed on choral precision, with explanations and demonstrations of good and poor vocal attacks and releases. Instruction for determining the exact time for releases is given.
20. Effective Practice--choir members are taught that practice based on the accomplishment of meaningful goals is essential to musical growth and satisfaction, and they set personal goals for growth.
UNIT 3 covers these important principles:
21. Dynamic Levels--this lesson focuses on six levels in the dynamic range, helps choir members sing with greater dynamic variety and contrast, and aids them in making the vocal adjustments needed to sing softly or loudly.
22. Extending Vocal Ranges--shows choir members how to practice in order to extend their vocal ranges, while alerting them to the visible signs of vocal tension.
23. Head Resonance and Head Tone--choir members are taught to recognize tones produced with "head resonance" and "head voice," and are helped in improving the quality of their tone on higher pitches.
24. Humming--choir members are shown how to hum properly, improve their blend and resonance in hummed passages, and use humming in practice sessions to improve their vocal skills.
25. Basic Musical Styles--choir members are taught to recognize and perform correctly in legato, staccato, marcato, and rubato styles.
26. Correct Phrasing--the basic rules of phrasing are presented, and choir members learn the techniques used for singing long phrases, taking catch-breaths, staggering their breathing, and learning to better control their breathing.
27. Vocal Flexibility--choir members are shown how to strive for greater agility, more variation of tone color and dynamics, and more control of accents and embellishments in their singing.
28. Intonation--the lesson focuses on overcoming errors in vocal production which are the source of intonation problems, dealing also with mental laziness, specific tuning of chords, and cooperating to eliminate intonation errors in the choir's repertoire.
UNIT 4 completes the curriculum with these lessons:
30. Balance and Blend--choir members are taught to blend by brightening or darkening their tone, and to adjust their individual volume to improve the choir's balance.
31. Singing the Vowels--this lesson shows that correct lip and tongue positions are essential to singing vowels with good quality, that vowels migrate to certain areas of the vocal range, plus the production needed for "bright" and "dark," and also "open" and "closed" vowels.
32. Diphthongs--choir members learn the proper procedure for singing diphthongs and learn to recognize the vowel combinations which form the six most common diphthongs.
33. Articulation--the lesson focuses on the characteristics of good articulation, the common causes of poor articulation, and the basic rules for performing voiced and voiceless consonants.
34. Enunciation--choir members learn that correct enunciation, articulation and pronunciation comprise good diction; how to minimize the undesirable sounds of the neutral vowel and of sibilants; and commit themselves to fulfilling the articulation and enunciation goals established by the choir.
35. Pronunciation--choir members learn the general rule for pronunciation while singing, the five most common pronunciation errors, and how to handle difficult pronunciation problems when singing.
This curriculum can be taught on several levels: from mere exposure to the concepts to a more productive level in which choir members maintain notebooks, have frequent reviews, and are tested on a unit basis. The course allows considerable flexibility, and teachers can individualize each lesson to their personal styles and manner of delivery.
One significant aspect of the course is that various portions of the lesson presentations can be delegated to students. Involvement increases learning retention and interest. Delegation also significantly reduces the teacher's preparation workload.
Student Learning Guides [#2998]
In response to numerous requests from teachers across the country, a series of four inexpensive student manuals has been prepared, one for each of the four units of the instruction course. These manuals, prepared in workbook format, are titled Choral Concepts--Student Learning Guide, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4. The saddle-stitched manuals are the size of octavo music so students can keep them in music folders with their performance music. Each lesson requires limited written participation by the student: filling in blanks on worksheets, recording materials written on the blackboard or shown on an overhead projector, etc. Care has been taken to keep student time requirements for each lesson short, maintaining the objective of completion of every lesson in 20 minutes or less.
Binding the lessons for each unit separately, with a new workbook issued at approximately the beginning of each 9-week period, eliminates problems such as student rejection of a formidable-looking year-long workbook; daily storage problems caused by bulky workbooks for large numbers of students; and a student being left without a workbook for most of the year if his manual is lost.
The booklets cost about the same as comparable-sized octavo music, holding the cost-per- student allocation to a reasonable level. But the workbooks contain so much valuable information that students will treasure them--you won't find any of them left at school at the end of the term. That's certain!
Teachers' Edition: Student Learning Guides [#2945]
To save teacher preparation and instruction time, the four Choral Concepts Student Learning Guides have been reprinted in four Teachers' Editions, with all the answers written in. These Teachers' Editions are produced with a more durable cover than the student editions so they will hold up well when used repeatedly over the years. The page numbers are identical to the student edition, but inserted in the front are two pages listing (1) the posters and folders inserts available for each lesson in the unit and (2) the titles of the lessons in the other three units.
These Teachers' Editions of the Student Learning Guides are excellent "mini-courses" in the essential principles of choral singing, in and of themselves. We are observing that many directors of small community and church choirs, and college students interested in choral music, are expressing interest in them for their personal use, even when not utilizing the overall Teaching Choral Concepts curriculum. They are an excellent addition to a personal professional library-compact but loaded with information.
The Teaching Choral Concepts Instructor's Visual Aids Kit [#2904]
This 600+-page kit is of tremendous value to those who teach the curriculum because it saves many, many hours of typing and visual aid preparation. Every handout is carefully typeset. Every visual aid is professionally prepared. The kit contains the entire range of teacher preparation materials, including unit teaching-schedule planning calendars and notebook checklists for those who are requiring their students to keep notebooks and grading them on their accuracy and completeness. The Instructor's Kit also contains a copy of the complete test, including the individual answer sheet and the scoring guide. All these materials can be photocopied for distribution to each student. The Instructor's Kit includes the worksheets found in the Student Learning Guides so the teacher can run them off for the lessons as needed if the Learning Guides have not been ordered for each student.
But the kit contains much more. The key concepts for each lesson have been typeset in large letters on 8½" x 11" sheets. These concepts can be mounted in a notebook and used as flipcharts for lesson presentations to smaller groups. Or, modern photocopiers can be used to reproduce them as overhead transparencies for presentation to larger groups, enlarging them or reducing them to fit available equipment. The typeset contents also can be photocopied, then appropriately arranged as parts of bulletin board displays which support and teach the contents being presented. The charts can be enlarged while photocopying to create posters of key items.
In total, the kit contains more than 600 sheets of carefully typeset materials which creative teachers can adapt to their specific needs by using the school's photocopier and transparency-
making materials. The kit will save literally hundreds of hours of preparation time for those who would attempt to prepare the separate items personally. It's an extremely valuable tool, and should be ordered along with the course curriculum book.
Music Notation Instruction Guide [#2931]
Use You Can Read Music—A Quick Guide to Musical Literacy to teach choir members how to read music. Eleven concise mini-lessons present all aspects of basic music notation in an easily understood format. The 64-page book covers scores, staffs, clefs, rhythm, notes, dynamics, musical styles, key signatures, scale patterns and much more. If you want your students to learn quickly and effectively, purchase a classroom set so every student can read and see the examples.
Laminated Music Folder Inserts [#2920]
Choral Concepts Music Folder Inserts are a set of 24 6"x 9" two-sided single-sheet summaries of the key concepts of a lesson. They make excellent discussion guides for use as the lesson is being presented, or choir members can be instructed to read the insert in advance of the lesson's presentation. The insert also serves as an effective review outline for the lesson. A substantial majority of the 35 lessons have folder inserts prepared for them. Repetition of the lesson's key concepts is the objective of the folder inserts.
Many teachers purchase classroom sets or make overhead transparencies of these folder inserts and use them as visual outlines when they teach the lessons.
Laminated Classroom Posters [#2954]
Twenty-one attractive posters printed on one side of 17½" x 23" paper and laminated for long- term durability have been prepared for display in the classroom. These posters present, with clarity and simplicity, numerous essentials of good singing. These are key concepts of many of the lessons in the instructional program. They are self-contained and meaningful, even to those with no knowledge of the course materials. The twenty-one posters have been created to enhance student learning. Carefully prepared with strong student appeal, they capsulize many key concepts and make an attractive addition to the appearance of the classroom. They can be rotated or left in place for long-term student exposure.
The subjects covered on the 21 posters are: The Breathing Mechanism, Controlled Breathing, Vocal Ranges, Change-of-Color Points, Audition Criteria, Objectives of Vocal Training, The Singing Mechanism, Open Throat, Personal Warmup, Good Singing Tone, Attacks and Releases, Dynamic Levels, Extending Vocal Ranges, Basic Musical Styles, Correct Phrasing, Intonation,
The Phonetic Alphabet, Balance and Blend, Lip Positions for Singing Vowels, Singing Consonants
The Pre-Test and Post-Test [#2916]
A valuable part of the curriculum is the comprehensive testing instrument which has been developed for the course. It consists of a 100-question test. Thirty-three of the questions are multiple choice; sixty-seven are true-false. The marking key segregates the answers so that scores are determined for seven general areas: Posture, breath control, and vocal freedom; Vocal technique and performance style; Practice techniques and objectives; Voice classifications and personal voice characteristics; Tone quality and vocal resonance; Diction; and The vocal mechanism and its care.
Many teachers choose to administer the pre-test early in the school year, but it can be given at any time. Some teachers administer the test for the first time at the end of the school year, using it as a pre-test for the next year's work. The curriculum has no time boundaries and can begin and end at any point in the school year. Many teachers give the pre-test immediately following the presentation of the first lesson. A typical approach is to utilize portions of two different classroom periods to administer the test.
The single-letter answers are recorded by the students on a separate pre-printed answer sheet. When the test is scored, its answers are recorded onto a scoring guide which categorizes the answers and facilitates the overall scoring process.
The test was carefully validated by administering it to numerous high schools and college groups. It is challenging, and individuals who have not been taught choral principles in a systematic program but have had random exposure to some techniques of singing instruction typically answer only 40 of the 100 questions correctly. When class averages are compiled, they will clearly reveal the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of your students in the above-listed
areas of singing technique.
Test Booklet Packets [#2913]
Several packets of testing materials are available for your convenience. Test booklets are available in packages of 100, 50, and 25. Two 8½" x 11" eight-page booklets contain the 100- question test. Students do not write in the booklets, so they are reusable from class to class and from year to year. A one-page sheet giving the correct answers is included with each test package. Listed here is the 25-test packet.
Answer Sheet & Scoring Guide Packets [#2916]
Also available are packages of student Answer Sheets. These are one-page 8½" x 11" sheets upon which students mark their answers to the test. A separate sheet is needed for each student each time the test is to be taken. A two-page Test Scoring Guide is used to record and categorize each student's answers each time the test is taken. This sheet becomes a permanent record and is used for comparing pre-test and post-test scores and progress over the years. Packets containing the student Answer Sheets plus the test Scoring Guides are available in quantities of 100, 50, and 25. Listed here is the 25-sheets packet.
Ordering Information
So order your materials today! Call Horizon Publishers at 1-866-818-6277, our toll free number, and order on your credit card, or order the items you select on this web-site’s shopping cart. Horizon Publishers will promptly send the materials on their way. Or, enclose a personal check with your mail order and we'll respond as soon as we're sure the check has cleared the bank. Sorry, we don't charge to individuals. We do charge to school districts on an open-account basis, with the invoice due within 10 days of receipt of the ordered items. Horizon Publishers does not send materials on approval, but will allow returns within 30 days of the invoice date for materials returned in fullysaleable condition. There is a small additional charge for postage and handling. The ordering address: Choral Concepts, Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc., 191 N. 650 East, Bountiful, Utah 84010-3628. Order today!
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