Possible Rehearsal Plan (5-6 weeks)

Warm Ups:

Warm ups should be designed to enhance various aspects of the piece. As rhythm is less of an issue for this piece than most grade three and four pieces, warm ups suggested here will be focused on harmony, style, and intonation. Possible warm ups include:

· Warm up in round of scales. Ask students to listen to balance. This will help prepare students for the piece as well as for the discussion on harmony in weeks three and four. Lows start, then mids, and then highs. The warm up can be done in half notes or in dotted halves to allow for a three four feel.

· Remington warm up. This will help the band with intonation.

· Scales in a lyrical style to help bring about shape and phrasing.

· Scales utilizing rhythms present in the student guide.

First Rehearsal:

· Allow students to guide themselves through the first section.

o Composer

o Arranger

o Keys

o Tempo

o Time Signature

· Run piece, brief rehearsal.

First Two Weeks:

· Evaluation of melody

· Good places to split up the sections are between questions four and five, between eight and nine, and between ten and eleven.

· Examine the melody and structure of the piece.

· Examine form and various compositional techniques used to write the piece.

· With the first eight questions done, ask students to identify their contributions to the melody or countermelody.

· Ask students to evaluate the text of the piece. What does it mean to them? Are there any similarities between text and form? For question eleven, you should not offer guidance to the students at this time.

Weeks Three and Four:

· Assign web quest.

· Explain form and techniques to the students and how it relates to the text. Ask them to discuss what things were discovered today that were new to them on question one. This should be done the rehearsal after the text and form section done by students.

· Have students evaluate practice techniques for the piece now that they have had a chance to work on their own.

· Discuss rhythms for the piece and how they break down. Have students write in counts at this time.

· Work on students with questions five through nine. Use the final chord and have students who aren’t playing listen to a specific voice. For example the clarinets could listen to flutes and the trumpets could listen to trombones. Experiment with this chord, bringing out each note (5ths, 3rds, root) and experiment with the sound pyramid. Have students write their observations in questions seven through nine.

· Have students write practice idea that they have used to work on piece. Simple, 4-8 bars, to be submitted electronically via drop box.

· Discuss vocal parts with students and how they transfer to instruments. Play a recording for students (found on Naxos or Youtube) and have students analyze vocal techniques and how they transfer.

Weeks Preceding Concert

Collect all previously done assignments.