January, 2011

January finds the choirs learning new music for a Valentine concert February 10th. Only 5 1/2 weeks of preparation, so the pressure's on! Varsity Singers are planning to sing some of their songs also for an invitational festival at SJSU February 18th.

I am also committed to a certain level of music literacy in my students, so I've been teaching the students using some of my own materials and lessons plus a sightreading book called Patterns of Sound. So far, they've learned about the basics of music notation: "The Staff," note names (ABCEDFG) and where they are on the lines and spaces, note values (half notes, quarter notes, etc.), and dynamics. They've taken several quizzes on these concepts and symbols and have largely done well. Some students who have had piano lessons or other outside music lessons may have known some of the material, but it's important to me to bring all the students up to at least a minimum standard.

Varsity Singers has sung the national anthem at all the Pioneer home wrestling meets, which is a great gesture of community support and appreciated by the people who attend. One of our singers, Thomas Haeckel, a sophomore, is a varsity wrestler for Pioneer.

I discovered only about a week prior that Varsity Singers was invited to sing at Recruitment Night January 27, so we quickly chose a song they sang well, and had the pleasure of singing for 8th grade students and their parents, hoping to recruit some of them to Pioneer next year.

Women's choir continues to be enthusiastically learning their own repertoire, though the personnel changed almost 100% from the fall semester group. Only two returned, and we have five enthusiastic new members. I love teaching people who want to sing!

Beginning choir (aka Mustang Chorale) is a very different kind of class from Varsity Singers. A couple students didn't want to be placed in choir; to them, it's just a random 6th period elective and they hope to get a decent grade without working very much. Despite those issues, I'm very happy with the sounds many of them are making. On good days, many sing and participate cheerfully. On not-so-good days, there are too many side conversations and distracting elements. I know for some teenagers their social life is the main star and everything else the backup singers, but I persist in trying to teach choir, music literacy, and good vocal technique, at least for those who wish to participate at that level.

Sharing the multipurpose room (aka PAC) can be challenging sometimes. Students who want to decorate for Saturday events may come in on Friday right after school to do so, before I've had a chance to put away my teaching materials and gather my thoughts. Any groups that want to use the room can pre-empt my regular use of it, such as during S-period. Also, to make teaching tougher, spirit weeks and valuable school events such as Breaking Down the Walls distract students from academic pursuits and take them out of class. I guess this is all part of teaching in a public high school.

I am looking forward to the February 10 choir concert and then moving on with plans for the Spring concert May 24.