Step+IV+Documentation

Step IV: Documentation

August 1-5, 2010
This was a professional growth opportunity, focusing on the specialization of Barbershop music and male singing. I attended this week long seminar, which offered classes including the Physics of Sound, Vocal Pedagogy, Tuning Barbershop Chords, and Vocal techniques classes. This gave me a wide range of rehearsal tools to use for male singers. I also learned a lot of repertoire that is appropriate for many levels of male singers. As a result, my students will be able to be more successful singers. They will be able to learn a new style of vocal music that would be appealing to this age group.

Male Choir Retreat
 Male Choir Retreat on January 25, 2011 showed both professional growth and student learning. This retreat was a collaboration between my middle school male singers, high school male singers, and the Easy Days Quartet with clinician Raymond Schwartzkopf. The age range of participants was from 12 years old to 70 years old. I was able to see how Raymond Schwartzkopf worked with the boy’s changing voices and the strategies he used to run his rehearsal. He was very encouraging with them and used a lot of metaphors in his teaching to achieve the sound that he was looking for. He taught “My Wild Irish Rose”, which was arranged for 4 part male voices (Tenor, Lead, Baritone, and Bass) Each part accommodated for the wide range of ages and voices there. The students were able to sing out with other male singers and it was a very enjoyable event. 

**Easy Days Quartet at Franklin High School**


[[image:Male_Choir_Retreat.jpg width="640" height="480"]]
===Forest Park Middle School, Franklin High School, and Easy Days Quartet: Male Choir Retreat ===



This is an example of student learning.
 Students are given 10 different clips of male voices counting down from 10 to 1. The students are to listen to the audio clips and decide if the singer has a changed, changing, or unchanged voice. This activity is designed for students to hear and assess male voices and make a determination of where they are in their voice change. In addition, the True/False questions about the voice in general help address some facts about a changing voice, the history of voice change, and some terminology that relate to the boy's changing voice. The second page includes questions that inform me about the singer's feelings toward singing and reading music with space at the end for them to explain their answers. This helps me re-voice a singer if they feel that they are in the wrong voice part or simply to tell me that things are going well. Voice #1 Timmedia type="file" key="Tim.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #2 Laudenmedia type="file" key="Lauden.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #3 Joemedia type="file" key="Joe.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #4 Jacksonmedia type="file" key="Jackson.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #5 Ericmedia type="file" key="Eric.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #6 Chrismedia type="file" key="Chris.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #7 Victormedia type="file" key="Victor.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #8 Eddiemedia type="file" key="Eddie.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #9 Danielmedia type="file" key="Daniel.mp3" width="240" height="20" Voice #10 Mr. Reuter media type="file" key="Mr. Reuter.mp3" width="240" height="20"



Evidence #4
==Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence Chapter 7: The Boy’s Expanding Voice ==

Henry Leck DVD: The Boy's Expanding Voice
 This evidence is a professional development opportunity that I took upon myself to complete by reading a book and watching a DVD by notable music educator Henry Leck. I used a lot of the warm-ups and rehearsal strategies in the DVD and suggestions in the book to help my male students be more confident singers.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Evidence #5 Voice Range Chart
====This is an example of student learning. Students chart their range throughout the year. The link below has student examples 7th grade male voices, but there is also a chart for female voices as well. Students are excited to discover how high and how low their voices can reach. They take much pride in their progress and can't wait to update their voice chart. This allows me to choose appropriate repertoire for their range. It also allows the students to know which notes they can reach and which notes are out of their range.==== <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">