Choir Department

Music Literacy and Choral Technique at ICMS Rhythmic Literacy --  Rhythmic literacy focuses on the ability to echo, translate, and read rhythms on sight:  building a mental library to be able to sight read at a more accurate rate each time similar patterns are seen.  Students will learn the aural skill of echoing (using a motor skill), the mental skill of translation (connecting ideas), and the visual skill of reading (tying the aural skill to a visual skill, in that order).  In many classes, students are given music to "read" before they know how to say it:  that would be like learning to read the alphabet before learning to speak it.  At ICMS, we use the sound connections method to make sure student know how to speak the language then relate it to reading. Vocal and Choral Technique --  Following rhythmic literacy, students warm-up their voices in two different settings:  vocal technique and choral technique.  Vocal techniques focus on unison sounds in order to work a specific concept such as articulation, dynamics, style, projection, vowel formation, diction, proper breathing, and posture.  In addition to learning the concepts, ICMS students practice CMP--Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance.  In other words, they learn concepts through doing them.  Vocal technique exercises are often directly related to a section of the piece to be worked on that day in order to reinforce a concept throughout the entire lesson.  After vocal technique exercise, choral exercises lead the students in singing in parts, to build confidence in singing independently and work on group concepts such as balance and blend.  Exercises are often solfege based, to reinforce the language, or is an excerpt pulled directly from the material to be worked on that day.

Rhythmic Literacy --  Melodic literacy takes place as soon as voices are warmed-up and ready to sing for the class.  melodic literacy follows the same process as rhythmic literacy with Echoing, Translating, and Reading (ETR).  Afterward, students combine the concepts of rhythm and melody and begin to work on sight reading cumulative exercises that combine the rhythms and melodies studied.  Students also learn the process work of CCC--Chunking, Chaining, Context, in order to be better equipped to practice outside of rehearsal and continue to build sight reading skills through process work. ICMS Choral Department Documents ICMS Choral Handbook--Expectations and procedures of the Choral Department. PPN--Practice slips given throughout the quarter.  Requires a guardian signature.