THE CHORAL REHEARSAL
Simon Carrington and John Bertalot are the two
conductors who have taught me the most about rehearsing and conducting.
Simon Carrington and Rehearsal Technique
I studied
with Simon at the New England Conservatory. Before coming to NEC,
Simon had a long and successful career performing with The King’s
Singers. Simon taught me how to hear the subtlety in the interplay
between vowels, words, and music. My fondest memories are of the
Chamber Singers spending 20 minutes tuning three chords and 30
minutes perfecting five measures. That attention to detail and
the realization that so much depth can be teased out of very little
music has had a lasting impression on my rehearsal style.
John Bertalot and The Socratic Method
John Bertalot’s book Immediately
Practical Tips For Choral Directors helped me realize that the
Socratic Method I learned in law school could easily be applied
to the choral rehearsal. Rather than simply telling my singers
what to do, I regularly ask them what they feel should be done
at specific moments in the music. They, not I, then develop the
interpretation of the piece, thus creating a greater sense of ownership
of the music and honing their skills as musicians.
7TH AND 8TH GRADE DRAMA PROJECTS
My goal for 7th and 8th grade Drama is to engage the students
in the process of Drama through a series of projects involving
script writing, blocking, scene development, voice characterizations,
and public speaking.
The Odyssey and Frankenstein
Seventh grade Drama begins with understanding
the different placements of the voice. Students are encouraged
to experiment with different voice characterizations including
high/low/forward/rear voice placements, accents, and modifications
of pitch, tempo, and dynamics. The Odyssey and Frankenstein projects
begin with short excerpts from both books. Students learn the craft
of storytelling through changing the voice for a multiplicity of
characters. The final stage of the project involves working in
teams to add music and sound effects to the reading. The reading
is then recorded. Assessment is made by listening for clarity and
dramatic rendering of the text and determining whether the sound
effects and music supported the dramatic integrity of the scene.
Tongue Twister Lesson
The Tongue Twister lesson develops teaching
skills. Working in small groups, the Drama class has to compose
three tongue twisters geared towards a 4th grade audience. They
then write a script to teach the tongue twisters to a radio audience.
The script is then recorded. Assessment is made by sending the
sound files to the 4th grade who then grade the scripts based on
whether 1. the tongue twisters were interesting , 2. they could
understand the 7th graders, 3. the 7th graders taught the tongue
twisters well.
Julius Caesar Pre-Read Script
As a pre-read assignment to Julius
Caesar, we discuss the similarities between the rise of Caesar
with the rise of Senator Palpatine in The
Revenge of the Sith.
The rise of their dictatorships also led to the downfall of their
respective Republics. To help the students articulate the differences
between a dictatorship and a republic, they have to write a scene
of expository dialogue between two characters, one for Caesar and
the dictatorship, the other for Pompey and the Republic. Each character
has to articulate why they support their side and the pros and
cons of each form of government. The scene culminates in a light
saber duel. The scene is then videotaped. Assessment is made by
listening for clarity and dramatic rendering of the text and watching
for good blocking.
Re-imagining Julius Caesar
Rather than read the text and do a straight
performance of the play, the 8th grade Drama class delves deeper
into the development of the structure of the scene and the characters
by focussing on developing specific scenes for performance. The
first project is to re-imagine the first two scenes of Act I. Each
class decides how they want to re-imagine the text, changing the
location and time of the scene. They can work within a specific
genre, but may not use characters already created within a genre.
For instance, they can set the scene in a toy store, but they may
not use characters from Toy Story. They are required to use 80%
of Shakespeare’s original text, the remaining 20% can be re-written
or composed, and they can make cuts as long as the meaning of the
scene remains intact. Members of the class then choose costumes,
determine sets and locations and then tape the scenes. Assessment
is made by listening for clarity and dramatic rendering of the
text and watching for good blocking as well as the success of the
re-imagination.
