In the fall we were prepared for the Christmas concert, after Christmas we prepared for the competition, and after the competition we prepared for the Spring Concert…the big performances are over. Now what?!
I imagine I’m not the only one trying to figure out how to keep the learning going at this point in the school year. But today I decided to try something new!
When I started rehearsal today, the students asked if they could nap, watch a movie, or work on other coursework. No way! I told my choral students that just because the concert is over doesn’t mean that learning should stop, and ultimately, my goal as a choral educator is to nurture my students’ love of singing so much so that they want to continue it beyond their years here at Carondelet. Their response was a nod or a shy smile, proof that I had a point.
Then I asked the choir leadership to go in the back of the room where our sheet music is stored and choose a piece- any piece- for us to sing today. They chose a simple two part arrangement of “Part of Your World” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Perfect. I told them they had 15 minutes to learn their part and then we would run the piece in its entirety. Chaos ensued as students whipped out their iPads to learn their parts…it was awesome.
What I’ve posted below is the run-through. It’s FAR from perfect, but the students were engaged and enjoyed the process. They are already talking about what challenge piece they want to work on this Friday!
This made me curious: what do other teachers do when their final “performance” is complete? How do we keep students engaged up to the end?