Name: Megan Seyer

Date: 2/25/23
Song Title: Sleep

Instructional goals
Goal 1: Students will blend with a warm vocal timbre, i.e. no one sticks out of the group
with an abrasive tone
Goal 2: Students will demonstrate the conductor’s cues of dynamics, particularly among
most-important to least-important vocal lines (i.e. sustained notes are not the loudest
ones if there are moving lines above it)

More:
Grade: Advanced high school ensemble, usually 11th and 12th graders
Explanation:
Uses SATB with divisi in each part; many dissonances present in different voice parts;
leaps of tritones, sixths, octaves; syllables commonly do not match with rhythms, e.g.
“eve-ning” “fright-ening”; lots of layering and echoing, e.g. “clouds of dream”; some
voice parts are not singing the same lyrics at the same time; lots of sustaining above
dissonant harmonies, especially at the end in the soprano and the middle with the bass;
this work is very vocally independent; timbre is very delicate, sore thumbs will stick out

Standards used
1. A.ML.1.1 Use refined tone and consistent pitch while performing music alone and
collaboratively.

2. A.MR.1.1 Execute the gestures of the conductor, including meter, tempo,

dynamics, entrances, cut-offs, and phrasing, to elicit expressive singing or
playing.
Name: Megan Seyer
Date: 2/25/23
Song Title: Homeward Bound - SAB

Instructional goals:
Goal 1: Students will establish confidence and balance.
Goal 2: Students will follow various vowel indications used by conductor during
performance.
Goal 3: Students will match endings of phrases by recognizing conductors’ gestures
and cues.
Goal 4: Students’ aural skills will improve as a result of matching pitch within their
respected voice parts.

More:
Grade: 8th grade chorus or equivalent upper MS ensemble; honors choir
Explanation:
Uses SAB; Range and tessitura fit, most boys will have had vocal changes by 8th
grade, this work may be too low for 6th graders and some 7th graders; Very quick
dissonances in the alto and soprano; some suspensions are used; No melismas; Most
lyrics don’t repeat again, this one takes more time to memorize; Most complex rhythm is
dotted eighth-sixteenth every now and then; syllables “match up” with rhythms; the
range is wide in the soprano part, and occasionally has to leap an octave.
Standards used:
1. 8.MR.1.1 Interpret the gestures of a conductor when singing or playing an
instrument
2. 8.ML.1.1 Use characteristic tone and consistent pitch when performing music
alone and collaboratively, in small and large ensembles, using a variety of music.