NDACDA Chorister, Fall 2018 Issue

Issue 22 • Fall 2018

In This Issue: Surround the State in Song Self-Care for Choir Directors Self-Assessment for Students

The Official Publication of the North Dakota Chapter

of the American Choral Directors Association www.ndacda.com | 1

North Dakota ACDA Leadership Peggy Dahl-Bartunek, president Cheryl McIntyre, president-elect, Jamestown High School Sheldon Weltz, treasurer

North Dakota Repertoire and Resources Committee Repertoire-Specific Coordinator: Tom Porter, University of Mary  Men’s Choirs: Tom Porter  Women’s Choirs: Charlette Moe, North Dakota State University  Vocal Jazz: Mike Seil, Bismarck Legacy High School  Showchoir: Brian Saylor, Bismarck High School  Ethnic Music: Mary Pat Archuleta, Bismarck Century High School

Youth Coordinator: Sarah Barnum, Discovery Middle School  Children and Community: Jacy Walker,  Middle School/Jr. High:

Allyse Hoge, Valley Middle School Jessica Blair Stoppleworth, Wahpeton Middle School  Senior High School: Phillip Voeller, Beulah Middle/High School

Collegiate Coordinator: Chris Redfearn, Valley City State University  Youth College/University: Chris Redfearn  Student Activities: Melanie Popejoy, University of North Dakota

Life-Long Coordinator: Sara Lichtblau, Fargo South High School  Community Choirs: Sarah Barnum  Music in Worship: Vicky Boechler, St. Mary’s High School, & Sara Lichtblau

Brent Rogers, Dickinson State University Editor and Designer, The Chorister brent.w.rogers@dickinsonstate.edu

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Contents From the Editor

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Brent Rogers, Dickinson State University Surround the State in Song

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Jacy Walker, Simle Middle School Self-Care for Choral Folk

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Marie Grass Amenta, The Midwest Motet Society Myths and Facts: Caring for Your Voice in Winter

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Teach All Day? Tips to Maintain Vocal Health

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Lynn Swanson, Milwaukee Children’s Choir Self-Assess Their Way Toward Rehearsal Success

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Adam Paltrowitz, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School

Visit NDACDA online at ndacda.com, or by clicking below.

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From the Editor

or several years I have contemplated the tendency toward burnout in school teachers, wondering what could be done to help teachers—especially young teachers—continue in the profession in spite of the enormous demands that are placed on them—usually with relatively little support.

good at it’s being creative!

Seek out creative ways to minimize and set aside the stresses of your classroom, and go home at the most decent hour you can muster.

To this point, I have not come up with any definitive answers, but there are a few things that seem to be helpful: 

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Support: find teachers in your discipline with whom you can commiserate. This can be especially challenging for music teachers, since there are only a couple of us in most schools, and if you don’t happen to “click” with the other music teacher (s) in your school, you may feel like you’re just out of luck. Fortunately— especially for our rural music teachers—there are a wide variety of online forums for music teachers, especially Facebook groups. These can be great resources for finding support and getting ideas for how to address problems.

Leave work at work: as a husband and father to two very active little boys and foster parent to a third, I have found it critical to leave work at work as much as possible. This is much easier for me as a university professor than for most of you who have only one hour (if that) to yourselves each day at school. But if there’s one thing we musicians are

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Self-care: this can be the hardest part of the equation, but it is in many ways the most critical, since you know better than anybody else what you need. Take time (in all your spare time…) for reflection and determine whether there are ways that you can better tend to your own physical and emotional needs so that you can have the energy you need to meet the demands that are placed on you every day.

It is in the spirit of this last point that I write this issue of The Chorister. I have spent some time browsing a couple of choral blogs to find articles related to the idea of self-care—both physical and psychological—and have reprinted them here with permission. My purpose in doing so is twofold: first, to give you some self-care ideas, and second, to give my colleagues on the NDACDA board a break from writing articles for this issue. Special thanks to Jacy Walker for her write-up on Surround the State in Song.

One last word: the self-assessment article I’ve included may seem a bit out of line with the theme of the rest of the articles, but it seemed like an interesting article, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that taking some of the pressure of assessment and evaluation off ourselves and putting it onto our students could be a great way to ease stress.

And speaking of stress, good luck with all of your stressors, especially as we’re approaching the throes of the Holidays. Don’t forget—if you’re not well, you can’t give your students what they need!

Brent Rogers Dickinson State Univeristy Editor and Designer, The Chorister

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Surround the State in Song

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urround the State in Song 2018 took place on Saturday, October 13th.

Nearly 500 singers grades 5 and 6 from 75 schools gathered in six locations in North Dakota performed simultaneously the same set of music. Bright red shirts covered the stages in Jamestown, Minot, Dickinson, Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck as young singers gave energized and passionate performances in unison and two part singing. The students were selected by their teachers for this festival.

Songs performed in this festival included the Star Spangled Banner, Johnson Boys by Jay Broeker, Fairest Lady by Nick Page, Small Voices by Jim Papoulis, and Mangwani Mpulele by Lana Walter. Our collaborative musicians for this event included director Melanie Popejoy and accompanist Heather Aune in Jamestown, director Lindsay Kerzmann and accompanist Elizabeth Roberts in Minot, director Kelsey Rogers and accompanist Becky Schwartz in Dickinson, director Rachel Schmeltzer and accompanist Alyce Stokke in Grand Forks, director Wendy Friskop and accompanist Casey Behm in Fargo, and director Chris Redfearn and accompanist John Clodfelter in Bismarck.

It is the hard work of these musicians and the site managers that make this event a success. The site managers coordinate locations, schedules, conductors, accompanists cooperating schools, site performances, programs and so much more the day of. Thank you so much for your hard work! These site managers include Cheryl McIntyre (Jamestown), Lindsay Kerzmann (Minot), Laurae Dykema (Dickinson), Amy DeWitt (Grand Forks), Sarah Barnum (Fargo) and Rachel Schaffner (Bismarck).

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Music selections are decided on by combining teacher suggestions, previous SSIS titles and perusing new music selections. We would like to thank JW Pepper and Popplers Music for assisting us by having music selections available at choral reading sessions presented in the summer months. If you have any suggested titles that you would like to see in future Surround the State in Song festivals or any other feedback or suggestions for the operations of this festival, please contact me at jacy_walker@bismarckschools.org. Additionally, if you would like to be more involved in your nearest Surround the State in Song site location, please reach out!

We would love to see more schools involved in this one day event that celebrates the joy of singing among our young and developing singers. Thank you to all of the participating teachers for fostering the joy of singing with your students. We know that many of the students will have lasting musical memories!

Jacy Walker Simle Middle School (Bismarck) NDACDA Children’s & Community R&R Chair

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Self-Care for Choral Folk

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his month we are exploring ways to take of ourselves during the most intense and busy time of the year for our profession. Getting enough rest, eating regular meals and taking a vacation for your mind are simple ways to take care of yourself without too much hassle. I have found things only work for me if I have time and if they make sense to me. Nothing grand or complicated, I hope to share some techniques for self-care in these three general areas that have worked for me and some of my colleagues.

Getting enough rest When we are under stress, we often forget about taking care of ourselves.

Rest is essential to health and not always easy to get enough of at this time of year.

In the last five years or so, I have been making time for a thirty minute “power nap” before every rehearsal. My rehearsals are in the early evening, so I’ve been having dinner with my family thirty minutes earlier, and other than eating early that day of the week, there has been no downside. That leaves me time for a quick nap; I take off my shoes, lie down on my bed and close my eyes.

Then it’s time to go; I feel better and am more focused immediately.

Jacob* makes sure he gets to bed every night at the same time, no matter what. There have been times when he has the urge to do some work or to 10 | The Chorister • Fall 2016

practice and occasionally, he does, but not more than one or two days in a row. He knows how much sleep he needs and tries to stick with what he knows works for him.

When December concerts are fast approaching, Jacob still tries to maintain what he knows is best for him. If he does need to rehearse late or has to take care of some detail, he is able to because he isn’t exhausted or frazzled. Instead of less time, he has more time because he is well-rested.

Regular meals The busier we are, the more we have to be conscious of what–and how often –we eat. We may skip meals or eat junk, then feel awful after. But time is at a premium and eating properly, and regularly, gets difficult as we head toward our concerts.

After living on fast foods during the months of November and December for several years and feeling awful, Terry* decided to think ahead for those busy times. Terry now spends the month of September making double batches of favorite dishes when making dinner. He freezes them, and in November and December, takes one out the night before he knows he has a day he won’t have time to cook. If he forgets, he makes

sure to have plenty of fresh and healthy options in his fridge to make sandwiches.

This will be the third year of his strategy and Terry is looking forward to all the homemade meals already prepared in his freezer!

Doris* does what she calls “grazing” to make sure she gets enough to eat as she is deep in rehearsals. She eats a hearty breakfast, may need to skip lunch or dinner, but always has water or fruit juice or a piece of fruit in her bag. She’ll have a piece of fresh fruit or veggie sticks or a sandwich in her bag too. She brings herbal tea bags and her favorite travel mug with her everywhere and might have crackers but no cookies in her bag as well. Doris knows how much she needs to eat every day— calories-wise—and tries to have different healthy options with her at all times. It’s made a difference when things gets hectic and she feels better than she ever has.

A Vacation for Your Mind Boris* reads mystery novels and I read decorating magazines. Jonathon* watches Ti-Vo-ed basketball and hockey games when he has time. Deb* knits and Tanya* does crossword puzzles. Sasha* plays with his kids. Alana* takes yoga. To recharge, we have all found our minds need to relax first so we do something enjoyable and completely different. The time we take during this most busy of times to reboot ourselves is well worth it in the long run.

Plan how you will take care of yourself as we go full speed ahead toward our concerts, lesson and carols and religious services. You’ll feel better! *Names Changed

Marie Grass Amenta The Midwest Motet Society (Chicago Area) Originally published on ChoralNet.org, November 8, 2018

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Myths and Facts

Caring for Your Voice during the Winter Months Taking care of the voice or Vocal Hygiene can be thought of as the care and feeding of the voice.

These are things we do to keep the voice healthy. To take care of the voice, we must also take care of the body.

Here are the facts regarding hydration of your body and therefore your voice.

Internal Hydration To keep the vocal folds moist from the inside, make sure you drink plenty of water.

The vocal folds function best when the entire body is well hydrated. Since fluids and food pass through the pyriform sinus cavities avoiding the vocal folds and air passageway, vocal folds do not receive direct hydration. Rather, the body supplies hydration to the areas of the body that need it foremost. This is why it is important to hydrate on a consistent and constant basis as it does not help your voice if you plan on waiting and drinking water just before your choir rehearsal.

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Good hydration also makes the mucus that covers the vocal folds thin and slippery, so that they move against each other easily and vibrate smoothly. Think of the mucus coating as being like motor oil to your car’s engine: if it is thin and slippery, the engine will run smoothly!

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Alcohol is drying to the entire body. Monitor your consumption of alcohol as it can make the vocal folds drier. If you are a regular coffee drinker of caffeine, moderate and regular intakes are now considered not to be as de-hydrating as once believed. Research shows that a profound tolerance to the effects of caffeine and its response are much diminished in individuals who regularly consume tea or coffee. Doses of caffeine equivalent to the amount normally found in standard servings of tea, coffee and carbonated soft drinks appear to have no diuretic action. Coffee contains 95% water.  Foods that have a lot of water in them can help with hydration. Examples: cucumbers, melon, grapes, and gelatin. It might be a great idea to stock the fridge at work as well as at home so they are readily available.  Dairy products do not produce phlegm in the majority of people (the exception is people who are allergic to casein, the protein in some types of milk). Instead, the high

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fat content in dairy products thickens the mucous that is already present in a person’s airway, making it seem like there is more phlegm. Thicker phlegm can be just as problematic as having more phlegm. This thickening sensation can be diminished by eating dairy products that have a lower fat content.

Medications and Hydration Many medications, such as cold and allergy medications, are drying to the body. Try to avoid these medications to help your body stay hydrated.

Your doctor may recommend a mucolytic medication. This is a medication that can help keep mucus thin and slippery. These medications are available over the counter. GUAIFENESIN is the active ingredient. Brand names include Humibid, Mucinex, and Robitussin. Be sure to get the preparation that does not contain decongestants, antihistamines, or cough suppressants.

Many cough drops and throat lozenges are drying to the mucus membranes of the mouth and throat. This is especially true for products that contain menthol and eucalyptus. The best lozenges for soothing the mouth or throat are glycerin lozenges.

External Hydration Steam inhalation: Inhaling or breathing steam helps the voice box stay moist and can be very soothing to irritated vocal folds. Breathe the steam through your nose for three to five minutes, two to three times per day.  Breathe shower steam or from a personal steamer.

 You can also boil water, pour it into a sink, and breathe the steam.  Never breathe steam standing over a hot stove or boiling water. 

Moisten a washcloth under hot water, hold it over your mouth and nose, then breathe in.

Room humidification: You can increase the moisture in your home or office by using a room humidifier or hot water vaporizer. Cool mist vaporizers can cause chemicals and germs to get into the air. www.ndacda.com | 13

Room humidity should be between 30 and 50 percent. You can check the moisture in the air in your home by using a hygrometer.

The most important thing when using room humidifiers or vaporizers is to carefully follow the cleaning instructions in the package. If you don’t keep the humidifier or vaporizer clean, germs can get into the air that you breathe.

Allergies to Mold or Mildew: Be careful using humidifiers or vaporizers. They can increase the moisture in the environment and can cause mold and mildew to grow.

Even after maintaining proper hydration and practicing good vocal hygiene, we must always use our voice efficiently with proper breath support and appropriate resonance.

To learn more about vocal hygiene, you may visit: Duke Voice Center.

Lynn Swanson Milwaukee Children’s Choir Originally published on ChoralNet.org, October 30th, 2018 References Daugherty, J. (2012). Vocal health handout. University of Kansas. Lawrence, KS. Daugherty, J. (2015). Graduate vocal pedagogy. Retrieved from http:// cmed.faculty.ku.edu Duke Voice Care Center. Vocal health information. Retrieved from http:// dukevoicecare.org Erickson-Levendoski, E., Sivasankar, M. (2011). Investigating the effects of caffeine on phonation. Journal of Voice. 25. (5). E215-E219. Feldenkrais, M. (1949). Body and mature behavior. New York: International Universities Press.

Killer, S.C., Blannin, A. K., Jeukendrup, A. E. (2014). No evidence of dehydration with moderate coffee intake: a counterbalanced cross-over study in a free-living population. PLoS One. 9 (1). e84154. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084154 Parillas, D. (n.d.). Vocal hygiene – part 2: hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! why vocal hydration is important to singing. Vocal Brilliance. Retrieved from: http:// vocalbrilliance.com/blog/vocal-hygiene-part-2-hydrate-hydrate-hydrate-whyhydration-is-to-singing

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Teach All Day? Tips to Maintain Vocal Health

Tips for Teachers

Teachers are at special risk for developing hoarseness simply be cause the job requires heavy voice use five plus days a week, with little time in between to allow the voice to recover. It has been observed that half of all teachers have a voice problem at some point in their careers.

What to Do? 

Take care to be well-hydrated. Begin your day with a full glass of water.

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Warm up your voice before you begin speaking and certainly before you enter the classroom. Use efficient speaking techniques as soon as you begin talking. This means establishing a routine for when your feet first hit the floor in the morning. Please see our routine at the bottom of this article.

Use personal or room amplification to minimize voice use in classroom or in rehearsal. 

When you can, use sound makers (whistles, hand claps) to gain students’ attention, rather than a loud voice. 

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Use printed signs or hand signals for messages that you use often.

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Minimize using your voice to teach the music. Have the pianist or section leaders demonstrate the part. 

Provide recordings for your choir members to learn the music.

Avoid talking at the end of your breath. Don’t hold your breath before or between words. 

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Use deep breathing avoiding shallow breaths before you talk.

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Incorporate vocal pacing by taking breaks from talking, both long and short throughout your day whether it is a weekend, vacation or typical work day. Not talking for even 5 minutes will make a difference.

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Avoid speaking at long lectures. Get creative with other ways to teach.

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If you are ill, cancel your engagements. If your voice is tired, stop speaking! Wear a button that says “I’m on vocal rest.” www.ndacda.com | 15

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Decrease the amount of time you spend on the phone. Use text messaging or email. By all means, avoid loud conversations on the phone.

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Improve your classroom acoustics by adding acoustic panels to the ceiling and walls and carpeting to the floors. These materials help decrease the reverberation or echo of sound in the room. Minimize the noise from fans, lights, overhead projectors, and sound coming from other classes. For more specific tips, visit asa.aip.org for the Acoustical Society of America’s Classroom Acoustics booklet.

Lombard effect: The Lombard effect will cause one to increase their volume due to increased noise levels in the room. Voices tend to produce a more pressed phonation. For singers, pitch accuracy can become unstable and retention of pitch inaccurate. Do you best to avoid talking over noise whenever possible. Turn off the fan, buzzing lights, computers, etc..

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Wear an earplug in at least one ear. It can help your voice in a noisy situations, so that you avoid speaking too loudly. Molded Ear Plugs

Morning Vocal Routine 1. Light hum on a descending slide starting at about mid-register easily done as you are dressing for your day.

2. Lip trill on an ascending penta-scale from low register to upper register. Then, graduate to full scales ascending and descending.

3. Keep the diaphragmatic breathing you experienced all night with slow hisses or “sh-sh-sh”.

4. Get the articulators going as you’re making your coffee or hot tea with explosive consonants: “ticky-ticky-ticky-too” or “chugga-chugga-choo-choo”.

5. Move to phonation in the head voice with those great bird sounds of the crow and the owl: “caw-caw” “hoo-hoo”.

6. Speaking with your established head voice and on the air – mix up some tongue twisters: “Sally sells sea shells down by the sea shore.” “What a wonderful world when we whistle as we walk.”

7. From there, you can move to your chest voice with a “ho-ho-ho-ho” and from there to singing in your different registers.

Lynn Swanson Originally published on ChoralNet.org, October 22, 2018 16 | The Chorister • Fall 2016

References:

Duke Voice Care Center. Vocal health information. Retrieved from http:// dukevoicecare.org.

Daugherty, J. (2012). Vocal health handout. University of Kansas. Lawrence, KS. Parillas, D. (n.d.). Vocal hygiene – part 2: hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! why vocal hydration is important to singing. Vocal Brilliance. Retrieved from: http:// vocalbrilliance.com/blog/vocal-hygiene-part-2-hydrate-hydrate-hydrate-whyhydration-is-important-to-singing Images retrieved from:

3D anatomical tutorial on the vocal and vestibular folds: Retrieved from : http:// youtu.be/jqTKSorDRJo www.3-Dyoga.com http://www.innerbody.com/image/musco6.html www.google.images.com Read More: Regarding Lombard Effect: For singers, auditory feedback is improved and vocal efficiency enhanced indicated that when a choir utilized a spread spacing arrangement, 95% of the singers experienced a positive difference than when the choir stood close together. Daugherty, J. (1999, 2000).

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Self-Assessment

How to Self-Assess Their Way Toward Rehearsal Success

he two main components of any successful rehearsal are the planning/execution of the director and the planning/execution of the students. Many of us write detailed rehearsal plans and focus our energy on keeping the rehearsal engaging, but what do we do to involve our students in their preparation?

Successful rehearsal participation will occur when students consistently exhibit a series of specific and tangible skills.

Every student is capable of exhibiting successful rehearsal participation. If we intend to have productive, engaging, and flowing rehearsals, the overwhelming majority of our students must exhibit the majority of these tangible rehearsal participation skills for a majority of the time.

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In order to teach our students how to exhibit successful rehearsal participation skills, we first must know exactly what actions constitute effective participation within our rehearsal; once we are clear on these specific skills, we must be intentional on continually communicating these expectations to our students; finally, we must be able to motivate our students to become the best versions of themselves by gaining consistency with these skills. I believe one key factor toward seeing tangible growth in rehearsal participation comes from self-assessment.

Creating a Self-Assessment Participation Rubric

A self-assessment participation rubric is a tool that lists tangible skills and requires the students to self-assess their own procifiency level of those skills. Once they become self-aware of their role in the rehearsal and learn to successfully evaluate their achievement level, they will then gain a new tool to become better rehearsal participants in a more tangible way.

We often think about our entire choir when envisioning a rehearsal, but it’s each individual that makes their own decision of how they are going to respond throughout a rehearsal.

Here is your assignment: Close your eyes and envision what an ideal rehearsal looks like. Now zoom into each individual student, one by one. If a video camera was focused on each individual singer and silently recorded their actions for an entire rehearsal, what would be recorded?

As the camera focuses on each student as they enter the room and stays with them until the closing bell, here are some examples of tangible actions that would be witnessed: —————————————————————————–——————————————— Self-Assessment Rehearsal Participation Rubric(s) —————————————————————————–——————————————— 

How they enter the classroom

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When they reach their seat in conjunction with the class beginning

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When and how they begin the warm-up

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How quickly they respond to directions given

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How they choose to stand when singing

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How they choose to sit when singing

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How they choose to hold their music

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When they use their pencil to make markings

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When they make eye contact with us

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When they look down or around the room, possibly at neighbors

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What they do whenever we stop an activity

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When and why they interact with other students

Once we layout a list of tangible actions and/or skills, we can now hone in on what is the ideal action for each skill; when we have such clarity, we will have completed the first step in the process. There is no standard ideal for many of these skills; it’s up to the director to envision precisely what actions they expect for their singers. www.ndacda.com | 19

Teaching and reinforcing these skills is an important second step to developing these rehearsal skills/actions; while reinforcement of rehearsal culture is an important aspect of the equation, there is another element that is frequently overlooked: teaching students how to hold themselves accountable for their own actions and skill development. Students must learn how to self-assess their own rehearsal performance.

The Importance of a Well-Constructed Self-Assessment Tool Self-assessments are not a tool to be used to punish students; they are not a tool to catch students doing the wrong thing, or to prove they are poor students.

Well-constructed self-assessments can be a vehicle to show students that any skill or action has a range of success; they are not “all or nothing”. As a result, everyone fits on that scale and students rarely place at the lowest level. By giving each student awareness of their current level, they can see that there are some things they do better than others; it also shows them what the next level of achievement would be, which usually doesn’t require much work.

In the self-assessment participation rubric I use, there are 5 levels of achievement for each skill/action: “always”, “most of the time”, “some of the time”, “occasionally”, “almost never”. By having 5 levels, students have the ability to understand whether they truly have achieved the expected level while showing the less successful students that they aren’t as far away from achievement as they think they are.

Presenting the Self-Assessment Participation Rubric The effectiveness of a well-constructed self-assessment tool is dependent upon how it is presented.

It is our job to explain the self-assessment rubric line by line with our singers. By doing so, we can direct them to understand the choices that constitute the different levels for each action/skill. Here is an example of a skill and how I would discuss it: Example of a Self-Assessed Skill: “Holding up your music” Options for self-evaluation: “always”, “most of the time”, “some of the time”, “occasionally”, “almost never” “This is what it looks like to hold up your music when you are singing (I would give a demonstration). Do you hold your music this way all of the time or do you catch yourself with your music down and then remember on your own to lift it up? Whenever you catch yourself with your music down and make that adjustment, you are doing a great job in gaining awareness, but that should not be marked as ‘always’.

That would be considered ‘most of the time’. How often do you need to be reminded to hold up your music? It’s great that you are following directions when I ask you 20 | The Chorister • Fall 2016

to raise your music; that is considered ‘some of the time’ because if I didn’t remind you, you would likely not be holding up your music. I view ‘occasionally’ as you not only rarely remembering to hold up your music, but when I remind you to do so, you are sometimes defiant and refuse to do so; if you circle ‘almost never’, it is clear you do not want to develop this skill, nor are you willing to follow directions.”

Note: While this process may appear tedious to you and to some of your students, it should only take around 10 minutes to complete. The students will be filling out each line as we speak to them so when we are done speaking, they will be done as well.

Scoring & Grading A Self-Assessment

(for both the student and the teacher) A self-assessments should have an overall final self-assessment grade and it should have an academic value/weight; with that said, there are a few important things to mention: 1. The overall self-assessment grade should represent an overall understanding of how well a student rehearses. We want most students to score well while still being able to be honest about each specific skill or action. Even great students can have deficiencies in their rehearsal participation. A positive contributor to the rehearsal can still have poor posture, not hold their music properly, or not effectively mark their music; what’s most important is that they gain self-awareness of their deficiency. By encouraging honesty and fostering awareness, we can motivate them to want to improve their weaknesses. At the same time, an average or below-average student should see that their score will still be reasonable, so long as they aren’t defiant or intentionally out to be destructive. They will see that small changes can make a big difference.

2. We can override their score. If we feel they are hard on themselves, we can choose to give them a higher grade. If we feel they are grading themselves too lightly, we should adjust their grade AND meet with them to discuss the discrepancy between our expectations and how they view their rehearsal performance.

Grading should be super-easy for us. With a self-assessment, the final score should have the same concept as each expectation: in the case of my selfparticipation assessment it is “always”, “most of the time”, “some of the time”, “occasionally”, “almost never”. The students circle the OVERALL score that is most consistent with their category scores. In terms of grading application, it amounts to a score of 5,4,3,2,1 or if out of 10: 10,9,8,7,6.

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Frequency of Self-Assessment

Self-awareness will lead to self-motivation if students experience success. When students can pride themselves in their own progress, they will pick up steam and want to work even harder.

Progress happens through consistency. I recommend using a self-participation rubric at the very least once every 10 weeks. I personally use it every 5 weeks, but using it on the last day of every month could be super-effective. Keep in mind the more frequently you do this, the less you will have to say, the quicker the students fill it out, and the less time that will be spent.

I use a self-assessment rubric for regular rehearsals, a different one for pre-concert

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rehearsals when students are off-book, one to evaluate their concert participation, one for solo performance, and one for weekly voice classes. All of these rubrics are slightly different in their layout/grading scale and are used either once or twice per 10 -week period; I modify my rubrics based on the needs of my ensemble.

All of these self-assessments are available in both PDF form and as an Editable Document, this way they can be adjusted to fit each director’s needs.

Adam Paltrowitz Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School Plainview, New York Originally published on ChoralClarity.com, October 14th, 2018 Check out the original post for additional links, including arrangements, sight-singing tools, discount codes, and more!

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St. Peter’s 24 Photo: | The Chorister • Fall Catholic 2016

Church, Wibaux, Montana. Photo credit: Laura Beth Walters,