Dress Rehearsals and Performances

On Monday, March 11th, we had our first dress rehearsal. And I was terrified. The students had fallen back into yelling on pitch instead of singing as beautifully as I knew they could. They were making faces and just generally being off-task on stage, and many of them had forgotten their lines. I did the best I could to help them fix their tone and stay on-task, and was somewhat reassured when Mrs. Hamilton told me that they had started school early that day, so the kids were a little thrown off by the change in routine. However, I still left stressed, overwhelmed, and nervous.

That Wednesday, we had another dress rehearsal, at which the class performed for two other fifth-grade classes. This time, I made sure to do vocal warmups with them before the performance, and I was astounded at the difference it made in their sound. Additionally, having an audience clearly motivated and excited them. They sang beautifully and enthusiastically, and I could tell that their audience enjoyed it.

Their two final performances were on Thursday. I wasn't able to catch the first performance because I had class, but I was hoping to get to Deerfield a few minutes before the second performance began. However, I got caught up in a rental car snafu and ended up missing the first half of the performance. By all reports though, the students did great at both performances (they were certainly great in the last couple of songs that I caught).  The video clips that I caught aren't currently working, but as soon as I get them working I will upload them.

Overall, I am so grateful that I had the chance to work with Mrs. Hamilton and her class. These kids were so enthusiastic, expressive, and excited to sing. And Mrs. Hamilton...goodness, I cannot say enough good things about her. She was extremely supportive and I loved collaborating with her. She has so much passion for the arts, for education, and for her students. This was truly a fantastic experience.

Rehearsals

I really should make a separate post for each rehearsal we had, but since many of them were quite short and they were all pretty close together, I think it makes more sense to combine them into one post.

In a whirlwind of a week and a half and 4 rehearsals, we managed to learn 6 songs, stage the show, and  run the whole 20-minute show a few times. Probably the most helpful factor here was that the students all learned their spoken lines in class, so we could focus rehearsal on the singing. We talked a lot about the emotion that we wanted to convey in each song: anticipation and mystery in "Follow the Drinking Gourd," excitement and nervousness in "Freedom Train," and celebration in "Fifty Nifty United States." These kids are amazingly insightful and it was fantastic to hear them share what they thought each of these songs was about.

I learned a lot about management during these rehearsals as well. The first few rehearsals, I was thrilled that so many student were raising their hands to contribute to the discussion and to share thoughts. However, I soon realized that taking so many student comments was eating up all of our rehearsal time. I talked to Mrs. Hamilton about this concern and she commented that I don't need to take all of their comments. For some reason, this had never occurred to me before. However, at the next rehearsal I tried her suggestion. When I started to summarize our objectives for the rehearsal and hands started shooting up, I simply stated, "I'm not taking comments right now. If you have something to tell me, you can tell me individually after rehearsal." This was so empowering to me as a teacher! Since it was a general statement, not directed at any student, nobody's feelings were hurt. I was able to maintain control of the pacing of the rehearsal, and it meant more to the students when the floor was opened for discussion.

Overall, I was amazed at how quickly the students learned the music. They still occasionally slipped back into the shout-singing they had been doing when I first came, but every time I reminded them to listen, keep their lip corners in and stand up straight, their sound instantly improved. I could tell that they were so excited to perform and that they wanted to do well.

It begins

This semester, I had the unexpected opportunity to be an Arts Bridge Scholar for the second time. I was assigned to work with Carolyn Hamilton's class at Deerfield Elementary. Mrs. Hamilton wanted to have her class perform the short play, "Freedom Train," by Dr. Jerry Jaccard. This is basically a reader's theater about the Civil War, featuring several African-American spirituals and other American folk songs. Since we only had about two weeks to prepare, we abridged the play significantly, but still included as many of the songs as possible.

My first day in Mrs. Hamilton's class was an exercise in flexibility. I had some delays in getting the car I had rented from the BYU Motor Pool and ended up getting to Deerfield Elementary about 40 minutes late. I felt so bad, but I was so happy to see that they had started rehearsing without me. Mrs. Hamilton had started teaching them "This Train is Bound for Glory." I decided to scrap my original lesson plan and work on this song instead. We warmed up, talked a bit about vocal technique (posture, using your air correctly, listening carefully to pitch) and then jumped back into learning "This Train." I was amazed at how much that quick warmup improved their sound. These kids are QUICK learners. When I talked to Mrs. Hamilton after class, she told me that the librarian could hear us through the walls and mentioned how much improvement she heard over the course of our 20-minute rehearsal.  It constantly amazes me how much encouraging students to "listen as loud as they sing" and showing them how improves their tone and their pitch. It's incredible.