Treble Chorus Curriculum

Treble Chorus introduces early grade singers to the choir format and to singing as an artistic, expressive medium. Choristers begin to learn how to read music for a choral octavo, learn more challenging repertoire, gain confidence singing in a group and alone, and develop performance poise on stage through several performance opportunities.

Treble Choristers Learn…

  • Healthy head voice (i.e., singing voice) habits, kinesthetic awareness, body alignment, and the singer’s breath

  • The solfège syllables and basic sight-singing skills using solfège

  • Introduction to use of proper diction when singing and the ways vowel shapes and consonants affect sound and vocal production

  • To sing in unison, two parts, and three parts and in different languages

  • Rhythmic note values and notations

  • Pitch letter names (all treble clef lines and spaces)

  • Basic time signatures

  • Basic key signatures

  • Musical terms found in the repertoire (e.g., dynamics, tempo, basic terms used for mapping a score)

Repertoire

Treble Chorus music includes unison singing and singing in two and three parts. Choristers are also introduced to singing in a different language. Songs are drawn from a variety of time periods and styles.

  • Recent songs include:

    • Rocketman Medley, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, arr. Mac Huff

    • Kon Pira Fune, Fune

    • When Sweet Winter Comes Again

    • I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Evaluations

At the end of each semester, each chorister will participate in a vocal and written evaluation. The purpose of these evaluations is twofold:

  1. to inform artistic staff of what choristers have learned

  2. to give choristers personalized feedback from artistic staff on their progress in a number of areas.

Evaluations are meant to be informative and are not punitive. For older students (fourth grade plus), evaluations do inform conductors’ decisions regarding potential early promotion of some singers.

Performance Opportunities

  • Halloween Sing-along

  • Holiday Sing-along (with KidSingers)

  • Anima Winter Concert (with Concert and Touring Choruses)\

  • Spring Recital (with KidSingers)

  • Anima Spring Concert (with Concert and Touring Choruses)

Treble Chorus in Action