Ensemble Rehearsal Lesson Plan

Ave Maria
Conductors Name: Alexa Hampel
Ensemble Name/Grade: 9th-12th grade high school choir
Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Learning Goals:
What Learners will:
Be able to do (behavioral): By the end of the unit, the students will be able
to perform Ave Maria with the correction intonation, musical texture, text stresses,
rhythmic pattern, and with all the correct stylistic elements with a success rate of
90%.
Understand (cognitive): By the end of the unit, the choir will be able to
interpret the meaning of the Ave Maria prayer and apply it to the musical lines,
melody line, and harmonic structure of Stravinskys choral setting of Ave Maria.
Encounter (experiential): All members of the choir will be able to sing the
entirety of Stravinskys Ave Maria without a conductor; the choir will be able to
listen across the room and be in tune with each other enough that they can rely
on each other to keep the piece moving.
Construct meaning (constructivist): The choir will realize that Stravinsky
went through stylistic changes throughout his musical lifetime, much like modern
artists that the students listen to today.
Technical Skills:
This unit will focus on:

Diction
Text stress
Phrasing
Musical lines
Intonation
Articulation

Musical Concepts:

Rhythmic clarity

Melodic lines
Harmonic structure
Texture
Meter changes (triple to duple; duple to triple)
Steady tempo

Empowering Musicianship:

Connection of text, melody, and harmony

History of Stravinsky
Phrasing and bringing out the melodic line
Legato singing
Linking modern music to classical
Process

Partner:

At the end of a rehearsal, hand out the sheet music to Ave Maria and give the
students the assignment of going home and listening to the piece numerous
times while following along with the music. They should be able to point out
trouble spots for their part, as well as one other part (sopranos listen to altos,
altos to soprano, tenor to bass, and bass to tenor)
The next class, the conductor starts off by asking the students what they
discovered when listening to the piece. (i.e, what could be difficult for their line?)
The conductor also asks why they believe that would be difficult for the section
o Sopranos should have the least to say since they have the melody; mainly
measure 19
o Altos should discuss measures 11, 19, and 25 for rhythm; wherever there
is a F natural (might be frightened by accidental) and the last two
measures with the c sharp
o Tenors should be aware of measures 5, 13, 14, 17, 19, and 31 for rhythmic
reasons
o Basses should focus on the jumps of their musical line particularly in
measures 3, 4, 10, 13, 16-17, 18, 22, 24-25, 27-28, 30-31, 32, and 34-35,
also the rhythm in measure 19
The conductor should then change to discuss the changing of meter and how it
could be difficult due to it being a duple to a triple and vice versa, so the
students should always be aware of the changes
The conductor asks the students how they would remind themselves of where
the meter changes are and how to feel the changes (circle the meters in the
scores? Write in the counting just the measure before and where the meter
changes?)

Present:

*In this unit, the warm ups being used to focus on aspects of the Ave
Maria are:
-Have the students breathe in on counts of 4 and breathe out on a hiss for
counts of 4, 8, and 12 to create good breath support that is needed
throughout the piece
-Have the students sing all on one pitch on a neutral vowel, have the altos
and basses go down a fifth and have the choir sing in alternating half
steps (basses and altos down, tenors and sopranos up) in order to have
the students listen across the room so they can tune with each other
-The students sing a five note pattern on a different closed vowel each
rehearsal, focusing on ones used in Ave Maria and help close the vowels of
Latin
-The students speak the words ave maria on an alternating three
pattern and two pattern to help them overcome the challenge of changing
meters

At the end of the first rehearsal, the conductor breaks the students up into three
groups with as equal as possible voice parts in each and gives each group a part
of the song to work on over the weekend, singing on solfege that they will write
in themselves (Group A-measures 1-12; Group B-measures 13-25; Group Cmeasures 26-36)
The conductor also tells the students that they will present their process the next
rehearsal
Each group should have at least one female section leader and one male section
leader to lead the group learning process, as well as someone that can play the
piano at a fairly decent level
o There are two section leaders for each section, adding up to eight in total
At the beginning of the next rehearsal, the teacher tells the students they will be
discussing their process of their weekend rehearsal and that the choir will sing as
a whole on solfege at the end
Group A stands before the rest of the choir and sings their section, then
discusses how they approached learning it, as well as issues they had and how
they overcame them. Groups B and C do the same
o While the other groups are up, the rest of the choir should be following
along in their music and taking note of the issues the group presenting
came across and marking them in their score
Once all three groups have sung and presented, the whole choir sings the entire
piece on solfege while listening into the melodic line and the harmonic structure
After a rehearsal of solfege singing, the parts should be at least 90% perfect, and
text can be added the next time
The next rehearsal, tell the students that as a class, they will be getting more
into the text of the piece and how it works in with the musical line of the melody

Have the students speak the text in rhythm (they have sung in Latin before,
therefore know the pronunciations)
Go phrase by phrase and ask the students to translate to English (if they dont
know, the conductor cam tell them)
Ask the students what words are the most important in each phrase and how
Stravinsky makes is obvious that that particular text is important (texture wise)
Have all of the choir look at the soprano line, since its the melody, and have
them point out the high points and dramatic points of each phrase
At the beginning of the next rehearsal, the conductor will debrief the students of
what is going to happen for the next few weeks.
o The choir will be focusing on the getting the kinks out of the piece,
focusing on text and harmonic structure, tempos, dynamics, and getting
the piece to be at least 90% perfect
Have the choir sing in through with the Latin text, making sure they pay
attention to the harmonic structure, text stresses, changing meters, and the
relationship between the text and the music
Ask the students how the felt singing in through felt. Have them discuss what
parts they thought worked well and what parts were a little shaky. Also ask them
what musical elements they accomplished and what fell to the side
o Did they keep a good steady tempo but not connect the words to the
musical line? Did they have open ears to the harmonic structure but fell
slightly rhythmically?
Go back and work on parts that were not as strong as the others as it is needed
Rehearsing the piece should be able to get to a point where the conductor can
stop conducting and the choir can take over, listening and musically leaning
into each other to keep the piece going at a steady pace with all the necessary
musical elements discusses over the last few rehearsals

Personalize:
1) Stravinsky and the modern artist

The conductor should discuss briefly the background of Stravinsky, focusing

on how he was born a Russian Orthodox but changed his religion to Roman
Catholic
Also state how the Ave Maria they are singing was originally written in
Russian
The conductor then plays an excerpt of The Firebird, and, again, has the
students listen for stylistic characteristics in the piece that sounds different
from the Latin Ave Maria
The conductor then asks the students what they heard in both pieces, and
the similarities and differences between the two
The conductor then discusses how, in a modern sense, and not focusing on
the actual religious aspect, focus on how Stravinsky changed his musical

style by changing from Russian centric to French/American centric and how it

reflected in his music
Have the students think of a modern artist they know about that went under
a stylistic change.
o For homework, the student should find two-three pieces that show the
change of style for that artist. They should also be able to discuss why
the two styles are different, whether it be lyrical content, theme,
genre, instruments used, and any other aspects the students can come
up with and write a brief write up of what they discovered
The students will present their information the next class

2) The students as teachers

After having already learned the song, split the students up into octets; two
sopranos, two altos, two tenors, and two basses
Have each voice pair teach the rest of the octet their part (in the octave
comfortable)
o The teachers should focus on rhythmic clarity, legato singing, correct
intonation, and keeping a steady tempo
o At the end, have the students reflect , to the class, on what was easy
about his exercise, what was difficult, and why this exercise could be
important and useful
This exercise will make the parts more aware of what is actually going on
around them and will help the students open their ears to other voice parts
and how their line and another line fit into each other and the rest of the
musical texture

Perform:
The students will perform Ave Maria as one of the main songs in their concert
for their family and friends.
Assessment
Formative:
At the end of each day the conductor takes note of what he/she intended to
accomplish and what was actually accomplished in each rehearsal. At the end of
each week, the conductor takes 10-15 minutes at the end of the last rehearsal to
talk to the students about how theyve felt about rehearsals for the week. The
conductor takes note of each comment in a journal entry.
Summative:
The students perform in a concert for parents, guardians, and peers.
Integrative:

The conductor watches a tape of the final performance and writes in his/her
journal about whether or not the students were able to perform to the expectations
of said conductor. The conductor also takes note of all the comments the students
made at the end of each week and notes if the process was a positive one.