Middle School Repertoire – only 9 weeks!

[nafmeadmin]

Can someone steer me to a few quality pieces? I have 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who I will see for nine weeks at a time, 45 minutes a day. Chorus is not currently optional so I get every kid in the school eventually, and there is really no experience as I’m starting this program from scratch. I don’t want to reach too high too soon, but I don’t want the kids bored, either!

[nafmeadmin]

One of my favorite pieces that I did with a 6th grade chorus when I was student teaching was called Winter Changes by David Brunner. I was introduced to it in my college women’s choir, but the lyrics were written by a 5th grader and I believe the piece was originally written for a young choir as well. It’s a unison piece, but there was enough difficulty in it that the kids weren’t bored (but it wasn’t so difficult that they got discouraged either).

[nafmeadmin]

I’m so deep into summer vacation that I’m not sure my brain is working to dredge up all the pieces I want to list. I like to start with unison pieces, so that I can work on basic technique, then venture to partner songs and rounds before moving into two- and three-part music.

I love Ken Berg’s Solfege Suite pieces, particularly “Galop.” A great partner song is “When You Believe,” I believe by Carlos Lopez, and definitely published by Brilee. I will try to verify that and get back to you. Ginger Littleton’s arrangement of “How Can I Keep From Singing” is excellent. There is a new arrangement of Rise, Rise Thou Merry Lark, just out from Ruth Elain Schram, that my kids enjoyed doing this spring. If you like David Brunner, try his “All Thy Gifts of Love.” This has been a favorite with my kids when we’ve done it in the past. I also like David Child’s “The Rainbow,” although it’s a bit more difficult, but still probably doable for your group.

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