High School Concert Program

1. Concert Choir - the standard SATB choir that anybody is welcome to join, no audition
required. They sing repertoire appropriate to their level but also have a lot of focus on
learning basic musicianship as well.
2. Advanced Choir - the flagship choir (will probably have a snappy name) that is audition
only. Sings more difficult music and will sing mostly acapella.
3. Jazz Choir - audition only, likely most selective group, that sings jazz and jazz inspired
pieces and partners with jazz bands (if they exist).
4. Glee Club - TB group that is open to anybody, no audition required. Mostly sings popular
or barbershop standards and could easily be student-led with my supervision.
5. Treble Choir - SSA group. No audition required. Also a good opportunity for strong
student singers to lead with my supervision.

Sample Concert Program

(Songs are in no particular order)

1. Jazz Choir ~ 20 min (They will start singing before the concert starts as a welcome)

i. “Spain” - Chick Corea ~ 8-10 min

● This is an excellent standard that allows the singers to show off their
scatting chops as there are no real lyrics to the piece. It also will challenge
them to really use their ears as the chord changes are more difficult to
discern than most other jazz standards.
ii. “Precious” - Esperanza Spalding ~ 4 min

● This is a beautiful piece that I sang in my freshman year in vocal jazz

whose lyrics talk about empowerment and self-worth. Especially during
adolescence, topics like these really go a long way in positively influencing
young people into valuing themselves and not making sacrifices for
people who would not do the same for them.
iii. “橄欖樹 (Olive Tree)” - Words: Sanmao. Music: 李泰祥 (Li Tai Xiang) Arranged by
Tanja Pannier ~ 4 min

● I wanted this group to sing it because the 7 parts will mean only 1-2
people will be on a part, making for a more intimate performance and
forcing the ensemble to really listen to one another. The Chinese text
 talks about wandering and being far away from home, which I believe
resonates, again, with the adolescent experience: not knowing where
your place in the world is and the like.
iv. “I Won’t Dance” - Words by Dorothy Fields. Music by Jerome Kern ~ 5 min

● Another standard to end their segment off on that the audience will
enjoy. Because there are so many different performances of this piece, I
would have the group experiment with different singing styles, and even
come up with lyrics and verses of their own. This is the “fun” piece of the
set and I want them to be able to truly be able to make it their own.

2. Glee Club ~ 10 min

i. “Sing We and Chant It” - Thomas Morley Arr. Russell Robinson ~ 2min
● In my opinion, madrigals are great for teaching because they are super
approachable and it helps the students learn how to listen to each part
due to the polyphonic melodies. This piece in particular will help the
singers (who would probably be mostly young men going through voice
change) sing with a lighter tone, especially during the “fa la la” section.
ii. “Tell My Father” From The Civil War - Jack Murphy and Frank Wildhorn Arr.
Andrea Ramsey ~ 4 min
● This beautiful piece will be one of the tearjerkers of the concert. Though
singing in multiple languages is super important, I also want my audience
to connect emotionally to our pieces, and the easiest way to do that is
through a song about a dying soldier’s last words for his father. Also, it’ll
be a good opportunity to incorporate a history lesson into music class!
iii. “Viva Tutti” - Anonymous 18th Century. Ed. Ralph Hunter ~ 2 min
● An approachable Italian piece that, although probably misogynistic (at
least in the English translation of the text), is a good piece to end their
segment on. Unlike the other two songs, this one has a lot of dynamic
contrast as well as precise articulation that will challenge their
musicianship.

3. Treble Choir ~ 10 min

i. “No, di voi non vo’ fidarmi” - George Frideric Handel ~ 6 - 7 min

● A fun but challenging duet that would allow me to play around with the
configuration on stage by splitting the ensemble in two. This will be a
 rather difficult piece to learn and sing at the proper tempo while
maintaining the proper lightness that Handel and most Baroque singing
calls for.
ii. “茉莉花 (Jasmine Flower)” - Chinese folk song ca. 18th century ~ 3 min
● A classic Chinese folk tune that technically counts as my Classical era
piece because it was written in the mid 18th century. While the music and
rhythms are relatively simple and approachable for a beginning group
such as this one, the challenge of learning the text and proper Mandarin
pronunciation will be enough to hold them over all semester. I really look
forward to being able to teach my students how to read pinyin, because
there is so much beautiful Chinese choral music that simply can’t be
learned through IPA.

Intermission

4. Concert Choir ~ 20 min

i. “Turn the World Around” - Words: Harry Belafonte. Music: Robert Freedman
Arr.: Larry Farrow ~ 5 min
● An excellent piece to get the choir used to odd meters like 5/4. This song
in particular requires strong and clear consonants, giving me the
opportunity to teach the ensemble good enunciation.
ii. “Kalá Kallá (Light Bride)” - Eric Whitacre from Five Hebrew Love Songs ~ 3 min
● The obligatory Eric Whitacre piece. The hardest part of this piece is that
the rhythms often fall on the off beats. It also, maintaining that smooth
line all the way through each phrase is vital to this piece that the singers
would benefit from learning.
iii. “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” - Giuseppe Verdi from Nabucco ~ 5 min
● A stark contrast to all the modern pieces the choir is singing. Practicing
Italian pronunciation is always a plus, and the long unison section will
force the choir to listen to each other for proper intonation.
iv. “You Raise Me Up” - Words: Brendan Graham. Music: Rolf Løvland Arr. Mark
Hayes ~ 4 min
● A choir fan favorite (gotta play to your audience sometimes). More
importantly, this song’s strength is the super moving lyrics. The concert is
not only to give students performance experience, but also for the
parents to see their child’s talent and hard work. When teaching this
 song, I want to ask the choir who they are singing for, and why they are
grateful that they are in their life.
v. “Ritmo” - Dan Davison ~ 3 min
● This fast-paced song gives me an opportunity to struggle teaching the
singers Spanish pronunciation. Not only that, the body percussion and
clapping will help train the singers’ coordination and rhythm counting.

5. Advanced Choir ~ 20 min

i. “I Sing, You Sing” - Anders Edenroth as performed by The Real Group ~ 3 min
● This would be a good humorous piece to either start or end their section
with. The Real Group always writes challenging music and this piece is no
exception. “I Sing, You Sing” will require the choir to really listen to each
other in order to come in on time with their parts. Hopefully, it will be a
piece where I will not need to conduct and can let them trust one
another for their entrances.
ii. “牧歌 (Pastoral)” - Eastern Mongolian Folk Song Arr. Xixian Qu ~ 3-4 min
● Obviously, my East Asian heritage beckons me to teach Chinese songs to
my choirs and I will pride myself in knowing that they will be singing it
with proper pronunciation. The text itself describes the beauty of the
landscape and goes well with the subtle nature theme that the pieces I
have chosen seem to have fallen into. I
iii. “Muié Rendêra” - C.A Pinto Fonseca ~ 4 min
● This piece let’s me struggle with teaching Portuguese pronunciation. It is
also worth noting, especially for my young, impressionable teenagers,
that this is a song in a foreign language that is actually written by
someone from that culture. I want to teach them that it is important to
choose and perform music that is faithful to its culture’s source whenever
possible, rather than some outsider’s attempt at capitalizing on
something they “discovered”.
iv. “Earth Song” - Frank Ticheli ~ 4 min
● Once again going with the nature/environmental theme, the words also
stress peace (literally) and calmness. This song’s challenge is that it is
sung almost entirely pianissimo. Singers will be forced to listen to the
other parts while focusing on maintaining proper support to sing softly.
v. “Hope Lingers On” - Lissa Schneckenburger Arr. Andrea Ramsey
● I do like ending concerts on something positive and energetic, and this
song’s lyrics shed some light on an increasingly dark world. Also, there are
some challenging rhythms that I know they will struggle with, like how
long a quarter-note triplet should be. This song could also be swapped
with “Ritmo” from the CC or it could instead be performed as a mass
chorus piece.