SHOW CHOIR SYLLABUS 8/11 Virginia A. Wagner Director of Choral Arts LNHS Work: 704-799-8555 ext. 1287 Email: [email protected]

WildCat Vocal Symphony Mission Statement

The Lake Norman High School Choral Department will provide an encouraging, supportive environment in which choral arts students will be given the opportunity to expand their musical knowledge and performance experiences through a sequential developmental music curriculum. It is our belief that the study of choral music instills a sense of pride and accomplishment; it fosters higher level thinking skills, self discipline and accountability to one’s self, the ensemble and the community.

Show Choir is a course study for students having already completed and or shown to excel in the techniques taught in Choral Arts I and/ II. Advancement into higher levels of notation and rhythm exercises, chromatic, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales and Curwen hand signs will be introduced. Students will also be required to dance to selected music and participate in various local performances as well as national competitions. Students in this course will be eligible to participate in the Gardner-Webb Festival in October and, par allotment and in-house audition, to audition fall semester for the NCMEA Honors Chorus in September. Those students who carry over from fall semester to the winter/spring semester will be eligible to participate in the NCMEA Solo/Small Ensemble Festival (February), NCMEA All-State Choral Festival (January), and the Mars Hill Choral Festival (February).

This course will offer ensemble singing, solo opportunities, small ensemble singing, dance, sight-reading and theory studies.

Students will be assessed according to the following Essential NCSCOS.

 Students will apply rules of standard English in written evaluations of music  Students will demonstrate the ability to read a vocal score of up to four staves by describing how the elements of music are used  Students will sight-read moderately difficult musical examples with accuracy and expression  Students will select and use appropriate instrumental accompaniments in a variety of historical and cultural styles  Students will read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted note and rest durations in 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/8, 2/2, and mixed meters  Students will demonstrate increased knowledge of the technical vocabulary of music  Students will sing vocal literature of an appropriate and increasingly difficult level, with expression and technical accuracy  Students will identify and define standard notation symbols for pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and expression  Students will apply specific criteria for making informed, critical evaluations of the quality and effectiveness of performances, compositions, arrangements and improvisations and apply the criteria to one’s personal participation in music  Students will sing moderately difficult vocal literature which requires well-developed technical skill, attention to phrasing and interpretation, and the ability to perform various meters and rhythms in a variety of keys  Students will classify unfamiliar and familiar representative examples of music using distinguishing characteristics to identify genre, style, culture and/or historical periods; justify the reasons for the classifications Attendance is crucial to success in this course. Students cannot expect to excel if they are not present and on time daily. The success of the choir depends on each member; therefore, the entire class suffers when one member is not present.

Students will be receiving grades for daily participation, vocabulary assessments, sight-reading, theory, Smart Music assessments, and concert performance.

Our school music department will be using SmartMusic® to help students practice and perfect their music this year. Attached is a letter detailing what SmartMusic is and how it will impact your student this year. Although I do not require families to purchase a SmartMusic subscription, I do highly recommend it.

On a Scale of 1-4 Students will be assessed as follows

Daily Participation/ General Assignments 2 Quizzes/Smart Music/ 3 Performances 4 Written Final Exam 25% of final grade

Each semester there are a variety of concert opportunities. First semester annual performances include the Cabaret (October) and Winter concert (December); second semester includes NCMEA Solo/Small Ensemble Festival (February), NCMEA Regional Festival (March), All- County (April), the annual Spring concert (May), Baccalaureate (June), and Graduation (June). We are often invited to participate in local concerts and events. Students will be given ample notification of these events so they can clear their schedules. Attendance at all concerts is mandatory. Failure to attend the concerts will result in the student's final grade being dropped at least one letter grade. Make up opportunities are at the discretion of the director and will generally be the student’s cumulative smart music grade as of the date of the concert.

Each student will be required to pay a $35 cleaning deposit each semester for their concert attire. This will be collected by Sept 15th.

Students should come to class with the following supplies

 Black ½” 3-ring binder  Sheet protectors  Pencils (Colored recommended)  Magazine holders (optional and available through teacher)  paper

All students are encouraged to participate in various fundraisers throughout the semester to assist in purchasing various need of the choral department. The choral department does not have a “budget” from the school. All funds for supplies, music, sound equipment, activities, substitutes, transportation fees, etc. are raised by our fundraising efforts. Thank you in advance for your efforts and support of our program.

I am very excited to be teaching your student this year. Feel free to contact me any time via phone or email.

Virginia A. Wagner Director of Choral Arts LNHS Work: 704-799-8555 ext. 1287 Email: [email protected] Dear Parents, Our school music department will be using SmartMusic® to help students practice and perfect their music this year. Please read this letter to learn what SmartMusic is and why it is such an important tool for our music program and your child’s musical development.

What is SmartMusic? SmartMusic is a software-based computer program that helps students practice and submit their school music assignments. Students can practice exercises, solos, as well as the music that they are performing with their school choir. SmartMusic records and even grades student progress from home or school practice room computers and includes a metronome, tuner, and digital recorder.

How does SmartMusic benefit your family? Individual practice is often boring as the music has been taken out of its intended group context. SmartMusic makes practicing fun. With SmartMusic, students practice with professional accompaniment. This makes practice time more engaging and productive, and helps develop better listening skills and a more mature understanding of the music. Students also practice longer and more effectively as a result of the built-in assessment features. SmartMusic enables students to record their assignments for self-evaluation and submit these recordings as part of their assignment. Most assignments offer assessment, where green and red notes indicate what students have performed correctly and where improvement is needed. In this digital age, students are accustomed to receiving immediate feedback, and they respond by setting their goals higher. A SmartMusic subscription also provides your student immediate access to the world’s largest accompaniment library, allowing them to explore areas of interest and set their own development objectives.

What is needed to use SmartMusic? SmartMusic works on your PC or Mac and requires an Internet connection to activate your subscription and receive and send assignments on-line. System requirements and support contacts are listed at www.smartmusic.com/support.

What does this cost? You can purchase a full-year subscription through our school’s account for only $36 per year. Microphones cost $19.95 and are highly recommended as they are required for recordings and assessments. Mac computers also require a USB microphone adaptor.

How do I get started? I will give you an information letter that spells out the easy steps to purchase and activate your SmartMusic subscription. While you must be on-line to activate, receive, or post assignments and to download ensemble and other new titles, no web browser is required, and you can practice “off- line” at any time. If you run into any questions with purchasing, activating, or using SmartMusic, it’s nice to know that SmartMusic tech support is free!

If I have more than one music student at home, do I have to purchase more subscriptions? No. After purchasing a subscription, you must activate that subscription on a single computer. Then everyone in your household can practice and perform with SmartMusic on this computer. Additional subscriptions would be necessary only if your family would like to practice on more than one computer within your home. Please fill out the information on this side, sign the back and return this page acknowledging you have received and read the contents of the Choral Arts I Syllabus. My receipt of this page will be your student’s first ‘A’ in chorus this year!

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The LNHS Choral Department is an active member of FACES (Fine Arts Creates Extraordinary Students) the Fine Arts booster club. Parent participation in this organization is vital to the success of the club as well as the performing and visual departments at Lake Norman. Please thoughtfully consider how you might be able to participate in this organization this year. We are currently looking for new board members as well as parents who can participate on an event by event basis. Please use the space below your signature to let me know in what capacity I might call on you this year. Thank you in advance. Our first general meeting is Tuesday, September 20th in the Choral Arts Room. Parent signature______PROJECT, WEB, PHOTO AND VIDEO RELEASE FORM A picture of your child or work created by your child may be included in a classroom project. We may use the resulting project in one or more of the following ways: • Use as a demonstration project/activity in educational workshops, classes, and/or conferences; • Use as a sample project/activity on CDs created by Iredell-Statesville Schools for use in educational workshops and student classrooms; • Post work on the school or ISS webpage; • Submit as samples to program publishers or as grant and contest entries; • Use portions of the project on a videotape made during a student presentation of the project or in broadcasts or videotapes demonstrating computer media in general. • From time to time, the opportunity may arise for your child to be photographed* or interviewed by district personnel or local news media regarding a school event or activity. This information may be used in local media transmissions, district promotional publications, on the district website, or in any other district medium. *Photograph in this release form is intended to only refer to photos of your child alone. Group photographs (2 or more), with no additional identifying information, are considered directory information. Please refer to the section on FERPA for more information. Please initial each of the following statements to which you agree: I give permission to: _____ Post a picture which includes my child on the ISS webpage (first name may be included) _____ Post work/projects created by my child on ISS webpages _____ Allow my child to be interviewed and/or photographed by local news media (extracurricular clubs and sports teams are included) _____ Use my child’s work as an example in other schools, workshops, or conferences _____ Use my child’s photograph in district promotional publications and media _____Post a video which includes my child on ISS webpages

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Date:______Directions to set up E-Alerts on ISS Web Pages.

Open the ISS Web page. Click on the “Register” button in the top right corner of the page.

To register, enter a birth date, and then set up an account. From then on users can sign in to the web page by clicking “Sign In” next to where the “Register” button is located. (See yellow arrow above.)

Once signed in, users click on “Access My Info” to subscribe to email updates. This is done my clicking on “Access My Info,” then scrolling to the section named “My E-Alerts & Subscriptions.” Be sure the E-Alerts are turned on then click on “Edit Subscriptions.”

To subscribe to E-Alerts at LNHS, use the drop down menu to select Lake Norman High and then chose the web pages for which you wish to receive E-Alerts by clicking the box beside the web page name. After selections are made, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Subscribe.