Observation 2: Bella Voce, DeWitt HS

My second visit to Mrs. Eldred's Bella Voce class was similar to the first. She has a clear structure to her class, and they are in preparation for choral festival right now. She began with announcements, discussing various upcoming events and the schedule of the week. I am still completely amazed by how calm and focused students are in a class of over sixty underclassmen girls. I think it is partly because it is so early in the morning, but also because they are comfortable with the structure and routine of the class.

Mrs. Eldred did warmups very similar to the way we discuss them in class. There were components of stretching, breathing, lip trills, and vocalization. Some emphasized diction, some tone, and some breath support. The group warmed up for probably at least ten minutes, which seemed necessary for a rather sleepy-seeming group.

Mrs. Eldred led them in sight reading and gave them time to practice on their own. She gave them tips and modeled an example of how to work on a tricky interval. She encouraged them to practice with a neighbor for support for accuracy. She also advised them to look through the exercise before practicing and target specific challenges.

The soprano and alto section leaders had a chance to talk to their sections about what they should work on this day in sectionals. I was impressed with the student leadership and their constructive ideas about what the groups should improve. I was also impressed with how kind they were to each other. (I had a few section leaders in high school with major power trips.) Mrs. Eldred also commented on the way the section leaders helped their sections and praised them for their kindness and maturity. Then the group split into sectionals. I stayed with the altos who worked with the accompanist, Mrs. Clark. The are singing a piece in Spanish with a lot of clapping, so the rhythm of these spots was the focus. After sectionals, they all put the clapping together. Mrs. Eldred used both MLT du de du de syllables and counting. I really liked this, because I myself am often conflicted. I love MLT but sometimes counting helps me get the rhythm better. It was nice to see her diversify her teaching, and she probably reached more students this way. This is a good example of individualized teaching to many different students' needs. Their rhythms were quite accurate, and it seemed like the group feels comfortable deciphering tricky rhythms.

Mrs. Eldred does give verbal directions, but she does a nice job of incorporating a lot of modeling. She often gets her point across quickly by singing things a certain way to achieve a certain result. The rehearsal was overall effective and students left after accomplishing something.