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Vocal Ensemble

Students in this course receive training in vocal production and sight-reading as they explore a variety of vocal styles. Singers expand their musical horizons while experiencing an eclectic repertoire of music from around the world, including, but not limited to, early to contemporary classical music, a cappella, and jazz. Each term of the course culminates in a performance.

Those who are new to the study of music as an art form are taught basic music literacy and develop aural and sight-reading skills while refining individual singing abilities and forming an understanding of choral singing. As students progress through the course they begin to experiment with connections between theory and practice and develop their own original compositions and arrangements. Advanced students of vocal music focus on expanding and deepening their skills as performers and are taught to reflect on the creative possibilities inherent in the interaction among their own musical intuition, the composer’s indications in a score, and their own detailed analysis of a piece. They develop the habit of considering what each of these elements offers as they make interpretive decisions about performance and develop their own performance style.

Students may take this course multiple times. Those taking the course for the first time must take the three mods in sequence, though the mods may be split between years. Once they have completed the sequence once, students may take any or all mods in subsequent years. In whatever mods they take, the focus of advanced students will be on analysis and performance.

Min-Max Credit Hours: 1.0-3.0