Arranging Repertoire for Elementary Choir
Singing Harmony in Elementary Music - Episode 29
Progression of rhythm vs beat
Ostinati
Chord Roots
Partner Songs
Rounds
Pedagogical Need
The choir arrangements I’ve done have always come from a pedagogical need.
There are many resources to purchase choir music, like JW Pepper. The thing that makes educators unique is that you’ve actually met the students who will be singing this repertoire. You know where they are musically. You know where they’re going next.
What do you want the song to do? What musical purpose do you want it to serve? If we were to place this song in your scope and sequence, where would it best fit?
IMO, upper elementary repertoire is limited, compared to the collegiate choral experiences many of us came from. And in my opinion, this gap is an opportunity - the best experts to compose and arrange for you and your students are you and your students.
Melody and a Bass Line
Song Examples:
Fais do do (Cajun)
Four White Horses
Rocky Mountain
Sing Sing Together
Vamos a la Mar
How do I Hear the Bass Line?
Different levels of music teachers: people still email me and ask for chord charts for songs. If this is a snooze-fest for you, skip ahead or think about listening to do this with your students. Elementary-aged students can do this. If you’re listening for yourself, listen up because this is a lot of fun.
MLT friends have a good grasp on this already
The bass line in this case is functional harmony - it moves us toward a cadence. Our pattern in these songs will be some combination of the home chord (do) and the away chord (sol).
The functional harmony is different than thinking about what would sound interesting from a chordal harmony perspective. This is something I didn’t always understand. I thought of harmonizing a melody in terms of the chords themselves, not the harmonic function.
And, in case this doesn’t go without saying, when we talk about musical intuition like “you can hear the melody leading ____,” this is within the lens of Western music theory, not all music theory everywhere - this is the framework we’re using.
You can probably hear it already. Give yourself two options - tonic and dominant and sing the song in your head. As you sing in your head, try to sing two lines of music at once: the melody and the harmony.
I find it makes the most sense to sing and establish the harmony, and then go back and use the theory to check. (“music must not be taught through a series of algebraic symbols”)
Ostinati
Easy way to add more interest to the song
Vocal, body percussion, sung on the 5th, melodic ostinato
Add more than one, let students come up with them
Examples: Who Has Seen the Wind
Partner Songs, Counter Melodies & Rounds
May be existing or composed
Examples:
Frog in the Meadow
Popular Music Examples
Brave / Eye of the Tiger
When I Grow Up
Improvisation & Arranging
Is there a place to add student creativity to the arrangement?
This is often done as a B section
Example:
Little Bitty Man
Engine Engine
Rise Up
Wrapping Up
Find a song you like
Where can we add to it?
