The Savannah Arts Academy Choral Department is committed to a world-class artistic and educational experience for all singers. The Chorus curriculum is designed to reflect the highest quality of music education and revolves around five core areas:

1. Individual vocal tone
2. Ensemble technique
3. Music literacy
4. Expanding musical perspectives
5. Expressive performing

Individual vocal tone: Every individual is built differently. Every singer has a different voice. We encourage you to sing with your natural voice. Imitation of other singers has its merits, but one should not try to sing exactly like another. This causes harm to the vocal folds. In this class, each student will learn to discover his/her natural voice, full of focus and resonance. I encourage a natural vibrato and a rich, full sound.

Ensemble technique: To sing as an ensemble is a delicate process of listening, blending, and balancing. A superior choir sounds like one core sound, avoiding the sound of any individual voices. In ensemble singing, I still encourage students to use their natural voice, but expect each singer to listen to each other so we can achieve an ensemble sound.

Music literacy: All theoretical aspects are essential knowledge for a vocalist. Students will be expected to learn and incorporate accurate pitches, intervals, rhythms, articulations, dynamics, and all expressive markings in the score. Music vocabulary and vocal concepts will be learned, reviewed and tested throughout the course as will sight singing.

Expanding musical perspectives: History is full of different styles of music from different cultures. We will explore choral music from all eras and many different genres. We will sing in different languages, which each student will be responsible for singing the foreign words correctly and knowing the literal translation for each song.

Expressive performing: There is nothing worse than watching someone stand and sing. Being an expressive performer is essential to portray your character or the meaning of the song to your audience. Whether through facial expression, body movement, or vocal inflection, being expressive will capture the emotions of your audience (even in a choral setting) and make it more meaningful to you, the singer.

Materials needed for class

1 in. black binder (not any bigger)
Pencil with eraser (to be left in class)
Recording device for self-recording your voice (recommended)

Additional Materials

The appropriate performance costume for your choir