listening or watching performances. 3) Students will be proficient recorder players, 4) Students will become fluent in solfege and in Curwen hand signs. And, 5) students will make connections between music and their culture and the other arts. I structured each class much the same as my second-years’ class, and through trial and error found a way to incorporate my five objectives into daily lessons.


Before I left for Ireland, my greatest fear was teaching and incorporating musicianship into choir rehearsal. Little did I know that I would be teaching full classes of


cooks in the kitchen. But, together, we made it work and created a meaningful experience for the students. I knew we had achieved something special when one of the most reluctant chorus girls thanked me after the last show and told me how glad she was to have participated!


Though the core of their music curricula is academic, Presentation Secondary School, is known for its award winning choir. In fact, the reason COST placed me at this school was because the choir won the 2011 All-Ireland competition.


This spring, choir rehearsals were geared toward preparing for


come to life, due to its difficulty, it was very tedious to teach and was a consuming project for the choir. The students had to work very hard and even practiced outside of rehearsal to make the piece come together.


On May 3, 2012, my second to last


day of student teaching, Fuinneamh received its world premiere at the Cork Choral Festival. We were so well-prepared that the performance was the best it had ever been. The “fuinneamh” was absolutely electric and everyone in the hall felt it. We were one of twenty choirs entered in the secondary level competition. I was so very impressed with the high standard of choral singing throughout the country—so impressed, in fact, that I wondered if we would place in the final ranking. Not only did we win the award for best Irish piece, we also took home first place! The recognition Ms. Dunphy and I hoped for was the Irish Federation of Musicians & Associated Professions trophy, which is awarded each year to the best Irish piece in the festival. I couldn’t think of a better way to end my internship on a high note.


Interning in Ireland opened my eyes to so much as a music educator.


Most


importantly, I realized how product-based American secondary music programs are. As one choir director said at this summer’s Alabama Choral Directors


Association


Presentation Secondary School, Ballyphehane Senior School Choir. Pictured center, Principal, Sr. Sheila Kellher, Natassia Perrine, and Choir Director Ms. Anne Dunphy.


music theory and history! The best part about teaching these two courses was the confidence I gained in teaching musicianship. Overcoming this fear was one of the most important things that happened to me while teaching in Ireland. It’s amazing what one learns about themselves in a sink-or-swim situation!


Another highlight of my internship was serving as the assistant director for the fourth-year musical, Grease! As a confident performer, this was a project I could easily sink my teeth into. All fourth-years were required to participate in Grease as part of their Transition Year. Though this made the process quite challenging at times, I learned that I truly can teach music to anyone, even students who don’t want to learn it!


Musical rehearsal


happened mostly during fourth-year music class, which was held four periods each week. During this time, I rehearsed music and choreographed for the chorus. My free periods became coaching sessions where I worked with students with lead roles.


the annual Cork Choral Festival, which is an international competition. One of the requirements for the national secondary division is that each choir must perform a piece in Irish. So Anne Dunphy, music teacher and choir director, commissioned a piece specifically for the competition from her friend and composer, Marian Ingoldsby. The piece, titled Fuinneamh (pronounced fwInǝv), or “energy” was composed for SSA choir and percussion. Fuinneamh went through several revisions while I was in Ireland. My input was even included in the final edition! I also performed my percussion debut on claves and woodblock as accompanist for the performance.


To be part of the creation


process on all three levels, made for an incredibly meaningful experience. Fuinneamh’s text is based on the


The drama


teacher also gave me the opportunity to stage and direct a large portion of the show during our evening rehearsals. In addition to being a great directing experience, working on Grease was an invaluable lesson for me in team work. Between the drama director, the choir director, hired choreographer, and me, there were many


ala breve


famous Irish poem, Oíche Nollaig Na mBan by Seán Ó Riordáin, which also happened to be on this year’s Irish Leaving Certification exam. It is an extremely difficult piece with many dissonances and several two-against-three metric sections.


The piece is based on a


recurring three-note motive, which is sung on the word Fuinneamh. The idea behind the repetitive and maddening motive is that its “energy” creates a storm, which Ingoldsby most creatively composed into the score. Though exciting to see and hear Fuinneamh


conference, “[Choir directors] are more than just song teachers.” Yet, many of our programs seem to value singing or playing the song over understanding the song. It is my belief that the greatest intrinsic reward comes from the ability to comprehend and manipulate subject matter. American music educators can facilitate this kind of reward system by placing importance on musicianship and the study of music theory and history. As a new high school choral director, I already have challenged myself to shape my music program through this lens. I encourage all of my colleagues in Alabama to find innovative ways to incorporate music academics into their programs. Not only will this yield better, more well-rounded musicians, but, with academic assessments in hand, music educators likely will be far better equipped to advocate for music’s place in Alabama’s schools!


Natassia Perrine is a graduate teaching assistant in music education at the University of Alabama.


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