of such pieces could be quite helpful for the choral music educator that aspires to impart music reading skills to his/ her students in a sequential manner. A wonderful example of employment of stepwise motion (with a bit of tonic triad) is Christmas Bells Are Ringing (Wagner, 2002), Figure 1.


the process of identifying not only the scope and sequence of music concepts we might include in our choral curricula, but also an extensive list of pieces (starting with those on the Michigan School Vocal Music Association’s required lists) that embody these concepts. If you have any pieces that are particularly useful in the aforementioned regard, please feel free to send them my way. Best wishes for a wonderful new school year.


Figure 1. Main theme from Christmas Bells are Ringing (Wagner, 2002). References


We then would seek pieces that embody movement within the tonic triad, continuing through the vast tonal hierarchy that we see and hear in music everyday.


With regards to rhythm, what about the basic patterns in compound (triple) meter? What repertoire is available to aid in acquisition of rhythmic understanding? A perfect example that employs the most basic patterns of compound (triple) meter is The Tiger (Porterfield, 1991), Figure 2. Throughout the composition, singers are given constant reinforcement of dotted quarter, three eighths (sometimes with an eighth rest) and quarter/eighth. Carefully sequenced instruction of these patterns within the context of the song would surely result in deeper aural and symbolic understanding.


Figure 2. Main theme from The Tiger (Porterfield, 1991).


As long as a sequential list of tonal and rhythmic patterns is identified, we can move towards establishing an immensely rich database of choral compositions that can be readily ac- cessible to choral music educators. For music to be included in such a database there must be a repeated tonal or rhythmic motive (one instance of a particular tonal or rhythm pattern is not sufficient for inclusion).


The two major points of this article are applicable to choral music instruction. First, we can examine our own repertoire selection processes and choices and compare them to those of the conductors in the aforementioned studies.


In other


words, what are the processes of educators in similar edu- cational settings or with similar experience to one’s own? What can one learn about one’s own repertoire choices from those teachers with more experience and who are perceived as outstanding role models? The second and perhaps more important take-away is the need to find repertoire that facili- tates music literacy and related sight reading skills. Instruc- tion that ties specific curricular outcomes (tonal and rhyth- mic understanding) to repertoire would be far more effective than keeping the two (musical understanding and repertoire) separate.


As I continue into the 2016-2017 school year, I will begin 27


Charles Norris, Professor of Music Education at Grand Valley State Uni- versity, holds masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His under- graduate work was completed at In- diana State University in Terre Haute. A thirteen-year veteran of K-12 music teaching, he brings practical experi- ence into a variety of music education methods courses at Grand Valley State University. Dr. Norris also teaches


aural perception and sight singing, choral conducting, con- ducts GVSU Varsity Men and directs graduate research. Dr. Norris can be reached at norrisc@gvsu.edu.


Dean, B. (2011). A repertoire selection rubric for preservice and beginning choral conductors based on criteria of aesthetic and pedagogical merit (Doctoral disserta- tion). Retrieved from Proquest Social Sciences Premi- um Collection. (Accession Number ED533920.)


Forbes, G. (2001). The repertoire practices of high school choral directors. Journal of Research in Music Educa- tion, 49(2), 102-121.


Porterfield, S. (1991). The Tiger. Miami, Florida: CPP/Bel- win, Inc.


Reames, R. (2001). High school choral director’ descrip- tion of appropriate literature for beginning high school choirs. Journal of Research in Music Education, 49(2), 122-135.


Wagner. D. (2002). Christmas Bells are Ringing! Dayton, Ohio: Heritage Music Press.


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