OUTCOME: Students will be able to attach a visual image to the text that will allow them to sing with greater expres- sive comprehension.
Toast pour le nouvel an Gioachino Rossini SATB, Cams-Verlag 40.281/30 (A delightful and bubbly introduction to Rossini-style opera ensembles for an advanced SATB choir.)
PFP: Operatic setting of words and music through Visual Art.
1. Have students choose a favorite phrase from the piece.
2. Ask students to create a new form of notation for the phrase. Conventional notation cannot be used. The new notation should characterize the style of the music and text. For examples, see Figures 3 and 4.
3. Have each vocal section (S, A, T, B) exchange their “scores” with another section and see if they can match the notated phrases with the correct measures in the music.
4. Sing the piece responding to the newly created notation.
PFP: Textual painting in 20th century choral music through Creative Writing.
1. Discuss the circumstances under which Poulenc felt compelled to write the piece. Define and explain the events, places and religious characters referred to in the text.
2. Ask students to think of themselves as Francis Poulenc and write an entry for his personal jour- nal on the day after learning of his friend’s fatal accident. For an example see below:
3. Have students read journal entries to the class before performing the piece.
Figure 3. 0riginal and new notation for Toast pour le nouvel an Figure 4. 0riginal and new notation for Toast pour le nouvel an
OUTCOME: Students will be able to stylize their vocal line and sensitively place it into the context of the entire ensemble.
Litanies a la Vierge Noire Francis Poulenc SSA, Theodore Presser Co 312-41258 (Poulenc’s first sacred composition; a passionate and emotional response to a colleague’s untimely death for an advanced SSA choir.)
From the Journal of Francis Poulenc: After struggling over a composition for hours today, I decided to take a walk late t his afternoon. I didn’t really know where I was going. I ambled along the road in quiet reverie. The past few days had been over cast and rainy, but the sun shone brilliantly as I walked in the crisp October breeze. I stopped when I came to the small cemetery on the outskirts of town. Then, something caused me to push aside the rusty gates that led to the unkempt rows of gravestones. I stepped inside and walked around. A stone path led to a small grouping of gravestones concealed within the trees. The small graveyard was nearly dark for the bright sunlight could not pierce the thick canopy of leaves and branches. I bent down and removed the dead leaves from the face of each stone. Time had worn away the inscriptions - I could barely make out the names or dates. Suddenly, memories of the funeral came to mind. Yes, this was the first anniversary of my dear friend’s funeral. I traced my finger over the worn inscriptions and imagined that I was visiting my friend’s grave. Here in the solitude of the small graveyard amongst the trees, I wept bitterly for my friend. His life had been so short; his death had been so tragic. I felt his presence all around me as I cried. How silly I had been in the past! I took everything for granted and believed I was invincible. But looking at that gravestone and seeing my friend’s funeral in my mind made me realize that life is just as fragile and precarious as the leaf about ready to fall from the tree overhead.
OUTCOME: Students will be able to perform the emotion- al contrasts of the piece with stronger and more expressive comprehension.
Magnificat op. 5, no. 8 Gallus Zeiler SATB, Carns-Verlag 40.453 (A very accessible and joyful Baroque setting of the Magni- ficat with engrossing polyphony.)
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