comprehensive musicianship through performance
understanding as teachers within the com- munity share their experiences and insights.
Paul Gregg is in his sixth year of teaching choral music at McFarland High School. He described how his deep planning led him to wonder what his students would glean from a journey metaphor, taking an “epic road trip,” imagining they might find joy in the journey itself. At the beginning of the trip, students listed what they might need such as a map or global positioning system, which led them to think about the form of the piece, and explore score study. Paul asked them, “What are moments of real nourishment in the piece – the sustenance we might need along the way?” Students also listed vocal production, resonance, and healthy singing habits as vocal tune-ups of sorts. Over the concert cycle, they made note of the climactic points of expression, harmonic discoveries, and interlocking parts, pausing to appreciate the expres- sive qualities of the repertoire. Paul took satisfaction in the students’ realizations that the “concert as a destination” does not mean that learning stops when the concert is over, and that this metaphor is so flexible that it could apply to learning nearly any new piece.
As an experienced teacher, Paul likened his approach to deep planning to “cooking with beets,” noting how preparation permeates every moment of interacting with students and reflecting on what comes next. In his own practice, themes serve as organic or thematic bridges to the intellectual curiosi- ties of his high school students. They help students see the relationship of various pieces to other choral works, and most importantly, to their personal interests and reflections. Paul views CMP as an invita- tion to tether his strategies and interactions to a deeper sense of purpose and a height- ened sense of direction.
I spoke with Luke Hrovat-Staedter on an evening when he was busy arranging themes from Star Wars for a combined concert with band, orchestra, and choir. When we began to talk about planning as invisible work, Luke told me how he imagines the “spider web that connects the pieces to the outcomes to the strategies that
Wisconsin School Musician 27
get to the outcomes.” The quest for deeper connections serves as an area of growth for him in his ninth year of teaching choral music at Madison East High School, and his eleventh year of experience overall. He described how deep preparation leads to greater artistry in choosing a theme and in- tegrating that theme into curricular cycles.
Luke described a recent exploration, “The Road Not Taken,” for which his freshman choir sang Ruth Elaine Schram’s setting of the enduring Robert Frost poem. The concert choir sang another piece from the Frostiana cycle; the repertoire for each choir in the program built and elaborated on the idea of divergent pathways. Students re- flected on times in their lives during which certain paths open up while others close. Luke encouraged students to consider such consequential life choices in relation to the music and to their lived experiences. He underscored the power of “big overarching themes” such as this one, and the way that the concert became a part of a larger arc of
experience, especially as the ninth graders who set the theme in motion connected to the performances of the other choirs. Luke framed this notion as “setting the thesis of the concert.” In turn, the more advanced groups saw the freshman choir’s offering as part of the whole as well. He clarified that his intention is not to lead students toward particular conclusions or specific insights but that through these carefully chosen themes, “students make meaning of the world through their music.” Luke realized that even as he speaks to the choirs and the audience during the concert, fresh insights emerge. He views the concert as an artistic and learning experience that also acts as a “community masterclass” in the expressive power of music.
He returned to his spider web metaphor to address how deep planning enables and inspires possible moments of connection
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