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R ehe arsal Br e ak
Rehearsal Break

able to make more thorough connections if they have implement a “Four Corners” discussion, determine
had plenty of time to process the works and re-examine four different labels or aspects of discussion you want
them over an extended period. Review clips of each students to think critically about. Students move to the
of the versions of the song to refresh student’s mem- corner that most interests them or they agree with the
ories. It may be beneficial to ask a variety of conclud- most. Students discuss in their groups knowing they
ing questions about the experience. Asking students to must be willing to share at any moment and need to
compare the renditions of the song and make a musi- have respectful arguments to present to the rest of the
cally informed decision about which one was their fa- class at the end of the discussion. I often used the four
vorite can be a concrete way for students to synthesize different listening examples of the same piece as the
the entirety of the lesson. topic for each of the corners. Students were asked to
A strategy like “Four Corners” will allow students go to the corner of the listening example they liked best
to share about their preferences in a low-pressure set- and have a dialogue with their corner group about why
ting. “Four Corners” is a common educational active they shared that opinion. Then after the allotted time,
engagement strategy designed to stimulate conver- they presented their determinations to the whole class.
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sation, collaboration, and respectful discourse. The One might also label corners with “strongly agree,”
flexibility of this particular engagement strategy allows “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree” and select
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teachers to encourage discussion and involvement from more guiding questions about the repertoire. There
all students in a structured but safe environment. To are many creative ways you can fit a strategy like “Four
Corners” into an active engagement environment to
enhance students understanding of the text.
SING THE

WORLD Suggestions for Extensions
Since multiple musical settings to a single text has
been a common practice for centuries, the possible ex-
tensions to a sequenced listening lesson on text settings
are extensive. In choral arrangements alone there are
often several interpretations of the same text. For ex-
July 13 -18, 2026 ample, by searching for the keyword “stars” on most
San Francisco major music publication sites, several dozen different
Bay Area choral settings can be found based on the poetry of
Sara Teasdale. Another example is And So It Goes by Bil-
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- SIX NIGHTS' ACCOMMODATION ly Joel. You can use the original version, an arrange-
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IN HOMESTAYS* ment performed by The King’s Singers, and a perfor-
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- JOINT REHEARSALS mance by the Virginia Women’s Chorus as points of
- FESTIVAL AND COMMUNITY comparison and discussion. YouTube is a great place to
- CONCERTS & WORKSHOPS find examples. In addition, this text allows students to
- ENTRY FEES FOR ALL make emotional connections to a serious song.
COMPETITIONS
- MASSED CHOIRS GRAND FINALE Other possible extensions might include asking stu-
PERFORMANCE dents to bring in their own playlists as an avenue to
- SAN FRANCISCO BAY CRUISE pursue deeper connections to text. In asking students
to create a deeper understanding of the music and text
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of their choice, we can also encourage them to fur-
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OPEN NOW! ther expand their interpretation of the text we present
through the repertoire we select.
The Sound of Silence vignette shows a logical order for

46 CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2025 Volume 65 Number 9