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CHORTEACH
Lifting Up the Littles: Highlighting your Youngest Singers Through Commissioned Works, Effective Rehearsal, Performance Opportunities, and Student Composition

ARTICLE

• Special musical elements (e.g., adding body percus- Part Two:
sion, highlighting an instrumentalist from one of your Intentional and Effective Movement
groups) Many of us utilize movement in the rehearsal to at-
tain and reinforce musical concepts, to increase student
• Musical concepts to focus on engagement, and to help unlock healthy sounds through
connection with the body. These movements are often
• Accompaniment style dropped for the performance or turned into “choralog-
raphy” that has less to do with the desired musical effect.
• Flexibility: what options are there to simplify the piece However, creating movement that both aids the singer
further if needed? and works for the stage is essential for nearly every piece
the Bees rehearse and perform. This approach serves
Here are some ideas for involving your singers in the many purposes: harnessing the group’s energy, increas-
process: ing focus, allowing space for singer input and creativity,
and providing consistency between rehearsal and perfor-
• Writing lyrics through individual submissions or as a mance spaces.
group project Specific movements within “Now We Have Rivers”
were developed to encourage specific tone, articulation,
• Choosing what the piece is about rhythm, and dynamics. They are not written into the
score; rather, they emerged organically throughout the
• Choosing specific musical elements, like which per- score study and rehearsal process.
cussion instruments to include The first step to creating intentional movement as a
conductor is to know the score well. Sing through every
• Composing the first line of the melody for the com- part multiple times and notice the many layers within
poser to draw from each phrase (dynamics, rhythm, cut-offs, text, vocal tech-
nique challenges, etc). Choose a phrase and focus on one
• Choosing the overall form of the piece musical detail (perhaps dynamics first), loosen up and let
yourself move in a way that helps you physically empha-
size that concept. Sing through again, focusing on a dif-

CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2025 Volume 66 Number 4 35