In my High School Student Teaching Placement at Cass Technical High School in Downtown Detroit, I was able to teach a program and teach a piece to the school’s treble voice ensemble. I selected Craig Hella Johnson’s setting of Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Will There Really Be a Morning?” (2006) because of it’s simple instrumentation and form, but complex harmonic and rhythmic language that I knew would be the basis for gaining great aural and vocal skills.
Below are a perusal score, my score analysis, and the lesson plan for the 3 part lesson above. In the Warm-ups, I built the exercises around needed techniques from the piece, including moving in and out of harmony and unison, and large melodic leaps the force a connection between chest and head voice. In the final two videos, I coach the students through learning the rhythm and melody of the piece on their own using Kodaly rhythm and Solfege syllables.
Catherine Moore 