A Choral Speaking Teacher's guide from...
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WHAT IS CHORAL SPEAKING?
Unlike READERS THEATER (which is meant to be read), CHORAL SPEAKING requires a group of students to orally interpret and recite from MEMORY.
(NOTE: What's wrong with the concept of Choral Reading (READING RATHER THAN MEMORIZING)? Nothing at all. If that works best for you and your students, it works for me)!
In my grandmother's day, Choral Speaking was all the rage! When I was a little girl, I remember attending many wonderful Choral Speaking concerts at grandma's K-12 one-room schoolhouse in Ohio. I also remember that when grandmother died, our family received many many cards and letters from past students, now grown up, who remembered her as THE BEST TEACHER THEY EVER HAD!
What happened to Choral Speaking? For years it seemed to have disappeared from our elementary schools. Choral Speaking gave way to more "modern" activities: creative drama, play building, cooperative grouping, video watching. A recent online search of the words "choral speaking" brought very few listings.
Thank goodness for Canadian Speech Festival organizers who still include Choral Speaking as a viable category, and collect suitable Choral Speaking pieces and materials for use in the classroom. A number of years ago I was asked to adjudicate a Speech Festival in Nelson, British Columbia and found, to my surprise, that Choral Speaking was alive and well!
Later, my husband and I conducted a workshop for British Columbia Catholic Teachers in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. We started out doing a Readers Theatre Workshop and, by popular request, ended up discussing the incredible benefits of Choral Speaking. The teachers were so enthusiastic that my interest was rekindled. When I got home, I sat down at my computer and began re-formatting some of my rhyming scripts into Choral Speaking pieces. You'll find these and more in our online catalogue.
The scripts or speaking pieces in my collections belong to YOU. Please change them in any way to suit your individual needs. Words and phrases may need fine-tuning to accommodate a particular reading level. Assignment of printed speaking or reading sections/lines may not be right for your group or situation. Please feel free to invent, create, edit, imagine, omit, add, and change. The purpose of this collection is to make materials available to teachers who want to motivate ORAL READING and CHORAL SPEAKING/READING. I am not interested in protecting my pride or my copyright! I am interested in helping promote a love of ORAL LANGUAGE.
Below you'll find a fairly extensive Teacher or Director's Guide to Choral Speaking in the elementary classroom and beyond! I wish you the best of luck and much joy in your Choral Speaking and Readers Theatre activities!
Sincerely, Lois Walker
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CHORAL SPEAKING FOR ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS AND BEYOND...
Here is a short poem you might wish to use as a voice choir "signature verse". It can be used as a part of the warm-up during rehearsals, used to announce the start or finish of rehearsal, used just for fun, or used during a performance to introduce a choral speaking piece:
1 ALL: Choral speaking is awesome, we know,
2 ALL: When a chorus of kids/folks wants to put on a show!
3 GIRL'S CHORUS: We have light voices,
4 BOY'S CHORUS: dark voices,
5 QUARTET: high and low too,
6 ALL: And we all talk together,
7 QUARTET: Or talk - just a few.
8 ALL: Choral speaking is fun
9 ALL: Year-round through Decem-m-m-ber.
10 SOLO: But first find a verse
11 ALL: You'll be glad to remem-m-m-ber!
OR
9 ALL: Year-round through Decem-m-m-ber.
10 SOLO: So here is a verse
11 ALL: We hope you'll remem-m-m-ber!
(At this point, if performing, the performance piece is introduced and performed).
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CHORALSPEAKING TEACHER/DIRECTOR GUIDE
A successful voice choir must not be "a lot of people speaking at once," but a group of speakers who are as controlled, unified and harmonized as a choir of singers.
TYPES OF CHORAL SPEAKING
1. REFRAIN is one of the most common forms of choral speaking. One person reads the narrative portion of the text while the rest of the class joins in the refrain.
2. UNISON calls for the whole group to read the material together. Additional sound effects might be incorporated.
3. ANTIPHON calls for the class to be divided into two or more groups, with each group being responsible for a certain part of the selection.
4. CUMULATIVE choral reading or speaking refers to a method where groups of voices or individual voices are added to or subtracted from the choral reading, depending on the message or the meaning communicated by the selection.
5. SOLO LINES is a type of choral reading where individuals read specific lines in appropriate places throughout the group activity.
6. LINE AROUND or CHILD-A-LINE is more solo work where each line is taken by a different person in the group.
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SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER
1. Select verse material with care. It should reflect student interest and preference as well as student vocabulary level. Poetry is especially suitable for choral speaking, particularly poetry that contains some repetition (e.g., ballads, narrative poetry, adventure poetry).
2. Give advance thought to interpretation. Discuss meaning and the various ways of reading the material to bring out the meaning with the choir.
3. During rehearsal, consider suggestions from the choir including suggestions for improving phrasing and diction.
4. As the students become more experienced, they will offer suggestions as to which lines may be most effectively delivered by the whole group, by part of the group, or by individuals.
5. The amount of time spent preparing a poem or other selection will vary, but it is more important to keep the enthusiasm alive than to strive for perfection (unless you are preparing for competition or performance).
6. Students who will be listening to the choral readings should be prepared for the listening experience. They should be willing to listen attentively, without distracting the speakers; they should also prepare to respond regarding the effectiveness of the speaking activity (e.g., sound arrangement, choral patterns).
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SOME SIMPLE WAYS TO MAKE A READING OR RECITATION MORE FUN AND INTERESTING
Contrast is the key when using the voice to interpret the meaning of a choral speaking piece. The possibilities are endless, but here are a few to consider.
Alternate:
slow and fast lines, stanzas, or paragraphs
loud and soft lines
low and high voices
Emphasize:
key words and phrases by reciting them in a louder or softer voice
Pause:
for a specified number of silent "beats" before continuing the next line or phrase
Sound Effects:
clap or make appropriate sound effects at the end of lines, stanzas, or paragraphs
incorporate music, when appropriate
Costumes and Props:
may add to the recitation as long as they are simple and easily handled
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CHORAL SPEAKING FOR COMPETITIONS OR FESTIVALS
The most important of all requirements for a competitive voice choir is unity. Both a unity of articulation and syllabification as well as a unity of pitch and inflection are necessary.
UNITY OF ARTICULATION AND SYLLABIFICATION
All speakers must attach, move through, and finish their syllables at precisely the same moment. If the body of a choral speech were cut short at any point during a performance, each individual voice should be at precisely the same place in the syllable as every other voice.
UNITY OF PITCH AND INFLECTION
In spite of differing individual voice qualities, a voice choir must blend harmoniously to a common unified tone. This unified tone must move as a whole through changes in rhythm/tempo and changes in emotional intensity so that the inflection-line linking them is also single and unified.
The words of a verse give a poem form. A successful voice choir director must learn to work with, shape, and combine a number of choral speaking elements in order to give the poem life. These elements are defined below:
VOICE QUALITY
The ability to combine successfully the light, medium, and dark voices in the choir (using these groups for their natural basic sounds and/or combining them for special effects).
The ability to communicate, through voice, reactions to thoughts or emotions.
NUMBER OF VOICES
The ability to add or subtract whole sections, banks, smaller groups, or solo speakers to increase or diminish the power or richness of the sound to better express the meaning.
BODILY MOVEMENT
Ability to use gesture, choreography, or other movement to enhance communication and better express meaning.
PITCH
Pitch refers to the variations of the voice on the musical scale and is generally referred to as inflection. Children generally have little problem with pitch because they use it naturally and freely.
POWER
Ability to use volume, force, or loudness as emphasis in appropriate places to better express feeling and meaning. A power build should be related to the elements of a sentence and/or growing emotion.
PHRASING AND RHYTHM
Ability to use phrasing and rhythm as reinforcements for each other. Each must blend together to better express the meaning of the verse.
TEMPO
Tempo refers to the rate of speed at which a reading progresses. The ability to balance the rhythm of a piece and the tempo of performance. Tempo should relate to the central "beat" of the poem. (Too fast? Too slow?)
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SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR DIRECTORS STAGING
It is important to successfully organize and position the choir on stage or risers for maximum performance effect. It is also important to stage entrances and exits that enhance the mood of the poem and to "costume" speakers appropriately.
ENTRANCES
The way your group enters the performance area and gets into position is very important to the quality of performance. Entrances should be accomplished in a quiet, systematic way. Rehearsal is essential. Your entrance will set the tone for a listening audience!
PLACING OF SPEAKERS ON RISERS
Special attention to placing of speakers on risers is especially important for a visually interesting performance. Some suggestions:
1. Position BOYS on one side of risers, GIRLS on the other. OR place BOYS in top half section, GIRLS on bottom half. You might ask BOYS to wear all of one color (or special costumes which fit the story), and ask GIRLS to wear another color (or special costumes).
2. SOLO SPEAKER lines are often effective coming as a surprise from all sections of the group, so these speakers may be scattered amongst the group.
3. QUARTETS, however, should be positioned together in the front row, if possible. These people must speak as a small group in unison, so should be positioned together where they can work together and the audience can easily see and hear them . Quartets might also be positioned off to the side, depending on the script.
4. CHARACTER SPEAKERS (speaking the lines of characters in the story) may also be positioned together in the front row. They might also be positioned off to the side, placed standing on a low separate platform nearby, or seated on tall stools. Each might wear a small costume piece (or carry a prop) which suggests the character they are
PACING
Most of the pieces in my collections are light, lively, happy, and upbeat. They generally have a definite rhythm or beat (just like a musical piece) and work best in performance when that beat is acknowledged, rather than ignored. This doesn't mean a director shouldn't slow things down at certain key points and/or play with the rhythm. The more the piece is interpreted, felt, colored, and shaped, the better the performance.
LINE NUMBERING
Important: use of LINE NUMBERS at left on each script page will help you quickly identify specific lines when rehearsing with your group. It's easier to say, "Let's start again from line 25", than spending precious time trying to identify group sections by description. If you are working with a script which does not include line numbers, you might wish to add them yourself.
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SOME HAND SIGNALS AND DIRECTING TECHNIQUES
FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL VOICE CHOIRS
If you are directing a voice choir of elementary school students, you'll probably find that your choir members equate "loud and fast" with good expression or interpretation. This is best handled on your part by strong and definite hand signals and body actions that keep the tempo and decibels in control.
To find the proper rhythm of a choral speaking piece, first read-aloud and clap through the piece with the choir. Be careful not to read too fast! Do this over and over again until choir feels comfortable with the piece. Ask members to practice the piece at home and come to the next rehearsal with the words memorized.
(NOTE: CHORAL SPEAKING: If you are entering a choral speaking competition, the judges will expect the piece to be memorized. CHORAL READING: If you are performing the piece at school or using it as a classroom exercise, you may simply want the choir to read the piece aloud. Both approaches require rehearsal, interpretation, and attention to detail).
At this point in the rehearsal process, the director can move from clapping to "directing" to control the rhythmic beat and indicate subtleties in interpretation. The directing actions can be large or small, but they must be definite, especially for this age group.
You may wish to improvise a set of definite hand signals to further refine and sharpen your communication with the choir. These will be especially helpful in performance. For instance, both hands extended up at about shoulder height with palms toward the choir means "stop--and wait for the next signal", a finger held over your lips and your other hand beating the time with palm down would ask for less power and a more subtle treatment of the passage. Turning the palm up and using larger movements with the other hand beating the time would ask for a more spirited and larger sound. The bright, lively passages may best be signaled by sharp movements of the hands and by quick actions of the fingers.
Youngsters need to be reminded that they "may speak as fast as they can be understood." You will find many more signals to communicate effectively with your elementary school group as you practice and experiment.
The wonderful energy, dynamics, and keen perceptions of this age deserve to be expressed and constructively channeled, and these children will probably enjoy the freeing as well as the disciplining values of the voice choir!
Much of the information above is paraphrased from E. Kingsley Povenmire's "Choral Speaking and the Verse Choir," A.S. Barnes and Co., 1975.
