Participation in an expressive ensemble may be inappropriately presumed to produce expressive independence in individual ensemble members. This study is an examination of relationships between individual expressive achievement and (a) the expressive achievement of choral ensembles, (b) technical performance, and (c) musical background. Subjects included 11 high school choral ensembles and 82 individual ensemble members. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed no significant relationships between individual and ensemble expressive achievement. Cor-relations showed technical and expressive performance to be strongly related. Significantly related musical background factors from a MANOVA included: (a) involvement in outside performing groups, (b) semesters of high school choir, (c) private vocal lessons, and (d) age of first private lessons. The study provided grounds for questioning the assumption that expressive ensembles yield expressive individuals.

PaulBroomhead ears ago, I developed and taught a four-month series of lessons designed to help eighth-grade singers gain skills related to phrase shaping. Using poetic accent (i.e., speech inflection) as a frame of reference, the students made decisions regarding musical emphasis, de-emphasis, and phrase climax. A typical activity consisted of my giving them a phrase from a well-known folk song, allowing them thirty seconds or so to decide how to shape the phrase, and then having the entire ensemble sing the phrase with no direction, coaching, or conducting from me.As I stepped aside and allowed them to determine how to shape phrases on their own, I found that although there were perceptible differences from student to student, there was usually an apparent collective interpretation regarding which syllables to emphasize, which to de-emphasize, and how much-and such interpretations were surprisingly appropriate. I began to wonder how my students were able to do such a thing. What skills did these eighth graders possess that could immediately bring about such a high level of agreement?They were using speech inflection as a basis for their phrase shaping, which involves a complex interweaving of volume, intensity, tempo, pitch, and even color. But despite its complexity, most people helping choral students become independent, expressive singers.

The effects of a positive mindset trigger word intervention on the expressive performance of individual junior high singers were tested in this study. Participants ( N = 155) were assigned randomly to a control group or an experimental group. Members of the experimental group participated in a 40-min intervention while members of the control group participated in normal rehearsal. The intervention involved a pre-performance routine of breathing and silently repeating the words bold, confident, and free. It also involved practice activities for applying the technique to performance. Participants were tested individually directly before and after the intervention and 2 weeks later. Results indicated a significant positive effect on Overall Expressive Performance ( p < .001) and on the subcategories Dynamics ( p < .001), Performance Factors ( p < .001), and Timing ( p < .001). There was no significant effect on subcategories Articulation ( p = .195) and Tone ( p = .035). Implications were that (1) use of positive mindset trigger words in a pre-performance routine may bring immediate improvement in expressive performance for junior high age singers, (2) junior high age singers may possess higher levels of expressive performance skill than they or teachers recognize, and (3) review and repetition likely are needed for junior high age students to retain the intervention benefits.

No abstract

Current reforms in content area education present new challenges for literacy educators. These reforms promote engaging students in the practices of the disciplines—teaching students how to participate in an activity in which disciplinary content is produced. Content area literacy (CAL) instruction that supports only the learning of general academic or school literacies undermines these content area reforms and their focus on participation because it does not teach the literacies that students need to participate in the disciplines. In this article, the authors present an argument for why CAL instruction should focus on teaching disciplinary literacies instead of a general academic literacy. The authors show how CAL instruction focused on disciplinary literacies can support the educational goals of both literacy educators and content area reformers. The authors also contrast four corresponding characteristics of both types of CAL instruction and illustrate these with examples.