How I Voice Check in Choir the First Week of School

…while not letting the rest of my class devolve into chaos.

Although I am currently fortunate to have an accompanist in my choir classes, during my first 10 years of teaching in a rural district, I did not. If you are in the same boat, but still need to voice check to create your sections, here are some ways to get it done.

First of all, stations and activities are your friend. Don’t just let the kids sit and wait. One of the reasons is obvious: you want to keep them busy.

The other reason may not be - you actually WANT noise.

Now you’re picturing some middle schoolers wrecking your room. I promise it won’t devolve into that - because of the activities that they need to complete.

The reason why you want some noise in the room so that kids that are part checking don’t feel self-conscious about being heard. If there are other things going on, no one can hear them, right? That’s the goal.

Step 1 - Team/Partner Picks

Start out the class by creating pairs or groups to move through the stations. Figure out how many pairs you want in your deck before dealing them. You could do pairs OR double up your deck and have 2 of each item. For example, 2 scales and 2 degree (so a 4 person group). This also allows kids to get to know other students they may not interact with.

Step 2 - Voice Check Song and Data

First, pick what song you want the class to check on! I usually teach “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” because it’s in a nice range for both octaves. Then I do simple scales to get the top and bottom ends of their range. I pull 2-3 kids at a time so I can make sure that they feel safe in a small group, but at the same time it’s small enough that I can focus on each one.

I use a voice check Google Form for myself that automatically dumps data into a spreadsheet to be imported into my class binders. I can track their ranges later in the year this way. I like that I have a digital spreadsheet and paper copies.

Step 3 - Stations

Now the fun part. While you’re pulling groups for part checks, the rest of the groups will rotate through stations around the room. You can put a short instruction sheet for each station and the kids can log onto Google Classroom or your LMS to do everything online. I like the following stations because it let’s me get to know the kids, some of them double as bulletin board ideas, and it kicks off the year with doing something fun/meaningful.

I have most of these resources in a discounted bundle. Check them out below!

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Music Teacher Digital Planner & How I Use It