Student Music Score Study Guide: Use with ANY new Choir Music!

Help your students get to know a new piece of choral music by using this study guide, provided here in both a PDF and editable .doc format! A bonus "Terms & Symbols" document is included for students to keep track of what they have learned. All files are in a zipped file.

--> Please note: This study guide is designed to work on iPads (large spaces to write), but can be customized to work for other devices or to print more optimally. They DO have color, unless edited!

How to use the guide: You might consider filling out some info together as a class, discussing it as you go. You could have students break up into small groups and do a sort of musical scavenger hunt to find the info. With older students, or once they have worked in a group, you can have students work on parts of the guide while others are singing.

What is included: The guide is in 4 parts, meant to be completed in small pieces. Parts 2 and 3 can be completed in reverse order, if desired. Study guide is 5 pages long, 1 page per section; Part 3 has 2 pages - an "a" and "b" (see description below).

-Preview - Students find and list at least 5 terms or symbols they do not know, and may fill in definitions throughout the unit here. Alternately, students may add them to their "Terms & Symbols" list as they learn them, which is the bonus document with this purchase. Space is provided on this Preview page for up to 18 entries (full page).

-1: Basic Info - Students fill in info about the piece such as title, composer, arranger, lyricist, and instruments. They are then instructed to write measure numbers and highlight their part in their music.

--> Please Note: In the PDF version, I have highlighted the "system line" in the sample, as I have found that this helps my students identify and follow where parts and measure numbers go much more easily. However, in the .doc version, I am unable to highlight. You may want to do this before pushing it out electronically, or remove the sample music if it is not useful to you.

-2: Context & Meaning - Students use the score and Google/search to find information such as when the piece was composed, the language, country, and culture of the piece. They read the text and choose a favorite line or two, find and write translations (if applicable), and choose from 3 questions to answer about the meaning of the text.

-3a: Analysis - (with highlighting) - Students list terms and symbols in each of 5 categories: duration (time), pitch/tonality, form (roadmap), dynamics (loudness), and expression. Each category is assigned a color, with which they highlight the terms/symbols in their music.

--> Please Note: These categories and colors also coordinate with the "Terms & Symbols" doc! I designed that to have students fill in with new ones as they learned them.

-3b: Analysis - (Alternate to 3a, no highlighting in music) - Students list terms and symbols in each of 5 categories: duration (time), pitch/tonality, form (roadmap), dynamics (loudness), and expression. In the next column, they list the page & measure number where each term/symbol found.