Singing in the Middle

I'm starting a new episode series - my repertoire choices for each concert, along with recordings of my choirs doing those pieces! I include my honest opinions about how much I liked the piece, how my students received it, the difficulty level and everything else you want to know! My first episode in this series is about my first concert of this school year, my Fall Concert! I theme my fall concerts, and this one's theme is The Sky's the Limit. I hope you enjoy and I apologize for the recording quality of my choirs singing - we only have an ipad but maybe one day we can make an upgrade! :) As always, feel free to give me feedback by commenting or messaging me on Instagram (@singinginthemiddle) or email me at singinginthemiddle@gmail.com. Have a great Monday!

Hey all! Sorry for my long hiatus, but I'm excited to be back and sharing with you! Today's episode is a little bit of everything - my thoughts on my summer Professional Development (including a Carol Krueger workshop!), school and choir set-up changes and my tentative repertoire choices for my first concert. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to reach out to me via email (singinginthemiddle@gmail.com) or on Instagram (@singinginthemiddle). Thanks for joining me! Abby

I don't know about you, but January always involves so many professional days out of school! We do elementary recruitment, I take students to Honor Choir and there's a Music Ed Professional Development Concert all in the same month. This means I'm making A LOT of sub plans, so I thought I'd share some ideas. Feel free to send me your thoughts at singinginthemiddle@gmail.com!    Have a great week! Abby Pags

Sorry for not posting in awhile, but it's been pretty busy over here! A couple weeks ago I had my first experience being a guest conductor for an area choral festival. It was an amazing time and I learned so much! Here are some thoughts about the event, some things I'd do differently, some things I loved and just some general comments. Thanks for listening and feel free to share your thoughts and ideas!

Here are some warm-ups I do in class! I stick with this set-up 1. Descending- warm-up lower range 2. Octave range - warm-up higher range 3. Tongue Twister - diction 4. Vowel Tuning 5. Round

How do you use student leaders in your room? Here's a short snippet of how my students! Thanks for listening!

Here are some ideas of using technology in the choir room! I want to hear what you do...share in the comments!

I wanted to share some first day of school activities since it's almost that time of year! I asked some teacher friends to share their thoughts on this too. Special thanks to Ben Waltz, Cindy Johnson and Rachel Knapp! Hope you enjoy!

Ever had a lack of inspiration for picking music for your choir? I know I have. Here are some tips to help in your search, along with some recommendations that I've had success with. Want to share your own rep ideas? Comment below! Here are the recommendations of pieces I've done and had sucess with in the podcast: Don't Be Seen - Stuart Chapman Hill He Lives in You - Brymer Sing to Me - Ramsey Stand Together - Papoulis Ritmo - Davison Rise - Huff Make Them Hear You - Funk Don't You Worry Bout a Thing - Emerson Hold Back The River - Emerson Gaudeamus Hodie - Lightfoot Newsies Choral Highlights - Huff The Hurricane - Thomas Winter Song - Huff The Holly and the Ivy -Robinson Sing We Now of Christmas - Miller Holly Jolly Christmas - Gilpin Frozen Choral Suite - Brymer Come to the Music - Martin Sisi Ni Moja - Narverud Nine Hundred Miles - Silvey

A little bit about me and why I decided to create a podcast!