Beginner Sight-Singing Club: Learn to Sing From Sheet Music! (High School)

Completed by 13 learners

Ages 14-18

Live Group Class

In this weekly club, students will engage in a variety of exercises to improve their ear and learn to sing from sheet music using solfege.

Janelle Maroney

Average rating:

4.9

Number of reviews:

(81 reviews)

Live video meetings

1x per week

2-12 learners per class

30 min

About Learning Overview Teacher Reviews

What's included

1 live meeting

30 mins in-class hours per week

Class Experience

US Grade 9 - 12

Beginner Level

Welcome to sight-singing club! During our weekly meetings, we'll engage in a variety of activities and exercises to build foundational sight-singing and ear training skills. With time, students will be confidently singing from sheet music and recognizing and performing a variety of musical patterns and intervals by ear. Activities may include:

- Solfege warm-up exercises
- Rhythm exercises
- Sight-singing exercises
- Ear training exercises
- Music notation review
- "Guess that song" solfege challenges
- Solfege and rhythm games

Tendency/Theme of the Week
Week of January 23: Stepwise Motion
Week of January 30: Do-Sol
Week of February 6: Mi-Re-Do
Week of February 13: La-Ti-Do
Week of February 20: Re-Do
Week of February 27: Ti-Do
Week of March 6: Fa-Mi
Week of March 13: Minor, Stepwise Motion
Week of March 20: Minor, Me-Re-Do
Week of March 27: Stepwise Motion
Week of April 3: Do-Sol
Week of April 10: Mi-Re-Do
Week of April 17: Re-Do
Week of April 24: La-Ti-Do
Week of May 1: Ti-Do
Week of May 8: Fa-Mi
Week of May 15: Minor, Stepwise Motion
Week of May 22: Minor, Me-Re-Do

*Tendencies/themes will repeat, but there will be new exercises and activities each week.

NOTE: In an ideal situation, being able to hear students sing is the best way for me to gauge student progress and teach this class. However, group singing is not possible in virtual settings. To encourage participation during class, students will often be prompted to sing along with exercises while muted, and there will also be opportunities for students to unmute and sing solo during class. I realize that for many students, solo singing in front of their peers can cause high levels of anxiety, so to make this class accessible to all students, I encourage students to volunteer to unmute to sing solo during class, but do not require it. If there are students who choose not to unmute to sing, I will conduct both verbal and chat check-ins to gauge students' self-assessments of their own progress.

Other Details

External Resources

Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.

Meet the teacher

Janelle Maroney

Joined February, 2022

4.9

81reviews

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

Bachelor's Degree in Music or Theatre or Arts from University of Washington

Hello! My name is Janelle and I am a K-12 music educator with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. Music has been a passion of mine since before I can remember; I was always the "music kid" growing up, heavily involved in choir, band, and other ensembles, and it brings me immense joy to be able to share my passions with future generations. Currently, my favorite subjects to teach are elementary general music lessons, solfege, and music theory! My professional experience includes more than a decade working for community choirs with students ages 5-18, as well as more recent experience teaching both general elementary lessons and high school choir in public school settings. My primary instrument is voice, I have about 8 years of experience playing flute and piano, and I have received training on a variety of other instruments as well.

When it comes to education, my philosophy is that joy and curiosity are at the center of learning! Regardless of age or skill level, my first priority is for students to build a love and enthusiasm for music, and technical skillsets will grow much more naturally with that foundation. To foster this development, I create lessons built on play, relationship-building, engaging musical repertoire, and student voice. Within the context of these lessons, I introduce and reinforce developmentally appropriate foundational music skills and encourage students to engage in musical explorations that challenge them to grow and build on their pre-existing knowledge and skillsets.

Another core value I hold in my teaching practice is centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. In my classroom, this includes practices such as implementing Universal Design for Learning to ensure that at the foundation, my courses are built to meet the needs of as many students as possible. It also includes representing a variety of identities in my curriculum, with particular care and consideration for marginalized identities including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, disabled people, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Additionally, it involves culturally responsive teaching, responding to individual students' needs and identities, and working with with students and families individually to meet the needs of every member of our community. I welcome collaboration and feedback from families to continuously adapt and build on my teaching practice to ensure that it is an equitable and accessible learning environment for all.

Finally, here are some fun facts about me! I'm a bit of a math nerd and love all kinds of puzzles. My favorite color is purple and I like to cook, go for walks with friends, and take care of my houseplants. Oh, and I love elephants - you might be able to spot one or two during some of my music lessons :)