In the summer of 2007, MENC member Dan Hays of Nebraska was already thinking about the 2007 holiday concert at his school. Dan wrote to MENC to say: "I would like to do the "Hallelujah Chorus” on our winter concert. It was a long-standing tradition before I came, but now I would simply like to be able to do it once every four years, so every student will have performed it at least once in high school. Now my administration is saying I must provide evidence that this is a piece of music that has educational merit and would be found on accepted or standard repertoire lists in different states.”
To help out, MENC wrote to state leaders and others, and generally received the “thumbs up” on this piece of music. “Band Guy” from Illinois even wrote: “The entire Messiah stands as a monument to the Baroque period.”
How do you choose music for your Christmas/Holiday/Winter or Non-holiday/December concert?
The New York State School Music Association (MENC affiliate) lists these guidelines** for selecting repertoire:
1. Music chosen should be high-quality literature that has clear educational value:
musical, historical, and cultural.
2. Selection of music should be based on the developmental level of the students and
the overall curriculum goals of the music program.
3. Music should be appropriate for performance.
4. Music should be reflective of and enhance student awareness and appreciation of
various cultures.
5. Teachers should present the music in a sensitive manner, emphasizing the educational
and multicultural value of the music, rather than any religious/seasonal aspect.
Here is a small taste of the myriad member comments sent in response to the 2005 and 2007 MENC Question of the Month on the use of sacred music in school music. (Additional comments will be shared in coming weeks.)
“I sometimes get a few comments from some student about singing too many “God songs”, but the music usually wins them over.”
"I use the winter concert time to show what we have learned so far this year. During this past year, I made a Movie Music concert to avoid the whole problem with religious themed music.”
For suggestions of repertoire for a holiday/winter/Christmas concert, write to us (info@MENC.org) and we will send you listings members shared with us in these older surveys. There are also suggestions in the current choral forum discussion postings.
**Marschilok, Edward, (1991). Decisions of the New York Commissioner of Education Relating to Music Education. School Music News, 54(6); Passed and adopted by the NYSSMA Executive Council June 18, 1994.
NEXT WEEK: Sacred Music, Studied and Surveyed
--Sue Rarus, October 15, 2008, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education