ABSTRACT

Extra musical activities outside school heavily lean toward choral activity for most music amateurs. Despite the fact that people tend to enjoy singing, an effective method of choral education has not been widely explored in Korea. The purpose of this paper is to examine what to teach and how to teach childrens` choral education, and to suggest a way to lead effective choral rehearsals. Focusing on what to teach, emphasized are mental focus, correct breathig and posture technique, vocal range, unified vowels, accurate intonation, resilient tone quality, text meaning, reading skill, musical analysis, and high quality choral literature. With regard to how to teach, the discussion is divided into four areas ; firstly, subjects related to singing such as posture, breathing, vowel pronunciation, tone quality, intonation, and text ; secondly, subjects related to developing musicianship, specifically reading skill and musical analysis skill ; thirdly, the motivation problem of 5th and 6th graders and the problem of changing voices ; and finally several learning anchors. Once what and how to teach childrens` choral education are clarified, the next question is how to manage choral rehearsals effectively. The topics include a patterned procedure approach, class pacing, and students` participation. The paper also suggests a way to organize choral rehearsals and to develop constructive listening skill.