Getting Started with Middle School Chorus is designed to help you get started in a new position. As you approach your new experience, you may be filled with anticipation and, perhaps, feel some anxiety at the same time. This book is here to point you in the right directions. There is enough specific information here to “get you started� and on your way! The third edition of Getting Started with Middle School Chorus is thoroughly grounded in research and incorporates new information about working with young adolescent changing voices, designing optimal rehearsals for middle-schoolers, managing growing choral programs, and helping youngsters gain musical skills they can carry with them for a lifetime of making music. Getting Started with Middle School Chorus provides strategies to build your confidence as you take on the new responsibilities associated with teaching middle school chorus.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world causing physical, emotional, economic, and social upheaval in every part of the globe. It also catalyzed a renewed interrogation, by music education faculty in higher education, of philosophies and practices that had long gone unexamined. Music Education on the Verge: Stories of Pandemic Teaching and Transformative Change is a collection of narratives by music teacher-educators describing how they responded to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic with, and for, their students. Through these stories, the authors step back and reflect on the events, challenges, triumphs, and innovations discovered as they prepared the next generation of music educators in this time of crisis. They tell stories of reexamining old frameworks, discovering new affordances of technologies, humanizing pedagogy, deepening culturally responsive and sustaining experiences, and creating space for democratic practices. Each chapter offers examples of innovative music pedagogy that can be adapted and applied by music educators and music teacher educators with their students. Collectively, they paint a picture of possibilities, challenging music teacher-educators- and educators in all fields- to seek out openings and pursue pedagogies of change as we move forward into a post-pandemic world.

Whether you're new to working with middle school choirs or seeking advice on improving your effectiveness, you'll appreciate the useful hands-on strategies in The First Weeks of Middle School Chorus. Implement Freer's specific, ready-to-use tips immediately in your rehearsals. He reminds you of things you've forgotten, prompts you to reframe what you already do, and encourages you to try new approaches. Organized in lists for easy reference, the book takes you through the first weeks of school and covers setting up your classroom, choral activities for day one and beyond, repertoire for the first weeks, warm-ups for changing voices, rehearsal strategies, placing students into groups and voice parts, and resources. Readers who find TIPS: The First Weeks of Middle School Chorus helpful may want to consult Freer's Getting Started with Middle School Chorus, Second Edition for more detailed information about the tips, strategies, and techniques found in this practical guide.