HHS Vocal Music Program
The HHS Vocal Music Program is comprised of approximately 230 students in grades 7-12. We are proud to offer six ensembles. Please see ensemble descriptions below.
Our choirs give three concerts each year: Pops Concert (October), Winter Concert (December), and a Spring Concert (May.) All of our ensembles (except Junior High) travel each year to compete in a Worldstrides OnStage Choral Competition that are offered in a variety of cities throughout the United States. Please see our Competition History page to view our achievements and newspaper articles. Our Junior High Choir performed at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Choral Majors festival receiving Gold with Distinction (2019.)
The Show & Jazz Choirs (Select Choirs) travel extensively throughout the Hornell community and surrounding areas. Our groups will perform over 15 concerts in just December alone entertaining local organizations and senior citizen homes. Thought the year, our Select Choirs regularly perform the National Anthem and God Bless America for Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, as well as the Rochester Red Wings and Elmira Enforcers games.
Philosophy
The goal of the Hornell Vocal Music Program is designed to enhance the musical, creative and expressive qualities of all students while providing an enjoyable and thought-provoking musical experience for our audience members. Singers can expect to perform repertoire in several languages and from various centuries. With enthusiastic participation, effective rehearsals, and a strong commitment to practice, students will realize a multitude of educational and aesthetic rewards.
Each rehearsal involves a mixture of vocal instruction, ensemble training, and musical exposition. Singers can expect to be challenged and enriched in many ways over the course of each year. Whether they see music as their vocation or passionate pastime, many alumni vocalists continue to sing well beyond their years at Hornell High School.
Each of our ensembles are performance medium classes; your active participation and delivery of music/art is essential to the success of the ensemble and for your own personal musical growth and development. Musical opportunities are provided for every child to learn the basic skills of singing, playing and reading music, developing song repertoire, broadening listening skills and experiencing the interrelated nature of music with other cultures and content areas.
Ensembles
Senior High Choir (SATB) is an open-campus 9-12 grade ensemble that requires no prior experience and no audition to participate. Comprised of mixed-voices (male and female) this choir performs literature ranging from major choral classics to contemporary works in a variety of styles and genres. Students will convey musical interpretation with the use of dynamics and phrasing, while incorporating facial expression and movement for refined presentation. Students will understand how a musical composition is structured through listening and analysis. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Treble Choir (SSA) is an open-campus 9-12 grade ensemble that requires no prior experience and no audition to participate. Traditionally comprised of all female voices this choir performs literature ranging from major choral classics to contemporary works in a variety of styles and genres. Students will convey musical interpretation with the use of dynamics and phrasing, while incorporating facial expression and movement for refined presentation. Students will understand how a musical composition is structured through listening and analysis. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Junior High Choir (SAB) is an open-campus 7-8 grade ensemble that require no prior experience and no audition to participate. Comprised of mixed-voices (male and female) students will begin to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the differences in music from other cultures and the connections music brings to people, places and time. The experiences gained in this ensemble provide a strong basis for the continuation of their music skills as they continue into high school while on their path to becoming a life-long participant of music. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Jazz Choir (SATB) is an 8-12 grade ensemble that requires the completion of a successful audition that is held in June of the previous school year. Comprised of mixed-voices (male and female) this choir performs a wide variety of contemporary choral repertoire including jazz, pop, R&B, and world music that requires a high degree of vocal independence, technique, and literacy. Due to an effort to provide a well-rounded musical presence throughout the region, additional rehearsals and sectionals will be required and scheduled as necessary. Students are expected to place a high level of outside work into their repertoire. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Show Choir (SATB) is an 8-12 grade ensemble that requires the completion of a successful audition that is held in June of the previous school year. Comprised of mixed-voices (male and female) this choir performs literature that focuses considerable attention on dance and musical theatre behaviors related to facial and body expression. Due to an effort to provide a well-rounded musical presence throughout the region, additional rehearsals and sectionals will be required and scheduled as necessary. Students are expected to place a high level of outside work into their repertoire. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Classroom Music Courses
Vocabularies of Music course will focus on four major vocabularies of music each marking period: Theory, History, Film Music, and the Cognitive Neuroscience of Music. Our journey will highlight the fundamental components of musical practice and performance while allowing students to explore their own artistic abilities through guided independent study in a multitude of music axioms. Students will also demonstrate competent writing skills while using proper musical terminology. Their application of such knowledge will allow for their acceleration in music while enhancing the core-ensembles of the high school. Students enrolled will receive 1 academic credit.
Sight Reading is the skill of turning written music into sound (and song), by making sense of rhythm, intervals, key signatures and phrasing. This course combines essential music theory with a practical approach to sight-singing. Understanding that the ability to sight-read is an invaluable asset that makes music so much more accessible and accelerating the learning process. Students are encouraged to practice outside of school in order to successfully negotiate this course.
North Hornell/Intermediate School Vocal/General Music Program
The North Hornell and Bryant School Vocal/General Music Program includes approximately 540 Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3 students. Each class has 40-45 minutes of music instruction per week. Mrs. Schierer’s goal is to instill in students basic, age appropriate music skills, including singing on pitch, playing instruments with a steady beat, rhythmic accuracy, and reading simple notation–ultimately building a strong foundation for music literacy and technique.
Mrs. Schierer’s curriculum is increasingly Orff-Schulwerk based, a method of music pedagogy that promotes “hands-on” and holistic learning through singing, playing instruments, and moving. Her philosophy allows for a selective mixture of popular music pedagogy methods, drawing the most effective components from each of them.
In addition to instructing her music classes, Mrs. Schierer conducts several concerts each year, generally one for each grade level. Her students also perform during special school-wide assemblies and other events. During the concerts the students sing, move, and sometimes play instruments to showcase the skills they have learned from music class. Especially at the 2nd and 3rd Grade levels, many students are selected for special roles and small ensembles.
At HCSD, the North Hornell and Intermediate School Music Program is the first step in a cohesive Pre-K through Grade 12 Performing Arts Program. This portion of the program is essential for forming the “building blocks” (skills and techniques) that will carry students toward musical excellence into High School and beyond!