Minimum Class Size: 6

Maximum Class Size: 40

Midterm Enrollment:  Yes

Class Time: 3rd hour (10:40-11:35)

Prerequisite: None

Estimated homework hours: 2

Required Materials or Books:

• The supply fee will provide each student with a music folder, pencil bag, music and practice CD from the director.
  
  ***PLEASE NOTE: Music is quite costly. Songs for this level of choir will range from $2.00 - $4.50 each.  An average concert consists of 5-10 songs per choir.
  
  At the end of the year, you will be able to keep your choir notebook, pencil bag, handouts, practice CDs, and legally Xeroxed music. Original copies of music will be turned in following each concert to become part of the Music Makers library for future choirs to enjoy.
  

Class Description:  "One Voice" is one of two choirs offered through the Music Makers program. This exciting high school choir will join treble and newly found bass voices together to develop more advanced part-singing and music reading skills. This group will be challenged to blend into "One Voice" the voices of those with minimal singing skills with those who may have extensive experience as soloists.

As thrilling as it is to hear a great soloist, there is something extremely precious about joining voices together in harmony. Breath support, tone, diction, blend and balance will all be topics of great importance as these young singers learn the beauty and challenge of singing with other singers in a choral setting. Skills learned in this choir will also enable students to gain the confidence they will need to sing in future college or church choirs. Music selections will consist of age-appropriate sacred and secular titles, including choral anthems, folk songs, well-known Broadway tunes, praise music, and more. Students will also be challenged to develop their skills of sight reading by using solfeggio ("Do-Re-Mi's").

"One Voice" will perform 3 concerts during the school year in December (combined fall/Christmas), February (sacred/praise), & April (pops).


Teacher Information: Shawna Furman received a Bachelor's of Music Education with an All-level Teaching Certification from Abilene Christian University in 1995. She has taught classes of general music, choir, and band for five years in both public and private school settings for ages ranging from K-12. She completed her Master's of Church Music Ministry at Baylor University in 2002. For seven years she served as a full-time music minister at First United Methodist Waco with special focus in the areas of children and youth music, as well as handbells.

After becoming a mother, Mrs. Furman resigned from full-time work. She currently serves part-time as the Director of Children's Ministries at Woodway First United Methodist. God has also blessed her with a new outlet to continue making music with more of His blessed children. The "Music Makers" choral program was established for homeschool students in 2006 and became a vital part of the Brazos Valley Co-op in 2007 allowing more young people to develop their voices and music reading skills.