Introducing The Choral Musician Digital Workbook Series

The noted choral educator Donald Neuen described a chorister as equal parts singer, actor and musician. This workbook series will focus on the musician piece of that chorister pie. By teaching your students to be musicians, they will learn to speak and then read the language of music.

Introducing The Choral Musician

The Choral Musician is a series of student workbooks inspired by the pioneering Music Learning Theory research by Dr. Edwin E. Gordon. Music Learning Theory (or, MLT) describes how students learn when they learn music. If a chorister is one-third musician, then students should learn the inner workings of rhythm, harmony and melody. The Choral Musician provides an audiation framework for students. 

Choir Teachers:Teach Audiation 

I created these workbooks for my students in my choirs. 

I have been using Music Learning Theory to inform my choir teaching, learning and instruction for over a decade and the results have been fantastic. 

However, all of the necessary materials for teaching audiation were always in my hands. I was the keeper of the lore. I was the one who had the patterns and the tonalities. I struggled to find a way to distribute materials to students and grant them access to a "virtual Mr. Mullen," and all of my audiation expertise outside of my class. 

And so these workbooks were born. 

My students were so used to the Google slides universe, that I decided that this was the best format for them to be most successful. And after testing it out, they really appreciated having everything in one place...

Warm-ups, pattern videos, pattern tracks, explanations of audiation concepts, improvisation and generalization activities, reading demonstrations, pattern reading, and sight-reading examples...it's one stop shopping!

Maybe your students will feel the same way.  

About The Choral Musician Digital Workbook Series

As of now, there are three digital workbooks in The Choral Musician series, with more planned for the near future. The workbooks are a mix of teaching a listening and audiation vocabulary, a performance vocabulary and a reading vocabulary. 

Digital Workbook 1

This workbook provides students with an audiation foundation in major and minor tonalities, and duple and triple meters.

In this workbook, students will develop a basic vocabulary of tonal and rhythmic contexts and words so that they can speak the language of music. This is done through tonal patterns and rhythm patterns, or "musical words." Students will learn rhythm patterns, harmonic patterns and scale patterns that they will be able to sing, improvise with, generalize in order to teach themselves new patterns, and use as the preparation with reading for understanding just as they do in language. 

Click here for a walkthrough of this workbook

Digital Workbook 2A

This workbook guides students in how to read (notationally audiate) all of the rhythm content and harmonic patterns from Digital Workbook 1.

If we follow the language analogy, we learn to read words that we have already heard, spoken, understand, and improvised with. We will learn to read rhythmic words and harmonic words separately, and then will combine tonal words and rhythmic words into "musical sentences" which form the basis for sight-reading.

Click here for a walkthrough of this workbook

Digital Workbook 2B

This workbook guides students in how to read (notationally audiate) all of the stepwise scale patterns (in association with the same rhythm content) from Digital Workbook 1.

After we make the connection between audiation of tonal context and harmonic content, students will learn how to read stepwise scale patterns. After notational audiation has been established in Digital Workbook 2A, teachers are encouraged to navigate back and forth between Digital Workbooks 2A and 2B to meet the needs of their students and their curriculum. 

Click here for a walkthrough of this workbook

Try Before You Buy!

Interested in these materials? Well, you can download The Choral Musician Sampler to peruse the materials before you buy. Try them out with your students, and if you like them, buy The Choral Musician Bundle for your program.

Click the image to view The Choral Musician Sampler

Bonus Content: The General Musician

Included with your purchase of The Choral Musician

If you're like me, you likely teach choir AND general music. So, I brewed a pot of coffee, added a new coat of paint to these materials, and VOILA, you have an identical series for your general music students, too! No additional charge. 

About Andy Mullen

Andy Mullen is an audiation-based music teacher in Burlington, MA, a suburb north of Boston, where he teaches both general music and choir to middle school students. He loves singing weird songs about snails and bubble gum to his students, hearing them sing, improvise and compose, and seeing them grow every single day as musicians.  


Andy is on the Elementary General and Choral faculty of GIML, the Gordon Institute for Music Learning, and also serves as chair of the Media and Communications commission, and is President-elect.  


He is a recovering singer-songwriter, and is an active folk musician. 

Purchasing Options

You can either:

  • Purchase each of the workbooks separately
  • Purchase ONLY The Choral Musician Bundle ($15 savings)
  • Sign up for The Faculty Library, and get access to The Choral Musician, The General Musician (coming in August 2023) and all of my teaching materials. 
INDIVIDUAL

Buy each

$

50

/each

  • Teacher license
  • Lifetime access to individual digital workbooks
  • Immediate Access

$15 OFF

BUNDLE

One time purchase

$

135

/bundle

  • Includes teacher licenses for Digital Workbooks 1, 2A and 2B
  • Lifetime access to digital workbooks
  • Immediate Access

BEST DEAL!

BEST DEAL!

FACULTY LIBRARY

Includes The Choral Musician and all of my teaching materials

$

120

/yr

  • Includes teacher licenses for Digital Workbooks 1, 2A and 2B
  • Lifetime access to Digital workbooks
  • Includes all future teaching materials
  • Immediate Access
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Here’s what people are saying about Andy's materials

Hannah Mayo

Piano Teacher

My students especially love his engaging tunes and videos!

Andy Mullen’s materials have been, and continue to be, one of my favorite supplements! They have taught me so much about being a quality music educator and filled in many gaps in my understanding of the music learning sequence. 

Monica Martini

Music Teacher

I thank you for all your resources and inspirations. I love your work in the MLT world.

I have been using Andy's resources since I discovered them and they are now indispensable in my teaching. Furthermore, he is really available for any need or clarification. The resources are adaptable and having multiple voices are useful for all the voice registers present in the classroom.

Melanie Jones

Music Teacher

MLT can be complicated stuff, but with Andy, it is fun for teachers and students alike

His superb website, videos and books are so accessible and clearly presented; they gave me my way in to start exploring MLT, for which I am hugely grateful. Andy’s delightful sense of humor is apparent throughout. I cannot wait to see what he produces next!

faq

What format are these materials in?

Each of these digital workbooks is a Google Slides file. There are embedded audio and video files within each workbook. This gives you the opportunity to display these on a SmartBoard, or give them to your students to work independently. 

WAIT, THESE are included in the Faculty Library?

Yes, you can either buy them individually, as a bundle, or just subscribe to the Faculty Library and get access to all of them. It's actually cheaper that way, as long as you don't subscribe for another year. I will be releasing more and more workbooks, and they will continue to be included as part of the Faculty Library. 

WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR FUTURE WORKBOOKS?

The most immediate plans are as follows:

1) Release The General Musician, which is a set of cousin materials. They will be the exact same materials as The Choral Musician without any of the choral stuff. These materials will be included in the Faculty Library. This is planned for August 2023

2) Release Digital Workbooks 3A and 3B: Rhythm Bootcamp. In Digital Workbooks 1, 2A and 2B, there is a very limited rhythmic pallet. These new workbooks will contain all other rhythmic functions in duple and triple: divisions, rests, elongations, division/elongations, ties, and upbeats. This is planned for Fall 2023.  

WHAT ABOUT TEACHER MATERIALS?

I hear ya! I know this is hard to do without supporting teacher materials. I am on it. In the interim, I suggest you take advantage of the wealth of teacher materials available in the Faculty Library. 

I'm FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY, AND THESE MATERIALS ARE VERY EXPENSIVE FOR ME. Can you help?

I understand that outside of the US, this seems like a lot of money. I'm sure it is. Please reach out to me, and let me know what you can afford, and we will try to work something out. 

THE GENERAL MUSICIAN IS INCLUDED FOR FREE?

It sure is! It is included in The Choral Musician Bundle. You will receive a link to The General Musician page where you can download those slideshows for your classes, too. 

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