Unit Plan 7 (Grade 8 Vocal Music): Expressive Phrasing

Focus: Use phrasing, dynamics, and articulation (plus diction, tempo, and tone quality) to shape musical interpretation and communicate text meaning with stylistic awareness.

Grade Level: 8

Subject Area: Vocal Music (Choir • Musicality • Interpretation)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

Students shift from “singing the notes” to shaping the music. They explore how phrasing, dynamics, articulation, diction, tempo, and tone color all work together to create expressive performances that fit the text and style of a piece. By listening to and performing short excerpts in contrasting ways (legato vs. marcato, soft vs. intense, bright vs. dark), they learn to make intentional interpretive choices rather than just copying a default sound. The week ends with a short Expressive Phrase Study in which students design and perform their own phrasing plan for a selected passage.

Essential Questions

• How do phrasing, dynamics, and articulation change the way a musical line feels and what it “says”?
• In what ways do diction, tone quality, and tempo help communicate the meaning of the text?
• How can we decide which expressive choices are stylistically appropriate for a given piece?
• What does it mean to be an interpretive musician, not just someone who sings the right notes and rhythms?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Explain and demonstrate how phrasing shapes musical sentences, including breath placement, high points, and releases.
2. Use dynamics, articulation (legato, staccato, marcato, accents), and tone color to perform the same phrase in contrasting styles, and choose which fits the piece best.
3. Adjust diction (vowel shape, consonant clarity) and tempo to support text meaning and ensemble clarity.
4. Analyze choral excerpts to explain how text setting, tone quality, and style contribute to meaning and performance practice.
5. Create a written and performed Expressive Phrase Study that outlines phrasing, dynamics, articulation, and diction decisions for a short section of repertoire.
6. Reflect on how their interpretive choices changed the emotion and clarity of the performance.

Standards Alignment — Grade 8 Vocal Music (custom, NAfME-style)

• VM:Pr4.8c — Explain and demonstrate how interpretation and style are shaped by phrasing, diction, articulation, dynamics, tempo, and tone quality.
  • Example: Students perform the same phrase in legato vs. marcato and explain which fits the genre.
• VM:Re7.8b — Explain how text setting, diction, tone quality, and style contribute to meaning and performance practice in vocal music.
  • Example: Students explain why vowel choices and consonant clarity matter in a piece with fast text.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can show where a phrase begins, grows, and releases, instead of singing every note the same.
• I can change dynamics, articulation, and tone to perform a phrase in different ways on purpose.
• I can adjust my diction so the words are clear and match the style and emotion of the piece.
• I can explain how a composer’s text setting and style choices affect how we should perform a passage.
• I can create and perform an Expressive Phrase Study that clearly shows my interpretive decisions.