Vocal Music at Avon Old Farms School

Students who have completed at least one year of Chorale or an equivalent at a previous high school are welcome in Honors Chorale. The ensemble is curricular and requires an audition. Students in Honors Chorale continue to refine their vocal technique and expand their understanding of music theory. Sight-singing is a regular part of the Honors level, and students work on their musicianship skills daily in class. Honors Chorale performs a wide variety of choral repertoire at regular performances on and off campus.

Avon Old Farms School’s a cappella group is run by students and meets independently outside of class. The ensemble’s student director chooses and rehearses all repertoire, which includes everything from Barbershop classics to arrangements of Top 40 hit songs. The Sing-ed Beavers perform regularly on campus at concerts and special events, as well as off campus at other schools and in the community.

Named after the school’s founder, Theodate Pope Riddle, the Riddlers are the top choral ensemble at Avon Old Farms School. The twenty members of the Riddlers are selected through a competitive audition process and have progressed through the various stages of choral training. Prospective members must display outstanding vocal technique, rehearsal technique, and initiative. The Riddlers’ repertoire is extensive and includes medieval chant, renaissance polyphony, romantic part songs, folksongs, and contemporary classical music.

The Riddlers rehearse and perform independently and with the school’s larger choral ensembles. They travel for performances at major concert venues in New York City and Boston and have recently toured internationally in Ireland, Greece and Canada. In 2014, the Riddlers were selected to perform at the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore. In February 2017, they will perform Randall Thompson’s Testament of Freedom at Carnegie Hall as part of the DCINY concert season.

Semester 1

This course is designed to introduce the history of music to musicians and non-musicians alike. Although the course is open to all students, the design is catered to introducing the great music and composers of the past 400 years in a way that no formal music training is required.

Students will be asked to listen to and identify major works from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky, Copland, as well as many others, while they improve their listening skills. The course will also survey American music from the 18th century to today, focusing on Blues, Jazz, Swing, Pop, Rock, Country, and Rap. Assignments and discussions will focus on how social and political events have shaped the way music was written and enjoyed. This course will satisfy the arts requirement for graduation.

Semester 2 (Music Appreciation is a prerequisite.)

The course description for Music Production will be posted shortly. 

The Independent Study is designed for talented and motivated musicians who wish to pursue an in-depth study in a specific field of interest. Each student has an individual program of study developed jointly by the student and teacher to meet the student’s needs and interest. The independent study culminates in a public solo and/or ensemble performance. Such opportunities are based on faculty availability; normally, this arrangement is based on a semester or trimester basis, depending on whether meetings take place during a regular academic class period or during the afternoon sports period.