Mrs. Brianna Tyler

I am the Director of Choirs here at Alan B. Shepard High School! This means I teach all choral classes offered here at ABS, as well a guitar class. Additionally, I am in charge of our NOVA show choir, Supernova a capella group, and co-director of the yearly Spring Musical.

 

I started teaching here in the 2023-2024 school year, during the 4th year of my overall teaching tenure. I am a two time alum from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2018 and a Master of Music Education with Licensure in 2020. While teaching music is my passion, it is a goal of mine to ensure that all of my students leave my classes well rounded and educated in all areas of life.

 

Concert Choir is a choir of mixed treble and bass voices. This ensemble focuses on the foundations of choral singing, such as good tone, breath support, aural skills, blend, and balance. This group is for singers who are new to choir at Shepard, or for returning choir members who wish to continue to grow their voices. Concert Choir performs at all four choir concerts throughout the year, and have less of a commitment level than the honors level choirs.

 

Beginning Treble Choir is a choir that focuses solely on treble clef voices (soprano and alto). This ensemble also focuses on the foundations of choral singing, such as good tone, breath support, aural skills, blend, and balance. This group is for singers who are new to choir at Shepard, or for returning choir members who wish to continue to grow their voices. Beginning Treble Choir performs at all four choir concerts throughout the year, and have less of a commitment level than the honors level choirs.

 

Honors Treble Choir is our top ensemble that focuses solely on treble clef voices (soprano and alto). This ensemble takes the foundations of good choral singing and dives in deeper to learn more advanced singing techniques. This group is for singers who are returning to choir and have completed a vocal assessment proving their readiness to participate in an honors level ensemble. Honors Treble Choir members perform at all four choir concerts throughout the year, in addition to attending college clinics and other trips that represent the ABS Choir program. Honors credit is given for this course.

 

Honors Concert Choir is our top ensemble that focuses on mixed voice singing. This ensemble takes the foundations of good choral singing and dives in deeper to learn more advanced singing techniques. This group is for singers who are returning to choir and have completed a vocal assessment proving their readiness to participate in an honors level ensemble. Honors Concert Choir members perform at all four choir concerts throughout the year, in addition to attending college clinics and other trips that represent the ABS Choir program (for example, singing the anthem at the White Sox game!) Honors credit is given for this course.

 

Intro to Guitar and Popular music is a beginning level class for students who are new to playing the guitar. While students of all levels are welcome, this year long course will focus on the basics of playing guitar such as finger position, posture, reading treble clef, reading chord charts, and reading tablature. Additionally, this course is supplemented with a popular music portion where we will study popular genres of music from the 1950's through the 1990's. Students enrolled in this course will be prepared and tested on both guitar playing skills and popular music knowledge.