The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music
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Choral music is now undoubtedly the foremost genre of participatory music making, with more people singing in choirs than ever before. Written by a team of leading international practitioners and scholars, this Companion addresses the history of choral music, its emergence and growth worldwide and its professional practice. The volume sets out a historical survey of the genre and follows with a kaleidoscopic bird's eye view of choral music from all over the world. Chapters vividly portray the emergence and growth of choral music from its Quranic antecedents in West and Central Asia to the baroque churches of Latin America, representing its global diversity. Uniquely, the book includes a pedagogical section where several leading choral musicians write about the voice and the inner workings of a choir and give their professional insights into choral practice. This Companion will appeal to choral scholars, directors and performers alike.
The choir and how to direct it : a handbook for choral conductors
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Conducting Choirs, Volume 1 to 3
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v. 1. The promising conductor : a practical guide for beginning choral conductors -- v. 2. Music for classroom use : a comprehensive collection of musical examples including performance CD for practice and study -- v. 3. The practicing conductor : an exploration of advanced topics relevant to working choral conductors.
Conducting women's choirs : strategies for success
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Conducting Women's Choirs: Strategies for Success is a pioneering yet practical book and DVD devoted to all aspects of the women's choir--a groundbreaking contribution and a true collaborative effort from top professionals in the field. For the first time in a book, choral leaders bring together historical, philosophical, psychological, sociological, pedagogical, and real-world considerations to the women's choir--information missing from most choral methods and conducting texts. Areas of focus include: working with beginning, high school, collegiate, and community women's choirs; improving the sound of women's choirs; suggested repertoire for women's choirs; composing for women's choirs; building community within the ensemble; warm-ups and rehearsal strategies; building excellence in women's choirs. Sections also focus on mentoring, auditions, seating arrangements, historical women's repertoire, healthy vocal development, gender issues, history, status of the women's choir, and much more. This book features research, practical insights, and round-table discussions. The included DVD demonstrates choral techniques and teaching ideas with two women's choirs: Aurora, from Luther College, conducted by Sandra Peter; and The University of Kentucky Women's Choir, conducted by Lori Hetzel [Publisher description].
Evoking Sound Choral Warm-up Method, Procedures, Planning and Core Vocal Exercises
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Among the topics included are: alignment (using Alexander Technique and Body Mapping principles), use of the sigh for diagnosing vocal problems, breathing, inhalation, exhalation, support, resonance, vowel colors, leaps, range extension, crescendo/decrescendo, martellato, staccato, procedures for teaching diction plus general diction guidelines, teaching and reinforcing rhythm and consistent tempo, and strategies for good intonation.
The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy
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As the landscape of choral education changes - disrupted by Glee, YouTube, and increasingly cheap audio production software - teachers of choral conducting need current research in the field that charts scholarly paths through contemporary debates and sets an agenda for new critical thought and practice. Where, in the digitizing world, is the field of choral pedagogy moving? Editor Frank Abrahams and Paul D. Head, both experienced choral conductors and teachers, offer here a comprehensive handbook of newly-commissioned chapters that provide key scholarly-critical perspectives on teaching and learning in the field of choral music, written by academic scholars and researchers in tandem with active choral conductors.As chapters in this book demonstrate, choral pedagogy encompasses everything from conductors' gestures to the administrative management of the choir. The contributors to The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy address the full range of issues in contemporary choral pedagogy, from repertoire to voice science to the social and political aspects of choral singing. They also cover the construction of a choral singer's personal identity, the gendering of choral ensembles, social justice in choral education, and the role of the choral art in society more generally. Included scholarship focuses on both the United States and international perspectives in five sections that address traditional paradigms of the field and challenges to them; critical case studies on teaching and conducting specific populations (such as international, school, or barbershop choirs); the pedagogical functions of repertoire; teaching as a way to construct identity; and new scholarly methodologies in pedagogy and the voice.
Popular Choral Handbook
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Literature and Film as Modern Mythology explores the relationship between contemporary literature and film of the past fifty years and the ancient myths of Judeo-Christian, Greek, Celtic, and Eastern origin. Following a detailed description and explanation of both literary and film devices, stories that conform to a mythic tradition are analyzed to identify what they reveal about modern culture. This work explores such diverse subjects as heroism, coming of age, and morality. This approach to literature and film explores how contemporary fiction and film fulfill a continuum in our never-ending search to understand how life ought to be lived. Encompassing a broad spectrum of modern film and fiction, a variety of authors and directors are represented. Included are novels from such writers as Stephen King, Alice Walker, Ken Kesey, Jerzy Kosinski, Robert Penn Warren, and Michael r daatje. Film directors include Stephen Spielberg, Hal Ashby, Phil Alden Robinson, George Stevens, Robert Rossen, and Milos Forman. As a valuable resource for film and literature classes alike, this work also provides suggestions for student projects.
Skill Building Sequence for Choral Ensembles
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The ability to bring meaning to music notation without the assistance of an accompanist playing choral parts is a requisite skill on a musician's journey to self-reliance and full artistic expression. Despite its importance, high performance expectations pose a challenge for choir directors to allocate discrete rehearsal time to music reading skill development. Consider for a moment an embedded music reading system that facilitates choristers' ability to read their choral octavos; a process that develops rhythm and tonal musicianship and gives choristers the tools they need to learn music on their own. This bookintroduces an adaptable, literature-based choral music reading approach that empowers young singers with music literacy skills that point beyond the choral rehearsal and encourage independent and group music making for a lifetime.
Art and science in the choral rehearsal
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In recent decades, cognitive neuroscience research has increased our understanding of how the brain learns, retains, and recalls information. At the same time, social psychology researchers have developed insights into group dynamics, exploring what motivates individuals in a group to give their full effort, or conversely, what might instead inspire them to become freeloaders. This book explores the idea that choral conductors who better understand how the brain learns, and how individuals within groups function, can lead more efficient, productive, and enjoyable rehearsals. Armed with this knowledge, conductors can create rehearsal techniques which take advantage of certain fundamental brain and social psychology principles. Through such approaches, singers will become increasingly engaged physically and mentally in the rehearsal process.
The Business of Choir
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Today' s choral leaders wear many hats: fundraising director, development associate, communications manager, marketing designer, volunteer coordinator-- the list goes well beyond beautiful choral performances. In many ways, leading a choir is much like running a business.Written by two authors with extensive experience building choral programs from the ground up, The Business of Choir offers new insights, best practices, and practical action items for choral leaders looking to master the organizational and administrative elements of running a successful choral program. Features include:A behind-the-scenes look at elements of running a choir that are seldom the focus of college music education courses.An actionable toolkit to bring a greater focus to accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion in choral spaces.Strategies to demystify fundraising and finance.Practical approaches to recruitment, retention, marketing, volunteer management, and board interactions.Whether you' re looking to expand your fundraising efforts, hire your first administrative professional, or fine-tune your organizational policies and practices, this resource will provide the direction and clarity you need as you take the next big step in your organization' s journey.
The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music
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Online. Choral music is now undoubtedly the foremost genre of participatory music making, with more people singing in choirs than ever before. Written by a team of leading international practitioners and scholars, this Companion addresses the history of choral music, its emergence and growth worldwide and its professional practice. The volume sets out a historical survey of the genre and follows with a kaleidoscopic bird's eye view of choral music from all over the world. Chapters vividly portray the emergence and growth of choral music from its Quranic antecedents in West and Central Asia to the baroque churches of Latin America, representing its global diversity. Uniquely, the book includes a pedagogical section where several leading choral musicians write about the voice and the inner workings of a choir and give their professional insights into choral practice. This Companion will appeal to choral scholars, directors and performers alike.
Choral Pedagogy, Third Edition
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The ideal text for voice teachers, choral conductors, church musicians, and professional and amateur singers who wish to develop strategies for lifelong singing.
Choral Artistry:A Kodály Perspective for Middle School to College-Level Choirs, Volume 1
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Choral Artistry provides a practical and organic approach to teaching choral singing and sight-reading. The text is grounded in current research from the fields of choral pedagogy, music theory, music perception and cognition. Topics include framing a choral curriculum based on the Kodály concept; launching the academic year for beginning, intermediate, and advanced choirs; building partwork skills; sight-reading; progressive music theory sequences for middle to college level choirs; teaching strategies; choral rehearsal plans as well as samples of how to teach specific repertoire from medieval to contemporary choral composers. As part of the Kodály philosophy's practical approach, authors Micheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka employ two models for learning choral literature: Performance Through Sound Analysis Pedagogy (PTSA) and Performance through Sound Analysis and Notation (PTSAN). Both models delineate an approach to teaching a choral work that significantly improves students' musicianship while engaging the ensemble in learning the overall composition in partnership with the conductor. The final chapter of the book includes rubrics to assess the effectiveness of a choral program. This book does not purport to be a comprehensive choral pedagogy text. It is a detailed guide to helping choral directors at all levels improve the choral singing and musicianship of their students from a Kodály perspective.
Choral Sight Reading Volume 2
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Choral Sight Reading provides a practical and organic approach to teaching choral singing and sight-reading. The text is grounded in current research from the fields of choral pedagogy, music theory, music perception and cognition. Topics include framing a choral curriculum based on the Kodály concept; launching the academic year for beginning, intermediate, and advanced choirs; building partwork skills; sight-reading; progressive music theory sequences for middle to college level choirs; teaching strategies; choral rehearsal plans as well as samples of how to teach specific repertoire from medieval to contemporary choral composers. This volume includes basic and advanced music theory concepts to develop fluent sight-reading skills for reading standard choral repertoire, providing examples for the process outlined in Chapters 6-8 of Volume 1 (Choral Artistry). This guide provides choral directors with a choral curriculum and choral rehearsal models that place performance, audiation, partwork, music theory, and sight-signing skills at the heart of the choral experience, through a 'sound thinking' approach to teaching that results in greater efficiency in creating independent choral singers with a well-rounded repertoire.
Getting Started with Middle School Chorus
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New to teaching chorus? If so, you may be filled with anticipation and anxiety. Getting Started with Middle School Chorus is here to point you in the right directions. Like other books in the Getting Started series, there's enough specific information here to get you started and on your way! This second edition of Getting Started with Middle School Chorus gives you new information on working with young adolescent changing voices, designing optimal rehearsals for middle schoolers, managing growing choral programs, and helping youngsters gain musical skills they can carry with them for a lifetime of making music. This practical outline will help build your confidence as you take on the new responsibilities associated with teaching middle school chorus.
Giving Voice to Children's Artistry
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This book presents a comprehensive view of children's musical artistry and how to develop it in both the music classroom and children's chorus. Author Mary Ellen Pinzino presents the musical mind as the gateway to children's artistry, addresses the power of movement in its embodiment and advancement, and shows how song--rhythm, melody, and text, independently and together--influence children's developing artistry musically, expressively, and vocally at every level. Accordingly, she also offers a multitude of specific songs that inspire children's artistry, all in various tonalities and meters and on a continuum of increasing difficulty. Keeping the need for practical application in mind, Pinzino offers materials for implementation with children from kindergarten through seventh grade, as well as guidance for professional development. Content can be applied alongside any pedagogical methodology, as well as with older singers in the process of developing their own artistry. In short, this book makes the intangibles of children's artistry more tangible. It enables music teachers and choral conductors to draw artistry out of every child and draw every child into the choral art. It summons music teachers and choral conductors to bring artistry to the forefront of every music class and choral rehearsal--and to the forefront of the field of music education as a whole.
Honoring trans and gender-expansive students in music education
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School music teachers and college music teacher educators need resources for working with trans and gender expansive (TGE) students in school music programs. TGE youth are becoming more visible in schools across the U.S., and many teachers, administrators, and communities simply do not have adequate information to appropriately support these students. Honoring Trans and Gender-Expansive Students in Music Education combines new stories from TGE youth and their music teachers with researched-based practical suggestions from the authors to help teachers honor and empower TGE students to succeed in school music classrooms.
The Oxford handbook of choral pedagogy
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This text explores varied perspectives on teaching, learning, and performing choral music. Authors are academic scholars and researchers as well as active choral conductors. Topics include music programming and the selection of repertoire; the exploration of singer and conductor identity; choral traditions in North America, Western Europe, South America, and Africa; and the challenges conductors meet as they work with varied populations of singers. Chapters consider children's choirs, world music choirs, adult community choirs, gospel choirs, jazz choirs, professional choruses, collegiate glee clubs, and choirs that meet the needs of marginalized singers.
Prescriptions for Choral Excellence
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In shaping choral tone, directors often wish to improve the sound of their choir, but are challenged to pinpoint underlying problems or to guide singers toward solutions. Now, in Prescriptions for Choral Excellence, skilled vocal pedagogue Shirlee Emmons and leading choral director Constance Chase equip choral directors with the practical tools they need to help singers achieve peak choral performance. Drawing on years of experience, Emmons and Chase help choral directors and singers effectively diagnose and resolve problems. They cover topics ranging from breath management and diction to range and intonation, and much more. Beyond describing vocal difficulties, the book provides concrete instructions on how to apply the concepts in day-to-day rehearsal and performance. The numerous practical exercises and planning aides allow directors to maximize both time and talent to elicit the highest potential from their singers. While grounded in the most up-to-date research in voice science, the discussion of vocal anatomy and function is accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of voice science. Going beyond other vocal and choral guidebooks, the authors also apply the most current theories in leadership principles and group dynamics to choral settings, helping directors translate their natural musicality and charisma into inspiring and motivational leadership. A comprehensive and unique blend of practical expertise, voice science, and leadership psychology, Prescriptions for Choral Excellence is an invaluable guide for all choral directors seeking to create memorable and remarkable performances.
Sound Advice
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Always a vital part of community cultural life, children's choirs can be small amateur clubs or sophisticated arts organizations on a par with adult professional choirs and orchestras. Whatever a choir's size and ambitions, its director faces a formidable challenge. Jean Ashworth Bartle, director of the award-winning Toronto Children's Chorus, has collected her experience and wisdom in Sound Advice. In a clear and direct style, the book offers tips on basics such as conducting fun, effective rehearsals and advanced projects including recording and touring. Stressing that the choir director's fundamental task is to develop musicianship through singing, Bartle suggests skill-building exercises and interactive rehearsal techniques. The book's appendixes form a sourcebook of warm-ups, repertoire, and suggested programmes, providing several seasons' worth of inspiration. For teachers just starting out with their choirs, students of the child voice and teaching methods, and experienced choir directors seeking to take their students one step further, Sound Advice will benefit all choir directors who want their choirs to reach a higher level of artistry, musicianship and skill.
