Choral Singing

Choral Singing

Author: Ursula Geïsler

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-10-16

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 144386904X

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What role does contemporary choral activity play in the construction of social and musical meaning? How can historical knowledge and analysis shed light on contemporary choral problems and possibilities? And how can choral research promote the development and expansion of new music today? Questions like these are addressed in this anthology from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. The book comprises a selection of papers presented at the International Conference on the Concepts and Practices of Choral Singing in Lund, Sweden, in October 2012. The aim of the conference was to highlight the contemporary dynamic developments in choral research, and to explore interdisciplinary investigations and interaction between practice-based and historical approaches. The conference was also the fourth meeting of the network “Choir in Focus”, which was initiated in 2009 at Southern Choral Centre (Körcentrum Syd), a joint venture between Malmö Academy of Music, the Department of Musicology, Odeum (all at Lund University), Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Music South (Musik i Syd), Sweden. The continuous ambition of the network has been to provide a forum for co-operation across national and disciplinary borders and to encourage debates around the musical and social function of choirs in modern society as mirroring collective and individual needs for meaning, music-making and well-being. In the introductory chapter, the editors describe choral practice as a field of simultaneous (re)presentation, (re)production and (re)creation, and suggest that these three aspects may be seen as umbrella themes for the fifteen chapters of the anthology. The authors come from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal and Belgium, and explore choral practice from differing theoretical and methodological starting points. Together, they contribute to a transdisciplinary discussion about the origins, functions and meanings of choral singing.


Transforming Choral Singing

Transforming Choral Singing

Author: Charles W. Beale

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-02-02

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 019765780X

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Choral conductors and clinicians often focus on honing the technical and artistic elements of their choir's performance, but what is the true purpose of choral singing? Choral performances sound beautiful, but they also tell stories, "say something" to someone, and create change in them. In that fundamental sense, they are always activist. In Transforming Choral Singing: An Activist's Guide for Choir Directors, author Charles W. Beale draws from his nearly 20 years of leading major choirs in the LGBTQIA+ choral movement internationally as well as his long experience as a singer, organist, conductor, and educator to put forth a new vision for choral singing: to move audiences and change the world. Four main principles underpin this vision: connection, impact, social justice, and stylistic openness. Beale lays down a non-canonical and inclusive framework, grounded in critical musicology and pedagogy, for mission-driven and activist-oriented engagement with the choral arts, and provides practical takeaways for choral practitioners and conductors through a lively mix of practical, rigorous, and fun workshops, tips, and suggestions. Starting from the premise that all styles deserve equal space, the nine chapters cover the core aspects of choral directing, including mission, vocal sound, rhythm and groove, improvising, programming, conducting, and leading a choral community, teaching and learning, and the daily practice of equity and inclusion. The book closes with a series of calls to action and lays out a potentially transformative activist vision for the whole field, which foregrounds participation and engagement, and conceives of all choral singing as a powerful catalyst for musical and social change. The result is a provocative and contemporary approach to building choral communities with profound implications for why we sing, what we sing, how we sing, and how we conduct, teach, rehearse, and lead a choral community.


Choral Singing Step by Step

Choral Singing Step by Step

Author: James Mark Jordan

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 9781579998202

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Distills the essentials of good choral vocal technique into eleven concise lessons.--


55 Art Songs

55 Art Songs

Author: Sigmund Spaeth

Publisher: Suzuki Method International

Published: 1995-04

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780874870824

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The idea for FIFTY-FIVE ART SONGS was conceived by Carl O. Thompson, head of The Division of Fine and Applied Arts at the State Teachers College, Bemidji, Minnesota. From his experience as a choral conductor, he knew how much choral groups enjoyed the chance to sing beautiful solos in unison instead of always being confined to their individual parts. But this collection isn't designed just for unison choral singing: It is equally valuable for class or individual vocal teaching, for amateurs and professionals. Sigmund Spaeth, well known for his writings, lectures, and radio talks on music, collaborated with Dr. Thompson in assembling this collection. He best describes its scope in the foreword: "This book is a cross section of the entire literature of Art Song. Every one of the 55 numbers is a classic of its kind and each is by a different composer, which in itself makes the collection unique." Also unique are Spaeth's new singable translations of the German, French, Italian, and Russian songs.


Resurrecting Song

Resurrecting Song

Author: Wendy K. Moy

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-04-02

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 1040010989

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Through a collection of extensive interviews with choral conductors, educators, singers, and professional leaders, this book documents the choral music community’s journey through crisis and change during the COVID-19 pandemic and aids in its rebuilding in a new era where COVID-19 is endemic. When the pandemic emerged in early 2020, the impact on choral music was immediate and devastating, as the act of gathering and singing together became a source of contagion and potential severe illness or death. Weaving together a wide range of first-person accounts, this book addresses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on choral music across contexts including community choruses, professional choirs, children and youth choirs, school choirs, and choral organizations. In their own words, we hear how the community responded to the challenges and banded together to innovate, use technology in new ways, and generate changes to practice. The book also explores how the pandemic caused many directors to realize that they needed to create a more inclusive place of belonging in their rehearsals, and provides reflections on the philosophy of singing and creating a choral community. Documenting both pandemic experiences and the lessons learned from surviving and thriving, this book showcases the resilience of choral music and helps point the way to new directions for the choral community in the wake of the pandemic.


Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

Author: Melvin P. Unger

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-06-17

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 0810873923

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The human voice an incredibly beautiful and expressive instrument, and when multiple voices are unified in tone and purpose a powerful statement is realized. No wonder people have always wanted to sing in a communal context-a desire apparently stemming from a deeply rooted human instinct. Consequently, choral performance has often been related historically to human rituals and ceremonies, especially rites of a religious nature. This Historical Dictionary of Choral Music examines choral music and practice in the Western world from the Medieval era to the 21st century, focusing mostly on familiar figures like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Britten. But its scope is considerably broader, and it includes all sorts of music-religious, secular, and popular-from sources throughout the world. It contains a chronology, an introduction, a bibliography, and more than 1,000 cross-referenced dictionary entries on important composers, genres, conductors, institutions, styles, and technical terms of choral music.


Before the Singing

Before the Singing

Author: Barbara Tagg

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-04-25

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0199920702

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Written for the collaborative community that supports children's choirs in school, church, and community contexts, Before the Singing is appropriate for artistic directors, conductors, music educators, board members, volunteers, administrators, staff, and university students studying music education or nonprofit arts management.


The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy

The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy

Author: Frank Abrahams

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-02-01

Total Pages: 776

ISBN-13: 0190655097

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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.