Effects of teaching experience and culture on choral directors’ descriptions of choral tone

In this study we examine the effects of experience and culture on choral teachers’ description of choral tone across a range of genres. What does a “good” choral music performance sound like? Is there an objective standard of performance excellence, or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? In teacher preparation programs, choral directors in the United States have been taught to identify and teach particular, culturally-bounded standards of choral tone in their students. Choral directors evaluate their students’ voices along two dimensions: health and appropriateness. They discern and describe whether the student’s musical instrument—their voice—is producing sound in a healthy and non-damaging way. They also judge whether the style of their sound is appropriate for the music they are singing. However, teacher preparation programs do not provide common standards or lexicon for describing tone. This may increase implicit bias of individual directors, and inadvertently exacerbate ethnocentrism and harm students’ self-perception. Using a computational text analysis approach, we evaluate the content of open-ended survey responses from teachers, finding that the language used to describe and rate choral performance varies by experience, and by the choral selection (e.g., whether it is a traditional Western or non-Western song). We suggest that regularizing the terminology and providing common training through professional organizations can minimize potential bias and generate more systematic, precise use of qualitative descriptors of health and appropriateness, which will benefit students and teachers.

“Crystal clear” or “as clear as mud!”

Verbal imagery in the context of the choral rehearsal is explored in this chapter in order to understand how it is employed and what its effects are. Choral directors employ imagery to communicate to singers how to create and change vocal responses. Imagery is allied to specific features in the music and enables singers to gain conceptual understanding of aspects of the vocal sound. The study is based on research into the contexts and efficacy of verbal imagery in choral rehearsals; vocal responses were examined and imagery’s efficacy in affecting all categories of sound was observed, with examples demonstrating the perceived effects on tonal quality. Implications for directors highlight the efficacy of verbal imagery in assisting directors to achieve their musical and creative goals. Directors are encouraged to be creative in devising and employing imagery during their interactions with singers, enabling singers to create the desired vocal responses.

Searching, sharing and singing: understanding the information behaviors of choral directors

PurposeThis article aims to help music librarians and other information professionals effectively understand and support communities of choral directors and other groups dependent on networking and serendipitous information encounters. In addition, through discussion and comparison of theories of information behavior, research articles and analysis of events and experiences, the article encourages thoughtful and practical applications of information behavior research.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper uses different theories of information behavior to outline three distinct modes of learning and knowing within communities of choral directors: individual searching, community expertise and serendipitous encounters.FindingsThe choral directing community is one that benefits not only from information support systems that emphasize individual information seeking, but also collaborative networking and serendipitous encounters with other community members. Librarians and other information professionals can best help this group discover new repertoire, plan concert programs, improve rehearsals and support other relevant activities through understanding and helping to provide access to professional music networks and being creative in providing opportunities for serendipitous information discovery.Originality/valueLittle information behavior research and discussion have focused specifically on the information practices of choral directors and how the format and schedule of a professional choral conference illuminate such practices and needs.

Effects of Three Common Choral Configurations on Acoustic and Perceptual Measures of a Soprano Section’s Sound

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of three choral configurations on a soprano section’s sound. The first configuration resembled a choir section without an assigned standing position, the second configuration grouped singers by timbre, and the third used acoustic-compatibility placement. Three conductors configured a university soprano section ( N = 13) who were audio-recorded singing in each configuration and answered questions about their perceptions. Audio recordings were analyzed acoustically using long-term average spectra and perceptually through pitch analysis and listener perceptions. Results indicated that participants sang with significantly increased spectral energy in the acoustic-compatibility configuration ( p < .001), and both singer and listener participants preferred intentional standing configurations over the random standing configuration. Findings from this study suggest that choral directors can use intentional configurations in conjunction with 2 ft intersinger spacing to improve singer comfort and overall sound.

Research-to-Resource: A Choral Director’s Abridged Guide to the Male Voice Change

The purpose of this Research-to-Resource article is to provide choral directors a short, practical guide to working with male singers throughout their voice change using research-based strategies. Practical recommendations about vocal range assessment, music selection, and vocal warm-ups are provided.

Comparison of Printed Concert Programs at ACDA, ASTA, and Midwest Clinic National Conferences

This short-form article reports a content analysis of all school-based ensemble concert programs distributed at the 2015 national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the American String Teachers Association, and the Midwest Clinic. The purpose was to address perceptions that print and design expectations for the concert programs were elaborate and, therefore, beyond the means of schools and organizations with limited financial resources. Programs were analyzed for characteristics such as overall dimensions, number of pages, use of color and photography, letters of administrative or political support, and design intensity. Analysis revealed substantial differences between the aggregate concert programs by conference, as well as between the individually distributed programs. These differences indicate that norms for the three professional conferences afford conductors and sponsoring organizations varying flexibility to design and distribute conference concert programs. Data are examined to suggest opportunities for further flexibility.

Critical Pedagogy as Choral Pedagogy

In this chapter, the author suggests that choral directors use the tenets of critical pedagogy as the framework for the choral experience, a shift in traditional choral pedagogies. The chapter explores the roots of critical pedagogy. In particular it discusses the ways an approach grounded in critical pedagogy might remedy issues of the inappropriate uses of power, the marginalization of singers, and hegemonic practices in school politics. The text suggests rehearsal strategies and explains techniques of reciprocal teaching to better connect the ways singers engage with music and in the process develop musical agency and hone the 21st-century learning and innovation skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Finally the chapter addresses the artistic processes of creating, performing, and responding, which are the cornerstones of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards in the United States.

Repertoire as Pedagogy

Including music from a wide range of cultures calls for choral directors to rethink the common practices employed in most choral rehearsals, and to open themselves to a world of new procedures within rehearsals and performances. Since few directors are also ethnomusicologists, these new practices may also impact the role the director plays in the rehearsals. This chapter challenges directors to define their reasons for including vocal music from outside the western art tradition. Directors should consider alternative processes for finding repertory, presenting it to the ensemble, and sharing it. They need to address challenges singers meet when matching vocal timbres and movement that are concomitant with multicultural musical traditions. Finally they must blend consistent choices with repertory that reflects cultural diversity.

Conducting Corporate Choirs in Brazil

Corporate choirs represent a large part of choral music-making in Brazil. Many Brazilian companies hire choral directors to develop group singing activities with their employees, thanks in part to the recent Music Education Bill. These directors face very particular challenges that are rarely considered in their training at colleges and universities. Nonetheless, they are a significant part of the work of choral directors in Brazil. Leading a peripheral activity in relation to the company’s core business, lack of rehearsal time, volunteer singer participation, inappropriate physical conditions, management that is not akin to the arts field, and easy access to contemporary urban activities and gadgets are some factors that create these particular challenges. The corporate choir director must bridge these factors with musical procedures of their work, and approach with a more critical view issues such as repertory choice, conducting techniques, and rehearsal procedures.