Theme and Performance in Symphony No 5 by Philip Glass

Of Philip Glass's twelve symphonies - perhaps the most popular minimalist composer after John Cage – it is the choral Fifth, entitled "Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya", composed in the years of full maturity (the first performance took place in 1994), that mostly impresses through its grand design, display of instruments and human voices, soloists and four choral ensembles may be considered a version of the theocratic scenario that projects the history of mankind in the order of the divine, characteristic of the premodern age. Glass's originality consists in the overlapping of several mythical structures - Swedish, biblical, Buddhist, Islamic, Sufi, etc. - in accordance with the holistic epistemology of the contemporary era. Despite the Buddhist references in the title, the narrative is modelled on the biblical archetype, from the genesis of the universe to the Last Judgment and it ends with the vision of a future humanity bonded in brotherhood, peace and compassion

SPECIFICITY OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF FUTURE MUSIK TEACHERS TO LEAD ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE GROUPS

The article discovers the issues which are a part of a complex set of training future music teachers to manage artistic and creative ensembles, in particular, vocal and choral ones. It is emphasized that the dominant place in the process of training future music teachers to guidance these groups is occupied by aspects of conducting and choral training, the study of which is impossible without understanding the unique phenomena of native choral performance and features of working with vocal and choral collectives. To solve these problems there are the disciplines of conducting and choral cycle, the main task of which is to educate students in professional skills and skills of singing in the choir, as well as managing the choir based on mastering the methods of working with the choir, didactic principles and knowledge of psychophysiological process which a person has during singing. It is noted that the reserve for improving the quality of professional training of future music teachers to manage vocal and choral ensembles is the intersubject relationship of special disciplines with socio-pedagogical and music-theoretical ones. Modern performance and analytical requirements for professional training of future music teachers to guidance vocal and choral groups are analyzed, in particular, the ability to achieve the required level of knowledge and skills on condition that students master each subject of conducting and choral cycle with awareness of their interaction, high level of singing and conducting competence of students and their deep knowledge of vocal and choral repertoire, the art of mastering of not only performing vocal and choral skills, but also organizational skills by the future manager of the ensemble, the unity of erudition in the field of vocal and choral art, methodical training, pedagogical activities based on interrelation of knowledge and practice of working with an artistic and creative collective. The specifics of the professional training of future music teachers to lead vocal and choral groups is his singing and conducting competence, deep knowledge of vocal and choral repertoire, the art of mastering the leader of the vocal and choral group not only organizational skills but also performing vocal skills. For effective professional training, students need to constantly and purposefully develop their musicological and performing qualities in conjunction with conducting and choral and methodological training.

Assessment Practices of American Choral Music Educators

This chapter describes traditional and student-centered assessment practices used in American school choral settings. It presents choral assessment as a means for communicating expectations to students, improving teaching and learning, evaluating achievement with objectivity, and providing multiple sources of feedback toward improvement. Technology-assisted assessment, student-constructed portfolios, and Model Cornerstone Assessments are highlighted as efficient ways to demonstrate accountability of standards-based learning in the choral ensembles. The chapter provides a rationale for choral music educators to explore student-centered assessment practices, including student-developed rubrics, ongoing opportunities for reflection and revision, and use of multiple sources of feedback to promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and musical independence. It suggests that increased emphasis on emerging assessment practices in choral music educator preparation and professional development is needed to influence choral music educators’ practice of meaningful assessment.

The Conducting of Instrumental and Choral Ensembles and the Nigerian Audience

The conducting profession had through the years been an exclusive right of a gifted and sensitive musician, capable of dealing authoritatively with professionals in their own field while possessing the right attitude to understand the need of his audience. This paper titled “The conducting of instrumental and choral ensembles and the Nigerian Audience” examines the historical development of conducting from early times through to the 20th Century. It further sees the conductor as more than a mere time beater but as one who is always faced with an increasing complexity of musical scores especially of the orchestral in addition to a high standard of performance always demanded by a critical audience. He must possess the ability to detect, diagnose and remedy a musical fault almost in a flash. Finally, the paper x-rays the contributions of the Muson Centre Lagos, some churches and private choral groups in Nigeria.

ТЕНДЕНЦІЙНІ НАПРЯМКИ РОЗВИТКУ ХОРОВОЇ ЛІТУРГІЙНОЇ ПРАКТИКИ В ГАЛИЧИНІ КІНЦЯ ХІХ ‒ ПЕРШОЇ ПОЛОВИНИ ХХ СТОЛІТЬ

The article highlights trends in the development of choral liturgical practice in Galicia at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the 20th century, which were formed on the basis of governmental innovations in the system of education and cathedral and church changes in Western Ukrainian lands. In this, the active role of numerous spiritual and secular choral ensembles had played an important role. At the same time, certain influence were played by touring groups, which, with the spiritual programs of works of the Dnieper-Dnieper composers, considerably deepened the evaluation criteria as the work of the Galician authors as well as the performing level of creative groups. All this testified to the need of Ukrainians in the spiritual cultural and artistic life, about comprehension of the essence of the ritual and chorister repertoire and the development of the national style of choral music. Confirmation of these processes was the spiritual choral heritage of the Galician composers of the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, represented in a wide genre variety. Thus, the article outlines the traditional and original author's approaches to the creation of liturgical music within the bounds of the statutory ritual system, the concept of «samolivka» and «jerusalimka» is illustrative for this period.

Connecting Music and Place: Exploring Library Collection Data Using Geo-visualizations

Objectives – This project had two stated objectives: 1) to compare the location and concentration of Saskatchewan-based large ensembles (bands, orchestras, choirs) within the province, with the intention to draw conclusions about the history of community-based musical activity within the province; and 2) to enable location-based browsing of Saskatchewan music materials through an interactive search interface. Methods – Data was harvested from MARC metadata found in the library catalogue for a special collection of Saskatchewan music at the University of Saskatchewan. Microsoft Excel and OpenRefine were used to screen, clean, and enhance the dataset. Data was imported into ArcGIS software, where it was plotted using a geo-visualization showing location and concentrations of musical activity by large ensembles within the province. The geo-visualization also allows users to filter results based on the ensemble type (band, orchestra, or choir). Results – The geo-visualization shows that albums from large community ensembles appear across the province, in cities and towns of all sizes. The ensembles are concentrated in the southern portion of the province and there is a correlation between population density and ensemble location. Choral ensembles are more prevalent than bands and orchestras, and appear more widely across the province, whereas bands and orchestras are concentrated around larger centres. Conclusions – Library catalogue data contains unique information for research based on special collections, though additional cleaning is needed. Using geospatial visualizations to navigate collections allows for more intuitive searching by location, and allow users to compare facets. While not appropriate for all kinds of searching, maps are useful for browsing and for location-based searches. Information is displayed in a visual way that allows users to explore and connect with other platforms for more information.

“Composer by Divine Right”

This chapter examines a selection of art songs that won Harry T. Burleigh renown through their performance by an impressive roster of American and European opera and recital singers, making him one of the most respected American art song composers of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Burleigh's best-known art songs were published by G. Ricordi Music Publishing Company for more than three and a half decades. The first five years of G. Ricordi's publications (1914–1919) represent the majority of the strongest, most memorable, and most enduring of his art song oeuvre. In addition to a dozen or so art songs, more sacred songs appeared in the 1920s, especially from 1924. There were several songs written for historically black colleges such as Talladega College, several novelty songs, and a number of arrangements of folksongs and operatic choruses for choral ensembles. Two songs are especially notable: “Lovely Dark and Lonely One” (1935) and “In Christ There Is No East or West” (1940).