Transforming Choral Singing

Transforming Choral Singing
Author: Charles W. Beale
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024-02-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 019765780X

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

Choral Singing
Author: Ursula Geïsler
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2014-10-16
Genre: Music
ISBN: 144386904X

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
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024
Genre: Choral singing
ISBN: 0197657788

In Transforming Choral Singing: An Activist's Guide for Choir Directors, author Charles W. Beale draws from his many years of choral directing experience to put forth a new vision for choral singing: to move audiences and change the world. He 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 workshops, tips, and suggestions.

Vocal Transformation for Secondary School Choirs

Vocal Transformation for Secondary School Choirs
Author: Christine Bass
Publisher: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation
Total Pages: 8
Release: 2009-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781540088055

(Methodology Chorals). From the classroom to the concert stage, experience a high school choir's vocal transformation from beginning to advanced level. Step by step, through daily practice and using proven techniques this experienced educator transforms these young singers' singing into a free, healthy, blended and mature sound. A must-have in your professional library! This includes a booklet containing 36 exercises and a code to access video content online. The accompanying audio is accessed through Hal Leonard's popular MyLibrary system using the provided code. The audio can be streamed or downloaded and includes PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.

A Cappella Arranging 2.0

A Cappella Arranging 2.0
Author: Deke Sharon
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2024-06-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1538172674

In this highly anticipated sequel to A Cappella Arranging, Deke Sharon and Dylan Bell provide even more tools and insights to help musicians master the craft of a cappella arranging—including new creative principles and theoretical techniques to expand the palate, as well as arranging in various musical genres spanning several decades of music. Since the publication of the original book in 2012, a cappella as a genre has grown enormously. Using conversational yet instructive tone, A Cappella Arranging 2.0: The Next Level picks up where the previous book left off, helping people deepen their a cappella arranging skills. In four parts, the book addresses a variety of topics including: The creative process An advanced understanding of vocal ranges Counterpoint and polyphony Harmonic concepts and techniques Arranging for the studio Live looping arrangements Instrumental idioms Arranging in different styles, including world styles Medleys and mashups This is the perfect resource for taking your a cappella arrangements to the next level.

A Survey of Choral Music

A Survey of Choral Music
Author: Homer Ulrich
Publisher: Schirmer Books
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1973
Genre: Education
ISBN:

In this brief text, Homer Ulrich offers students a history of choral music that is as rich and fascinating as the genre itself. Emphasizing those works that represent historical or stylistic turning points, A SURVEY OF CHORAL MUSIC begins several centuries before the invention of the genre and takes students all the way into the twentieth century. Ulrich's descriptive discussions mix history and analysis with explication of musical structures, text sources and treatments, and kinds of texture. The text offers a useful glossary, bibliography, and list of music sources--as well as appendices that provide several principal types of sacred texts (including Requiem Mass, Te Deum, and Magnificat) for quick reference.

Imperfect Harmony

Imperfect Harmony
Author: Stacy Horn
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2013-07-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1616201010

“In this one-of-a-kind celebration of singing with others, I’d call her pitch nearly perfect.”—The Atlantic For Stacy Horn, regardless of what is going on in the world or her life, singing in an amateur choir—the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York—never fails to take her to a place where hope reigns and everything good is possible. She’s not particularly religious, and her voice is not exceptional (so she says), but like the 32.5 million other chorus members throughout this country, singing makes her happy. Horn brings us along as she sings some of the greatest music humanity has ever produced, delves into the dramatic stories of conductors and composers, unearths the fascinating history of group singing, and explores remarkable discoveries from the new science of singing, including all the unexpected health benefits. Imperfect Harmony is the story of one woman who has found joy and strength in the weekly ritual of singing and in the irresistible power of song.

Sing at First Sight, Level 2

Sing at First Sight, Level 2
Author: Andy Beck
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 94
Release:
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781457427817

Sing at First Sight is a sequential sight-singing curriculum for all choirs! This Level 2 book opens with a comprehensive Rhythm Review and Pitch Practice reinforcing the concepts studied in Sing at First Sight, Level 1. Each of the four units that follow features a helpful Getting Ready page, progressive Rhythm Readiness exercises, and thorough music-reading Lessons with practice Exercises, useful Hints, and motivating Challenge Exercises. Unit summary and assessment is easily achieved with choral excerpts from Alfred’s Choral Designs series, fun-filled Review games, and Evaluating Your Performance questions. Plus, Alfred has included a full-length Performance Piece to measure and celebrate your choir’s sight-singing progress, and then perform in concert. Includes: * Singing in Minor * Chromatics * 2-Part, 3-Part, and 4-Part Harmony * Major and Minor Intervals * Changing Meter * Sixteenth-Note Patterns