Women's Choir Repertoire & Standards Leadership

Women's Choir R&S Standards
Debra Spurgeon, National Chair

The following lists are suggested as a means to enhance women’s choirs and to provide guidance to conductors. They are stated as actions conductors undertake to build and uphold the standards of the profession.  

Repertoire Standards

• Perform music composed specifically for the mature female ensemble
• Seek out repertoire that is challenging and interesting to mature female singers
• Educate the choir and audiences about the historic choral repertoire as well as new compositions
• Perform music based upon worthwhile texts of literary significance
• Promote and perform music that educates singers about the music of various world cultures
• Commission works for women’s choir by female and male composers
• Program music from the historic women’s repertoire prior to the 2oth century in order to expose singers to the entire spectrum of music
• Research and incorporate authentic performance practices appropriate to the genre and stylistic period of the music performed
• Keep abreast of new repertoire by attending reading sessions, searching the internet, and attending concerts
• Advocate for quality compositions  and encourage other conductors to perform quality music
• Seek a varied repertoire of sacred and secular genres and styles in order to broaden the choral education of the singers

Professional Standards

• Become involved in professional organizations such as ACDA
• Attend conferences at the local, state, division, and national level
• Advocate for women’s choir issues and promote women’s choir events
• Promote equal treatment of female singers in all-states and other auditioned choirs
• Place women’s ensembles on an equal footing with other ensembles by allowing comparable travel, audition, and social opportunities
• Teach sight-reading regularly and make music literacy a priority
• Seek out alliances with other women’s choir conductors  
• Listen to recordings of excellent women’s choirs to develop an ear for age-appropriate tone quality
• Study vocal pedagogy in order to teach healthy singing technique in the choral ensemble
• Read journal articles and books pertaining to the vocal training and the choral art
• Show support for choral composers and publishers by not illegally photocopying music
• Participate in and promote festivals and other events for women’s choirs
• Study choral acoustics and relate the information to standing arrangements, spacing, rehearsal halls and performance spaces