The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the most common choral conducting-related injuries, and determine the ways conductors completing the survey have adapted their physical gesture to accommodate or avoid pain and discomfort. Utilizing a researcher-designed online survey, we asked choral music educators to identify and describe musculoskeletal and vocal injuries sustained throughout […]
IJRCS
Sacred Concert and Spirituals Selections in a 2021-2022 School Choral Catalog
Sacred music from Christian perspectives has been sung in public schools since the inception of music programs, but students would benefit from singing sacred music from a broad spectrum of religious traditions. Music vendors, key stakeholders in marketing and selling music selections to United States music educators and their students, commonly use the term sacred […]
Women Conductors of College Men’s Choirs – Redefining the “Brotherhood”
Collegiate men’s choirs have unique and storied traditions dating back to the Civil War and the founding of many prominent colleges in the United States (Albinder & Jones, 2008). Historically, these ensembles created a place for fraternity, brotherhood, and social outlets for young men (Jones, 2010). Consequently, there are few documented instances of women conducting […]
Melodic Recall: Qualitative Insights on Singers’ Strategies for Memorizing Scores of Simple Songs
In a choral setting, memorizing multiple choral scores and maintaining the stability of recall can be a challenge. This study investigates strategies for memorizing scores of simple songs. Music college students with extensive choral experience memorized three unfamiliar songs and recalled them after brief one minute practice. A mixed-methods research design facilitated the integration of […]
Making Space for Inclusive Approaches: A Review of Adolescent Gender Identity in High School Choirs
Gender identity has received significant attention in choral music education, perhaps more than any other field of music education research. Issues concerning gender in choirs continue to prove challenging for adolescents and secondary school teachers. This article synthesizes a narrative literature review on gender identity research in high school choirs, offers suggestions for inclusive choral […]
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Disengagement in the Choral Classroom: What Can We Learn from the Students?
The purpose of this study was to identify and compare eight students’ and one teacher’s perceptions of engagement/disengagement in a pluralistic choral classroom. Eight racially diverse 7th grade choir students and their teacher were interviewed to determine their perceptions of supporting conditions and behaviors that signaled engagement or disengagement. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b, […]
