In this session we will discover the rich heritage of the Polynesian choral arts and uncover the canon of Polynesian communal singing from the islands of Hawaiʻi, New Zealand, and Sāmoa from pre-western contact up to the present day. This hands-on session will provide insight and methods on indigenous pedagogies, oral traditions, and performance practice […]
Minneapolis MN.Performance
Got a Mind to Do Right: Approaching, Discussing, and Performing Spirituals Respectfully
This session will aim to inspire directors and choirs to prepare and perform arranged spirituals in away that recognizes spirituals for the life-affirming art they are. The panel will take as its point of departure a dialogue about race, power, representation, and consent that took place in the Swarthmore College Garnet Singers surrounding the programming […]
Minneapolis MN.Joseph Gregorio
Embodied and Expressive: Mapping the Choral Gesture for Poised Performance
Effective choral conductors are artistic communicators with the ability to empower their singers. Body Mapping is a self-inquiry somatic (mind-body) education technique designed to teach musicians skills of self-evaluation and change for performing with sensory-motor integrity. The underlying premise of Body Mapping is the importance of understanding the neuro-physiological connections in the human body that […]
Minneapolis, NM.Heather J. Buchanan
The Creative Process of Programming: Giving Voice to Community
If the choral art is to continue being a vital part of our culture, we must focus on ways to respond to current society. What does it take to reach a modern audience? Many of the ways that we have been taught to program no longer resonate with audiences that live their lives looking at […]
MinneapolisJoe Miller, Anne Sears
Appalachian Folk Songs: High-Lonesome Mountain Voice
We all love Appalachian folk songs as an integral part of our American music history, but how do we translate that high-lonesome mountain voice tradition to our ensembles? This session will cover many popular Appalachian tunes, identifying stylistic changes that can be made to existing choral arrangements to perform them within the Appalachian tradition. Dialect, […]
MinneapolisAmy Kotsonis
Insights into Arabic Vocal Music
Choir has been adopted as a medium for dissemination and preservation in the Arab world since the formation in Egypt of Firqatal-Musiqa al-Arabiyyah (The Arab Music Ensemble) in 1967. The notion that Arab music does not employ choir or that it only works with a solo vocalist is but one of the many misconceptions about […]
Boston MA.Hanna Khoury
